Teapot Theology

Boy meets girl. They talk. They laugh. They fall in love. Little do they know what’s going inside their brains. Dr. Earl Henslin explains some of the latest findings in brain research and how brain imbalances can have a bad affect on your love life in his newest book, This Is Your Brain In Love. With stories from his clients as well as scientific research, Henslin pinpoints five common types of lovers and offers tips and solutions. This book seek to unravel the secrets of proactive passion and it’s helped me realise (already!) where I get it wrong and am unclear with Julie. It calls each to bring their healthiest, most balanced and joyful self to the relationship.
Dr. Henslin speaks to the vital connection between spirituality and sexuality. He identifies the five types of lovers. Filled with relatable stories and humour, this is not your boring brain book! Engaging and practical, Dr. Henslin provides an amazingly accurate, scientifically-based brain test to help spot typical brain imbalances. (And yes, most everyone has at least one!) There is a lot of sage advice within these pages with a potent conclusion majoring in kindness, patience and forgiveness.

As Goethe said, Love does not dominate: it cultivates!

Some of you know what it is to experience Christmas as a very stressful holiday! Perhaps the stress comes from those who try to create just the perfect Christmas experience. Or it may come from anticipating Christmas dinner as others face losses, absence or aloneness…..

Craig Barnes, in his book The Pastor as Minor Poet, writes insightfully about how the Bible reveals God as the achiever and ourselves as the receivers. Far too often we live with much stress because we are trying to gain something through achieving that can only be had through receiving. At no time is this more obvious than at Christmas, when people are knocking themselves out to achieve the perfect experience for their loved ones. It is amazing that the mythology of this dream is able to resurface every December in spite of its repeated failures.

Barnes says:- “When I hear the aspirations that people have for their reuniting families, gathered around the piano wearing matching sweaters, joyfully singing carols, I always want to ask, “Is this the same family you had last year?” But no one is interested in reality checks at Christmas. So they knock themselves out to achieve what cannot happen. . . .”

Our efforts to create and achieve something to satisfy will always be lacking and will have its limits. After all, the Bible presents God himself as the ultimate achiever. Barnes concludes:

In all my years of pastoral ministry, I have never had a child come to see me to talk about the stress of the holidays. They aren’t worried about making it to all the parties, buying the perfect presents, maxing out their credit cards, and travel plans. As every child knows, the only stress of Christmas is how can we possibly wait for it to arrive — the day we receive so much.

We have a capacity to complicate Christianity. Jesus simplified it with one commandment: Love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. In Primal Mark Batterson explores the four elements of Great Commandment Christianity: compassion, wonder, curiosity and power. Along the way, he calls Christians to be a part of God’s reformation, starting in their own lives.

“Is there a place in your past where you met God and God met you?” asks Batterson. “A place where your heart broke for the things that break the heart of God? In that moment, God birthed something supernatural in your spirit. You knew you’d never be the same again. My prayer is that this book would take you back to that burning bush—and reignite a primal faith.”

Batterson says that that moment may have been during a sermon, on a mission trip or at an altar, but regardless of the time or place, a return to a primal faith is essential to all believers. According to Batterson that primal faith will lead Christians to a new reformation, an overhaul of the way they love God. “Reformations are born out of primal truths rediscovered, reimagined and radically reapplied to our lives,” he says. And the importance of rediscovering the need to love God with all that we are can’t be measured. Primal will help readers live in light of what matters most and discover what it means to love God, becoming great at the Great Commandment.

Admittedly, I hoped for more substance based on the brilliance of Batterson, great depth and longevity in the journey to loving and honouring the very heart of God. It’s a helpful catalyst to loving God and renewing our roots. I did long for greater impact. The anticipation exceeded the reality!

Dr. Jeremiah uses a vast array of biblical passages and principles to resource all that our hope absolutely must lie in Jesus Christ if we are going to have any hope at all. In ten chapters Jeremiah explains Christ’s message of hope in a repeated ‘C’ theme. He stresses the need for Christians to rise above the world spinning out of control and demonstrate the practicality of Christ’s peace. Dr. Jeremiah encourages and challenges the reader to live in a God-honouring way, confident in the Truth that is found in His Word. He breaks down his message this way:

* Chapter 1 – Stay Calm: This current society/culture offers chaos; Jesus Christ extends comfort and victory over anxiety.

* Chapter 2 – Stay Compassionate: This world offers cruelty; Christians should be decidedly compassionate.

* Chapter 3 – Stay Constructive: This world’s message is destructive; the Gospel is life-giving.

* Chapter 4 – Stay Challenged: The world demands a life of ease; Christ offers a cross – let’s be diligent as we bear it.

* Chapter 5 – Stay Connected: The world hides in a social-networking construct; Christ offers the community of the Church.

* Chapter 6 – Stay Centered: The world is focused on self; Christians need to focus on Christ.

* Chapter 7 – Stay Confident: The world skeptical and needy; the Gospel, and God’s Word, offers stabilization and a sure foundation.

* Chapter 8 – Stay Consistent: The world is intolerant and inconsistent; Christ offers in His Word, biblical principles to guide every section of life.

* Chapter 9 – Stay Committed: The world’s nerves are frayed and society is desperate; Christians live confidently in a God-ordered and ordained life.

* Chapter 10 – Stay Convinced: The world offers no hope for the future; Christians live in the hope of eternal life, and the promise of Christ’s return.

I found Living with Confidence in a Chaotic World to be very easy to read and thought-provoking. The book is certainly tied to the circumstances of today, yet offers the confident and eternal truth, applicable to anytime. I liked the vast biblical references and true-to-life stories, firmly grounding it all in the need and confidence of God, in Christ. Yetwithal, this book strays toward being simplistic and formulaic. The book has the feeling of one suggested by the publisher in order to sequel his previous hit, “What In The World Is Going On?”. It feels like Grisham-gets-God! Yet a great easy to read, challenging, and encouraging!

is a contemporary-classic by Chip & Dan Heath. They’ve got a robust background of some brilliance and this is really worth a read! The book develops the idea of “stickiness” seeking to explain what makes an idea or concept memorable or interesting. The book’s outline follows the acronym “SUCCES” (with a final s omitted!). Each letter refers to a characteristic that can help make an idea “sticky”:

• Simple — find the core of any idea. Sticky ideas are understood, are remembered and change something.  We all spend tons of time and energy making art because we want to change minds and hearts. Simplicity is not about dumbing-down. It’s about finding the core of an idea and stripping everything else away so the core can shine through. Our role is to find the core of our idea.
• Unexpected — grab people’s attention by surprising them. A sticky idea breaks a pattern. The Sermon on the Mount,…. amidst other things… broke patterns… blessed are the meek, don’t store up treasures on earth,…..  If you want to get people’s attention, our role is to find what’s unexpected. Don’t let the profound truth fade into the background.
• Concrete — make sure an idea can be grasped and remembered later. When you talk in abstraction, you haven’t told your story yet. Our role is to find a story and find a visual.
• Credibility — give an idea believability! “A credible idea makes people believe. An emotional idea makes people care.”
• Emotion — help people see the importance of an idea. How do we get people to care about our message? Our role is to find something to make people care.  The things we’re most passionate about can cripple us. In the context of church, there is an abundance of information about the Gospel, God, etc and we get anxious to tell everyone everything… we have to learn to strip things away… and make it simple.
• Stories — empower people to use an idea through narrative. What’s the one simple idea or truth we want people to remember about God? Stories make ideas tangible. 5 out of 100 people will remember a statistic, 60 will remember a story. Be collectors of stories to unveil the truth you are trying to communicate. What do you want people to know? (Truth) what do you want people to feel? (Emotion) What then should we do? (Application)

A book for women on how to live, written by a very smiley man ; initially this could pose some questions but in the pursuit of all things Thomas Nelson, I gladly review. The book touches on searching yourself, and points out such ideas about drive, partnership in life, passion and dreams. The author touches on not entrusting your life to dreams, because they are only short-term, and that we are increasingly immune to tragedy in the world, if we focus too much on the joy of dreams.

An underlying theme is that many of us seek balance in our lives. We need to seek imbalance. Sounds weird, eh? Imbalance keeps us alive, is Buckingham’s theory….. moreso, “the secret to success and happiness lies in your ability to know yourself well enough to make strong choices without regret…”

One particular point of research reasoned that women are less happy now than at any point since 1972! Buckingham goes on to point out that today women are twice as likely to be on anti-depressants medication as men. Buckingham outlines the SIGN;s of women who live the mantra of this book;- ’strong lives.’  Those are: Succcess, Instinct, Growth and Needs fulfilled.

It’s slow, solid – yet full of sparkle……. The online test and other ‘lady’ resources doubtless will shine too! and yes it’s wonderfully (overly) optimistic!!

I love the heart, spirit and writing pen of Neil Cole. He wrote a book called Organic Church which I’ve loved: here’s some gems from it:-

“The great commission says that we are to ‘go into all the world’, but we’ve turned the whole thing around and made it ‘come to us and hear our message’. we expect people to come to church in order to come to Christ, and the people of the world want nothing to do with church.”

“…instead of bringing people to church so that we can then bring them to Christ, let’s bring Christ to people where they live.…we must take Christ into people’s lives, and it must be in the context of relationships. …the heart of our message is that God didn’t expect us to come to him in heaven. He came to us.”

Read Cole, Be helped and more obedient in following Christ!……. so I close with this is, as the truest New Testament challenge.

“we should take the light and jam it right down the throat of darkness.…our greatest significance is found in the darkness, not in the light.”

Timely, truthful and a real page-turner, Lucado writes in his trademark style with warmth and wisdom in this really helpful book. It’s down-to-earth and inspirational as it engages with biblical truth, characters and everyday examples. I particularly liked the eight-step PEACEFUL acronym around the theme of worry. There are a mass of quotable quotes from Lucado’s writing: here’s a few to whet your appetite….

* “Nothing can foster courage like a clear grasp of grace. And nothing fosters fear like an ignorance of mercy.”

* “Questions can make hermits of us, driving us into hiding.”

* “Fear feels dreadful. It sucks the life out of the soul, curls us into an embryonic state, and drains us dry of contentment.”

* “Fear corrodes our confidence in God’s goodness. We being to wonder if love lives in heaven….. Fear unleashes a swarm of doubts, anger-stirring doubts.”

* “Real courage embraces the twin realities of current difficulty and ultimate triumph.”

* “When Christ is great, our fears are not.”

* “Fear loves a good stampede……Fear’s been making a good living lately.”

Fear to me, if unidentified, is like a thief that robs us of all the opportunity to live the life that Christ has designed for us. Fear may forever knock on our door, yet Lucado offers godly advice, catchy turns of phrase and hope-filled stories that can be summarized in one challenging phrase: trust God – fear less!

The daily question that flows from this book, remains;- “Do I respond more out of fear of failure, rejection, calamity, or out of the power of the risen Christ in me?” Either God did not give us a spirit of weakness and fear, but of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind,….or not? Either 2 Timothy 1v7 is true or it is not!

The invitation is real, the resources outlined are immense; Jesus always fulfils his promises. Perhaps the harder reality is to imagine your life without fear? It is an invitation – it can be our truth?!

After ploughing through a number of books owned, borrowed and given, I turned my attention to a book I’d recently received  by Andy Andrews. In it I was transported to Orange Beach, Alabama. It’s a simple town filled with good-hearted people. But they all have their typical mix of  – marriages teetering on the brink of divorce, young adults giving up on life, business people on the verge of bankruptcy, and many of the other obstacles that life seems to serve up indiscriminately.

Fortunately, when things look the darkest – a mysterious old man named Jones has a miraculous way of showing up. Communicating what he calls “a little perspective,” Jones explains that he has been given a gift of noticing things that others miss. In his simple interactions, Jones speaks to that part in everyone that is yearning to understand why things happen and what they can do about it.

Based on a true story, The Noticer seeks to blend fiction, allegory, and inspiration. This, spoken by Jones to Andrews, speaks to me too…..