What Books Have Greatly Influenced Your Life & Thought?

As I was reading tonight, a curious thought crossed my mind. There is no other book that will ever be more influential to our lives as Christians than the Bible. That's why it is so important for us to stay rooted in the Word. However, other than Scripture, there are many other books that greatly influence our lives. I know what books besides the Bible have shaped my life. I'll share those in a later post.

My curious thought this evening was this... What books (other than the Bible) have greatly influenced your life and thought? I'm a curious guy. You can answer this question by leaving a comment on this post. If enough people reply, I might tally the replies and see what the "most influential book" among you all is.

That's NOT in the Bible

I thought that this was a helpful post for me. Michael Kelley has noted 4 different phrases we might think are in the Bible but actually aren't and ten to contradict the gospel. Here's his entire post below.

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There a lot of little phrases that we tend to think are in the Bible but really aren’t. In fact, in most of these cases, these phrases contradict the nature of the gospel. Instead of repeating these mantras, we’ve got to turn them on their heads as a way of preaching the gospel to ourselves every day:

Wrong: God helps those who help themselves.

Right: God helps those who know they cannot help themselves.

Wrong: This too shall pass.

Right: This might not pass. But God is faithful to uphold the weak.

Wrong: Cleanliness is next to godliness.

Right: Don’t worry so much about outward cleanliness; we’ve got bigger problems, namely the dirt of the heart.

Wrong: Jesus Christ is my personal savior.

Right: Jesus Christ has saved me, but He does not belong to me. I belong to Him. And though I am individually rescued, I’m not the only individual that hs been rescued. I have been saved into a family – a community of believers.

Does Theology Matter?

I don't want to answer this question at the moment. Instead, I'd like to let this excellent video answer it for you. However, let me contribute this to the answer. The word "theology" literally means "the study of God." Therefore, any time we answer the questions, "Who is God? What is He like? Who is Jesus?" we immediately become theologians. As a result, I think rephrasing the question above could shed some light on the answer. Does what we believe about God matter? Yes, yes, & yes!!

DugDownDeep_Carnahan.mov from Covenant Life Church on Vimeo.

Where to Quench Your Burning Thirst?

"Once my thirsty soul clamored for something to satisfy its wants; I hungered and I thirsted for righteousness; I looked to the heavens, but they were as brass, for an angry God seemed frowning on me; I looked to the earth, but it was as arid sand, and my good works had failed me. I had no righteousness of my own; all my wells were stopped up, and when the rulers dug the well with their staves, and sung, "Spring up, O well," still no water came. But I shall remember well, when my thirsty soul fainted within me, and God said, "Come here, sinner, I will show you where you may drink," and he showed me Christ on his cross, with his side pierced and his hands nailed. I thought I heard the expiring death shriek, "It is finished," and when I heard it, I saw a stream of water, at which I quenched my burning thirst; and here I am -

A monument of grace,
A sinner saved by blood;
The streams of love I trace
Up to that fountain - God;
And in his mighty breast I see
Eternal thoughts of love for me."

- An excerpt from a sermon by Charles Spurgeon entitled, "Christ - the Rock"

Treasuring Him Sermon Jam

If you've never heard of Sermon Jams, they are a ministry that take short clips of sermons and sets them to hip hop music. Makes for some pretty sweet sermons!

Davin Mark Seger

I'm sure most people who follow this blog already know that my wife was pregnant. Well no longer! On February 15, 2010 at 5:44PM, God gave us a son... Davin Mark Seger. Check out these cute pics.



His name (Davin Mark) means, "The beloved and warlike one." I'm one of those fathers who wants his children's names to mean something. So why "beloved" & "warlike"? "Beloved" because that is my constant prayer for him, that he would be one of God's beloved children. "Warlike" because he must be if he is to fight the good fight of the faith.

Here's my vision for my son. Because he is loved by God, he is a warrior for Christ.

Lord, would you make my vision complete?

Postmodern Architecture

Kudos to Justin Taylor for posting this. It's from an address by Ravi Zacharias.

I remember lecturing at Ohio State University, one of the largest universities in this country. I was minutes away from beginning my lecture, and my host was driving me past a new building called the Wexner Center for the Performing Arts.

He said, “This is America’s first postmodern building.”

I was startled for a moment and I said, “What is a postmodern building?”

He said, “Well, the architect said that he designed this building with no design in mind. When the architect was asked, ‘Why?’ he said, ‘If life itself is capricious, why should our buildings have any design and any meaning?’ So he has pillars that have no purpose. He has stairways that go nowhere. He has a senseless building built and somebody has paid for it.”

I said, “So his argument was that if life has no purpose and design, why should the building have any design?”

He said, “That is correct.”

I said, “Did he do the same with the foundation?”

All of a sudden there was silence.

You see, you and I can fool with the infrastructure as much as we would like, but we dare not fool with the foundation because it will call our bluff in a hurry.

How Firm a Foundation

I hope this old hymn encourages you. There is no stronger foundation you can stand on than Jesus.