Deserted Island Top 5: Tim Challies

Stephen Nichols (SN): We are returning to our deserted island, and this time we are going to send a Canadian. We have Tim Challies with us. Tim, welcome.

Tim Challies (TC): Thank you.

SN: Tim is a very popular blogger, he is an author, and he is also a pastor at Grace Fellowship Church in Toronto. So—this is every pastor's dream—we are going to remove all of your responsibilities and send you off to a deserted island, and all you have to do is read. So, we've got out there, Calvin, Luther's works, Shakespeare, a Bible, of course, a Reformation Study Bible, and a few other things. So, what five books would you take with you to your deserted island?

TC: Alright, well, I would have to take The Holiness of God, because it has been one of those life-changing books for me, one I return to again and again. And being Canadian, I'd probably take Anne of Green Gables with me.

SN: Ah, how interesting.

TC: Because, every time I read it, I find it just such a brilliant novel. It is just so well written, and maybe you could typecast it as a novel for girls, but, boy, it is so well written and so interesting, written by a minister's wife. And, just very interesting, unintentional insights on the faith and on Calvinism, really. So, I love it, I'm challenged by it.

SN: And the setting is great.

TC: The setting is perfect. One of my favorite places in Canada, one of my favorite places in the world.

SN: You'll miss Canada, so the book will help remind you of Canada.

TC: Exactly so.

SN: So, we've got three to go.

TC: Sure. The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, I'd want to have with me.

SN: You mean John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes.

TC: Close. I mean, Bill Watterson's take on them. I just find it a book I can read again and again and it's so much fun to see my kids reading it and loving it and getting totally different stuff out of it. And, reading it as a teen, as I did, and then going back and reading it as an adult, it is just so clever, such good art. So, I never get tired of that.

SN: That will certainly keep you entertained, Calvin and Hobbes.

TC: Yeah, right. Overcoming Sin and Temptation, I'd want to have there, which is Justin Taylor and Kelly Kapic's version of John Owen's book. I have read that one many, many times and it has been so formative in helping me overcome sin and temptation. And, I suspect, even alone on a desert island there would be many, many opportunities to overcome sin and temptation.

SN: You know, you mention that version in particular has been very helpful in introducing this current generation to Owen. Such a wonderful resource from the past, so, that's great.

TC: And they don't do a lot of changes as I understand it. I haven't compared the two side-by side, but it's not like rewriting it. It is just changing the Bible verses to make them fit our modern format, it's changing a few of the words, but mostly, it's just footnoting things and explaining some of those words that have passed out of usage.

SN: It's just full of helpful comments to sort of help a current reader navigate this wonderful text.

TC: Right, exactly.

SN: So, we're up to four.

TC: Up to four, I've got one left. I might go for The Pilgrim's Progress. Now, I say that because I think if there is any book in the world I'd want to memorize from cover to cover, I think it would be The Pilgrim's Progress. And, I think on an island I'd probably have opportunity to do that. I like memorizing things, I'm not as consistent as I should be. But, to be able to memorize a book like that, it is just so, so rich, endlessly rich. And such an amazing description of the Christian life, the Christian experience, and the universal Christian experience. Being able to dwell on that book, spends lots and lots of time in it, I think would be an absolutely beautiful thing.

SN: It would be. You know, that is one of those books, I have just a handful of books that I try to read, not necessarily read through entirely every year, but at least every year just go back. The Pilgrim's Progress is that kind of book where you know where those scenes you are sort of needing at that moment or interested in at that moment, and you just dip in there and it's just so refreshing and edifying.

TC: Right. And I struggled with the book for many years and didn't find myself enjoying it much, so, I chose to listen to it in audiobook. It was so beautifully read, a woman, I can't remember who it was, but she read it with such passion and read it so well, it really opened up the book to me and now I can go back and read it on my own and find much more enjoyment. I just needed her to unlock it. I didn't know that at the time. It transformed it for me.

SN: That's great. Well, we will send you to your island, and leave you to your books. Thanks for being with us.