Amazon YA Best Book of the Month "Rapture Practice"

Susan,

Thanks for the explanation. It’s obvious I failed to fully distinguish between the purposes of “About Filings” and normal Sharper Iron articles. Candidly, when I visited Sharper Iron last night, I had just finished reading with grief a set of Facebook posts from a gentleman I’ve know for many years. He has rejected in a very public way the Christian teaching he has received. His Facebook posts were filled with expressions of personal, emotional pain (dark depression & near-suicidal thoughts) and misguided propagation of post-modern “moralisms” intermingled with cynical attacks on any sort of religious verities (including Christianity). My reaction (over-reaction) to the filing was no doubt colored by the emotions I was feeling at the time and the lateness of the hour.

Reflecting on this in light of your explanation (and the benefit of sleep :-) ), I understand the rationale (and usefulness) of this filing. As a Christian (and especially as a parent), I think it is good to see first hand where mere behavioristic, performance-oriented parenting (and Christianity) leads. When thought of in that way, this post serves as a poignant, sober warning, and a strong motivator to live a life filled with Godly joy that models right affection to my family and the world.

Your comments are premised (correctly) on this truth: Genuine, full-orbed Christianity engages the whole person: mind, affections and will (i.e., the heart). Any attempt at Christian living and instruction that doesn’t engage all three is defective. I mention this because I think it’s key to avoiding the sort of personal tragedy exemplified by both Rapture Practice and the Facebook posts of the gentleman I mentioned earlier. For many years many Christians—including some Fundamentalists who, of all people, should have known better—focused too much on the mind and/or the will while neglecting (at least in terms of relative emphasis) right affections. Some individual fundamentalists (e.g. A.W. Tozer) saw this clearly a number of years ago, but for many it was a big blind spot. The works of Piper, et. al. in recent years have been a corrective. Piper has taken much of the sound biblical reasoning in this area that Jonathan Edwards articulated years ago in A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections and made it more accessible to modern readers. Though not perfect, Piper’s work has moved us in the right direction. I’m very thankful for it, and also for the work of others (like Scott Aniol) who continue to resurrect, explain and re-apply biblical truths that lead us to a right practice of a “theology of the affections” in our modern age. May their tribe increase!