Wednesday, August 02, 2006

On David Pawson

Before any comments from me about Pawson make sense, I have to provide a bit of biography.

I become an atheist at the age of eight (when my father died), and realised the stupidity of being an atheist when I was 14 (it is very simple to see that if there is no God and if the universe is the result of accident, then neither the universe nor any individual life can have any final meaning. So any possibility of meaning is necessarily connected with the possibility that God exists (which led me therefore to search for Him but eventually led to His finding me - but that is another story, for another time).

After having given up atheism, I was never very inclined to take the Theory of evolution seriously, though I have dug around the subject quite a bit and can find no shred of evidence for evolution from one species to another (though there is plenty of evidence for species adapting to their surroundings - so the theory is an excellent explanation for adaptation, but that is rather different from what the Theory claims).

I mention all this only because the final nail in the coffin of the Theory of evolution was a talk by David Pawson. He isn't a scientist, though plenty of scientists don't accept the Theory either (see: www.dissentfromdarwin.org). What he was doing was discussing in quite a lot of detail the first chapters of the Book of Genesis (the first book in the Bible). What he said made eminent sense - though you don't have to believe that if you are to disbelieve the Theory.

So why am I writing about all that today? Becauase I had hardly heard of David Pawson since then, till I ran into a book by him at a bookshop and purchased it, on the strength of my warm memory of his talk from some 40 years ago.

Well, I have just finished reading the book and it is warm, funny, unpretentious, and challenging. For example, when he complained to God about some people starting damaging rumours about him, God told him that what these people were saying was not as bad as the truth about him. That is the incident from which comes the title of his book, Not As Bad As The Truth (Hodder, UK, just published, paperback, ISBN: 0.340.86427-3; price: £8.99)

Though it is difficult to agree with everything that anyone writes, this is Pawson's autobiography, and it is difficult to disagree with anyone's experience!

BTW, when Pawson complained, God did not only answer in the way I mention above (which caused Pawson as well as his wife, to burst out laughing) but God also told Pawson that, though He knows the whole truth about Pawson, He still loves Pawson.

A truth that we all need to hear, if only we are willing to accept it and be transformed by it. Sphere: Related Content

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

thanks for that.JDPawson is a great bloke.and a solid Christian teacher.Keep the faith!
www.davidpawson.com is where I download MP3 of his.
Dr.Matt J Maye.

Anonymous said...

Yes David Pawson is an excellent Bible teacher. We buy his books, MP3's, DVD's and CD's from Truth to Tell at www.truthtotell.net or www.davidpawson.co.za

Anonymous said...

Like you, I hadn't heard of David Pawson until I heard him speak. For me it was live in Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles last year.
I don't generally wait around to speak to the speaker after a public event but I felt I had to comment to Mr. Pawson how the courage and insight of his message affected me. I'm a publisher of Christian books in the US and Christian publishers can face the dilemma of having to choose between publishing what's popular or what's needed. In this country, it seems, we prefer the popular.
Regardless, I thanked Mr. Pawson and told him that his courage in speaking inspired me to be courageous in my publishing decisions here at home. That conversation led to another and now Mr Pawson's books are, for the first time, being published in the US - by us.
For Americans that desire unpretentious and courageous Christian truth, there is none better than David Pawson. The books we've brought over can be found at http://pawsonbooks.com.

Steve Spillman
True Potential Publishing, Inc.

Anonymous said...

It has blessed me greatly, that his teachings are so clearly founded in the Word of God, in a way that is easy to look it up and find out by yourself. It has been my conclusion concerning David Pawsons teachings: yes, indeed, that is what the bible says! Therefore it have been eyeopeners for me.

Anonymous said...

I think you will find Pawson has a Bsc Ag

Arul said...

I would rate him alongside great reformers such as Luther and Wesley. God had given him a world wide recognition to restore biblical truths such as 1) importance of the old testament 2) Christian initiation (entry to His kingdom, through repentance, faith, baptism and receipt of the spirit). His candid statement that repentance is the human proof of entry and receiving the spirit is the divine confirmation of the entry 3) once save always saved is not biblical 4) relationship between Israel and Church and the foremost restoration of 5)classical pre-millennial view i.e. church would go through tribulation before the millennial rule of our Lord Jesus. God bless David Pawson and grant him a very long life. I am richly blessed by his teaching, having heard him live in India,