Chapter 3 of The World-Tilting Gospel, by Dan Phillips

So now that Dan has shown us how Adam sinned and died spiritually, we need to look at how this affects us in the here and now.  After all, that was his sin...it isn't ours, right?  Dan points out how Scripture shows that in Genesis 5:3, we see that Adam had a son "in his own likeness, after his image."  In reading further, we can see the difference between Adam's image after the fall (Dan also shows how this term is not nearly strong enough) and God's image (remember that God created Adam in His image).  We also see that following down that line throughout early history (early meaning we look at Genesis 4), things got progressively worse.

This brings us to Dan's discussion of the meaning of sin.  He has shown some of its effects (a lot of death for sure - and Dan went through defining death in the last chapter), but we need to get a grasp on what sin itself is.  I think he does a great job of showing us that we must define sin by looking at the perfect standard of God in order to get a true meaning.  That means we have to look at God and then ourselves, not others.  He then takes us back to Scripture to answer the question "How far does it go?" with regards to the "natural addiction to lawlessness passed on through his (Adam's) children".  And the picture painted isn't very pretty. 

Dan walks us through the history of the Old Testament to show us that all of mankind is stained with sin.  Sadly, as Dan notes, "It is sometimes said that the notion of 'original sin' or 'total depravity' (i.e., that every part of us is warped by sin) was either invented by the apostle Paul, or was made up later by Christian theologians."  Dan shows how the Bible itself backs up the concepts of original sin and total depravity way back in the Old Testament.  He pulls from much of Old Testament Scripture to show that there is not one single good person...that not one person can say they've cleansed themselves from sin and has a pure heart.  This is seen in the lives of all the people that are thought of as great men of God in the Old Testament.

And then Dan references what I consider the strongest portion of Scripture regarding just how stained by sin all of mankind is...Isaiah 64:6: "We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.  We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away."  This verse doesn't talk about our sins, but our righteous deeds.  As Dan points out, "deeds done in religious service are tainted with self-love, self-seeking, self-worship."  He also gets to the depth of our sin by showing the true meaning of "a polluted garment" in the original Hebrew text.  I'm sure many of you know it already, but for those of you who don't, it isn't pretty.  That is another detail I will leave for you to read in the book.

So now that Dan has demonstrated that the Old Testament teaches of our depravity, he moves on to the New Testament.  Before even getting into the epistles, Dan reminds us that Jesus Himself affirmed the truthfulness and authority of the Old Testament.  Jesus says that we must repent and Dan shows that this indicates "a change of mind so fundamental, so root-to-branch, that the life changes as a consequence."  He then lays out the following as what is not "the premise of such a command":

• Jesus wouldn't say this if we were right with God
• Jesus wouldn't say this if we were OK and just needed to do more or do better
• Jesus wouldn't say this if we just needed to fix a thing or two

Dan's humor shines a bit here and once again, I have left the details for you to read for yourself.  I have also left out the fundamental premise that Dan lays out for us.  Which I say is what every sinner must come to grips with before being saved.  I'm not saying they have to say the exact same words, but that the thought he describes will resonate with a person upon being quickened...or even upon rejection of the truth because somebody just doesn't want to deal with the implications of that thought.  Dan lays out part of those implications from the very words of Jesus regarding how man is defiled.

So now that we have seen how nasty and sinful we are, how do we deal with that?  Dan moves on to show us that "Jesus gives two extreme prescriptions, for what we need in the face of His teaching."  The first of which is "the cross".  There are many wrong ideas of what this involves, but Dan does a good job of explaining what it really means to carry our cross daily.  The second prescription is "new birth".  Dan also does a good job of explaining this from Scripture so that we have a good understanding of what it means to be born again.

We are then taken from the words of Jesus to the words of Peter.  And we shouldn't be surprised that Peter, like Jesus, said the people needed to repent.  This was his message at Pentecost, and it was also what he affirms in 1 Peter.  Dan also demonstrates that "Paul also confirmed and developed the teaching of Jesus".  He takes us to Romans, where Paul demonstrates that we are all guilty, that there is no good person seeking after God, and "sin came to hold us all in its vice-like grip".  Dan then takes us through Paul's comparison between Jesus and Adam and shows that Paul shows that Jesus is "head of a new subset of humanity" and "what He did affects all of those whom He represents."  He also lays out Paul's description of man's condition from Ephesians 2 and gives us some humorous concepts of what Paul does not say about us...concepts that (sadly) many seem to hold as being true.  He also goes through his own personal dealings with the "illusory" thoughts that he had about death and relates that to how many Christians have illusory thoughts about the concept of their spiritual state.  Again, he inserts a bit of humor to really give us an idea of how out of line we are with reality before salvation.  And he shows how Paul is in line with the same ideas that we saw in the Old Testament with regards to the sinful state of man.

So Dan has laid out the bad news for us.  He summarizes by laying out a few bullet points showing how "we have seen ourselves as God sees us".  He walks us through a summary of these first three chapters, which make up Part One of the book, and tells us that "We must deal with the fact: The Gospel is offensive to human pride.  If what we preach as "Gospel" is not offensive, we're doing it wrong."  This is important to keep in mind because, as Dan states, "the only Gospel that saves is the Gospel that offends."  He ends the chapter, and Part One, by saying "It is time we understood that offensive, saving Gospel."  And he does so in Part Two (Chapters 4-6).

Before closing out this chapter review, I want to say that I can not understate how well Dan uses word pictures and humor in this book.  He really brings to life the thoughts and concepts that he is trying to explain from the Bible.  And it is so readable that I can't think of anybody who would not be able to read through it easily.  I can't overstate how sorely this book is needed in the post-Christian culture today...I hope that it finds its way into many, many hands. 

Thanks for writing this book, Dan...I know that God is working through your efforts to spread the "offensive, saving Gospel".

Chapter 2 of The World-Tilting Gospel, by Dan Phillips

So now that we've seen some examples of bad or incorrect worldviews, Dan takes us back to the very beginning in Chapter 2.  "To assemble a worldview based on God's truth rather than the world's lies or our hearts' self-serving deceptions, we must begin at the beginning - as in, 'In the beginning.'"  We see that the first three chapters of Scripture "convey an intense concentration of foundational revelation that is breathtaking in its depth and scope.  It is here that we first encounter the truth of God, His nature, His word, His creation, and His plan for all the ages."  Sounds like pretty important stuff, huh?  I can't stress how important this is to understanding the truth of Who God is and who we are.  So many people have done damage to proper theology by not looking at Genesis 1-3 as being literal history and trying to say it is allegory.  As Dan states, if we get these verses "fundamentally wrong...we get everything else wrong." (emphasis mine)  He sets out to hit these three highlights from these three chapters:

1. Man's preparation
2. Man's probation
3. Man's prostration

First, we have to understand why it is that God put us here.  As we read through the first chapter of Genesis, we see God building upon His creation day by day and the days have parallels that the text of this book works through.  Dan brings out the details of these parallels in order to work up to the "crowning act of creation", and then shows the importance of the creation of man in God's image.  We also see that God tells Adam and Eve to multiply and fill the earth and subdue it...God gives them dominion over all of the life on the earth as well.  And God has prepared man to follow God's command...all they have to do is obey.

That brings us to man's probation.  We've seen what God has told man to do - "Multiply, subdue, chow down."  And he could eat from any tree in the garden except for one.  Dan paints a picture of how good this fruit must have been because there were none of the after-effects of sin...no chemicals, no rotting, and I'm thinking that they were no throw-aways.  As for the one tree not to be eaten from, there have been many speculations as to what this tree was and Dan lays waste to a couple of popular ones.  Regardless of what the fruit itself was, it is true that eating of this tree is rebellion and "the tree represented autonomy, the illusion of self-rule."  The point is made that we will never really know what would have happened if Adam and Eve (and all of us) had chosen to listen to God.

And who do they (and we) decide to listen to instead?  The serpent!  We all know the conversation here, but Dan draws out a point from the original language that English just doesn't show us.  I'd tell you, but I want you to read the book and find out for yourself.  Needless to say, the Serpent knew the weak spot to go after and didn't face much resistance in his efforts.  Satan says God wasn't telling the truth and that man could be like God if they ate from the tree.  Dan makes a good point of how people tell this lie today in the following ways:

• You aren't realizing your potential
• You aren't fully actualized
• You aren't authentic
• You aren't having your best life now
• You are trapped by legalistic myths about God
• You should fulfill your destiny

Any of this sound familiar?  This is one of the reasons that I am glad Dan wrote this book...he takes on all of these types of sentiments and takes them back to their origin.  Too many people are unwilling to take a strong enough stand against the false teachers in the world today and so many are being led astray.  And they are facing the same punishment that God told Adam and Eve they would face for eating from the forbidden tree - eternal death.  Dan also takes the time to deal with the objections that it is not fair for God to mete out this punishment to us when we didn't choose Adam and Eve to represent us and we didn't get the chance to make the decision.  And I can't think of a better argument than he puts forth here.  So we see that man has disobeyed God and now is facing the punishment that God had already promised.

So man is supposed to die, right?  Then why are Adam and Eve still breathing?  What gives?  Well, it all depends on what is meant by dying.  The Bible speaks of both spiritual and physical life and death.  Dan pulls from Scripture and adds more depth to the definitions and helps us to see that Adam and Even did dies the moment they ate that fruit, but it just isn't the same picture of death that most of us have.  When you look at the spiritual ramifications, it is pretty grim.  Look at how Adam reacted when God appears in the garden...he hides from God...which is quite silly when you really think about it - you can't be hidden from God.  This is Adam's Creator, with Whom he had enjoyed fellowship and from Whom he received dominion over the rest of the world.  Also, Dan shows that offending God has become acceptable in the eyes of man and then lists the following implications (but in much better detail):

• God no longer rules man
• God's glory is not central, but self-preservation
• Man's perception of God is inadequate
• Man is evasive about sin
• Adam blames God

So we see how man reacted...and then we see God's reaction in His response.  Amazingly, He shows grace and promises that He "will send a second Man, a las Adam, to win out where they so miserably failed."  God also lays out the curses on man and the earth for this sin and Adam and Eve are left to deal with the consequences, which we still face today. 

So we now see the wonder of creation and "have learned what the world does not know: what it means to be human."  We can also see how everything went wrong and how far man fell in that short instant of time.  So what about us?  How does this all affect us thousands of years later.  As Dan suggests, "Read on."

Chapter 1 of The World-Tilting Gospel, by Dan Phillips

In the first chapter, we see that in order to have a "real, dynamic" relationship with God that is "going somewhere", we need to know who God is and who we are.  After putting forth a list of questions about God and another about ourselves, Dan asks the natural questions that come to mind, "But where do we start?  With knowledge of God, or of ourselves?"  And he does well to mention that even John Calvin struggled with this same thing when he states that "Calvin confesses that 'which one precedes and brings forth the other is not easy to discern.'"  Also included is a good excerpt from Institutes of the Christian Religion (which I also highly recommend) that gets a bit deeper into the issue and gets us to really think about how we should evaluate ourselves.  From there, we are taken to the thought of how self-awareness comes to us first and that babies don't really think about the glory of God (Dan adds some good humor here - he makes it really easy to read).  However, the point is made that "while self-awareness comes first in time, surely the knowledge of God comes first in importance."  And also of importance is how we view "ourselves as we stand before God" and that this "is inextricably interwoven with our view of God."  So Dan shows us how it is important to know ourselves and to know God and that we have to have a right view of ourselves before God to really have a right view of God.

Now Dan takes us through some of the "Wrong Answers and the Damage They Cause".  It is sections like these that really make me appreciate this book because Dan really takes on the philosophies of the modern church culture (that really just seep their way in from the world) and shows why they are problematic.  In particular, he covers the following unbiblical worldviews:

1. God is "the Grand Rubber Stamp in the Sky".  Basically God loves us and wants for us what we want for us.  No talk of being saved from our sinful desires and the punishment from our sinfulness.
2. Sin has not killed us, but has "disabled", "hurt", and "wounded" us.  The unredeemed sinner "still brings something positive to the equation."  And without the help of the unredeemed sinner, God's work is ineffective. 
3. Sin has rendered us "spiritually helpless", but we have it in us to bring ourselves to Christ.  Sinners need to empty themselves and become "kind of like a living puppet" because we need to "wait for God to take control".

Dan uses some characters to develop these worldviews and show the implications of such thoughts.  Again, he makes it very easy to read, all the while working through the deep thoughts we need to when we consider differing worldviews.  This is important because we need to be able to see how these don't line up with Scripture and how this affects people with these worldviews.  We also need to be able to counter these worldviews and can not properly do so without working through them as Dan does here.

So now that Dan has laid out these three characters and their worldviews, he makes the point that they all "have something in common with the world.  The world insists that we must 'listen to our hearts'".  He shows what appeals this has to each of the characters and where this thinking directs them.  And then he blows that all apart by stating that "God's view is exactly opposed to the world's - and here starts the tilting."  The clear point is made from the Bible that our hearts can not be trusted and that we can't even know our own hearts (Jeremiah 17:9).  He also shows what the Bible means when it refers to the heart, which is also at odds with worldly thinking.  Dan does a great job of working through the exegesis of Jeremiah 17:9 and adds a couple of good graphics to show what our hearts are biblically and how they have been affected by sin and how "the heart sees what it wants to see...self-diagnosis is hopeless."  He even uses a wonderful (although scary) analogy of self-diagnosis from his own life and how if he had gone by his own diagnosis of his condition, "you'd not be reading this book." (Yikes!)

And to wrap up the chapter, Dan once again makes the point that we need "A Whole-Bible View".  He shows that we need to look at the fact that Jesus used all of Scripture during His ministry and even said that "not the smalles part of it could be nullified."  This is important because a lot of folks like to pretend that we only need to worry about the New Testament.  But Dan makes it clear that "to understand Jesus, we must begin where His thiking begins: not with John 3:16, but with Genesis 1:1, and on through all that follows."  To which I give a hearty amen. 

So Dan will be leading us to look back to the beginning in the next chapter so that we can see how everything started and how we got to where we are today.  I hope that you are all encouraged to read along through the book.  I'm trying to put just enough there to get you interested in the text because Dan did a wonderful job of putting together a book that is witty and conversational, while still deep and probing deep into ourselves and into Scripture.  It has made me laugh, think, and examine myself to see where my world needs some tilting.

Preface/Intro to The World-Tilting Gospel, by Dan Phillips

I am reading a wonderful book by blogger Dan Phillips (see his blog here) (also team-blogger here) and wanted to share my thoughts on it in hopes that others may read the book and pass it along or suggest it to others.  I originally intended to put all my thoughts together and write one review for the whole book, but I've been taking so many notes that I thought it might be best to just review sections of the book at a time.  The book is titled The World-Tilting Gospel, and in it Dan takes aim at the problems that exist in "today's church scene".  This is a book that I feel is long overdue to give some perspective from a biblical worldview and counter much of the pop culture stream of thought that is present in churches today.  So without further ado, let me get into reviewing the preface and introduction.

The preface starts with a mention of the inspiration for the book coming from a message that David Wells delivered at the Founder's Conference in June of 2007.  Wells basically made the point that God has laid out the truth in the Bible and that the biblical worldview "is the way God has taught us in his Word to view the world."  From there, Dan gets to the heart of the problem in the modern evangelical scene when he says, "Folks have signed on without any real grasp of the gospel in all its fullness and power."  He says that people see the gospel as the "ticket 'in'" and as "beginner's material".  We basically take that initial step and get our way in and "move on to something else."  I wholeheartedly agree with this assessment and really appreciate how he lays everything out here from the get-go.  In fact, reading the preface just made me want to tear right on through the book, but at a pace where I could really enjoy every little bit.  He even lays out an outline in bullet points in the preface to show the issues that he is going to cover in the book. These are things like who we are, who God is, what kind of world we live in...things that most people don't really understand, but that I believe all true Christians should have a good knowledge of.  So he has given us a good idea of what to expect as we slip through the pages...have your Bibles handy as you read, though, because Dan does a great job of referencing the Bible as he lays out the truths of the Gospel.

As he moves into the introduction, Dan lays out some key contrasts between the church scene today and the New Testament times.  In order to do so, he takes us back to Thessalonica in Acts 17 when Jason and some of his friends were dragged off in front of the city officials.  The charge against him was that he took in some people who "turned the world upside down".   Dan asks the question, "How did they do it?" and then lays out the contrasts for us to see.  They didn't have all of the tools that the church-growth movement utilizes, yet they were highly effective in their work.  So let's look at some of the areas of difference that Dan lays out:

• The source of material for preaching
• Why people became Christians
• Knowledge of sin, what is needed, and what God has done.
• The biblical worldview involved with the church 
• The connection between obedience and belief
• Making Jesus the issue

We then read of the barriers that exist as Dan lays out a section titled "Barrier Busting".  He makes a good point that "many people who regard themselves as Christians are utterly clueless about the most fundamental truths.  They don't understand what God says about the human condition."  The text also lays out some of the main problems that arise from the bad teaching that exists in today's church scene and makes the point that the Gospel truly does bring good news to people who have been adversely affected by bad teaching.  As we read further, we see that we need "A Whole-Bible Gospel" and not the empty calories that the modern church-growth movement offers.  Dan lays out the four parts of his presentation and the "crescendo" that he has titled "Culmination: Putting It All Together".  He gives a few notes for how to approach reading the book and recommends a few preparations (I would follow them so that you can be fully enriched by the reading of the book).

I will say that I have read through to the middle of the second part (I'm in Chapter 5) and going back and reading these notes from the Preface/Introduction and typing this have made me appreciate the book a bit more.  I like they way it is laid out and how Dan takes the time to lay the foundation and build carefully upon it each step of the way.  And as he does so, he keeps you interested as he develops ideas from Scripture and throws in some good humor along the way.  I highly recommend the book just based upon reading about half of it so far...in fact, I'd say it would be a great book for nominal and immature Christians to get them thinking about what the Bible really says it means to be a Christian.