5 star = It was great!
4 star = It was good
3 star = It's okay
2 star = It was bad!
1 star = It was terrible!
I wanted to give this book 4.5 stars but there were two big problems with it and semi-ruined the book for me. The book has some great points and is worth the read if you have the time. One main issue other reviewers mentioned, this book is missing the gospel and this is terrible because all the way on page 27, the author tells readers to put down the book "and place your faith in [Christ]" "if you have never trusted Christ like this." But the book is missing the gospel! So how can an one place their faith in something they don't really understand? To his credit, Platt is writing for believers and states this in the beginning of the book, but then still this call to "place your faith" in Jesus is odd without a deeper explaination of the TRUE gospel of repentance vs the false gospel of "read the paragraph and make a decision".
The biggest issue I had with this book were pages 80-104... these pages made me want to throw my book out. All the great ideas and theology and the "focus on God's will for the church instead of our comfortable cush lives and desires" nearly went out the window, when I reached these pages. Platt takes "preaching the gospel to all nations" to an extreme compared to most Christians. Now, some of you will agree with Platt and if so, I recommend you read the book. But for the rest of us, this teaching adds more false legalism to scripture than the Bible truly says. Platt believes and teaches readers that "Jesus Christ will NOT return until Christians have taken the gospel to ALL tribes of peoples" - all nationalities or races - of which he claims there are "about 6,000 tribes who have not received the gospel and this amounts to 2 billion people". Platt tells us that the world must be Christianized in order for Jesus to return. So Platt's entire focus is on preaching to these 6,000 tribes RATHER than preaching to the 4,000 tribes who have "heard" the gospel. Platt does say the lines on "who has heard the gospel" and "who hasn't heard" are drawn up by people, so they aren't perfect, but Platt still emphasizes that our main missions and evangelism duties are to focused on those 6,000 tribes - RATHER than your own home down, another state, or one of the 4,000 tribes. I strongly disagree with Platt's interpretation of Matthew 24:14. Although at one point, he tries to say that he is not discouraging people from preaching to the people in their own cities, he contradicts himself when he writes, "Satan, in a sense, is just fine with missional churches in the West spending the overwhelming majority of our time, energy, and money on trying to reach people right around us. Satan may actually delight in this, for while we spend our lives on the people we see in front of us, more than 6,000 people groups for generations have never even heard the gospel and remain in the dark."
If you read carefully, you can see the "good intentions" of the author, but he gets lost in man-made thinking, weak arguments, bad motivations for evangelizing, and poor unclear writing at times. Platt seriously does touch on some great things and some of his writing is clear. Platt does an excellent job telling Christians to stop being so self-centered and be more god-centered. He challenges us to have our priorities straight and to make sure we are spending our money where it counts. For that part of his book, I give him 4.5 stars. It's very good, but not quite "outstanding/out of this world."
This book review was done for Thomas Nelson publisher in exchange for the book.
4.5 Stars for Dug Down Deep
5 star = It was great!
4 star = It was good
3 star = It's okay
2 star = It was bad!
1 star = It was terrible!
This book was very good because it is an easy read, relevant to all Christians, biblical and theologically sound. Dug Down Deep by Joshua Harris is a book that challenges readers to learn the truth about God. It is also a light version of systematic theology, as it attempts to in layman’s terms, explain the who, what, whys of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, the reliability of the Bible and how salvation and sanctification work. Harris explains his path from a being bored rebellious youth with no interest in God, to developing into a God-loving on-fire student and lover of theology. He tells us how he grew under the readings of famous Reformed theologians, pastors and authors like C.J. Mahaney, John Piper, J.I. Packer, Sinclair Ferguson, John Stott, D.A. Carson, Jonathan Edwards, Thomas Watson, Charles Spurgeon and John Calvin.
Harris’ story is inspirational and gives readers the feeling that “I can do this too!” and “Real Deep Christianity is not that hard” as they attempt to follow in Harris’ footsteps. Read the Reformers and seek God. Somewhere along the way, we’ll realize that we are developing a relationship with God.
I found Harris’ theology to be a light version of that of the other older, more well-seasoned and more famous Reformers. By “light version”, I mean as in “not as deep”, “sometimes not as clear” and “sometimes easier to grasp”. As I started reading this book, I was so excited and thought this would be a great book to give to all my friends and family who are baby Christians, because of the theology-light writing perspective. However, by the end of the book, if I could only give away one book, I would still hands-down rather give a friend a John Piper book than this Joshua Harris book. It’s just that Piper gets right to the point, is clear as a bell, has more fire and enthusiasm in his writing style, and really teaches solid theology very clearly and well-defined. Harris’ writing is fairly theologically sound, but not as clear cut and his writing style makes him seem less sure of what he is teaching. I feel like Harris could be you or me attempting to teach theology. We aren’t very well seasoned and we could definitely use some polishing. This book is not bad. It’s just not AS great! So, I would recommend it to others, but I would recommend it AFTER my friends have finished reading Piper, RC Sproul, Michael Horton, etc.
CRITICISMS
Harris reveals that he rejected Christianity as a youth and ended up joining a charismatic church for several years. Although he ended up leaving the charismatic church, you can easily see his warmth towards the movement. He learned from reading John Piper and John Calvin and other Reformers or Calvinists, but compared to these very theologically sound Christian leaders, Harris' writing does come across like a baby just starting to feel things out. Instead of really solid sound doctrine like Piper, you can detect the charismatic emotional-attraction in his personality and writings. Where as someone like Piper or Michael Horton will solidly and clearly state that God does everything for God’s own glory and Harris acknowledges and explains this fact as well, but he slips up 3 times throughout the book by leaning towards a human-focus, like when he writes "A God who loved helpless sinners like me SO MUCH that he came to die so we could be free to know and worship him for eternity." Piper, Sproul or Horton probably would have worded this from more of a God-point-of-view and written something like "God gave his son for God's glory and man benefitted as well." They would have written the book a bit more God-centered and less man-centered. However, I noticed Harris only wrote man-centered-ish views 3 times, so not bad for a learner. Otherwise, his theology is very clear and sound.
INSTEAD OF THIS BOOK... I would recommend a book from John Piper, RC Sproul, Michael Horton, Wayne Grudem or other seasoned Reformers.
This book review was done for Thomas Nelson publisher in exchange for the book.
4 star = It was good
3 star = It's okay
2 star = It was bad!
1 star = It was terrible!
This book was very good because it is an easy read, relevant to all Christians, biblical and theologically sound. Dug Down Deep by Joshua Harris is a book that challenges readers to learn the truth about God. It is also a light version of systematic theology, as it attempts to in layman’s terms, explain the who, what, whys of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, the reliability of the Bible and how salvation and sanctification work. Harris explains his path from a being bored rebellious youth with no interest in God, to developing into a God-loving on-fire student and lover of theology. He tells us how he grew under the readings of famous Reformed theologians, pastors and authors like C.J. Mahaney, John Piper, J.I. Packer, Sinclair Ferguson, John Stott, D.A. Carson, Jonathan Edwards, Thomas Watson, Charles Spurgeon and John Calvin.
Harris’ story is inspirational and gives readers the feeling that “I can do this too!” and “Real Deep Christianity is not that hard” as they attempt to follow in Harris’ footsteps. Read the Reformers and seek God. Somewhere along the way, we’ll realize that we are developing a relationship with God.
I found Harris’ theology to be a light version of that of the other older, more well-seasoned and more famous Reformers. By “light version”, I mean as in “not as deep”, “sometimes not as clear” and “sometimes easier to grasp”. As I started reading this book, I was so excited and thought this would be a great book to give to all my friends and family who are baby Christians, because of the theology-light writing perspective. However, by the end of the book, if I could only give away one book, I would still hands-down rather give a friend a John Piper book than this Joshua Harris book. It’s just that Piper gets right to the point, is clear as a bell, has more fire and enthusiasm in his writing style, and really teaches solid theology very clearly and well-defined. Harris’ writing is fairly theologically sound, but not as clear cut and his writing style makes him seem less sure of what he is teaching. I feel like Harris could be you or me attempting to teach theology. We aren’t very well seasoned and we could definitely use some polishing. This book is not bad. It’s just not AS great! So, I would recommend it to others, but I would recommend it AFTER my friends have finished reading Piper, RC Sproul, Michael Horton, etc.
CRITICISMS
Harris reveals that he rejected Christianity as a youth and ended up joining a charismatic church for several years. Although he ended up leaving the charismatic church, you can easily see his warmth towards the movement. He learned from reading John Piper and John Calvin and other Reformers or Calvinists, but compared to these very theologically sound Christian leaders, Harris' writing does come across like a baby just starting to feel things out. Instead of really solid sound doctrine like Piper, you can detect the charismatic emotional-attraction in his personality and writings. Where as someone like Piper or Michael Horton will solidly and clearly state that God does everything for God’s own glory and Harris acknowledges and explains this fact as well, but he slips up 3 times throughout the book by leaning towards a human-focus, like when he writes "A God who loved helpless sinners like me SO MUCH that he came to die so we could be free to know and worship him for eternity." Piper, Sproul or Horton probably would have worded this from more of a God-point-of-view and written something like "God gave his son for God's glory and man benefitted as well." They would have written the book a bit more God-centered and less man-centered. However, I noticed Harris only wrote man-centered-ish views 3 times, so not bad for a learner. Otherwise, his theology is very clear and sound.
INSTEAD OF THIS BOOK... I would recommend a book from John Piper, RC Sproul, Michael Horton, Wayne Grudem or other seasoned Reformers.
This book review was done for Thomas Nelson publisher in exchange for the book.
1 Star: The One Year Chronological Bible NIV
5 star = It was great!
4 star = It was good
3 star = It's okay
2 star = It was bad!
1 star = It was terrible!
This book was terrible because it is highly inaccurate - the chronological order, while attempting to be chronological, it is not chronologically accurate at all! There are so many errors in the placement of the verses that it makes this bible unreadable!
Examples:
John 1:29-2:11 is about the events of 3 days in a row but somehow the publisher inserted Jesus' 40 days/40nights in the desert being tempted by Satan in between the 3 days, breaking them apart. The publisher took the Day 1 of John 1:29-34 and moved it before the 40 days and 40 nights, while he placed the Day 2 and Day 3 of John 1:35-2:11 after Jesus' temptation in the desert. In this context, the passages make no timeline sense.
Mark 1:16-20 a story about Jesus calling his disciples "fishers of men" is inserted into the wrong place - also inserted between the 3 days of John 1:35-2:11, illogically breaking them up.
John the Baptist's death is inserted too early in this bible's timeline. In fact, the publisher put it right after the verses that say "John was not in Prison yet" (John 3:24). John 4:1-46 explain how Jesus and John the Baptist were both baptizing and how some men started comparing the two, so when Jesus learned of this comparison, He left Judea and headed back to Galilee, through Samaria, where he stopped for two days (John 4:40, 43). This is where he met the Samaritan woman with the 5 husbands. But the publisher takes the verses from Mark 1:14-15, Matthew 4:12-17, Luke 4:14-15 (where Jesus hears that John the Baptist is put into prison, and THIS IS THE REASON WHY Jesus decides to return to Galilee) and the publisher inserts this story in between the 2 days where Jesus was staying in Samaria. This makes no sense at all. The way this NIV bible reads, Jesus now has two conflicting reasons to head back to Galilee and after he returned to Galilee in Mark 1:14-15, Matthew 4:12-17, Luke 4:14-15, SUDDENLY he is returning to Galilee again (although he has never left) after two days. This is so silly! How can Jesus be in Galilee, then after two days, return to Galilee again when he never left Galilee in the first place?
As you can see by these examples, this NIV bible is completely filled with errors in chronological order, to the point that the book itself makes no sense and is unreadable. The stories don't flow correctly geographically and timewise. They loose and add days by moving verses around. They also make Jesus skip from one town to another instantly, when in real life, these cities are many miles apart and it takes many days to travel from one city to the next.
INSTEAD OF THIS BOOK... Buy the One Year Chronological Bible NLT version. The chronological order is much MUCH sounder (although still not perfect).
4 star = It was good
3 star = It's okay
2 star = It was bad!
1 star = It was terrible!
This book was terrible because it is highly inaccurate - the chronological order, while attempting to be chronological, it is not chronologically accurate at all! There are so many errors in the placement of the verses that it makes this bible unreadable!
Examples:
John 1:29-2:11 is about the events of 3 days in a row but somehow the publisher inserted Jesus' 40 days/40nights in the desert being tempted by Satan in between the 3 days, breaking them apart. The publisher took the Day 1 of John 1:29-34 and moved it before the 40 days and 40 nights, while he placed the Day 2 and Day 3 of John 1:35-2:11 after Jesus' temptation in the desert. In this context, the passages make no timeline sense.
Mark 1:16-20 a story about Jesus calling his disciples "fishers of men" is inserted into the wrong place - also inserted between the 3 days of John 1:35-2:11, illogically breaking them up.
John the Baptist's death is inserted too early in this bible's timeline. In fact, the publisher put it right after the verses that say "John was not in Prison yet" (John 3:24). John 4:1-46 explain how Jesus and John the Baptist were both baptizing and how some men started comparing the two, so when Jesus learned of this comparison, He left Judea and headed back to Galilee, through Samaria, where he stopped for two days (John 4:40, 43). This is where he met the Samaritan woman with the 5 husbands. But the publisher takes the verses from Mark 1:14-15, Matthew 4:12-17, Luke 4:14-15 (where Jesus hears that John the Baptist is put into prison, and THIS IS THE REASON WHY Jesus decides to return to Galilee) and the publisher inserts this story in between the 2 days where Jesus was staying in Samaria. This makes no sense at all. The way this NIV bible reads, Jesus now has two conflicting reasons to head back to Galilee and after he returned to Galilee in Mark 1:14-15, Matthew 4:12-17, Luke 4:14-15, SUDDENLY he is returning to Galilee again (although he has never left) after two days. This is so silly! How can Jesus be in Galilee, then after two days, return to Galilee again when he never left Galilee in the first place?
As you can see by these examples, this NIV bible is completely filled with errors in chronological order, to the point that the book itself makes no sense and is unreadable. The stories don't flow correctly geographically and timewise. They loose and add days by moving verses around. They also make Jesus skip from one town to another instantly, when in real life, these cities are many miles apart and it takes many days to travel from one city to the next.
INSTEAD OF THIS BOOK... Buy the One Year Chronological Bible NLT version. The chronological order is much MUCH sounder (although still not perfect).
New Book Blog!
Since I love to read, a friend of mine suggested I start a book blog. Remember, my book reviews will be honest and critical. I will include info about the authors and the author's religious views, beliefs and denomination (if known). So here it is! I hope you enjoy it!
Haido
Haido
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