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GuidanceFull marksGUIDANCE If you are going to read this book fasten your seatbelt — you are in for a bumpy ride. Peter Bloomfield decisively dismantles the traditional view of guidance (‘I feel the Lord is telling me’, ‘I want to know the Lord’s will for my life’, etc). Others have covered this ground before — most notably Gary Friesen in Decision Making and the Will of God — but I know of no UK publisher that has been prepared to tackle this difficult but important issue, and show that the language of most evangelicals is not only unscriptural, but arrogant, cultic and blasphemous — Bloomfield’s choice of words, not mine! He shows how God has two wills — ‘decreed’ and ‘moral’ — the former is secret, the latter is contained completely in Scripture (see Deuteronomy 29.29). And it is the Bible alone that is the authority for the conduct of our lives — no extra-biblical ‘revelations’. He explains the folly of interpreting providence and feelings — and even dismantles the concept of the minister’s ‘call’. He has a useful section where he reviews some historic creedal statements showing that they support his view of the finality of Scripture. Bloomfield’s arguments, to my mind at least, are unassailable, despite the contrary practice in most of our churches. If I was to quibble, it would be to say that he could have spent more time discussing the cessationist view of the charismatic revelatory gifts — and perhaps been a little less acerbic — but then he is Australian? Full marks to Evangelical Press for publishing this important book — much overdue in the UK. Colin Hamer© Evangelicals Now - April 2007 |