Ryken on Books

I found this on Phil's new blogsite. Check out www.reformation21.org.

A few years ago my son Josh and I started a book discussion group for boys his age (we started when Josh was in 5th grade) and their fathers. Eleven of us meet every month or two to discuss good books that deal with serious ideas. We call our group the James Montgomery Boice Literary Society. We thought this was a suitable way to express our gratitude to God for the ministry of James Boice, and also to remember his great love for classic literature. Dr. Boice was a keen Hemingway enthusiast (more for his style than his worldview) and made a lifelong practice of reading through the Harvard Classics.

Ernest Gordon's To End All Wars is one of only two books ever to receive a five-star rating from our book group (we are a fairly critical bunch, it would seem). Gordon was held captive at the infamous Japanese prison camp on the River Kwai. His story of survival, depravity, conversion, sacrifice, and reconciliation is a thrilling example of the transformation that only the gospel can brings to the individual and society.

To End All Wars is an edifying book for any Christian to read. It is also a book worth giving to non-Christian friends -- a ripping good read that tells the truth about salvation. For the pastor or teacher there is a wealth of illustrative material. I close with one short example: "We had two alternatives: we could choose the way of men, based ont he sovereignty of the natural order, closed, sealed and impersonal; or we could choose the way of Jesus Christ, free and personal, based on the sovereignty of God the Father. The wind of the Spirit had blown upon us; we could not prove how or whence it had come. . . . Only as we responded to this Word did we receive the power to progress towards true humanity. . . . At the point marked by the Cross we found