Finding God in the Bible

Filmmaker's exploration of biblical stories attempts to demonstrate different aspects of God  

Finding God in the Bible
By Darren Wilson
Publisher: Chosen
ISBN No:978-0-8007-9558-0
Reviewed by: Jeannie Kendall 

 
Darren Wilson is a filmmaker who is fascinated with the stories of others: he has made films tracking the stories of believers across the globe.

In this book he turns his attention to the Biblical stories, seeking to show how they demonstrate different aspects of the character of God. The foreword, by Bill Johnson, describes it as “real and gut-level honest”, and he does intersperse stories from the Bible with his own, and others.

He includes among the Biblical material creation, Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Gideon, Saul, David and a chapter looking briefly at a selection he refers to as “Wierdos” – Balaam and the donkey, Elisha, Ezekiel and Isaiah. In the final chapter he looks at Jesus.

Certainly the book is no academic treatise, nor does it claim to be. It is a devotional book, best read for that purpose. Indeed there are some moments to cause any theologian to pale…the worst is where he states “this is Old Covenant here, and Jesus’ death has permanently calmed God down” (p65) – not a view of the atonement that I can in any way agree with, not least in its almost flippant expression. Undoubtedly many would struggle with his description of Jesus as not a “regular dude”.

There were though some thought provoking and challenging aspects to this book. Darren is arguing that there is a difference between an acquaintance and a friend: that we occasionally visit God in his house or talk with him, but rarely become genuinely friends.

He looks therefore at a number of issues, such as love and trust as opposed to only fearful obedience, the consideration of which gives space to consider our personal relationship with God. He writes movingly at times, for example about the raising of Lazarus, and clearly writes from a place of deep devotion to God.

If you are looking to have your intellect stretched, this is not the book for you. However if you can get past the occasional inaccuracies and shocking phrases and look beyond to the heart of the man writing and the God he seeks to describe, there may well be something that might surprise you.
 

Jeannie is co-minister of Carshalton Beeches Baptist church and a former visiting lecturer at Spurgeon’s College