Reviews
I Told Me So: The Role of Self-deception in Christian Living by Gregg A. Ten Elshof, Dallas Willard
josiahdegraaf's review against another edition
4.0
This was a really good book that served to remind me quite a bit of how dangerous and prevalent self-deception is in the Christian life and how much we need to watch out for it in our own lives. This book had everything: it was short, sweet, and to the point. And man was it convicting. It forced me to wrestle again with my own mind's tendency to get me to believe just what I want to believe instead of honestly pursuing the truth, and reminded me of all the techniques I will tend to accomplish that.
The one weakness I saw in it was that his sub-point on how self-deception can sometimes be good (because God uses it to keep us from seeing all of our sins at once and thus being overwhelmed) seemed to be rather mis-focused to me. Indeed, God does use self-deception to keep our sins from overwhelming us. But that hardly seems to be a "positive" use of self-deception that we should promote, but merely how God uses some of our faults for our own good. As a result, I agree that God is gracious in allowing us to do this, but I don't think we should see this as something we should praise as being somewhat-virtuous, which Ten Elshof seemed to get surprisingly close to doing.
All-in-all, though, despite this fault, this book was really helpful for me to read, and I'll have to read it again in the future. The heart is deceitful above all things. But the Spirit understands it. And He will guide us to uncover our own self-deceptions.
Rating: 4.0 Stars (Very Good).
The one weakness I saw in it was that his sub-point on how self-deception can sometimes be good (because God uses it to keep us from seeing all of our sins at once and thus being overwhelmed) seemed to be rather mis-focused to me. Indeed, God does use self-deception to keep our sins from overwhelming us. But that hardly seems to be a "positive" use of self-deception that we should promote, but merely how God uses some of our faults for our own good. As a result, I agree that God is gracious in allowing us to do this, but I don't think we should see this as something we should praise as being somewhat-virtuous, which Ten Elshof seemed to get surprisingly close to doing.
All-in-all, though, despite this fault, this book was really helpful for me to read, and I'll have to read it again in the future. The heart is deceitful above all things. But the Spirit understands it. And He will guide us to uncover our own self-deceptions.
Rating: 4.0 Stars (Very Good).
rachel_reece's review against another edition
5.0
This book was amazing - it put to words SO many things I'd been thinking but wasn't sure about or hadn't been able to verbalize. So helpful to me!!
deryk's review against another edition
4.0
Ten Elshof offers a quick and simple read that, if given due attention, can promote healthy reflection and growth. I'm glad for his insight.
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