Book Review of "Good Book" by David Plotz

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Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible. [Soft cover]

by David Plotz

352 pages, $14.99

ISBN-13: 978-0061374258

Nonfiction

In a world that is awash with religious literature weekly, it seems that some authors go out of their way to make readers angry. Such is the case when David Plotz, a self-styled agnostic Jew, sits down with the Hebrew Bible and reads it with introspection. His original intention is sound: what happens when an average guy reads the good book and tries to understand it?

For one thing, irreverence happens...a lot. For instance, in Exodus 33, the Bible shares a wonderful story of Moses requesting to see God's glory. Moses is entreating God (Yahweh) to show all of his majesty to him to "prove" that God held him in highest favor. God responds in effect, "I do hold you in high esteem but no one can see my face and live. Go stand in the cleft of this rock and I will cover you with my hand. Then I will allow my glory to pass by and you can see my back." Instead of Plotz being overwhelmed by God's accommodation of Moses, he makes a very crass analysis. He says, "...Or, to put it another way, God moons Moses."

Perhaps Plotz could have exclaimed how he did not understand the theological significance of why Moses would want to see God in his fullest glory instead of resorting to what could be construed as tactless language. Such investigation might have provided ample fodder for a few books.

Nonetheless, the reader will discover that tact will be in short order throughout the rest of the book. Plotz makes no apologies for this - in fact, his defense is an age-old false maxim that the Old Testament (what is the Hebrew Bible) demonstrates a God that is vengeful, capricious, and bent on ?ber judgment. In this way, Plotz feels somewhat vindicated in his irreverence since his reading of the Hebrew Bible does not bring him any closer to God.

Who should read this book? All Christians!

While the language is downright disrespectful, Plotz does provide decent plot summaries of each book of the Hebrew Bible. If you can overlook his banal insensitivity, you will learn a lot about the Old Testament. But remember, some of his insights will not be appropriate for, let's say, your Junior High Sunday School class.

Review by Steven King, MBA, MEd

Was Jesus A Creationist?

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(Mark 10:6) "But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female."

This week, one of the hot news stories out of the United Kingdom was about Richard Dawkins' statement that he was an agnostic. Richard Dawkins the author, lecturer and hero of those who think God is a silly concept sat in a moderated discussion (some say a debate) with Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. If you remember, Dr. Rowan Williams was the clergyman who presided at the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.

In the aftermath of this "debate" the media fixated on whether Richard Dawkins really is the "World's Most Famous Atheist." During this televised event, Dawkins classified himself as an "agnostic" rather than an "atheist." But just to make sure everyone understood his position, he mentioned that he was almost certain God does not exist.

Does it really matter whether Dawkins is an agnostic or an atheist? Although the media thinks this is big news, they completely overlooked the one item that should have been newsworthy for the Christian audience. According to the article in The Telegraph, the Archbishop "said that he believed that human beings had evolved from non-human ancestors but were nevertheless 'in the image of God.' " This stems from the other statements in which the Archbishop denied the literal account of creation in Genesis. If you read the sentence carefully, he really believes we ascended in an evolutionary process. In other words, we evolved into the image of God. Unfortunately, once you throw out the literalness of the Genesis account, you also have to throw out the words of Jesus Christ.

In a 2006 interview, we find Dr. Williams believes creationism is a "category mistake" and should not be taught. In Mark 10:6, Jesus makes a profound statement proving He believes in the literal creation account found in Genesis. In fact, if you combine this with the other places where Jesus references Genesis you discover that He did not believe the Biblical account was an allegory at all, unlike the current Archbishop of Canterbury. There are many today who are " theistic evolutionists." But it is an impossible position to maintain while believing in the teachings of Jesus. If we allow for Jesus to make a "category mistake" here, where else does He teach in error? If Jesus made any errors in His viewpoint of the Scriptures, not only does it call into question all of His teachings, it also makes Him less than God. He becomes just another rabbi with some radical opinions. It is extremely important that Jesus believed and taught in a literal creation account from Genesis.

It doesn't really matter whether Richard Dawkins is an agnostic or atheist. At the end of the day, it all ends up in the same place: unbelief. But we do need to recognize and distinguish ourselves from churchmen who cloak themselves in the logic of scientific theory. The media had no problem with the Archbishop because it really wasn't news that he held this position on creation. But those who want Christianity represented to the world and believe in a literal Biblical interpretation better take heed who is taking their side in the public arena. And we all better beware whether the pulpit is filled with someone who believes the teachings of Jesus.

The Renewed Mind - http://www.mychangedmind.com/

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