Gods at War, by Kyle Idleman. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013. 239 pages. Reviewed by Josiah R. Boyle
This book was chosen for review because my Biblical worldview teacher Mr. Brackney assigned it to my class to read this book and to write a critical book review on it. Kyle Idleman is the teaching pastor of Southeast Christian Church and has written various other books.
The thesis of this book is that the first of the Ten Commandments which is Thou shalt have no other gods before me is the most commonly broken commandment. Even though it would seem very hard to break that commandment to a Christian, in reality, it is very easy.
This book is divided into four parts. Part One is the introductory part of the book and is titled gods at war.
Chapter …show more content…
He makes a point very soon in the chapter that sex is good. He then uses the example of Ammon and Tamar were Ammon lusts after Tamar and makes the god of sex his idol. Idleman then asks the reader whether the god of sex has become an obsession by asking this series of questions. Is it the first thing on your mind when you wake up and when you go to sleep? Do you daydream about it at work? Do you spend money on it, risk your career and marriage for it? Is it what you fight most about in your marriage? Do you feel the presence of God fading into and ever deepening pit of shame? Idleman then begins to discuss the pleasure paradox or the domestic paradox as philosophers call it which is where the more fiercely you chase something the less likely tour will find it. He then shows how this is true by locking at the passage in the bible after Ammon rapes Tar and it says that Ammon hated her more than he ever loved her. Idleman then says that the god gives the opposite of what in promised. He then discusses how we all have sacrificed on the altar of the god of sex because some have sacrificed money pornography makes more money than all the pro-sports combined, others have sacrificed their children, careers and marriages on this altar. Then he talks about how the god of sex is always raising the price he is requiring from us. He then says that one of the saddest parts of his jobs is watching people throw away their lives in pursuit of a god that gives nothing back. Then Idleman starts to discuss how the more you travel down a certain neurologic pathway in you brain the more like that pathway will become the default. The reason he brings this up is that people who watch porn end up having these lustful pathways become the default pathway for any thoughts about other human beings. He then to close out this section of the chapter to take every thought and make it obedient to Christ. He then starts to talk about how when
This book was chosen for review because my Biblical worldview teacher Mr. Brackney assigned it to my class to read this book and to write a critical book review on it. Kyle Idleman is the teaching pastor of Southeast Christian Church and has written various other books.
The thesis of this book is that the first of the Ten Commandments which is Thou shalt have no other gods before me is the most commonly broken commandment. Even though it would seem very hard to break that commandment to a Christian, in reality, it is very easy.
This book is divided into four parts. Part One is the introductory part of the book and is titled gods at war.
Chapter …show more content…
He makes a point very soon in the chapter that sex is good. He then uses the example of Ammon and Tamar were Ammon lusts after Tamar and makes the god of sex his idol. Idleman then asks the reader whether the god of sex has become an obsession by asking this series of questions. Is it the first thing on your mind when you wake up and when you go to sleep? Do you daydream about it at work? Do you spend money on it, risk your career and marriage for it? Is it what you fight most about in your marriage? Do you feel the presence of God fading into and ever deepening pit of shame? Idleman then begins to discuss the pleasure paradox or the domestic paradox as philosophers call it which is where the more fiercely you chase something the less likely tour will find it. He then shows how this is true by locking at the passage in the bible after Ammon rapes Tar and it says that Ammon hated her more than he ever loved her. Idleman then says that the god gives the opposite of what in promised. He then discusses how we all have sacrificed on the altar of the god of sex because some have sacrificed money pornography makes more money than all the pro-sports combined, others have sacrificed their children, careers and marriages on this altar. Then he talks about how the god of sex is always raising the price he is requiring from us. He then says that one of the saddest parts of his jobs is watching people throw away their lives in pursuit of a god that gives nothing back. Then Idleman starts to discuss how the more you travel down a certain neurologic pathway in you brain the more like that pathway will become the default. The reason he brings this up is that people who watch porn end up having these lustful pathways become the default pathway for any thoughts about other human beings. He then to close out this section of the chapter to take every thought and make it obedient to Christ. He then starts to talk about how when