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The sin of certainty : why God desires our trust more than our "correct" beliefs / Peter Enns.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2017Edition: First HarperCollins paperback editionDescription: 230 pages ; 21 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 0062272098
  • 9780062272096
Other title:
  • Why God desires our trust more than our "correct" beliefs
Subject(s):
Contents:
Chapter 1. I don't know what I believe anymore. -- Thanks for nothing, Walt Disney -- Can we just be honest for a second, please? -- Okay, I'll go first -- What's so sinful about certainty? -- Thinking is good. Chapter 2. How we got into this mess -- Know what you believe (or else) -- O great, we came from monkeys -- Seriously weird stories from long ago -- The Germans are coming (like we need this right now) -- Slavery: whose side is God on? -- Again with the Germans -- Why "Defenders of the Faith" are raising white flags. Chapter 3. "You abandoned me, God; you lied" (and other Bible lessons) -- Parts of the Bible we don't read in church (but should) -- God is a liar -- The world makes perfect sense without God. Chapter 4. Two miserable people worth listening to -- Trust God anyway -- Don't even try to understand what God is up to. Chapter 5. Believing in God: so easy even a demon can do it -- Who, not what -- Amen -- Faith isn't something in your head (or heart) -- "All to Jesus I surrender" -- There goes Jesus being Jesus again -- But, but ... what about ...? Chapter 6. Uh-oh: when certainty is caught off guard (and why that might not be such a bad idea) -- When life happens -- God did what, now? -- Our pale blue dot -- Falling branches -- Meeting new people -- When Christians eat their own -- God is not my father -- When "uh-oh" becomes "ah-ha". Chapter 7. God wants you dead -- The lie: "it's all your fault" -- The truth: "God wants you dead" -- Down the mine shaft -- Let's bring this aboveground. Chapter 8. Cultivating a habit of trust -- Ever have one of those decades? -- Live strong -- August 1, 2008 -- Honoring your head without living in it -- The long haul -- Being like Jesus. Chapter 9. Beyond trust -- No fear -- Go and sin no more -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Scripture index.
Summary: Offers a model of vibrant faith that views skepticism not as a loss of belief, but as an opportunity to deepen religious conviction with courage and confidence. He models an acceptance of mystery and paradox and shows that God prefers this path because it is only this way by which we can become mature disciples who truly trust God. Gives Christians who have known only the demand for certainty permission to view faith on their own flawed, uncertain, yet heartfelt, terms.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 234.23 E59 Available 33111008750578
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The controversial evangelical Bible scholar and author of The Bible Tells Me So explains how Christians mistake "certainty" and "correct belief" for faith when what God really desires is trust and intimacy.

With compelling and often humorous stories from his own life, Bible scholar Peter Enns offers a fresh look at how Christian life truly works, answering questions that cannot be addressed by the idealized traditional doctrine of "once for all delivered to the saints."

Enns offers a model of vibrant faith that views skepticism not as a loss of belief, but as an opportunity to deepen religious conviction with courage and confidence. This is not just an intellectual conviction, he contends, but a more profound kind of knowing that only true faith can provide.

Combining Enns' reflections of his own spiritual journey with an examination of Scripture, The Sin of Certainty models an acceptance of mystery and paradox that all believers can follow and why God prefers this path because it is only this way by which we can become mature disciples who truly trust God. It gives Christians who have known only the demand for certainty permission to view faith on their own flawed, uncertain, yet heartfelt, terms.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 217-228) and index.

Chapter 1. I don't know what I believe anymore. -- Thanks for nothing, Walt Disney -- Can we just be honest for a second, please? -- Okay, I'll go first -- What's so sinful about certainty? -- Thinking is good. Chapter 2. How we got into this mess -- Know what you believe (or else) -- O great, we came from monkeys -- Seriously weird stories from long ago -- The Germans are coming (like we need this right now) -- Slavery: whose side is God on? -- Again with the Germans -- Why "Defenders of the Faith" are raising white flags. Chapter 3. "You abandoned me, God; you lied" (and other Bible lessons) -- Parts of the Bible we don't read in church (but should) -- God is a liar -- The world makes perfect sense without God. Chapter 4. Two miserable people worth listening to -- Trust God anyway -- Don't even try to understand what God is up to. Chapter 5. Believing in God: so easy even a demon can do it -- Who, not what -- Amen -- Faith isn't something in your head (or heart) -- "All to Jesus I surrender" -- There goes Jesus being Jesus again -- But, but ... what about ...? Chapter 6. Uh-oh: when certainty is caught off guard (and why that might not be such a bad idea) -- When life happens -- God did what, now? -- Our pale blue dot -- Falling branches -- Meeting new people -- When Christians eat their own -- God is not my father -- When "uh-oh" becomes "ah-ha". Chapter 7. God wants you dead -- The lie: "it's all your fault" -- The truth: "God wants you dead" -- Down the mine shaft -- Let's bring this aboveground. Chapter 8. Cultivating a habit of trust -- Ever have one of those decades? -- Live strong -- August 1, 2008 -- Honoring your head without living in it -- The long haul -- Being like Jesus. Chapter 9. Beyond trust -- No fear -- Go and sin no more -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Scripture index.

Offers a model of vibrant faith that views skepticism not as a loss of belief, but as an opportunity to deepen religious conviction with courage and confidence. He models an acceptance of mystery and paradox and shows that God prefers this path because it is only this way by which we can become mature disciples who truly trust God. Gives Christians who have known only the demand for certainty permission to view faith on their own flawed, uncertain, yet heartfelt, terms.

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