Jay E. Adams (1929–2020)

Bold. He makes no room for the existence of suffering, and does not provide advice on how to counsel sufferers. If someone enters your office seeking counsel on a matter clearly resulting from their own sin, than his method is acceptable. However, it would be a mistake to assume that the method herein described may be applied to any and every individual who may seek counseling. Jesus confronted some people, and simply comforted others. Not all pain and confusion in the world is a direct show more consequence of that person's sin (see the book of Job).

However, often it is, and in such cases, this book lays out a good argument from scripture on how to counsel such people. show less

As an Irish Catholic who is on their second marriage the subject of marriage, divorce and remarriage is particularly close to my heart. The Catholic Church used the bible as their reason to disallow me from my own faith despite the fact that United States law says your spouse can just leave and divorce you regardless of what the church says. Meaning the rest of us who are trying to abide by church law become innocent victims punished by being tossed out through no fault of our own. I was show more incredibly curious where this book was going to fall on that spectrum; was yet another person going to tell me the Church is right and I am barred from my faith or is someone else going to stand by my side to point out the hypocrisy in this?

Although the audience for this seemed to be geared more towards ministerial staff than a layperson it’s still written in a way that your average person should be able to grasp the concepts and writing.
I liked that he steered away from the oft quoted idea that procreation is a foundational purpose of marriage because that always irritated me when you consider the number of childless couples. Does different genetics make their relationship any less valid than someone who can have kids? What about couples who choose NOT to have them for whatever the reason?

You will come away learning about the various scriptures that pertain to marriage, divorce and remarriage as he also provides the various viewpoints so at times I felt like he wasn’t take a hard stance one way or the other but just wanted to provide information so people could come to their own conclusions in a way. His writing is easy to understand and he presented his arguments in a logical, well thought out manner but still at times I felt like he wasn’t really trying to persuade the reader towards one side or the other.

In the end what I discovered is there is a lot of conflicting information and sets of rules that apply depending on how you can spin things or the position you hold. Ironically the position I came to after reading this it seems it would be better for the Church to stay out of marriage and let the government handle it as religions make things too complicated and too often punish the innocent.

If you’re pro-gay marriage I seriously would NOT recommend this book. I think only traditional bible believing Christians will appreciate this and get any true benefit. show less

This particular book is high on my recommended list. Though I don't agree with all of Adam's theology and I think that he has unrealistic expectations regarding the planning of preaching, the first half of the book is indispensable. The book begins with the assertion that you must discern the Spirit's intent of the passage before preaching it. Unfortunately, many preachers misuse the Scripture by either a poor interpretation or application. Adams is adamant that preaching is only Biblical if show more it is faithful to the original intent of inspiration. show less

Adams gives a much needed corrective to a growing and pervasive heresy within the church. He convincingly demolishes the New Reformation dogma, first by exposing the roots grounded in secular humanism, then by exposing the sloppy attempts by self-esteem advocates to establish a biblical basis for their unbiblical doctrine. At the same time, Adams reminds us that by grace Christ came to save sinners who deserve nothing but God's wrath.