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[Poimen] Relentless by John Bevere

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작성자 이주훈
조회 1,305회 작성일 21-12-01 20:58

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I first read the book Relentless by John Bevere two years ago while I was going through Poimen class. I couldn't be "relentless" and complete the class, so I am now going through Poimen class again for the second time. My first impression reading this book two years ago was that John makes everything sounds easy and trivial, but he didn't provide concrete examples or guidelines on how to apply the lessons in our life. I read this book for the second time as an assignment from Poimen class this year, and I am still not very convinced that I can personalize and apply the lessons to my real life.

 

For example in Chapter 15 'Relentless Prayer',  John asks the readers to be "relentless" and that we should continue to pray until God answers to our prayer. He talks about how he prayed while his wife was giving a birth and going through complications. John suggests that God listened to his prayers and allowed the baby to be born in time to avoid surgery and costing extra money, because he was "relentless" in his prayers and did not accept "no" as an answer. He then generalizes his experience and asks the readers to be "relentless", and God will answer our prayers, quoting the bible "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you" (Matthew 7:7 NIV). However, it seems to me that John is making a mistake of  hasty generalization. How can he be so sure that people who don't get their prayers answered in their preference is because they are not "relentless" enough?

 

One thing l do like about the book is that John quotes a lot from the bible and I can see that he is trying to base his argument on biblical foundation. At least I can give credit for such effort. I often find many Christian books say good things, but not necessary grounded in biblical truth, or it's not clear where in the bible says such things. This is one of the reasons I don't like reading Christian books. I would rather read the bible, or biblical fictions. At least, when I read the fiction, I know the writer is using his/her imaginations to illustrate the story.

 

I have to admit that I despise reading any Christian books, as most books are heavily biased by the authors view on subject. Maybe I am also biased myself about this book from my first impression. Throughout the book, he demonstrates very strong opinion about how we, people believing in Jesus, should be relentless as Christians. John portrays to the readers what he believes is the absolute truth and lives no room for different opinion. I personally hate such a strong opinionated view in any subject, especially when it comes to bible and interpretation. I wish John left a bit of room for wiggle, but no, he is absolutely determined in what he wants to say. Maybe that's a good thing?

 

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손희순 작성일

주훈 형제님 글을 읽으며 제가 끈질김을 읽었을 때 느꼈던 당황스러움이 비슷한 시점에서 일치하네요.
끈질긴 기도 부분에 대한 비비어의 주장에 대해서는 저도 동의하기 힘든 부분이었습니다.
그러나 또한 부럽기도 했던 것 같습니다.
이렇게 확신에 차서 주장을 하는 그의 신앙에 대해서 방법론적인 문제와 실천적 획일성을 통한 일원화에 문제를 제기할 수 있다 할지라도
책의 전반에 깔린 그의 신앙의 확신에 비추어 나의 믿음을 점검해 보는 좋은 지표가 되었던 것은 사실입니다.
그리고 그 대부분이 반성이었어요.
그것 만으로도 이 책은 읽어볼 만 한 책이라고 생각했던 것 같아요.
좋은 독후감 감사합니다. ^^