Henry Williams

The "Balanced" message series we're concluding this weekend offers some ideas and challenges for handling our finances in a God-honoring and life-building way. Making changes is difficult to do on our own. A lot of people at Five Oaks have received lots of help by partcipating in Financial Peace Universtity, and we have a new class starting at the Woodbury campus on Saturday night starting next Saturday. Register here.

Date:
Saturday, January 15th, 2010 @ 4:00 - 5:45 p.m. (Runs for 13 consecutive weeks)

About:
Stop worrying about money. More than one million families have
attended Financial Peace University with amazing results. On average,
these families paid off $5,300 in debt and saved $2,700 in just the
first 90 days! Stop worrying about money, and start your journey
to Financial Peace today.

Topics Include:

Super Saving
Relating With Money
Cash Flow Planning
Dumping Debt
Credit Sharks in Suits
Buyer Beware
Clause and Effect
That's Not Good Enough
Of Mice and Mutual Funds
From Fruition to Tuition
Working in Your Strengths
Real Estate and Mortgages
The Great Misunderstanding.

Address:
Five Oaks Church - Room 101
4416 Radio Drive
Woodbury, MN 55129

Okay, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skeptism by Tim Keller is the only book I've read this year (and I read most of it in 2010), but I don't think I'll read anything better this year. The first half takes on some of the big faith issues:

1. There Can't Be Just One True Religion
2. How Could a Good God Allow Suffering?
3. Christianity Is a Straitjacket
4. The Church Is Responsible for So Much Injustice
5. How Can a Loving God Send People to Hell?
6. Science Has Disproved Christianity
7. You Can't Take the Bible Literally

What I love about this book is that Keller's manner and method of addressing these issues is as informative as his answers. He is respectful at every turn yet manages to challenge and raise questions that skeptics (and our own skeptical minds) would rather avoid or simply neglect to ask.

The second half of the book builds a case for Christianity.

8. The Clues of God
9. The Knowledge of God
10. The Problem of Sin
11. Religion and the Gospel
12. The (True) Story of the Cross
13. The Reality of the Resurrection
14. The Dance of God

There is depth and insight here that I'll return to over and over again. I'm afraid I'll be quoting or stealing (I mean, borrowing) ideas from Keller way too much. I'll have to resort to saying "someone has said" and "I read somewhere" so as not to overuse his name. (Maybe I shouldn't have told anyone that.) Anyway, I highly recommend it.

This is also my number one recommendation as a book to give to a skeptic who likes to read and is willing to think. For those of you who have long commutes or spend a lot of time on a treadmill or stationary bike, consider the unabridged audio version.