Author: Blackaby, Henry, King, Claude
Genre: Theology - General
Tags: Bible, Truth, Vision
Series:
Rick Shrader‘s Review:
This is one of those books, because of its popularity, you have to read in order to answer the questions and comments about it. Experiencing God is now a seminar course, a tape series, a workbook and even a study Bible. My comments are in a positive and negative form.
Positively. Blackaby (the primary spokesman) is to be commended for approaching a needed topic—how to relate a daily life of faith to a static Book. Blackaby often refers to our Biblical basis for faith and the need to hold that securely. I like his emphasis on paying attention to our prayers and expecting God’s answer. I also like his caution of the traditional view of spiritual gifts and proposal of a more natural viewpoint.
Negatively. Blackaby uses many statements that, taken at face value, Bible believers would be cautious about using. Either he has a traditional viewpoint on receiving revelation from God and simply includes unguarded statements or he is advocating receiving “voices” from God and departs (at least semantically) from even his own SBC roots. For example, he writes, “But only the Holy Spirit of God can reveal to you which truth of Scripture is a word from God in a particular circumstance” (p. 139). Or, “You never discover truth; truth is revealed. When the Holy Spirit reveals truth to you, He is not leading you to an encounter with God. That is an encounter with God” (p. 142). I think these kinds of statements may be misleading to the average Christian studying these materials.
I actually enjoyed the book. But I think the title has been the key to its success. We are anxious today to meet God by experiences. But experience must always be guided by Scripture, a principle Blackaby says he believes.