Adam Shields

Read Again: Scripture and the Authority of God by NT Wright

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Scripture and the Authority of God: How to Read the Bible Today

Takeaway: I do not know any book that takes the reading, study and importance of scripture more seriously than this book.

Normally I do not read a book so quickly after I read it the first time. But I am going backpacking next week, and the group decided to read two books in advance so we can discuss them as we are hiking.  This group of guys has been going on a trip together since spring of 1995 (17 trips total).  We are all in quite different places since we started, we have all graduated from college, completed 5 masters degrees, a PhD and an MD between the six of us.  We are all now married and have 16 children between us.  We now live outside of Chicago, Toronto, Paris, Minneapolis, Atlanta and Dallas.  We work as a nanny, a family practice doctor, a Hebrew/Old Testament professor, a missionary, a trader and a computer consultant for an HR firm.

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Luke by John MacArthur

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Luke (MacArthur Bible Studies)Takeaway: Learning scripture from a variety of teachers is important.

I have decided I am going to try a different format of scripture reading.  The main issue for me is that I read too much and too quickly and that after a while I start reading scripture in the same way as I read everything else.  So I am being intentional, repetitive and trying to slow down as I read scripture.

I picked up this bible study a while ago when it was offered for free on kindle.  I decided to start with Luke intentionally in part because I had this bible study and wanted to be intentional in reading a diverse group of authors as I read about the book I am actively reading.

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From the Garden to the City: The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology by John Dyer

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From the Garden to the City: The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of TechnologyTakeaway: Technology is shaped by its human creators, but also in turn shapes its human users. (This is the book I have been searching for on Technology and Christianity.)

I am a geek wannabe. I fix a lot of friends computers and my less techie friends often ask for advice. But my skills pale in comparison to John Dyer, John Saddington, and a bunch of other twitter friends. In spite of the fact that I am a nanny and not a full time tech worker, I have been thinking a lot about technology and how we as Christians should be reacting. Over the past couple months I have read two decent books on Technology and Christianity, Tim Challies’ The Next Story and Adam Thomas’ Digital Disciple. Both have real value, but the book I have been looking for is John Dyer’s From The Garden to the City.

The main theme of the book is that while we as humans create technology (and that is part of our God given role), the resulting technology shapes us in ways that we often ignore. A personal example happened yesterday. My wife and I are heavy users of our phones for social media and texting, but we do not actually use them to make a lot of phone calls. Our smart phones are not neutral devices as many Christians want to say, neither good nor evil. Yes, we can choose to do good things or evil things with the phones, but the very fact we have the phones affects the way we interact in the world.  Technology is not deterministic; we can overcome natural tendencies. But without reflection and insight we, often are just unaware of how the technology affects us.

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Now You’re Speaking My Language Honest Communication and Deeper Intimacy for a Stronger Marriage by Gary Chapman

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Now You're Speaking My Language: Honest Communication and Deeper Intimacy for a Stronger MarriageTakeaway: Communication is the center of marriage.  Almost everything, both good and bad, is a result of communicating with our spouse.

One of the best things my wife and I have done over the past year is to lead a small group for newly married couples.  We have seven couple that were married from 5 weeks to 1 1/2 years when we started.  We are wrapping up the group this month and will start a new group in August.  Leading the group has really required that my wife and I have serious conversations about what is good and bad in our own marriage and the marriages of those around us and how it is we can encourage new marriages to become strong.  I really recommend leading a group like this.

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The Naked Gospel by Andrew Farley

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I had a conversation with the Author in the comments of my review on Amazon. I am reprinting that conversation here. I need to re-read the books because clearly I did not get all of it. Whenever I disagree with an author, I want to make sure that I am communicating their argument correctly, in a way that they would agree that I have understood. Farley was kind enough to dialogue with me to move me closer to understanding what he was trying to communicate. The conversation is at the bottom.

The Naked Gospel: Jesus Plus Nothing. 100% Natural. No Additives.Takeaway: The overall point, that Jesus plus anything else is no longer the Gospel, is right.  But his method of dismissing most of scripture, including much of Jesus’ own teaching, makes it so I am hesitant to recommend it.

It took me about 3 years, but I finally got around to reading this book (or most of it anyway.)  A friend asked me what I thought of it and gave me a copy, but we were never able to schedule a time to talk about it, and I did not read it until now.

Farley grew up in a legalistic church background.  He reached a crisis of faith when he realized he never could share the gospel with enough people, he never could live righteous enough, he could never become holy by his own power.

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The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is by NT Wright

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The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was & IsTakeaway: The search for who Jesus is, is important for every generation, not because Jesus changes, but because we do.

I honestly cannot express how disappointing it is that when listening to the introduction (this was an audiobook) I find that this book is based on a series of lectures that NT Wright gave while in Chicago speaking to seminary students and others for a conference put on by Intervarsity in 1999.  Because I was in Chicago, and was a seminary student in 1999, and I had no idea that this conference happened.

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New Bible Reading Strategy

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I have been hit over and over and over again lately about how important it is to be intentional and regular in my bible study.  I have read through the bible multiple times.  I have a seminary degree and was a class short of a theology minor in college.  But I feel like scripture is more a knowledge thing than something that is in my soul.  What I can tell about most of the spiritual writers I read is that the real meaning of scripture has seeped into them.

So for the next year I am going to try a bible reading suggestion that I read recently.  I am going to spend six month at a time on a single book.  So my goal is 1) to read four books (mostly commentaries) about a particular book of the bible.  2) Read the book at least 10 times during the six months.  3) Memorize at least 10 verses of the book.  The goal is not study, it is soul work.

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