By:
Published 2011
Price: $15.99 US
In "Close Enough to Hear God
Breathe", we are told that we will "encounter a rich message that recounts the story of a God who has
been inviting all of humanity, and each individual, into his tender embrace
since time began". "The message that I want people to hear is
this," the author states, "I think it's very clear that the whole
message of scripture, and the whole message of the human life, is that God is
saying to you, 'You are my child. I love you and I'm pleased with you'."
It is a book that he sees dealing with "love, faith and belonging"
The author, Greg
Paul Paul 's four grown children,
his family and ministry at the Sanctuary
street mission and stories from scripture. Paul , certainly brings his captivating
experience into the writing of this book. He describes Sanctuary as "a ministry where the
wealthy and poor share their experiences and resources daily and care for the
most excluded people in the city, including addicts, prostitutes, the homeless,
and gay, lesbian, and transgendered people".
His experience
with difficult circumstances has certainly affected his writing style. Paul
says that the world we live in conditions us against believing that we are
unequivocally loved by God—or in fact that we could be unconditionally loved by anyone. "They are very strident
voices and we hear them all around us: in our work places, in our families, on
television. Voices who seek to define us for their own benefit. Equivocal
voices who tell us 'You're good if you do this. You're bad if you do something
else.' Driven by someone else's profit motive, a thirst for power, neediness.
We get conditioned to think God will only love us if we do what he requires.".
Unfortunately this "unconditional love" does not bode well with the
necessity of repentance. His statement that "my Father does see me as very
good" (p. 39) here and elsewhere do not really wrestle with our bondage to
sin and need of redemption. We are "very good" in terms of being in Christ ,
but this must be explicitly stated, else we are left with a very erroneous
misunderstanding.
Further on this: "The voices that my people
have heard—the people who are part of my core community—are voices who say 'You
were beaten or raped because you're bad, and that's all you deserve.' The last thing they need to hear is that
they are a dirty, rotten sinner on their way to hell. Because whether or
not they understand that theologically, they already feel it in their bones.
"What they need to hear is the same thing you or I need to hear. That God
says, 'You are my child, and I love you, and I delight in you.' "If people
begin to hear that, it's an incredibly healing word to them. It's the only
healing word.". Yet, the message of the cross is that we all deserve God's
wrath. But the grace of God is extended for those who believe. I would disagree
that people already "feel it in their bones" that they are sinners.
Although some of the most difficult situations that Paul
deals with most likely have a very desperate outlook, if you were to ask most
people, they would respond that they believe they are basically good.
He has an interesting approach to scripture: "The idea that reading scripture can be
an intimate experience is something that's been nagging away at me for a long
time," he says. "I've become more and more convinced that the whole
gig—whether you're leading a church, or raising a family, or dealing with
street level people—the whole thing is about intimacy with Jesus ".
Unfortunately this "intimacy" does not seem to extend to too much biblical
interaction.
The promise is that "the reader learns to hear the voice of God
speaking in the ordinary events and relationships of life, as well as in the
broad, deep current of Scripture". If this were the case it would have
been a captivating read, but Scripture is
not presented forthrightly. The author claims that "reading the Bible
ought to be like putting ones head on Gods chest. Close Enough to Hear God
Breathe will help readers do just that. And when they do, they'll hear him
whisper, You're my child, my love, my pleasure". Yet, the reader is left
to read scripture on their own time for "Close Enough to Hear God
Breathe"
only indirectly refers to Scripture. The best you might get is which chapter of
a book a reference is from. When Biblical characters are referred to, how they
exactly "heard from God" is not really explored.
For the format of the book, don't expect much
explanation from the chapter titles
in the Table of Contents, for they are vague and do a poor job of linking with
the overall theme. Chapter six, is
as good as any for showing the overall format. Entitled “Hammer and Nails”, Paul
describes a time where he was renovating his house and his son, who was five-years-old,
wanted to help. Paul gave his son a hammer
suitable for a child and let him pound nails into boards, while Paul
himself worked on the renovation. Paul ’s
son was so interested and so intent on his “work”, and while they weren’t
exactly productive, it was such a pleasure for Paul
to share these things with his son. Paul
goes on in the chapter to parallel this story to God letting us help
Him with his work, and how we are like children compared to how God would do
things.
As toughing as this story is, his
"theological" discussion around this story was so misrepresentative,
I am quite surprised that the publisher let it go. Paul
completely misstates what Reformed
theology is. He states that Calvin started
"his famous TULIP theological system with the letter T-
T Paul seems completely ignorant of Reformed
theology and this misrepresentation should not have been allowed to pass by the
publisher.
Yet, there are occasional insightful treatments,
like his treatment of redemption. He distinguishes how someone
"deems" something to have a judgment on his and to then
"redeem" to render a new judgement (p.104). He ties entomological
treatment to popular media, and situations in Job, and Galatians. What I found
fascinating, was his previous critique of Calvin
in having a flawed system yet Paul completely
misses the great Romans 8 chain of salvation.
The book includes a readers guide but it doesn’t make much reference to Scripture so
don’t expect to find a full blown Bible study guide. I wish this book had
been more practical and hands on in it’s approach for hearing from God. This is
not a book I would recommend if you’re looking for Biblical instruction on
intimacy with God. The readers guide would have had a better use as application
points set in or at the end of each chapter. The many theological flaws and lack
of any real Biblical treatment will misdirect someone to actually be
"Close Enough to Hear God Breathe". Avoid this book at all costs.
Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.
Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group
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