Free Book: A Review

-
 

Free Book by Brian Tome - Thomas Nelson Publishers

Brian Tome is the lead pastor of Crossroads in Cincinnati and is also the author of Free Book his latest offering from Thomas Nelson.  Tome begins his book with a warning.  He declares that he is fed up with Christians who are living in fear, and not living into the hope that comes with freedom in Christ.  In fact, he is so fed up that he uses some strong language (to some perhaps) to make his point.  Tome then declares that there are things that he will say in the cause of Christian freedom that will give more than a few Christians pause, as well as a good many other folk.  Despite his warnings, however, Tome's ideas about Christian freedom are not nearly as controversial as the reader might be led to believe after reading the first few pages--unless a strong belief in the power of the the Holy Spirit and the fact that Christians are part of a larger spiritual battle that is taking place all around them is controversial.  Free Book is a practical guide to basic Christian beliefs--particularly those that have been laid out by none other than Jesus and the Apostle Paul.  Tome asserts quite plainly that the "truth" of Jesus Christ and what he came to earth to accomplish will actually set people "free" if they embrace a relationship with Him.  Tome's efforts to define Christianity in positive rather than negative terms is at the forefront of Free Book, and his point is very well taken.  This is a great read for new Christians, recovering fundamentalists or anyone who struggles with legalistic views of Christianity. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment! If you comment Anonymously, your comment will summarily be deleted.

Popular posts from this blog

Wuv... True Wuv...

-
Image
Go ahead. Ask me what my favorite "chick flick" is. The Princess Bride , that's what.  The pic at the top of this entry gave it away, I know. There are three reasons why it is my favorite "chick flick." 1. It's not a chick flick.  2. The only kissing is at the end of the movie... where it's supposed to be. 3. It has Andre the Giant in it. Any of these reasons could stand alone in their own right as pretty dang valid reasons why The Princess Bride is atop my list of romantic films.  But when the aforementioned reasons are lumped together, I don't see how anyone could argue against it. There is a scene in The Princess Bride that makes me giggle a whole lot...the wedding scene where Peter Cook, playing a priest with a speech impediment presides over Princess Buttercup's almost wedding to the evil Chris Sarandon (and I hear he's still pretty evil).   Here it is. Wuv...  true wuv...  gotta love that. I've been reading and re-re
Read more

Rapha & Yada - "Be Still & Know": Reimagined

-
Image
One of the most well-used verses in the Bible comes to us from Psalm 46:10, which reads like this:  He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;     I will be exalted among the nations,     I will be exalted in the earth.” That one line---"Be still, and know that I am God"---finds its way into greeting cards, wall art, church signs and the like.  And it sounds so nice, doesn't it?  But what does it actually mean ? What does it mean to be still  and know  that God is God?  Well, to dig deeper into that phrase to see what it's really saying, I'm going to have to bust out some Hebrew--so, don't hold it against me. The Hebrew word that's used here for the phrase "be still" is the word  rapha. And get this... It means "to hang limp, sink down, be feeble."  That's a heckuva lot different than what we usually take the phrase "be still" to mean, right? I don't know about you, but whenever I have heard that verse
Read more

The Lord Needs It: Lessons From A Donkey

-
Image
This Sunday is Palm Sunday---the beginning of Holy Week. It's also one of those Sundays when you can't ignore the church calendar and just preach whatever you want.  I am sure that some people do just that, but they probably aren't Presbyterian, and I am sure that the liturgical rhythm of the Church is not first and foremost in their mind. And they probably have had no trouble at all working on their sermon this week. I'm not one to blindly follow tradition, but there are some things that you just don't do---and you can't just ignore  the story of Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.   But this leads to a bit of a quandary...  In the short time I have been doing this whole preaching thing I have gone through the Palm Sunday story a few times.  After a while you sort of wonder if your congregation has heard your Palm Sunday riff a few too many times. That sermon needs to get preached, though.  While we celebrate the cheers and pal
Read more