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26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not Up to Mahaney's Usual Standards, October 27, 2008
Any book on worldliness faces a difficult challenge. The author who takes too firm a stand on issues may slip into legalism while the author who takes too lax a stand may slip into the worldliness he seeks to avoid. The discerning author will need to tread the line, being careful to say no more than Scripture does while still dealing effectively with issues of contemporary importance. Because such a book is long overdue I was pleased to see that Worldliness would be coming from C.J. Mahaney and those whom John Piper affectionately refers to as "his gang."
Mahaney handles the introductions in this book, beginning with a reflection called "Is This Verse in Your Bible?" He biblically defines worldliness saying that this world we're not supposed to love is "the organized system of human civilization that is actively hostile to God and alienated from God." Worldliness is a love for this fallen world and, specifically, "to gratify and exalt oneself to the exclusion of God." Mahaney is careful to point out that worldliness is not extrinsic to us but intrinsic, inhabiting our fallen hearts. Worldliness does not consist of outward actions (though such actions can certainly be evidence of worldliness) but instead is a heart attitude that rebels against God. The antidote to worldliness is the cross of Christ. "Only through the power of the cross of Christ can we successfully resist the seduction of the fallen world." Worldliness dulls our affections for Christ and distracts our hearts from him. Hence it is so serious "because Christ is so glorious." While resisting worldliness is the theme of the book, its aim is to exalt Christ.
Each of the subsequent chapters is meant to build on this foundation. In "God, My Heart, and Media," Craig Cabaniss discusses issues related to the pervasiveness of media in our society. Cabaniss grounds the discussion in grace, saying "any discussion of biblical obedience, including entertainment guidelines, must spring from a robust understanding of grace." He offers the fair warning that we must guard our hearts as the conscience is prone to become dull over time. As we relax our standards and as we engage in ungodly media habits, our hearts may slowly become dulled to the things of Christ. He warns against the temptation to see anyone with stricter standards as us as legalistic while seeing anyone with more lenient standards as worldly. He encourages us to view proactively, to view accountably and to view gratefully.
In "God, My Heart, and Music," Bob Kauflin takes on the subject of music, beginning with the fact that music was God's idea long before it crossed the mind of any human. He states that "listening to music without discernment and godly intent reveals a heart willing to flirt with the world." Saying that music itself is amoral (there are no holy or unholy harmonies or melodies) he warns that music does convey three things: content, context and culture. The Christian will need to discern what is being communicated through the music he listens to in order to ensure that he is not, perhaps inadvertently, absorbing messages that would conflict with his Christian faith. Kauflin closes with some good thoughts on using music for the glory of God.
To this point I felt the book was excellent. Though in a work of this nature each of the chapters could be little more than a cursory introduction to what might have been a book-length project, I felt the authors did a great job of teaching, exhorting and illustrating while avoiding those perilous extremes of worldliness and legalism. Unfortunately I felt that Worldliness soon stalled out badly. And this is where the job of a book reviewer gets tough. What do you do when you like an author (or a group of authors) but just don't like the book they've produced?
The fourth chapter, entitled "God, My Heart, and Stuff" was authored by Dave Harvey. While I haven't ever met Dave (at least to my recollection) I have benefited from reading his book When Sinners Say 'I Do'. From my experience in reading that book I had high hopes for his contribution to this one. I was disappointed. While he addressed the heart so well in his book on marriage, in this case I found little of real depth. The next chapter, from the pen of C.J. Mahaney is titled "God, My Heart, and Clothes" and discusses the issue of modesty. It had very little application to men beyond stating that this is an issue for pastors and fathers to consider. Ultimately he provided a lot of quotes and a few good thoughts on modesty and encouraged women to dress properly. Both of the book's appendices carried on the theme, with "A Modesty Heart Check" and "Considering Modesty on Your Wedding Day." But this was a superficial look at modesty and one that offered little that we haven't heard C.J. and others say before. It did not take the issue of modesty to men (where modesty of heart and intention comes into play) but instead serves as just another encouragement to girls to check their neckline and test their hemline. Jeff Purswell concludes with a chapter titled "How to Love the World" in which he reminds the reader "To impart biblical discernment in areas that increasingly escape the scrutiny of the evangelical world so intent on 'relating to the culture.'" He offers a summary of redemptive history in the grid of Creation, Fall, Redemption and Consummation and gives the reader a three-part charge: to enjoy the world, to engage the world and to evangelize the world. These last three chapters and the appendices were uniformly disappointing to me. I couldn't help but feel that they represented somewhat passionless efforts. Missing was the depth and intensity I'd expect from a book authored (or edited) by Mahaney.
Had I been hoping that this book might be another Humility or The Cross Centered Life, Worldliness would have been quite a disappointment. Though it got off to a strong start, it quickly tapered out. In the end it just seemed shallow--a work of far less depth and offering far less application than I'm accustomed to seeing from a book with Mahaney's name on the cover. It came across as a cobbled-together collection of essays of unequal value. I almost feel I should apologize when I say, it just isn't that good of a book.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Could have been better, December 2, 2008
Worldliness is a book edited by C.J. Mahaney of Sovereign Grace Ministries. The authors are contributions from the Sovereign Grace family. The subtitle asserts the ambitious goal of the book: "Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World".
As with any book by this title there is a danger right out of the gate to make your points from the reservoir of legalism rather than gospel. Many times this comes from an unbiblical definition of worldliness. Mahaney aims to plug this hole right up front as he quotes 1 John 2.15 but then points out that verses 16-17 (1 John 2.16-17) help define what this is.
Mahaney writes, "Worldliness, then, is a love for this fallen world. It's loving the values and pursuits of this world that stand opposed to God. More specifically, it is to gratify and exalt oneself to the exclusion of God." (p.27)
From this discussion on worldliness in general the authors move into more specifics. And frankly this is where things get a little disjointed. I felt in reading the book straight through that I was reading 6 different books rather than one book with 6 chapters. Overall the book seemed to lack the unity of thought that leads to logical progression.
Bob Kauflin wrote a chapter on music. Kauflin is always helpful in thinking about music. However, I would have liked to see him talk about "Christian Music" that is not particularly edifying and how believers should not just be buying a label or an artist but exercise discernment. I'm convinced that the theological teaching in many Christian albums do more damage than Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Matthews Band and Jay-Z (whom Kauflin cites as unhelpful to a Christian's growth).
Mahaney wrote a chapter on modesty, specifically how we dress. Or better, how women dress. In this chapter Mahaney helps ladies to see how their attire can have a desanctifying effect upon their brothers in Christ. No doubt what Mahaney writes is helpful to ladies who may have never thought about this before. I think it would have been helpful to talk about what men do and do not wear as well. It is not just a female problem. Men should be dressing in a way that brings honor to Christ and does not distract or harm others.
I want to pick on one chapter in particular because I think it highlights what was good and bad in this book. The chapter I am reffering to is Craig Cabaniss's piece on God, My Heart, and Media. His goal was to take a look at the effect of media upon our sanctification. Cabaniss spent most of his time with television and movie viewing. Let me first give you the positives.
Cabiniss demonstrates the danger of thoughtless and immune watching. By this he means that we are not mentally and spiritually engaged when we watched and therefore we become dulled and desensitized to what we are seeing. This is a good and much needed warning. Further, the author points out that the `true' enemy is not "out there" but rather he is closer. "He's not lurking behind the curtain in the movie theater. He's much closer. He's us. Our battle is with the flesh." Amen. I was pleased to read this helpful warning.
Cabiniss then raises the `legalism' card. He notes that standards for evaluation of what we should and should not watch are not bad but rather it is our motivation for such standards. "The solution is not necessarily lowering our standards. It is necessarily raising our understanding of and response to the glorious grace of God."
If the chapter would have ended there I would have been more comfortable. But in coming pages we are given nearly two and a half pages of `discernment' questions to evaluate if we should or should not be watching something. I truly believe that the author was trying to be helpful. However, when you give me a list, I want to obey it and I want to obey it for merit. This becomes a problem.
It probably would have been more helpful to help us think redemptively about our time, thoughts and ambitions rather than give me an extrabiblical list of questions to evaluate how godly I am being.
Remember this is to help me discern if I should watch something:
"Is sinful self-sufficiency honored? Are the heroic characters concerned for others or merely for themselves?"
"Does the program or film portray materialism as `the good life'"?
"What's the view of man's nature?"
"What's the view of sin?"
"What is the view of God-ordained authority figures?"
"What is humorous in this work?" How are people made fun of? What is mocked?"
If we rush to answer these questions that we are provided I am fairly certain that we won't ever be able to watch another movie again (this includes most of the so called "Christian movies" since their theology is as jacked up as most secular movies).
Finally, Cabiniss urges us to pursue accountability with others in effort to stem off sin. Accountability is often quite helpful. However, many times folks end up fearing their `accountability partner' while remaining numbly void of a healthy fear of God. This does not kill the root of sin, but unwittingly increases a fear of man (idolatry).
Giving me lists and things to do to tend to create a sort of law that I measure my morality (sanctification) by. I like how the authors talk often about grace, gospel and cross, however, they do not saturate the book with the gospel in such a way that obscures the view of Sinai. I am not saying the book is a handbook on legalism (because it is not) however, I think it could have been much more clear, gospel-dripping, and therefore practical.
I have loved the other books by CJ Mahaney, however, I just can't get behind this one as passionately and wholeheartedly.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Practical Advice, October 28, 2008
What is worldliness? Well, before reading this book I would have said it was the state of a person whose whole life is dominated by material things. I would have answered, worldliness is something others struggle with, but certainly not me. Well, in classic Mahaney fashion, I was humbled...again.
In "Worldliness, Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World ", C.J. Mahaney has compiled 6 essays that clearly point out that you don't have to be totally sold out to the world to be "worldly". Worldliness exists in little areas of our lives that we consider as harmless or manageable. Yet, it is from those little areas that worldliness relentlessly launches its attack with the goal of completely taking over and destroying us.
In fact, worldliness hunts everyone down. No-one is immune. If we avoid it, it finds us. The world bombards our senses with sounds, images and thoughts that remain in our minds forever. Because of this fact, today's victory can become tomorrow's battle. As CJ puts it:
"Today the greatest challenge facing American evangelicals is not persecution from the world but seduction by the world. We are not under attack from without, we are decaying from within"
Yet, CJ points out that worldliness is not a uniquely 21st century thing. We can't blame it on the convenient Christian scapegoats of TV's, iPods, movies, DVD's, video games, fashion or consumerism. Worldliness has always existed in some form, relative to the time and culture where Christian's lived. He quotes CH Spurgeon from over 150 years ago:
"The one reason why the church of God at the present moment has so little influence over the world is because the world has so much influence over the church."
The Apostles even warned of it in their day.
Traditionally, the Christian response to worldliness has been withdrawal from the culture, monasticism and more commonly today; legalism. Today, many Christians fall for the list of do's and don'ts or practicing some rigorous set of rules as a panacea for worldliness. The list does not even need to be formal. It can be a set of personal moralistic views about things like Bible versions, holidays, type of church, TV channels, movies or music. Yet, in doing so, there is a tendency to deceive ourselves into a false sense of security. The list becomes the measure of our "goodness". Pride in accomplishing this list further obscures the realization that no matter what we do, we are still sinful when compared to God. Legalism, denies the power and grace of God. That's why it's so dangerous. Our only hope, the grace of God, and our grace-sustained faith, is conveniently replaced by a deceptive creation of man. While I don't know this to be true, I would imagine worldliness exists within the Amish community, a group of people who we tend to view as having successfully resisted worldly influence.
In the face of what seems to be an impossible battle, CJ points the reader back to the Bible. "Only through the cross of Jesus Christ can we successfully resist the seduction of a fallen world" , he says. As he so simply pointed out in his book "Living The Cross Centered Life", the cross of Christ empowers us not only through it's past significance and what Christ accomplished on it but also in its significance in the way we view it relative to our lives, today. We are no less in need of the cross today than when we lived a life of unbelief.
The book contains short but thorough discussions on those places where worldliness is most commonly found. They represent things that are clearly gifts from God and not intrinsically bad, but without discernment, become the catalysts of worldliness. Things like:
Media: What we choose to view or listen to
Music: What we enjoy listening to.
Stuff: The choices we make with our money
Clothes: What we wear and why we wear it
Each section deals openly with worldliness from a personal perspective and addresses the heart issues that cause Christians to "worship" man's creation rather than God himself.
The essay's section end with a call by Jeff Purswell to "love the world" as Christ would have done; by acknowledging the provision of God in His goodness, engaging the culture and acting in love for the world, with an eye to evangelism.
The book concludes with the Mahaney family's " Modesty Heart Check" and a unique challenge of Considering Modesty on Your Wedding Day. While aimed mainly at women, they certainly have application for men, especially teens and father's of daughters.
The final section lists a set a questions, dealing with issues presented in the book, that can be used as a personal study or in a small group.
Where did this book affect me? It was in Craig Cabaness' section titled "God, My Heart and Media" that I found my greatest challenge. While I don't watch much television, by nature, I am a "multi-media sponge" and self-described political junkie. The media coverage of the current election cycle is a major struggle for me. Again, not that there is anything inherently wrong with wanting to be an informed voter. It's a worthy cause that many more people should pursue. However, I find it easy and convenient to use the informed voter excuse as a way to justify watching political news, when in-fact I have already made up my mind who to vote for. It's also very easy for me to "pile on" when I see my candidate's negative ads, regardless of whether I know them to be true or not. I also find a certain "joy" in watching my candidate hurl "zinger's" at his opponent. I also take pleasure in hearing the media "spin" things in favor of "my guy". The bottom line is that I am an arrogant and proud supporter of my candidate. The media has me right where they want me. I am a full-fledged member of the TV mob, cheering for my candidate and demanding blood from his opponent in the Colosseum of presidential election politics. Through my actions, I am demonstrating that I am no different that a 1st Century Roman arena spectator. I am worldly.
What I learned from this book is that I was not the man I thought I was. I was big in my own mind but prideful in God's eyes. I learned that the sin of pride is a key ingredient in worldliness (I Cor 10:12). For me, this sin weakened my Spirit-led discernment, one of the weapons I need to fight against being pulled into the world. This book was a call to guard my heart even more and to crawl back to the Cross even more frequently.
Originally written my me and posted on my blog www.spiritfilledpuritan.com
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