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‘The Determined Christian’ commented on this book, “Sometimes really great books are written by unknown authors; this is one of them.” To my fault, I read Christian books from only a handful of trustworthy mainline publishers, and I neglect many books because of this. Michael Snow, the author of Love, Prayer, and Forgiveness contacted me about considering a review of his book. I’m really, really glad I did.
LPF
Michael Snow introduced his reader to the idea of ‘the holy conjunction’. Divorced from their position in Scripture, he writes how love, prayer, and forgiveness take on a life of their own. They are twisted, maimed, and manipulated for the self. “God’s word holds these things dear and holds them closely together: love and obedience; prayer and exhortation; forgiveness and repentance. Our failure to hold these essentials together is a failure to hold to God’s word and to honor it by our diligent study and attention.”[i] He is technical but not unapproachably so. More beneficial to the reader, Snow is conscious that readers with varying degrees of ‘Christian literacy’ will read this book; so, all declaratives are saturated with clarifying remarks to avoid confusion.
Snow uses illuminating antidotes, metaphors, and patterns to develop his thesis on ‘holy conjunctions’. He accomplishes this with remarkable success. His stories are engaging, truthful, and contemplative. In many ways, his analysis and commentary of contemporary Christianity in light of his thesis resembled to Schaeffer and Colson.
A personal favorite example of his wit is found in chapter two. He writes on Mormon’s assertion that a potential convert should simply pray about the truthfulness of the claims.
Now, do we pray about this new teaching which completely contradicts the Bible? Or do we turn to God’s word for our response?—“Before me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after me” (Isa. 43:10; etc.).
"And if we pray about it, what happens to our beliefs if the salsa we ate for supper makes sweat break out on our brow and lights a fire in our belly? Do we make a decision based upon a burning feeling [like Mormons]?" - Snow
It’s easy to mock Mormons, so he turns to a persistent evangelical problem: divorce. He tells the story of a hypothetical wife who wants to divorce her husband. Upon confrontation, she defends herself by appealing to her prayer and ‘peace’. When the husband appeals to the elders in the church, they assure him that they are praying for the situation to resolve itself. Later, the husband sees that she is teaching Sunday School! The elders defend themselves: “She attends church faithfully, she even brought a new family here last week, and she is going to school to be a teacher. We do pray about these things.” The gospel loses teeth with the absence of the ‘holy conjunction’; prayer apart from exhortation destroys the gospel.
This excerpt demonstrates Snow’s ability to tell stories to make his points. It’s a short read at just 140 pages. His five chapters survey corresponding commands. For the first and second chapters, love is paired with obedience, and prayer is with exhortation. In his third chapter, forgiveness in joined with repentance. Sin and silence with revival and holiness comprise the last two chapters.
Everyone will enjoy reading this accessible – but challenging – book.
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- Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2014Format: Kindle
