Most Influential books in your personal life

civic

civic

Well-known member
Here are my top 10 off the top of my head that greatly impacted my life. I thought it might give some insight with background, ideas, influence and make for a fun or interesting topic of discussion in our group.

1) The Pursuit of God by AW Tozer
2) The Knowledge of the Holy by AW Tozer
3) Knowing God by Packer
4) The Cost of Discipleship by Bonhoeffer
5) How to read the Bible for all its worth by Fee and Stuart
6) The Gospel according to Jesus by MacArthur
7) Pilgrims Progress by Bunyan
8) Fox's Book of Martyrs by Fox
9) Kingdom of the Cults by Martin
10) Evidence that demands a verdict by McDowell

What are your favorites ?
 
T

TomFL

Well-known member
civic said:
Here are my top 10 off the top of my head that greatly impacted my life. I thought it might give some insight with background, ideas, influence and make for a fun or interesting topic of discussion in our group.

1) The Pursuit of God by AW Tozer
2) The Knowledge of the Holy by AW Tozer
3) Knowing God by Packer
4) The Cost of Discipleship by Bonhoeffer
5) How to read the Bible for all its worth by Fee and Stuart
6) The Gospel according to Jesus by MacArthur
7) Pilgrims Progress by Bunyan
8) Fox's Book of Martyrs by Fox
9) Kingdom of the Cults by Martin
10) Evidence that demands a verdict by McDowell

What are your favorites ?
Click to expand...
5,6,9.10
 
civic

civic

Well-known member
TomFL said:
5,6,9.10
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Could you give your top list of favorites, I would be interested.

FYI- I didn't start this thread for any kind of debate, right or wrong but just to see what each other likes and what has influenced our personal lives and studies.

Thanks Tom !
 
T

TomFL

Well-known member
civic said:
Could you give your top list of favorites, I would be interested.

FYI- I didn't start this thread for any kind of debate, right or wrong but just to see what each other likes and what has influenced our personal lives and studies.

Thanks Tom !
Click to expand...
You are welcome
 
preacher4truth

preacher4truth

Well-known member
1. Studies in TSOTM - Martyn Lloyd Jones
2. The Way to True Happiness - Robert Harris
3. Knowing God - J I Packer
4. The Pilgrims Progress - John Bunyan
5. Communion with God - John Owen
6. Holiness - J C Ryle
7. The Parable of the Sower - Samuel Stennett
8. Romans - John Murray
9. Princeton vs. The New Divinity - Princeton Review
10. The Religious Affections - Jonathan Edwards
11. The Potter's Freedom - Dr. James White
 
Theo1689

Theo1689

Well-known member
1) Mere Christianity (Lewis) - led me to Christianity;
2) Knowing God (Packer)
3) Pilgrim's Progress (Bunyan)
4) The Potter's Freedom (White)
5) The Text of the New Testament (Metzger)
6) Credo Courses (DVD's) - Textual Criticism (Wallace)
7) Darwin's Black Box (Behe)
8) Signature in the Cell (Meyer)
 
civic

civic

Well-known member
preacher4truth said:
1. Studies in TSOTM - Martyn Lloyd Jones
2. The Way to True Happiness - Robert Harris
3. Knowing God - J I Packer
4. The Pilgrims Progress - John Bunyan
5. Communion with God - John Owen
6. Holiness - J C Ryle
7. The Parable of the Sower - Samuel Stennett
8. Romans - John Murray
9. Princeton vs. The New Divinity - Princeton Review
10. The Religious Affections - Jonathan Edwards
11. The Potter's Freedom - Dr. James White
Click to expand...
I'm not sure how I left Martin Lloyd Jones Sermon on the Mount off my list. Great list !
 
civic

civic

Well-known member
Theo1689 said:
1) Mere Christianity (Lewis) - led me to Christianity;
2) Knowing God (Packer)
3) Pilgrim's Progress (Bunyan)
4) The Potter's Freedom (White)
5) The Text of the New Testament (Metzger)
6) Credo Courses (DVD's) - Textual Criticism (Wallace)
7) Darwin's Black Box (Behe)
8) Signature in the Cell (Meyer)
Click to expand...
Great list have all those books too. :)
 
Bonnie

Bonnie

Super Member
Besides the Bible, I really liked these:

Something More and Beyond Ourselves by Catherine Marshall

The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel

Egermeier's Bible Story book. I got this when I turned 9 years old and I still have it. Just loved it and still do.

The Story of Christianity, vol. 1, by Dr. Justo Gonzales

Why You SHOULD Believe in the Trinity by Robert Bowman, Jr.

Out of Mormonism by Judy Robertson

Unveiling Grace by Lynn Wilder
 
Bonnie

Bonnie

Super Member
Theo1689 said:
1) Mere Christianity (Lewis) - led me to Christianity;
2) Knowing God (Packer)
3) Pilgrim's Progress (Bunyan)
4) The Potter's Freedom (White)
5) The Text of the New Testament (Metzger)
6) Credo Courses (DVD's) - Textual Criticism (Wallace)
7) Darwin's Black Box (Behe)
8) Signature in the Cell (Meyer)
Click to expand...
Darwin's Black Box....this book was mentioned in one of our mid-week Bible study classes last year, for a course titled "Monkey or Messiah?" about evolution and what effect it has had in religion and in society--especially social Darwinism.
 
Theo1689

Theo1689

Well-known member
Bonnie said:
Darwin's Black Box....this book was mentioned in one of our mid-week Bible study classes last year, for a course titled "Monkey or Messiah?" about evolution and what effect it has had in religion and in society--especially social Darwinism.
Click to expand...

Yes, "Darwin's Black Box" is a book basically arguing for "Irreducible complexity" in the human system, which his fundamentally and undeniably true. It basically argues that so many systems in our bodies require multiple parts, which are useless if the parts "evolve" one genetic mutation at a time.

"Evolution" used to be one of five units in the Grade 12 Biology course I taught. The other four units ("molecular genetics", "energy metabolism", etc.) all had MULTIPLE examples of irreducible complexity in them:

1) the ten enzymes needed for glycolysis;
2) the 8 enzymes needed for the Krebs cycle;
3) the multiple components for the Electron Transport Chain in the mitochodria to work;
4) the multiple enzymes need for DNA replication, transmission, and translation;
5) the "chicken-and-egg" scenario of ribosomes needed to produce proteins, but ribosome composition INCLUDING proteins (where did they come from, without ribosomes?)
6) etc. etc.

I found it incredibly ironic to see the cognitive dissonance of teaching evolution after teaching all these contrary processes.

James White co-authored a book for teens called "What's with the Mutant in the Microscope?" which basically presents many of the same arguments as "Darwin's Black Box", in a more approachable format.


Meyer's "Signature in the Cell" is also quite good, as it not only talks about the astronomical improbability of evolution designing (!) a DNA molecule, basically a storage molecule capable of storing gigabytes of information, not to mention the "double duty" of where did the information stored IN the DNA come from?

There's also Lee Strobel's "Case For a Creator". I love when athiest/agnostic lawyers try to "disprove" God, and end up convinced of His existence. :)
 
PeanutGallery

PeanutGallery

Well-known member
civic said:
No problem and I agree 100 %. Have you read any books besides the bible you would recommend that are spiritual in nature or that assists someone in their walk with Christ. If not that is ok too.
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Does one test the other books against God's absolute standard?
 
Bonnie

Bonnie

Super Member
Goo
Theo1689 said:
Yes, "Darwin's Black Box" is a book basically arguing for "Irreducible complexity" in the human system, which his fundamentally and undeniably true. It basically argues that so many systems in our bodies require multiple parts, which are useless if the parts "evolve" one genetic mutation at a time.

"Evolution" used to be one of five units in the Grade 12 Biology course I taught. The other four units ("molecular genetics", "energy metabolism", etc.) all had MULTIPLE examples of irreducible complexity in them:

1) the ten enzymes needed for glycolysis;
2) the 8 enzymes needed for the Krebs cycle;
3) the multiple components for the Electron Transport Chain in the mitochodria to work;
4) the multiple enzymes need for DNA replication, transmission, and translation;
5) the "chicken-and-egg" scenario of ribosomes needed to produce proteins, but ribosome composition INCLUDING proteins (where did they come from, without ribosomes?)
6) etc. etc.

I found it incredibly ironic to see the cognitive dissonance of teaching evolution after teaching all these contrary processes.

James White co-authored a book for teens called "What's with the Mutant in the Microscope?" which basically presents many of the same arguments as "Darwin's Black Box", in a more approachable format.


Meyer's "Signature in the Cell" is also quite good, as it not only talks about the astronomical improbability of evolution designing (!) a DNA molecule, basically a storage molecule capable of storing gigabytes of information, not to mention the "double duty" of where did the information stored IN the DNA come from?

There's also Lee Strobel's "Case For a Creator". I love when athiest/agnostic lawyers try to "disprove" God, and end up convinced of His existence. :)
Click to expand...
Good analysis...what are the odds of 10 different enzymes all evolving at the same exact time, to work together at the same time, in an organism, to support its life....?
 
civic

civic

Well-known member
Here are some books I have on various subjects that I can recommend

1-Some great books written on the Resurrection are by Habermas and Lincona, McDowell, Kendall, Strobel, Dalferth
2-On the Deity of Christ are Chemnitz, Harris, Hurtado, Morgan & Peterson, Berkouwer, Murphy, Polythress, Bowman & Komoszewski, Bauckman, Cole, Clark & Johnson, Ware, MacArthur to name a few.
3- On the Trinity- Morey, Letham, White, Ware, Kostenberger, Swain, Ryken, Lefebvre,
4- Commentary sets- Word, NICNT, PNTC(Pillar), Baker Exegetical, TNAC
 
Bonnie

Bonnie

Super Member
Hey, Theo--you are a biology teacher, correct? You may understand this more than I do, then. Around 1994, my husband, daughter, and I spent spring break in Arlington, TX, so we would be centrally located to visit zoos and museums in the area. We visited a natural history museum, I think it was. At this time, I sorta believed in a kind of creation plus evolution as to how everything came about--a hybrid. But that all changed when we visited this museum.

On one whole wall, was a blown-up picture of a "simple" one-celled organism. ALL of the organelles were labeled and had arrows leading from them to writings that explained their chemical make-up, which went way over my head...but only one was mapped to its conclusion. The others were left unfinished because scientists didn't know all about the complete chemical workings of the rest of the organelles.

This was supposed to be a "simple" one-celled organism...but there was NOTHING simple about it; it was unbelievably complicated! Right then and there, my hybrid belief of creative evolution crashed and burned--completely! I was in awe as I stared at the picture.

I don't remember exactly what it was all about, but I suspect that you probably do. :) But the idea that all of this came about by chance is utterly ludicrous.
 
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