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The Beauty of God for a Broken World (Including chapter outlines and ordering information) Other Authors (Including
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Vocal “ex-Christians”
insist that the God of the Bible is ugly. If He did exist, He would merit our
hatred rather than our worship. The Bible presents God as the most beautiful
Being and the source of all created beauty. God’s glory is what makes Him
impressive. His beauty is what makes Him attractive. This book encourages
believers and non-believers to see God’s beauty and goodness apart from
any benefits that they might personally receive.
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book
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related to the book
The Big Ideas on Which the Book Is Based
Jonathan
Edwards (1703-1758) was America’s first great philosopher and theologian.
His vision of God provides the foundation for the basic ideas on which the book
is based.
Virtuous love is the highest kind of beauty.
Because God is love, God is the most beautiful being.
God is beautiful because the three Persons of the Trinity exist
in a perfect harmony of love.
This divine harmony is the fountain from which all created
harmonies—all created beauties—flow.
In addition to these fundamental concepts, most of the chapters
are heavily dependent on lessons learned from Edwards.
Chapter Summaries
My friend calls himself an
ex-Christian. Many ex-Christians claim that God is ugly. This chapter sets the
stage for the rest of the book by describing several moral objections to the
God of the Bible. Critics claim that the Old Testament picture of God is
particularly offensive, but Old Testament saints saw God as beautiful. They
enjoyed Him, and they eagerly sought His presence.
If
God knew that the world would turn out to be such a mess, why did He create in
the first place? To answer this question, we must look back before the
beginning of time and space. The Father’s decision to create flowed from
His love for His eternal Son. This love included the Father’s delight in
His Son and His desire to give to His Son.
Scripture
teaches us that beauty is not simply in the eye of the beholder. The intricacy
of creation testifies to the wisdom, goodness and beauty of God. This chapter
responds to several challenges to God’s wise and beautiful design of
creation:
·
That similar biological structures
indicate blind evolution rather than design
·
That nature is too inefficient to be
designed
·
That the cruelty of nature cannot
have been designed by God
The
denial of beauty in the world poses a number of problems for atheism.
Chapter
4: What was Jesus’ Appeal to
His Contemporaries?
Why
were people so attracted to Jesus during His earthly ministry? Why have so many
found Him attractive in the two millennia since that time? As Edwards noted,
the beauty of Christ is not a simple thing. It is a combination of very diverse
qualities.
Chapter
5: Is Christianity a Unique Religion?
Our
God is beautiful in comparison with all other gods. No other god, ancient or
modern is a saving God. Augustine pointed this out in The City of God, and it
is still true. A few of the ancient gods suffered as a result of their kindness
toward mankind, but these benefactors did not deliberately die for sinners, as
Christ did. The Quran says that Allah is merciful, but when Allah forgives, it
costs him nothing.
Chapter
6: What Did Jesus’ Dying on
the Cross Achieve?
Some
charge that the substitutionary atonement and salvation by faith alone offer a
redemption that is immoral, individualistic, irresponsible and inadequate. The
answer to these charges is found in our union with Christ. Edwards and John
Owen provide insights for this chapter. The union of believers with Christ is
natural, representative, spiritual and voluntary.
Chapter
7: How
Can Predestination Be Fair?
Many
complain that predestination is arbitrary and intrinsically unfair. Even those
who profess to believe in God’s sovereignty are often embarrassed by the
idea that the non-elect have “no chance to be saved.” Like Edwards
the author initially objected to the doctrine, but biblical predestination is
praiseworthy and therefore beautiful.
Section 3: The Beauty of God, the Judge
Chapter
8: Why Would a Good God Allow
Suffering?
How
can a God of love permit such terrible suffering on earth and send multitudes
of people to an eternal hell? This chapter does not use a free-will defense of
evil and its consequent punishment. Since God is love, the decision to permit,
and then to punish, sin must flow from His love. Hell is an expression of
God’s necessary love for His own character and for His eternal Son.
Chapter
9: How Could a Good God Command Ethnic Cleansing?
Why
did God command the ethnic cleansing of Canaan, including the slaughter of
children? How can this be morally beautiful? When God visits the iniquity of
the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation, He is not
unjust. The Bible testifies to the somewhat mysterious solidarity of the human
race. This chapter points out that union with Adam is the merciful foundation
for union with Christ. It also responds to the charge the conquest of Canaan
does not differ from a Muslim jihad.
Section 4: The Beauty of the Triune
God
Chapter
10: Is the Trinity Nonsense?
Preceding
chapters have made frequent reference to the relationships between the Persons
of the Trinity. This chapter begins with a concise summary of the doctrine of
the Trinity. The second part of the chapter introduces Jonathan Edwards’
vision of the Trinity. All beauty involves a harmonious unity between things
that differ. The unity of three Persons in one God is the source of all created
beauty. Edwards suggests that the Holy Spirit is the Love, Holiness, and Beauty
of God.
Chapter
11: Does the Trinity Make a Difference in Our Lives?
Many
Christians talk about a conflict between their “old nature” and
their “new nature.” These terms, which do not occur in the Bible, often
reflect a misunderstanding of the biblical terms “old man” and
“new man.” The “old man” is our identity in the first
Adam; the “new man” is our identity in the last Adam, Christ. Adam
lost the Holy Spirit for himself and his posterity. Christ regained the gift of
the Spirit for all who come to the Father through Him. The relationship of
Christ, the God-Man, to the Holy Spirit provides a beautiful pattern for our
walk with God.
Section 5: Seeing the Beauty of God
(Meditations on 2 Corinthians 3:17-4:6)
Chapter
12: Why are Some Views of God’s Glory Spiritually Inadequate?
What
does Scripture mean when it speaks of beholding the beauty of the Lord (Psalm
27:4) or when it exhorts us to “taste and see that the Lord is
good” (Psalm 34:8)? Though God may use nature or music to heighten the
believer’s appreciation for His beauty, a true sense of God’s
beauty is something entirely different from anything the unsaved person is able
to experience, including images of God or heaven in the mind.
Chapter
13: How Can We Recognize the True Glory of God?
The
redeemed see the beauty of Christ in the gospel, not in any private revelation
of new truth. This comes through the illumination of God’s Spirit. This
new sight of Christ leads them to trust in Christ. Sometimes, however, even
genuine Christians find that Christ and the gospel no longer fascinate them as
formerly. The chapter discusses various reasons for this. Still the Holy Spirit
is at work in all God’s children. He transforms them by showing them more
of Christ.
Conclusion: Beauty for Brokenness
We
live in a world that is hostile to God and the gospel. God’s provision
for His suffering children is to show them more of the beauty and glory of
Christ. A fresh glimpse of the beauty of God will carry believers through the
difficult times. Those who are outside of Christ cannot come to Him in faith
until God’s Spirit shows them something of the beauty of the Lord. Pain
may awaken a soul to its need, but only beauty will draw it to the Savior.
Forward to the book by Dr. Samuel T. Logan,
Jr.