Is Next To Godliness

Some people say cleanliness is next to godliness. I don't exactly think that's accurate, but I also don't exactly know what it means. There is some kind of list that has cleanliness and godliness next to each other? Or once you get the godliness thing down, cleanliness is next in line? I also think, if cleanliness is next to godliness, they must be separate things. There are many things that are part of godliness, but cleanliness is something separate. Okay, so, I really just use those lines of logic as excuses not to clean or to be grumpy while I am complaining (grumpiness is not part of godliness either, by the way).

So, what is godliness? Some people seem to think happiness is part of godliness. I tend to think they are wrong. However, I recently read a book called The Happy Christian, which I think demonstrates that true happiness is found through godliness. In other words, God's way is the best way. He knows how we work and how things should go, so only by following His ways will we be happy.

The author, David Murray, uses many statistics and study results to demonstrate his points. He also points out that some non-Christians do a better job at some aspects of godliness than many Christians do. He shows how findings in the real world, in secular society, demonstrate some of the principles he is teaching.

He touches on quite a variety of topics. One that I appreciated at the end was the importance of diversity within the church. Since reading it, I have thought back to that section several times as my family has been looking for a church not only for me to lead worship with but also for us to plug into.

I appreciate this book overall and recommend it to you. I am thankful to BookLook Bloggers for providing this book free for review.

Learning From Musicians

Lately, I have been thinking about God and how He is portrayed in the Old Testament versus the New Testament. I have been talking to people who have different views of the Bible than what I grew up with, and it is challenging the way I think. So, when I saw a book on the subject available for review, I decided to request it. 

Soon enough, I had the book and was quickly disappointed that the book was not really anything about reconciling the God of the Old Testament with the New. Instead, it was a book written by two Christian musicians connecting their stories and those of their family and friends with the Old Testament, and finding a God in the Old Testament who is a little more loving and gracious than what they expected.

Initially, I was miffed. It seems the book was misrepresented by it's advertisements. Not only that, but this is the second book in a row I felt that way about. However, I continued reading the book and did find some encouragement and challenge from it. I also thought it offered interesting insight into the lives of the two authors. Did you know Ginny Owens is blind? I didn't. Actually, I didn't know much at all about Ginny Owens, but her name is familiar to me, unlike Andrew Greer, whose name I constantly had to keep distinct from Andrew Peterson in my mind as I was reading it.  

In conclusion, if you're looking for a book to provide reconciliation or even some sort of comparison between God as portrayed in the Old Testament of the Bible and God as portrayed in the New Testament, this is not the book. If you are interested in learning about a couple of Christian musicians and are open to being challenged and encouraged by their stories and how the Old Testament has impacted them, this might be the book for you. 

Oh, it also has questions to think about and or discuss at the end of each chapter. Honestly, I didn't pay much attention to them, so I can't say whether or not they're helpful, but they're there.

I'd like to thank BookLook Bloggers for giving me this book to review. And thank you for reading this.

Understanding The Bible

People can spend a lifetime studying the Bible and not fully understand it. However, it is important that we study it, and there are various resources for helping us do so. God's Story in 66 Verses is Stan Guthrie's resource for making a basic understanding of the Bible more easily attainable. Guthrie goes through the Bible book by book and succinctly describes what each book is about in one short chapter of his book.
I think this book is a great resource for anybody trying to gain a quick understanding of the Bible, book by book. I think Guthrie does a good job of presenting a relatively unbiased explanation of each book. This book surely allows for further investigation of the Bible, but does provide a solid basic understanding.
I was a little thrown off at first when reading the book. Based on the title and description I had read, I was expecting more of an emphasis on the theme verse from each book of the Bible. The chapters, instead, focused on an overview of each book with some allusion to the theme verse.
That being said, I am glad to have read this book and to have it for future reference. I would also recommend this book to others.
I appreciate BookLook Bloggers for giving me this book for review.