Alistair Begg

A conventional Christian marital handbook with conventional Christian advice.

These type of books always slightly annoy me because the advice comes off as smug and overly simplistic. As a woman and a wife, I often feel scolded like I'm a lazy child. Like when the author warns women not to neglect their house work in favor of social engagements. I mean, that's good advice, but it's also really patronizing.

The author definitely assumes that the wife is staying home and doing all the house show more work. He does mention that he can't be dogmatic about this because the Bible doesn't prescribe such things, but he still manages to make you feel guilty about other arrangements. He also encourages women not to be bitter when they're stuck at home with the kids all day, slaving away with dishes and diapers and meanwhile their husband is playing 16 holes of golf with a business associate. After all, we are still serving God even though it feels like our lives are pointless. Okay, sure. Caring for children and home is valuable work and does serve God. Many women choose the job of homemaker with joy. But just because she enjoys it doesn't give the husband leave to goof around with his hobbies all the time.

The author makes a point of casting husbands as sacrificial lovers, but it really seems like most of the sacrifice is on the woman's side in his view of marriage. show less

The Spurgeon Study Bible is a very neat idea. As most people somewhat acquainted with Mr. Spurgeon know, he was not a verse-by-verse through a book of the Bible kind of preacher. He usually would choose a verse (or portion of verses) for one Sunday and would preach on that and then preach on another (non-related, often from a whole different book)verse the next week. And also, some may also notice that his preaching was not always very exegetical.

That being said, this commentary is a great show more compilation! It sort of gives a glimpse of how it would have been if Spurgeon went by a more verse by verse preaching style, and it focuses on snippets from his sermons that are more exegetical.

The version that I have is the brown and tan cloth over board Bible. It is very nicely bound and seems quite durable. The spine has some fancy looking ridges on it and the front has Spurgeon's signature printed on the bottom left.

There is a lot of good commentary in this work. But there are also, of course, places where the commentary is not so great. To give an example, in one place he says, "I hate that plan of reading the Scriptures in which we are told, when we lay hold of a gracious promise, 'Oh, that is for the Jews.' Then I also am a Jew, for it is given to me! Every promise of God's Word belongs to all those who have the faith to grasp it…." That is a ridiculous, irreverent and, to speak very plainly, quite a selfish statement. Why does everything have to be about us individually? And it absolutely cannot be applied in a general way. What if there was a married, childless, ninety year old woman who greatly desires to have children and so she reads Genesis and Matthew, and grasps hold of the promises given to Sarah and Elizabeth, that they would bear children in their old age, and applies them to herself in faith? Is that a reverent interpretation of God's Word?

Anyway, I still think that this is a worthwhile Bible to get. There is a lot of good commentary in here, and of course, it is filled with pithy statements like, "Let us never think that we have learned a doctrine until we have seen its fruit in our lives." and "Anything is a blessing that makes us pray"

And I was particularly pleased at Spurgeon's conclusions in some places that are more or less controversial today. For instance, in speaking of the flood's being a universal flood some of the commentary says, "If Moses had meant to describe a partial deluge on only a small part of the earth, he used misleading language. But if he meant to teach that the deluge was universal, he used the words we might have expected that he would use. I should think that no person, merely by reading this chapter, would arrive at the conclusion that has been reached by some of our learned men - too learned to hold the simple truth of God. " Wow! That's really stating it plainly.

And then, speaking of 1 Corinthians 9-10 ("What no eye has seen, no ear has heard….") he expresses incredulity at "How frequently verses of Scripture are misquoted! How frequently do we hear believers describing heaven as a place of which we cannot conceive. They quote verse 9, and there they stop, not seeing that the marrow of the whole passage lies in verse 10. The apostle was not talking about heaven at all. He was only saying that the wisdom of this world is not able to discover the things of God, that the merely carnal mind is not able to know the deep spiritual things of our most holy faith…" Rather, these things "must be revealed by the Spirit of God, as they are to all believers." I was delighted that he had come to that conclusion as I know that my dad (a pastor) has been frustrated by the same thing.

As one would expect with just about anything written by Spurgeon, there is a lot of quotable stuff in the commentary. Overall, it's exactly what one would expect in a Spurgeon study Bible.

Many thanks to the folks at B&H Publishers for the free review copy of this book (My review did not have to be favorable)! show less

Alistair Begg very ably draws on the Bible story of Joseph's life from serving his father around the home to being second in Charge to the King of Egypt. Alistair opens with Romans 8.28; "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose". This thought is repeated throughout the book in many of the situations that Joseph finds himself in. You may not be aware that Joseph came from a dysfunctional family; yet he didn't let show more this get him down. He consistently remained faithful throughout his ups and downs and purposed to remain faithful. Alistair brings alive Joseph's life and the lessons that can be learnt including the purpose of trials, enjoyment in the routine, viewing life's difficulties as stepping stones of God's providential care rather than obstacles and the importance of preparing our mind for decisions to be made before we find ourselves in testing circumstances. The Hand of God is bursting with lessons for life and potentially the first SMART plan ever made! show less

Alistair Begg is one of my favorite preachers. I love hearing his thick brogue as he expounds upon Biblical texts. Crazy Lazy is a short 40-page treatise on the dangers of slothfulness. This book reads as though it is a transcription of one of his messages. He frequently speaks of the dangers for college students to be subdued by laziness.

I found the book both insightful and convicting. I don't view myself as a lazy person, but I can be a skilled procrastinator when I want to be, a problem show more that he directly addresses. I think this book is timely in our culture.

I read the book on a short plane ride. You can read it in an hour or less. I think it offers sound exegesis on the Proverbs and would be a beneficial book for all teens to read. I also think everyone who is getting any kind of government subsidy should be required to read this book. Before you start blasting me with comments about how everyone on a government subsidy isn't lazy, let me head you off at the pass. I know that! But let's be honest. There is tremendous abuse in our welfare system. We have unwittingly awarded lazy and slothful behavior in many people (not ALL, but many). show less