D.A. Carson's Words About Teaching

As I carefully weigh the decision as to whether I should teach or not, I found D.A. Carson's words below regarding people learning not what he teaches, but what he is excited about, very interesting and motivating.

------If I have learned anything in 35 or 40 years of teaching, it is that students don’t learn everything I teach them. What they learn is what I am excited about, the kinds of things I emphasize again and again and again and again. That had better be the gospel.

If the gospel—even when you are orthodox—becomes something which you primarily assume, but what you are excited about is what you are doing in some sort of social reconstruction, you will be teaching the people that you influence that the gospel really isn’t all that important. You won’t be saying that—you won’t even mean that—but that’s what you will be teaching. And then you are only half a generation away from losing the gospel.

Make sure that in your own practice and excitement, what you talk about, what you think about, what you pray over, what you exude confidence over, joy over, what you are enthusiastic about is Jesus, the gospel, the cross. And out of that framework, by all means, let the transformed life flow.

The God Who is There by D.A. Carson

I have just finished reading The God Who is There by D.A. Carson.  I don't think that any words I put here, will do justice to Carson's renderings.  The subtitle of his book is "Finding Your Place in God's Story", and I can't think of a more adequate or accurate description than that for this book.  Carson begins, effectively, at the Beginning--Genesis.  From there, he takes his readers through nearly every book, every genre of literature present in scriptures to build a foundation for the truth that God is a God Who is There.  Carson doesn't miss a thing as evidenced by his Chapter Titles.  For example, Chapter 9 is titled "The God who Loves", and 4 chapters later, he titles his 13th chapter "The God who is Very Angry".

The author is unafraid to take on the difficult and dense passages that others may have a tendency to shy away from.  For instance, he acknowledges the tight arguments in Romans 3 as being "condensed", and then explains that to fully experience Paul's meaning, one must carefully examine these scriptures word by word.  Also, Carson does an excellent job exploring the literary features of each genre, which in turn lends credibility to his interpretations.

A must-read.

Carson on Psalms

Somewhere in all my reading, I have picked up on the notion that reading Psalms is similar to looking over a person's shoulder as they honestly engage with God.  It is often autobiographical, for both the writer of the Psalm and the reader.  So many times do I see myself in the words and thoughts and language of the Psalms.

Carson, in his book God Who is There  explains the Psalms in a unique way:

Those of you who have been Christians for some time or who have gotten to know some elderly believers, are usually the ones who love the book of Psalms.  Not a lot of people know the book at age 25, because the book of Psalms resonates with people who have had a lot of experiences.  You have to have quite a lot of different experiences under your belt before you resonate easily with a lot of the things that are said in the book of Psalms:  lament, loss, shame, death, triumph, the exaltation of informed and godly God-centered praise, and prophecy anticipating what is still to come.


Why am I so drawn to the Psalms?  I think the above paragraph sums it up for me.  The words in Psalms resonates with me, settles me, reminds me that to honestly voice my soul to God is acceptable to the God who created the heavens and the earth.  I find the writer's of Psalms to be authentic, to be real, to be honest with God--the good, the bad and the ugly.  Me too, that is what I desire as well.  It is not easy, but it is good and right.

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