7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
"Magic 8-Ball" and Graceless Christianity, January 27, 2011
This review is from: Forever Ruined for the Ordinary: The Adventure of Hearing and Obeying God's Voice (Paperback)
This book is very popular in Korea, so I thought it would be very helpful for me to take a look at this book myself see why a lot of people enjoy and recommend it. Right off the bat, I could tell that this book leans more towards the charismatic side - nothing wrong with that! I wouldn't consider myself charismatic, but I am definitely open to it and welcoming towards those who are charismatic - as long as they are mature with their gifts. Her book was divided into seven sections:
1. Everyone's Privilege
2. Conditions for Hearing God's Voice
3. Twenty-Four Ways God Speaks
Ways God Speaks Through His Word
Ways God Speaks Through What We See
Ways God Speaks Through Our Hearing
Ways God Speaks Through an Awareness
4. Many Reasons Why God Delays Answers
Tests and Purposes Connected with Delays
5. Warnings and Explanations
6. The Importance, Characteristics of Bible Standards, and Evidences of Obedience
The Evidences, Consequences, and Checklists Related to Disobedience
7. Who Is Your Role Model?
The Greatest Challenge, Opportunity, and Fulfillment
FIRST SECTION (Everyone's Privilege)
In her first section, she said something VERY questionable: ["I thanked him for his honesty, but explained that as males and females we are all made in the likeness and image of God (see Genesis 1:26-27). Therefore God has to have equal components of male and female within His Being." - pg. 8-9]
God does not have components of male or female in His being. When it comes to God, "male" and "female" are anthropomorphic terms, meaning that they are words that are used to describe humans. The essence or degree of maleness and femaleness do not emanate from God and is not in Him. The rest of the chapter was Dawson sharing stories of how she has heard God's voice and how it was confirmed.
SECOND SECTION (Conditions for Hearing God's Voice)
In her second section, she starts off with: ["One of our greatest universal needs is to experience and walk in humility at increasingly deeper levels. Period. When it comes to experiencing divine guidance, the Bible makes it clear that we will not make any progress without it." - pg. 17]
I whole-heartedly agree with that, and I was definitely expecting her to present the gospel and remind us of the grace that is found at the foot of the cross. Unfortunately, she didn't mention Jesus or the cross at all. She had sub-sections such as: "Humility", "Faith", "A Clean Heart", and "A Yielded Will" which she repeatedly stated were the necessary conditions to hear God's voice. Her last sub-section, "Recognizing the Source of the Voice" was very subjective - she said that she has heard the voice of God and the enemy before. But the evidence or explanation was circumstantial and nebulous at best. The rest of the section was laced with stories (usually her family and relatives) to support her claims, including favorable stories with Benny Hinn, which I definitely have a problem with since Hinn is a heretic.
For those of you who might think I'm being rather mean, callous, and judgmental towards Hinn, I have read his works and I have seen him teach. His theology is seriously flawed, as he believes that each member of the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) have a trinity inside them. Therefore, the Trinity, according to Hinn, is really NINE. I am writing all of this to make people aware of his theological errors.
THIRD SECTION (Twenty-Four Ways God Speaks)
This next section wasn't that helpful either - it was just a bunch of stories and "testimonies" of treating Scripture like a magic 8-ball. The stories and points were again, subjective and how we need to keep on praying and waiting until we have this peace in our hearts. There were some good points she raised, but they were very few. One thing she kept on saying was that there should be a deep peace from the Holy Spirit and that we should wait until that deep peace comes before making decisions (pg. 83). The only problem with that is, what is this deep peace? How do we know what this deep peace is?
Also, just because someone is peaceful about a decision doesn't mean that it's necessarily God's will. Look at the book of Jonah, particularly chapter 1, verse 5: "But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep." God told Jonah to go to Nineveh but Jonah went the complete opposite way. He was clearly going against God's will and he was so at peace with his decision that he was ASLEEP during a great storm! So we can't rely on feelings of peace to discern that it is God's will.
FOURTH SECTION (Tests and Purposes for Delayed Answers)
The fourth section wasn't that helpful either - more stories and testimonies of taking Scripture out of context, i.e. Genesis 12:1-5 to lead her to move to a different place (pg. 101), her (Joy Dawson) not wanting to help a friend who asked for spiritual counseling because she (Joy Dawson) had "mountains of housework" (pg. 98), someone using Isaiah 28:9-11 to dedicate their life to missions (pg. 94). Again, I know it seems as if I'm making it sound like everything is wrong, but she had some good points as well.
FIFTH SECTION (Warnings and Explanations)
The fifth section was the same flow as the other sections - lots of stories and not that helpful. ["Satanic forces are angered and threatened by the transformation of life that inevitably comes from living the truths in THIS book." - pg. 114]
I know (at least I hope) that she didn't realize it, but with that sentence, she has somewhat elevated her book to the same level as Scripture. But I'll try to give her the benefit of the doubt on that one. She then talks about how one of the main obstacles in our relationship with God is pride and our sinful hearts. I was getting excited because I thought she would finally bring out the gospel! But no, I was disappointed, as she said: ["The enemy's power to deceive us is defeated by our continuously choosing to walk in humility before God and other people. Satan's ways are based in pride, therefore we overcome him by having a broken and contrite spirit." - p. 121]
Just more of our efforts and work, and no grace. There were more stories, more Bible verses, but - no gospel, no cross, no Jesus. Ever. Again, there were good things here and there, but again, few.
SIXTH SECTION (The Critical Importance of Obedience)
Her sixth section was very disappointing to me because she started it off with a beautiful description and praise of God, but then said things such as: ["Unconditional obedience is the key to a successful Christian life" - [pg. 136] and ["Therefore, the basis of all frustration and lack of fulfillment lies in disobedience to revealed truth, the truths in God's Word, and the promptings of the Holy Spirit." - pg. 137] Basically, she emphasized obedience without grace. She also falsely presented Daniel 11:32, by only using the second half of the verse: "But the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits" (what she quoted on pg. 138). The actual verse reads in the ESV: "He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action."
The entire section was an exhortation to not be disobedient to God, which would've been fine if it flowed from the context of the gospel and grace, but it didn't. She supported her views with stories (personal and Biblical), which were mainly warnings - one was about a woman who was kidnapped for over an hour because she didn't heed God's warning to stay at home, while another was about a group who was in hiding in the forest and how they almost died due to lack of water, because they disobeyed the direction of the Holy Spirit (she also used 1 Corinthians 14 out of context for this story).
She had one sub-section entitled: "We Are the Only Ones Who Can Thwart God's Will for Our Lives," which really disappointed me. She also said in this section: ["This means that we are only as close to God as we allow His unconditional love to flow through us to all others." - pg. 153] It seems as if she's saying that we can block off or prevent God's love and thwart His plans if we disobey or don't love Him. If that is the case, then is this a God worth worshipping? A God whose plan can be stopped or thwarted by His creation? But again, she did have good things to say as well. She definitely hit the nail on the head with the reality of hell and how those who are truly Christian must be obedient to God's Word. She ended the section with a great introspective list to check to see if we are being disobedient. In the end though, there was no cross, no Jesus, no gospel - it just seems as if the Christianity she is teaching is all about obedience for fear of being outside of God's love.
SEVENTH SECTION (Who Is Your Role Model?)
In her seventh section, she FINALLY talked about Jesus and the cross. In the beginning, she didn't talk about Him as the victorious Savior, conquering and triumphing over sin and death, but just merely as a role model and a means to an end. But surprisingly, she brings out the gospel in the last few pages. From here, it is clearly obvious that she holds on to semi-Pelagian theology - that although God wants to save us, that it is ultimately up to us to choose to believe in Him. According to her, if it was God's will for someone to come to Christ, it is possible to prevent God's will from happening by that person being disobedient. According to her, God can do all things except overcome man's resistance.
She writes that unconditional obedience is the key to...
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