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FREE A TALE OF THREE KINGS PDF Gene Edwards,Paul Michael | none | 01 Jun 2011 | Christianaudio | 9781610451086 | English | Escondido, CA, United States A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards Many Christians found their faith shaken when many religious leaders were proven to be someone other than who they portrayed themselves to be. Gene Edwards fictionalizes several stories from the Bible in order to guide these lost Christians and help A Tale of Three Kings find their way back to their faith. A Tale of Three Kings is not only a cautionary tale, A Tale of Three Kings hope presented in a modern retelling of favorite stories. David is the young son of a shepherd, destined to be just like his father and his brothers before him. However, David's life takes a new turn when an old King visits his family and announces that David will one day be a great king himself. David's life continues to change when he saves a sheep from a bear with A Tale of Three Kings well thrown rock and later does the same with a giant who has been terrorizing a community. Instead of reveling in the newfound fame this act gives David, he finds himself the target of anger and abuse when he goes to live in a palace with a mad king. Saul, the king, is jealous of David's youth and clearly bright future. Saul hurts David in every way he can in order to break his spirit. However, David does not react to this poor treatment the way everyone expects him to. David ignores the abuse and refuses to return it. David only acts when he learns that King Saul has order him to be killed. David then runs away and hides alone in caves around the A Tale of Three Kings while dogs and soldiers hunt him. Soon others begin to join David, including thieves and criminals who also suffered at the hands of King Saul. David becomes their reluctant leader. Many years later, David is now king. David has fought many battles for his kingdom and led his people into A Tale of Three Kings and prosperity. However, now David's son, Absalom, sees fault in his father's leadership and wants to take over. Absalom believes he knows better how to run the kingdom. David learns of Absalom's plans and to the astonishment of those around him, chooses not to do anything about it. David believes that Absalom is God's chosen replacement for David. David walks away from his kingdom without a fight, allowing God to do as he believes to be the right thing for the kingdom. Read more from the Study Guide. Browse all BookRags Study Guides. All rights reserved. Toggle navigation. Sign Up. Sign In. View the Study Pack. View the Lesson Plans. Plot Summary. Part One, Chapters Part Two, Chapters Free Quiz. Topics for Discussion. Print Word PDF. This section contains words approx. Themes Style Quotes. View a FREE sample. More summaries and resources for teaching A Tale of Three Kings studying A Tale of Three Kings. A Tale of Three Kings Summary & Study Guide This book is easy to read and memorable. Despite its lop-sided popularity you can scan a galaxy of 5-star Amazon reviewsA Tale of Three Kings represents an inaccurate and, thus, harmful perspective on spiritual authority and those who have been wounded by its abuse. It describes three Israelite kings: Saul, David, and Absalom, and how their behaviors supposedly represent Christian responses to authority and rebellion. Christians who resist abusive leaders or usurpers are acting like A Tale of Three Kings and Absalom, says Edwards. Motive 1: As a follower of Jesus who holds firmly to the inspiration of scripture—and as a graduate of a conservative seminary, as was Edwards—I value adherence to the Word of God. A book may move me to no end, but if the words strung so beautifully together are in fact untrue, then I trust my weight to a fractured chain. Motive 2: As a survivor of spiritual abuse in a Bible-cult for 25 years, I have a heightened awareness of issues related to spiritual authority and submission. Therefore, when A Tale of Three Kings read a book on this topic my ears perk up and I have a vested interest that the author accurately portrays the salient issues. I personally know people who read books like this as a source of wisdom and insight. I want to make sure these good folk receive true balm, not snake-oil or vinegar. I will include one interpretational matter and four logical errors, with the relevant category in parentheses after each point. For A Tale of Three Kings better understanding of these categories, refer to Exegetical Fallacies by D. Mistaking description for prescription Hermeneutics. Edwards mistakenly uses Old Testament descriptive passages as a prescription for Christians. What does this mean? It means that Edwards has interpreted narrative portions of scripture to draw A Tale of Three Kings principles which the original authors may never have intended. He treats these stories as if they were doctrinal epistles A Tale of Three Kings to the book of Ephesians or 2 Timothy. But the Bible never says that David handled every matter in a godly way which Christians today should emulate. In fact, David made many A Tale of Three Kings in parenting and kingship which a discerning reader can identify. Complicating this is that Edwards freely switches between loose paraphrases of scripture and his own made-up conjecture. He implies that Christians must adhere to his fanciful interpretation and act accordingly. Failure to Recognize Distinctions Logic. By saying that Christian leaders are like anointed kings, Edwards fails to distinguish critical differences between Israelite kings in a theocracy and Christian leaders today. Most Christians understand that there is a categorical difference between the kings of Israel 3, years ago and the local church pastor today. Edwards does not. A question: Can your local church pastor raise an army? Collect taxes? Build a temple? Put congregants to death? Then why does Edwards believe that a king and a pastor should be viewed as identical with each other? Instead, Christian leaders are selected via a strict qualification process with carefully prescribed prerequisites cf. I Timothy 3; Titus 1; 1 Peter 5. And leaders who abuse their authority may be called to account via a carefully regulated church discipline process cf. Matthew 18; I Corinthians 5; 1 Timothy —this last verse is often cited by abusive leaders who claim that church folk cannot question them. But the verse explicitly says that church members may entertain an accusation against an elder if there are at least two witnesses. By setting forth either-or options of conduct, Edwards has committed what logicians call a false distinction. Appeal to selective evidence Logic. Because Edwards has a thesis to prove, he refers to scripture in a manner which supports his opinion. For example, when he says that David did nothing when Absalom rebelled against him p. Ignoring biblical context and citing only favorable scriptures is called proof-texting. Improperly handled syllogisms Logic. For example, Edwards says that if David had resisted Saul, that would equal rebellion A which would have been bad B. Therefore, resistance to any authority figure C is also bad B. Matthew 21; 2 Corinthians, 20; ; Gal. While his stated goal is to prevent division in the church and to encourage people to submit to spiritual authority, in fact Edwards reinforces unhealthy models of spiritual authority. For these reasons, I give A Tale of Three Kings a single star and wish it a quick death or a corrective sequel. Because I still think this book can be misused or misunderstood in such a way that people who are being abused stay in those abusive situations. Thanks Monax. You are a clear thinker and a great stockpiler of quotes. I read that back when I was still in a cult. And even then, something seemed wrong with it. Thanks for exposing the error in it! My question is why do so few people see what you see? This book receives praise wherever it goes. We had a new pastor come to our church. We were a solid, loving, healthy church of about people. We were truly a family. In 18 months he, along with a blind leadership that had this kind of blind loyalty, destroyed it. After playing the martyr he left and was seen as wounded and hurt. Ironically his last Sunday was my last Sunday. I was the last of over half of the church to leave. This book is so deadly used in the wrong hands. I ask again — why do so many people not see the danger and instead tout it as a wonderful book? To me, the praise this book has received demonstrates the power and persuasiveness of story. It sounds good and convincing, and the concepts are biblical, right? But when an author plays fast and loose with the text and then concocts dialogue and puts that fantasy as equal to scripture, all kinds of problems occur. It is time for the A Tale of Three Kings to embrace critical thinking as a biblical imperative, rather than to accept uncritically the persuasive arguments and storytelling myths of charismatic leaders who consciously or unconsciously advance their personal agenda. I hope that you can find healing in a new, healthy church. Thank you to both gentlemen for your replies. There have been good things that have come out of this situation for many of us who were so deeply hurt.