I was running early to small group on Tuesday so I stopped by the library to find some new reading selections, and I picked up Chuck Colson's Loving God. Wow. I had never read anything from Colson before though I have heard Pastor Karl refer to him favorably. Ages ago when we were studying Micah he referred to Colson as a prophet for our time. Reading this book from 20 years ago it was a fair compliment to Colson. I finished reading it Thursday night.
The theme of the book centered on obedience and holiness. Curiously, the opening pages hit on some issues we had just talked about in small group.
I highly recommend this book. It was a good charge both to me personally and to the modern American church including that familiar part of the body we know as BVBC. In the chapter, The Church on the Front Lines, Colson writes:
" . . . the description once given the church by the Archbishop of Canterbury and commentator, William Temple: 'the only cooperative society that exists for the benefits of its non-members.' Too often, though, the church's strategy for reaching those who 'don't belong' is exactly backward. Priority goes to constructing an attractive edifice in a location near a growing suburb and as far from crime-infested downtown as possible. Next come the committees organizing concerts, covered-dish suppers, Bible studies, slide shows, and the like. Then with fresh welcome mat at the door, the members enthusiastically wait for the lost and needy souls to come join them. Of course they never do. What the church attracts are the neighbors who are bored with their old church anyway, or those looking for a group with a bit more 'status'. The folks 'out there' have no interest in the handsome sanctuary and the progressive programs and wouldn't feel comfortable inside no matter what wonderful attractions were offered. (And probably the church members wouldn't feel comfortable if they did come.) The cultural barriers in our American society are imposing. Millions live in conditions unimaginable to the typical white middle-class American congregation. The family in the ghetto, for example, lives a day at a time, often one welfare check away from disaster; and odds are it's a one-parent family with one or more of its members victims of one of the plagues epidemic in America's inner cities - child abuse, alcoholism, drug addiction, prostitution. But when the church fails to break the barrier, both sides lose. Those who need the gospel message of hope and the reality of love, don't get it; and the isolated church keeps evangelizing the same people over and over until its only mission finally is to entertain itself. "
Oh, and David, I am currently reading The Fourth Horseman.
7 comments:
That is good, you finally picked it up!
On Christian books:
They ALWAYS defer to the Bible for them, and the Bible always defers to Christ.
I think that a lot of times, what we read in a Christian book and act like what is so special and new, could have been found if you had taken the effort to look in the Bible. I am in a men's Bible study, and one of the guys, for almost three weeks in a row now, has continued to reference to a book by John Piper. John Piper may have a lot of good things to say, but none or very little of it had to do with the chapter of Romans at hand. I think that Christians are in danger of unofficially canonizing and honoring the words of worldly men instead of the words of Scripture, which is what they (the good ones, anyway) are based off of in the first place!
I think one of the few things Christian authors write about that is OK to get into reading is books on dating, because back in the time in which the Bible was written, there was no such thing as "dating". You told your parents you wanted a wife, and they got you one.
Even then, you often run into issues that are influenced by the authors. One book for women describes how women are like flowers, and how relationships with men that fail pluck out their petals. So men are "like these grubby little gnomes that go around picking petals and ruining women", as a friend of mine named Ben MacKinnon said.
Then again, you have the books for Christian guys that act like women should be going around wearing trash bags, so as not to tempt their Brothers in Christ...
Are you enjoying the Fourth Horseman? It's kind of an awkward read at first, what with the racial issues and what not, but it gets very good when he moves west.
Last comment!
While I read the book, I always imagined John Henry's voice as Val Kylmer's. It makes the book immensely enjoyable in some parts :D! It's almost as if they pulled him straight from the movie.
Certainly I agree that Christian books, no matter how well written and influential, do not share the authority of Scripture. However, I believe they are still of significant value. When I read, especially one of my favorite authors, I often think of it as a conversation with a wise mentor or spiritual friend, much like the discussions we would have at small group. Their insights and opinions can help link the truths of Scripture to the day to day of life in the time and culture that I experience. They also can wake me up from a foolish sense of overfamiliarity that I can sometimes get lulled into when only reading hte Bible. Certainly, Scripture has a lot to say about social justice, visiting prisoners and caring for the poor, but Colson was able to show me something of what that looks like literally in a modern Delaware prison.
I'm glad you shared those words on the Fourth Horesman. He has just left Philadelphia at this point in my reading, and I was struggling a bit with the book. The racial language has been nauseating, but at least it has helped me to better understand a cultural period and attitudes that are very foreign to me.
It makes sense when you look at it. If you're from a southern family that had lots of land, and then a lot of people that you hate come and try and take it away, you're not going to have very many nice things to say. Erichoff, if nothing else, does NOT make Doc a saint.
Erichoff's Holiday is probably more accurate than Tombstone's depiction, as much as we might like to believe otherwise.
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