Kaleo - the blog of Erick Cobb

Kaleo Is Famous.....Kinda

Just thought you might like to see that the Kaleo site was listed on the ESV Blog as promoting the ESV Study Bible.

Thinking With Pictures

Here is an interesting book: The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures.  I first heard about it on The Reformissionary.  I got it thinking that it was just about how to make simple diagrams to help convey ideas, but it turns out that it is about more than that.  It's also about how to solve problems by thinking with pictures.  It has been very helpful in thinking through some ideas for Kaleo. 

This is a diagram that the 5:30 am Friday Men's Theology and Ministry guys and I have worked on to understand and remember four benefits we receive from Christ's work on the cross (propitiation, redemption, justification, and reconciliation).  Nothing amazing (it doesn't have to be), but it helps.  Just one of many I have drawing in my Moleskine.

If You're In The Market For A Study Bible - Wait!

If you're in the market for a study Bible, let me suggest you wait until October.  Why?  It looks like The ESV Study Bible (which comes out in October) is going to be better than anything out now - just judging from the list of contributors and the reviews it is getting.  Check out their website.

If you haven't hear of the ESV (English Standard Version), it is the version I teach from at Kaleo.  I have been enjoying it for about 4 years now.  It is a great balance readability and faithfulness to the original text.  For more information see the ESV site.

The Reason for God by Keller - 45% off!

For a few weeks Westminster Bookstore is selling The Reason for God at 45% off!

We recommend this book at Kaleo.  Get one for yourself and a few for friends that has intellectual objections with the Christian faith.

If You Only Read One Book in '08

If you read only one book in '08 make it The Reason for God by Tim Keller.  I just finished it while on vacation in Coronado with Natasha.  I had high expectations because Keller has been a huge blessing to Kaleo and to me personally.  I was not let down, The Reason for God is one of the best books I have ever read.

There are a few things in it that will upset some Christian readers such as Keller's belief in the compatibility of the Bible with evolution and his C.S. Lewis-like explanation of Hell (like in Lewis's The Great Divorce).  Neither of which get me worked up and I hope they wouldn't stop you from benefiting from this amazing book.

I originally got The Reason for God for the first half of the book in which Keller addresses common objections people have to Christianity.  I didn't think much of the second half when I first skimmed the book.  Well it turns out that the first half was great, but I really bought the book (in God's providence) for the second half.  In it Keller does an amazing job of laying out a positive case for the Gospel.  He draws clear distinctions between the Gospel and religion in ways that are so refreshing.  The chapter on the Trinity (chapter 14 - "The Dance of God") alone would have been worth the price of the book.  I was originally going to blog choice quotes, but they are really too numerous to pick from. 

One thing is clear Keller wrote The Reason for God for unbelievers in a way similar to C.S. Lewis's classic Mere Christianity (I actually think Keller's is better, at least for our time).  The cool thing is that it appears that unbelievers are buying it.  It has now been on the New York Times Bestseller list (the non-fiction list, not the advice list) for 5 weeks and it isn't because Christians are buying them all.  In fact I think that few Christians even know about it.  Keller was very savvy in having it published by a branch of Penguin instead of by a Christian publisher making it clear that it is intended for the secular market.

I have already given it to several  of my clients and colleagues, as well as, family.  I been giving it specifically to those who are wrestling with intellectual objections with the Christian faith with the hope that it will be a starting place for further discussion.  (Who do you have in your life that fits that description?  Get them one!)  An audio version is also available, as well as, a website about the book.

But even though it is written to unbelievers I was hugely blessed by it.  Reading it taught me new ways to communicate the Gospel.  But not only that reading it ministered the Gospel in a fresh way to my soul. 

The Reason for God is not just for beginners - just like the Gospel is not just for beginners - it is for YOU to nourish your soul on.

Thanks Dr. Keller for leading us to the banquet again!   

Subsitution At The Heart Of Both Sin and Salvation

"The concept of substitution may be said, then, to lie at the heart of both sin and salvation. For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and put himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be. Man claims perogatives that belong to God alone; God accepts penalties that belong to man alone." John Stott, The Cross of Christ (p. 160, 1986 ver)

BTW: This book is one of the most impactful books I have ever read - a books that has blessed us at Kaleo - I am now re-reading it - it's that good! Get it, Read it!

New "Books That Shape Kaleo" Page

I was inspired by a podcast called "The Pastor and His Reading" (C.J. Mahaney) to start a new page called "Books That Shape Kaleo".  This is a list of books I would urge you to read ("recommend" is too weak a word).  All these books have had a profoundly influenced me and Kaleo.  I hope to build the page over time so that it will help you buy books that will be well worth your time and money.

If you wonder whether we should be giving our time to reading good Christian books and commentaries and that perhaps we should only read the Bible have a listen to Spurgeon on the issue.

Religious Affections Audio for Free

You can get the audio of Religious Affections (Jonathan Edwards) for free here.

In it Edwards wrestles with the question: "What are the marks of true conversion?"

Honestly I couldn't get through the book, I hope the audio goes better - so many have raved about this book.

(You just have to register to get it for free.  And if you do you will get a monthly email of a free audiobook.)

"Einstein: His Life and Universe"

I just finished "Einstein: His Life and Universe" by Walter Isaacson.  I highly recommend it.  Einstein was such a fascinating person. 

On the one hand he was an amazing example of God's common grace (the grace that God extends to even to people who deny Him).  I was blown away when I found out that Einstein didn't really do experiments or even much in the way of mathematics to make his major discoveries.  Rather, he did "thought experiments" in which he just imagined what might happen in certain situation.  For example he would say to himself, "suppose there was a train traveling at the speed of light towards an observer and there is a light beam emitting from the train...." and then he would imagine how that light beam would appear to the observer.  He just thought out his major discovers!  Other scientists would then come along and verify that his discoveries were true.  Einstein had a strange intuition about how completely unseen things in the universe worked.  I wonder is this might be a small glimpse of how the human mind may have worked before the Fall and the noetic effects of sin clouded our thinking.

On the other hand the effects of the Fall were very evident in his personal life.  His relationship with women was cruel and lacked commitment.  His first wife became pregnant and had their first child before they were married.  He was still slow to marry her and agreed to do so only if she would find a way to get rid of their child (we don't know what happened to their daughter, adoption is assumed).  Later he leaves his first wife because of the affair he is having with his cousin.  He then marries his cousin, who he neglects and cheats on.  Einstein found the idea of a personal, knowable God intolerable (no doubt because he would then have to come to terms with his accountability before God for his sin).

In "Einstein: His Life and Universe we see that Einstein was a genius in his understanding of his universe but sadly was totally lost when it came to his life.  And this is the way man is (without a relationship of trust with God), a wonderful image-bearer of the living God yet strangely marred by a heart to deny the One who made him and loves him.  It would be great if you could read this book and see both sides of Einstein, but it would be even better is you took some time to really see not only the lostness but also the image of God in you nonbelieving friends and family.  It will be by seeing both that you will have the love and respect for them to take a risk and share your hope with them.   

Why I'm Reading "God is Not Great"

I am about a quarter of the way through "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" by Christopher Hitchen.  Here are a few reasons why I am taking the time to read it: 

First, a lot of people are reading it (11 weeks on the NYT bestseller list so far).  Second, I think it is important that we listen to the objections of intelligent atheists like Hitchen.  This is far better than hearing what other Christians think atheists believe (which can sometimes be straw man arguments).  Knowing what their objections are and laboring to give reasonable answers to them is part of what it means to love and respect unbelievers.  Third, Hitchen is a great writer (and reader- he reads the audio version), so he keeps drawing me back. 

Fourth, the subtitle of the book, "How Religion Poisons Everything", has some truth to it, if we define religion as man's attempt to justify himself before God, other people, and himself.  There has been little to argue with in the first four chapters in this regard.  None of the poisoning effects of religion in the first four chapters have applied to a life trusting and living out the Gospel.  On the other had the catalog of evils caused by man-made religion are undeniable.  Click here for the difference between the Gospel and religion.  Fifth, I want to hear from an outsider how religion poisons everything and honestly assess my life.  Is there any area of my life where I have drifted from trusting in and living out from the Gospel?  Is there any area of my life in which my Christian faith is poisonous because the simplicity of the Gospel been replaced with a self-justifying religion? 

I can tell you the first 70 pages are well worth reading.  I'll keep you posted as I move through the rest!