Monday, August 08, 2005
The B I B L E
I was just looking at another blog. The owner is a youth minister at a cofC and grew up in the church. The latest blog he had was titled "5 Books that Changed My Faith". None of the books were the Bible. It hurt me to see that. He talked about reading these books to see your faith through "new lenses". But, aren't we supposed to see the world and ourselves in the "mirror" (James 1:23-24) of the Bible? I'm glad we still sing the kids' song "The B I B L E, yes that's the book for me. I stand alone on the Word of God, the B I B L E." I just hope the impetus of the song isn't changing from standing on the Word only to standing by yourself on the Word. Yet, being a Christian and standing only on God's Word can be lonely. I suppose that realization is beginning to hit me now.
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24 comments:
I have about had it with junk like this... Hearing of those who grew up in the church, only to want to change things that they know to be right. However, I am also one who beleives it is good to question things we take for granted or do on auto-pilot in church. But only to strengthen what I already believe.
The two ways of thinking I hate are the "We can't change X because it is wrong and we have never done it that way" and the "we need to change X, because it is cool and different." I guess I am somewhere in the middle
Yeah, me too...I just think that we look in the Word for newness. If all you can see when you read the Bible is something "old" then there's a problem. It should be "new" everytime you read it. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." The Word is ALIVE, ETERNAL, and NEW! My attitude about life and love and being a Christian changes somewhat every time I read the Word. If I go out for opinions, options, and ideas of men, then I feel like I'm cheating on God's Word. I love to read and I find some truth in the writings of men, but they cannot change the Word. The Word must change us.
I've always heard and loved the phrase "God is in the details” I’ve got to say that's true across the board. Anymore folks don't want details they want sweeping generalizations and God loves us no matter what. Satan isn't concerned with details he thrives in the broad view of the world. If he can convince us that the details of oh lets say, confession, repentance and baptism aren't really as important as just the proclamation of loving God because he loves me then I think he's bowling 300 easy.
I have to ask, was The Purpose Driven Life one of the youth ministers favorite books?
Actually, it wasn't. here are the ones he listed: 1) Brian McLaren's "A New Kind of Christian" Trilogy. "A New Kind of Christian", "The Story We Find Ourselves In", and "The Last Word And The Word After That" 2. Brian McLaren's "A Generous Orthodoxy" 3. ANYTHING by N.T. Wright (aka Tom Wright), but particularly "Following Jesus" 4. Donald Miller's "Blue Like Jazz" 5. Dallas Willard's "The Divine Conspiracy"
These are all written from what I keep hearing is the "post-modern" perspective. Pretty much, people are looking for anything new and different from the Bible. Lots of people are selling LOTS of books on this premise. Makes me think of Jesus driving out money-changers and also adding and taking away as is mentioned at the end of Revelation. Scary, man.
Luckily I've never heard of anyone writing a book based on the idea of making money and then to sell ideology...
I've read about the whole post-modern idea and I think it’s searching for a new way to put words into Gods mouth. It's sad that the gospel of Christ is so simple and so malleable to the whims of man.
Indeed, my friend. I think it also has to do with the feeling by many people today that there is no such thing as absolute truth. Some would have the Bible be fill-in-the-blank or multiple-choice or TRUE/FALSE. But, it's none of the above, just TRUE. There's also the trend toward lazy chrisianity where people want someone else to explain what they think about the Bible instead of just reading it themselves. Truly, my friend; its simplicity and beauty are evident.
mullins... your last comment you made reminds me of something that makes me laugh.
If you have ever heard of Dave Ramsey, then you know he calls everyone who uses a credit card "STUPID!". And tells you not to use them. However, if you go to his website to buy his books (that people buy like mind-numb zombies) you'll have to use a credit card...
off topic, but funny.
HAHA! It is funny and more on-topic thatn you think. I have mentioned this trend before, but I keep seeing people who have a web-site or a blog and saying things like, "look at christianity in a new way" and "I'm just trying to get the word out". Then they have a big "buy my book" link or a bunch of other guys' books on Amazon that are tied back to them so they can get free perks. I had even thought of writing books on the Bible before, but I never will now. This junk has totally turned me off of it. It just seems like media marketing religion to me. It's about people, not God.
Jules is going to take a D. Ramsey course in Sept. She can take it for around $20 locally rather than the $200 you take it for if he’s actually talking. Of course the guy doesn’t have any money issues like the “rest of us” he’s rolling in cash. The way to make a mint is to sell something every one thinks they need. We’re still without any credit cards and I have to tell you I don’t miss it. Jules signed up for one and they automatically billed us some $150 bucks. She’s going to take care of this ridicules bill and tell them to f-off.
As for the God stuff I think all these folks start out with good intentions but realize that they can get a bit more out of the whole thing be it writing books, lecturing or what ever if they change the slightest little things to make them more appealing.
Speaking of changing things and the pot calling the kettle black, the Gospel Broadcasting Network has a bunch of shows and none of them have any instrumental music. I’m going to pitch something to them, arguing that the show has to have real music that people actually enjoy for it to work. Do you guys think this is so bad?
I think they need to just have some good, secular, wordless, music that will work. They either have to go to one extreme or the other in my opinion. Who is D. Ramsey?
dave ramsey is a self described financial "guru" who went bankrupt, and has since made his money back threefold...his approach is a cash only one, and he says each payday, pay yourself first, then take care of everything else..using the assumption that if you pay yourself first you will have money left over due to the fact you realize where all your money goes. i think alot of what he says is good, but i've always hated someone with a mint telling me how to handle my money...we'll see how the class goes..matt will say if it will keep me from spending too much money on the kids and the like, it will be worth the $20 investment...
Oh, cool! Well, it's definitely worth a try, I'd say. Organizing your moolah is hard to do without a plan. Sounds like this guy has a pretty good one. Hope it goes well! Definitely sounds like it's worth $20 smackers. Of course, I'd recommend Jamison's plan, too. That man knows how to organize finances!
That Braly kat charges too much. I feel like I'm getting raked over the coals now, how am I supposed to be able to handle his racket! I mean look at the sly smile framed with stylish facial hair and quaffed frock and that hip, shabby chic, red, bandanna shirt. This guy oozes money.
We just need to do like Dave Moore and write e-books for the golfers of the world and make a mint. I actually thought about writing up a book detailing how to accomplish a great tennis service winner the "Josh Way". Don't all the rich guys play golf and tennis? Of course, there's always polo...
$20 is a good price, hard to pass up, and even if you get nothing out of it, it was only a lunch or two worth of money you sepnt anyway....
I have since stopped selling my book. I sold it to some other ebook writers so they can give it away as a bonus... I got tired of all the emails form buyers asking questions.
I thought about not posting this, just so we could stay at 13...
LOL...I had already de-13'd this post, baby! I'm just still not sure about the whole e-book thing. It seems like such a niche-market to me. I figure if I'm good eneough to get published, it'll happen eventually. But, I might try e-bookin' eventually. The main problem I have found thus far is that regular publishers usually don't want to touch you if you've been e-published. It's a "rights" problem since the book has already been in the public domain. So, if you e-publish, you've pretty much shot your chance to publish out of the sky. Such is life.
dont get into the ebook realm, you end up working very long, and learning alot of stuff so you can work really hard at not working.
90% of them are scams or useless material written by a lazy bum who wants to make an average salary doing nothing and getting no reward frrom their works.
I failed because I wanted to write somethign that really would help people. Unless you shamelessly pimp your product and lie alot, you wont make much money.
Yeah, I don't wanna be no book-ho! I figure if something I write is worth writing, it's worth taking the time to get published. If it never happens, then at least I wrote my heart out on paper and I will always feel the reward from that.
You'll excuse me for being contrary, but some of the non bible christian books are good. Sure, the Bible is the number one but I've got no issue reading other material.
I realize the books you are talking about may be crap, but I've read some good material from other authors. In a way they are like sermons on the page. A good sermon uses scripture, but isn't just some guy reading from the Book.
You're not being contrary. I agree. But, when someone starts following men instead of the Bible, there's where the problem ensues. You gotta breathe it in, man.
Like this; there were lots of guys on faulkners campus that we all looked up to, spiritually speaking. They always had their bible in had and knew it front to back. A few years later, when you saw these people, they were no longer carrying the bible, but some book written by some man. And they would always stop you and say "Hey man, you have GOT to read this book!"
Yeah, that's jacked-up, man!
Understood. It is very weird to me being completely out of the Faulkner loop, both current and past. You guys get all these issues coming at you and Amy and I attend this little church in the middle of Indiana with very little knowledge of what others are doing, churchingly speaking.
Yeah, it's odd to come back into this atmosphere after attending a congregation very much like the one you and Amy attend. The cofC was very sparse up in that part of Georgia and now we're back in the thick of it in Alabama. It's very different.
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