Faith Bible Blog

John is busily working on a revamp of the website.  Today’s guest blogger is Erick Cobb.

I just finished "Einstein: His Life and Universe" by Walter Isaacson. I highly recommend it. Einstein was such a fascinating person.

On
the one hand he was an amazing example of God’s common grace (the grace
that God extends to even to people who deny Him). I was blown away when
I found out that Einstein didn’t really do experiments or even much in
the way of mathematics to make his major discoveries. Rather, he did
"thought experiments" in which he just imagined what might happen in
certain situation. For example he would say to himself, "suppose there
was a train traveling at the speed of light towards an observer and
there is a light beam emitting from the train…." and then he would
imagine how that light beam would appear to the observer. He just
thought out his major discovers! Other scientists would then come along
and verify that his discoveries were true. Einstein had a strange
intuition about how completely unseen things in the universe worked. I
wonder is this might be a small glimpse of how the human mind may have
worked before the Fall and the noetic effects of sin clouded our
thinking.

On the other hand the effects of
the Fall were very evident in his personal life. His relationship with
women was cruel and lacked commitment. His first wife became pregnant
and had their first child before they were married. He was still slow
to marry her and agreed to do so only if she would find a way to get
rid of their child (we don’t know what happened to their daughter,
adoption is assumed). Later he leaves his first wife because of the
affair he is having with his cousin. He then marries his cousin, who he
neglects and cheats on. Einstein found the idea of a personal, knowable
God intolerable (no doubt because he would then have to come to terms
with his accountability before God for his sin).

In
"Einstein: His Life and Universe we see that Einstein was a genius in
his understanding of his universe but sadly was totally lost when it
came to his life. And this is the way man is (without a relationship of
trust with God), a wonderful image-bearer of the living God yet
strangely marred by a heart to deny the One who made him and loves him.
It would be great if you could read this book and see both sides of
Einstein, but it would be even better is you took some time to really
see not only the lostness but also the image of God in you nonbelieving
friends and family. It will be by seeing both that you will have the
love and respect for them to take a risk and share your hope with them.

 

<img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/s/noscript?tag=faithbiblechu-20" alt="">

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This is the title of a book that I will be ordering soon.  It looks extremely good and comes out at the end of August.  Too often Christians don’t ask themselves this basic question nor are they prepared to talk with others about how to know if they’re saved.  Many, many people around us assume that they’re "in", but have no ground for that assurance.  So you owe it to yourself and to others to be able to walk through this issue in a careful, biblical manner.

Tullian Tchividjian’s forthcoming book, Do I Know God? Finding Certainty in Life’s Most Important Relationship, published by Multnomah and due out at the end of August should help with that.  Here are the endorsements:

 “Warm,
fresh, and helpful, Tullian’s insightful answer to the question ‘Do I
know God?’ will be a guide and encouragement to many.”—Os Guinness 

“With
wisdom, grace, and transparency, Tullian helps clear the sometimes
uncertain path of knowing and following after God. I am thrilled to
endorse this thoughtful work and trust you will find it equally
engaging and helpful.”—Ravi Zacharias

“Many
people are confused today as to whether we can truly know God. Is it
possible to actually have a relationship with the Creator of the
universe? This book by my former student Tullian Tchividjian makes it
clear that we can have such certainty and how that certainty is
possible. It is thoroughly biblical, well balanced, excellently stated
and illustrated. May God use Tullian’s volume to bring many to the
wonderful assurance that God loves them in Jesus Christ.”—John Frame 

“Tullian
has written a good, simple, solid book on a crucial subject. Tullian
wants you to know God and to know that you know God. Do you know God?
This book can help you answer that most important of all questions.
What better reason is there to spend money on buying a book—or time on
reading it?”—Mark Dever

“This
is a warm, personal book about assurance, about how we can know we have
been redeemed by Christ. It is written with pastoral wisdom for a
church often afflicted by deep currents of uncertainty and sometimes by
faltering discipleship. It speaks to our time with biblical
fidelity.”—David Wells 

“To know
that you know God and God knows you is life’s greatest source of peace,
joy, and strength for the journey. Tullian takes strugglers by the hand
and leads them with sure steps toward this certainty. Here is a book to
be trusted and treasured.”—J.I. Packer

“My
prayer for you, the reader, is that you will listen carefully to what
my grandson says here. Apart from the Bible, this may be the most
important book you could ever read, because it will help you answer the
most important question you could ever ask: Do I know God”—Bill Graham
(from the foreword)

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