Gyms for the Mind

GYMS for the MIND - LIBRARIES
by Dr. Peter Hammond

• How can we stretch and transform our minds?

• Where can we find treasure troves of
information, insights and inspiration?

• How can we be better equipped, encouraged
and empowered to make a greater impact for
the Kingdom of God in society?

“Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes
and I shall keep it to the end.
Give me understanding and I shall keep Your Law;
indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
Make me walk in the path of Your commandments,
for I delight in it.
Incline my heart to Your testimonies
and not to covetousness...
Psalm 119:33-40

Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things
and revive me in Your way.
Establish Your Word to Your servant,
who is devoted to fearing You.
Turn away my reproach which I dread,
for Your judgments are good.
Behold, I long for Your precepts;
revive me in Your righteousness.”
Psalm 119:33-40

Libraries preserve history and truth
and make accessible
a treasure-trove of wisdom,

insights,
knowledge,
biographies,
devotionals,
examples of
excellence,
commentaries,
dictionaries,
handbooks,
concordances,
atlases,
encyclopaedias
and much more.

The library is the armoury for any mission, college or ministry
providing spiritual weapons for spiritual warfare.

Libraries are a collection
of selected sources
of information,

made accessible
for a community - for reference, or borrowing.

“Reading is
the magic key
to take you
where you want to be!”

Sanctuaries for Serious Systematic Study

Libraries provide a quiet place for study.

A good library provides a protected environment to
preserve sources of knowledge, printed books and
journals and also audio and visual digital resources.

A good library provides a sanctuary for serious study, a
calm atmosphere for concentration for systematic study.

An inspiring environment for research for assignments,
Bible studies and sermon preparations.

Readers make leaders.
A reading Christian is a growing Christian.
If you want to lead then you must read!

Libraries provide time tested tools to equip
and empower you for exceptional ministry.

Libraries are gymnasiums for the mind.
As a gym is there to stretch your muscles,
a library stretches your mind.

Reading is to the mind
what physical exercise is to the body.

A Treasure Trove of Information,
Insights and Inspiration

A Bible College Library is a gold mine of Biblical
knowledge, a treasure-trove of information, instruction,
insights and inspiration.

An Oasis for Searching Souls
and Enquiring Minds

Libraries are an
oasis for searching
souls and hungry,
enquiring minds.
A reservoir
of living waters.
A storehouse
of spiritual food,
providing
information that
can renew your
mind,
transform your life
and direct your
energies.

In an age of apostacy we need libraries with the reliable,
old, tired and tested, battle proven faithful works of
dedicated ministers, missionaries and Reformers.

Information to Counteract Ignorance

In an age of ignorance,
we need libraries
that are equipped
with Biblical knowledge
and Christian answers
to the challenges
of our time.

In an age of
superficiality,
we need
libraries that
will challenge
and enable us
to
dig deeper
into the
gold mines
of
God’s
Word.

Opportunity to Improve Yourself

Libraries provide free education.
Libraries enable us to compare sources and discern.

Libraries provide you with unlimited opportunities
to improve yourself.

Essential for Those Who Love Truth

Libraries
are
essential
for those
who love
knowledge,
wisdom
and truth.

Truth does not fear investigation.
Truth conquers!

Libraries must be well organised, carefully categorised,
neatly presented and diligently maintained.

Precious Resources
for
Many Generations

Books are precious and valuable.
They need to be protected from dust, dirt, damp and damage.
Therefore, we must take special care
as stewards of God’s Kingdom
to preserve these precious resources
for future generations.

Victory and success
love preparation.
Learn to love reading
and enjoy learning,
as God prepares you
to make an impact
for the Kingdom of God.

My Mother taught me to read before I went to school.
My earliest memories are of reading books.

The library was a great attraction to me.

Many times, I spent
lunch breaks at school
reading in the library.
When I was growing up
in Bulawayo,
I would walk to the
library at least once a
week and take out the
maximum number of
books allowed,
four at a time.!”

By age 12,
I had left
behind The
Hardy Boys,
The Secret
Seven
and other
children’s
books and was
regularly
checking out
books from the
adult section of
the Bulawayo
Library.

I remember the librarian peering at me over her glasses and
asking in an interrogatory tone: “You do know that these books
are meant to be read?” “Yes, ma’am!” I responded. “Have you
read all these books in the last week?” “Yes, ma’am, I have.”

She looked at me with a skeptical gaze and then at the
titles of the history books, or wildlife books
which I tended to check out.
“How old are you boy?”
“Twelve years old ma’am!”
“And you read these books?”
“Yes ma’am

One of the first tasks that I was given when I joined Hospital
Christian Fellowship (HCF) was to sort out their library. I was
taken into a large room with empty shelves on against every wall.
A large pile of boxes of books was in the centre of the room and I
was told to organise the library. This was a task that I relished.

My previous employment, before joining HCF, was organising the
books at Oxford University Press in downtown Cape Town.

That involved moving mountains of books and arranging over
22,000 titles, in categories and alphabetically.

A person’s
character
is to a
large extent
developed
by the books
he reads.

“The heart of him who has
understanding seeks knowledge…”
Proverbs 15:14

Some of the MOST IMPORTANT
BOOKS Ever Written

1. THE BIBLE
The Bible is the most translated book in all of history.
The whole Bible has been translated into over 770 languages,
1582 languages have only the New Testament…

and 1196 languages have at least some portion of the Bible.
So 3495 languages have some portions of the Bible available.

The Bible is the number one best-selling book in all of history
(over 3 billion copies). It is the most widely read book in the world.
There is no question that it is the most life-changing book ever
written.

The most influential Bible
translation in history
is without doubt the
1611 King James Version.

The Bible is also the most valuable book in history.
A single copy of the Guttenberg Bible (printed in 1456) was sold in
1987, for over US$5.4 Million.

One copy of
William Tyndale's
original printed
New Testament
was sold for over
£5 Million.

The impact of the Bible upon Western civilisation has been
absolutely enormous.

The Bible has inspired
the greatest literature,
the greatest art,
the greatest achievements
in architecture,
the rule of law,
the separation of powers,
checks and balances,
representative
government,
the sanctity of life,
compassion,
charity,
liberty
and justice.

Whenever we delve into the Word of God we find gold.

The deeper one digs, the greater reefs of gold can be discovered.

The Bible tells the Greatest True story ever told about the
Greatest Man, who accomplished the most important task ever -
the purchasing of our Salvation with His Blood.

Renew your mind by reading through the whole Bible

2. Confessions
by Augustine
This autobiographical work
by Augustine of Hippo,
was written in Latin between
397 and 400AD.
It details Augustine’s sinful
youth and conversion to Christ.
Its original title was
Confessions in Thirteen Books.

It is widely recognised
as the first autobiography
ever written and was
an influential model
for Christian writers
throughout the Middle Ages.

Confessions provides an
unbroken record of the
development of one person’s
thought process and is the
most complete record
of any single person from the
4th and 5th centuries.
The first 9 books are
autobiographical
and the last 4 are Theological
and philosophical commentary.

It begins with:
“For Thou has
made us for Thyself
and our hearts
are restless
until they find
their rest
in Thee.”
Confessions not only
encourages
conversion,
but offers guidelines
on how to turn
to Christ.

Each book/chapter begins with a prayer to God, for e.g. “You have
broken the chains that bound me. I will sacrifice in Your honour.”
It is being consistently recognised as one of the “great
masterpieces of Western literature.”

3. The City of God by Augustine
Published in 426AD, The City of God by Augustine of Hippo, was
written in response to allegations that abandoning the old pagan
religions and embracing Christianity had brought about the fall of
the Roman Empire.

Augustine depicts
the history of the world
as a universal conflict
between God and the devil.
Men build men’s cities and
men destroy men’s cities.
But there is a city built by
God, which no man can
destroy.
Our Lord Jesus Christ
is the key, the focal point
and the goal of man, as well
as all of human history.

All of human life,
whether individual
or collective,
shows itself to be
a dramatic struggle
between good and evil,
between light and darkness.

The Lord is the goal of human history, the focal point of the
longings of history and of civilisation, the centre of the human
race, the joy of every heart and the answer to all its deepest
longings.

Far from polytheistic worship/idolatry being necessary to secure
worldly prosperity, it is idolatrous false religion which brings about
the decline and destruction of any civilisation. Moral corruption
preceded the fall of Rome. We need to live in the light of eternal
judgment. The City of God is a cornerstone of Western civilisation.

4. Lex Rex
(The Law and
the Prince) by
Samuel Rutherford
Written in English,
published in 1644,
Lex Rex
defends the rule of law
and the lawfulness
of defensive wars,
advocating
limited government
and constitutionalism.

Building on arguments from the 16th century Vindicae Contra
Tyrannous, Lex Rex attacks absolutism and totalitarianism,
emphasizing the importance of Covenant and ruling in accordance
with God's Law. Just as we owe allegiance to the king, the king
owes allegiance to the King of Kings.

If the King is in rebellion to the King of kings, then we must not
join in his rebellion against God. We must obey God rather than
man. Lex Rex was an inversion of the popular term: Rex Lex (the
king is law, or the king’s word is law), to Lex Rex (the Law is King).

God's Law is the eternal standard and any law
not in conformity with God's Law is invalid
and no law at all.

5. The Institutes
of the Christian
Religion
by John Calvin
First published in 1536, The Institutes is a monumental
masterpiece. The final edition of The Institutes, published in 1559,
contains more than 1,000 pages, in 80 chapters.

The Institutes stands out
as the finest
textbook of Theology,
Manifesto
for the Protestant Faith,
Handbook for Catechism,
weapon against heresy
and guide to Christian
Discipleship.
It is a systematic masterpiece
which has earned itself
a permanent place
amongst
the greatest Christian books
in all of history.

6. Foxes Book of Martyrs
(Acts and Monuments) by John Foxe
First published in 1563, Acts and Monuments, or what we today
call Foxes Book of Martyrs, included over 60 distinct woodcut
illustrations and was at that time the largest publishing project
ever undertaken in England.

The book was over a foot
long, two palms span wide,
too deep or thick to open with
any one hand, as it exceeded
1,800 pages and weighed the
same as a small infant.
The 1570 edition was
in two volumes
and had been expanded to
over 2,300 pages
and 150 woodcut illustrations.

Starting with the persecution of the Apostles and early Christians
under Jewish and Roman persecution, Foxes Book of Martyrs,
includes a history of the Protestant Reformation and the vicious
persecutions by the Papist Roman church against Bible
translators, Protestant Reformers and dedicated believers.

Foxes Acts and Monuments was
chained beside the great Bible in
cathedrals from 1571. It was
greatly respected at Oxford and
Cambridge Universities and avidly
read by soldiers in Oliver
Cromwell’s New Model Army.

It has been described as: “the single greatest influence on English
Protestant thinking of the late Tudor and early Stuart period.”
Acts and Monuments helped to frame English consciousness
(national, religious and historical) for over 400 years.

Gyms for the Mind

Gyms for the Mind

More Related Content

What's hot

Similar to Gyms for the Mind

More from Peter Hammond

Recently uploaded

Gyms for the Mind