George Barna has conducted a survey that reveals that
“nearly half of all Americans have read at least one religious book, other than the Bible, from cover to cover in the past two years.”
See Poll
This may be good or this may be bad. Certainly, God does prepare the soil of a people by stirring interest in religious thought and expression (e.g. Josiah or Ezra). However, there can also a marring of spiritual living that happens when we join various religious beliefs and create a personal brew for our own pleasure – a.k.a “syncretism” (e.g Cannanites, Philistines, Mars Hill, etc).
How do you know the difference? I hear many sincere Christians indicating their excitement over the popularity of religious books and the hunger that exists for them. I also hear naturally negative people scoff at the notion that God uses novels in any way. How do you respond? It is good… isn’t it? Couldn’t this be a making for a spiritual revival? Can we know? Could the Di Vinci Code actually serve Christianity better, in the long run, than Your Best Life Now? Or are we seeing the tampering of the DNA of the church through the infusion of religious readings instead of religious disciplines?
What Say You?
In our fast-paced, fast-food culture, it’s much easier to pick up and devour the fries-and-a-coke version of Christianity in the form of a paperback. It’s infinitely more challenging to get into the spiritually nutritional “meat” of the Word. The fast food satisfies us instantly and carnally, but leaves us empty or packed with filler (fat); a steak dinner (which we have to work to prepare) truly helps us and is, in the end, satisfying–even though it may not feel good in the early stages (just like anything beneficial to us: Bible study, exercise, or eating the right foods). Here, self-discipline is key. Self-help is not.
We kind of already talked about this topic but in light of your recent thoughts about persecution, it should all be cleared up pretty easily once a little persecution is thrown into the mix. With PDL being purchased by “upscale baby boomers”, I wonder about the amount of “spiritual turnover” if they were forced to choose between Christ or their golf game.
Challies.com also has blog called But Then I Read A Book that explores the pattern of books leading new believers astray.
To muddy waters up a bit more, and to carry Jeffrey’s food theme, people aren’t deciding to eat the steak at all. They are choosing between the “fast-food” of false teachings and the “Milk” of the typical seeker friendly, neighborhood, non-confrontational church. It is nearly impossible to tell the difference for a non-Christ follower.
At Grace we have chosen to seek after the Meat of God’s word. I think spiritual minded books can help give us a common topic to discuss with our neighbors. We need, more than ever, to hone our skills of discernment in order to help our lost and dying friends find the Good Book and the “Christian living” books that will point them back to the Savior.
OK, OK, that was a softball. What do we do about it? Is it right to speak to other Christians regarding books that trade in syncretistic values? How do you evaluate this? What will you say to prove that this is bad and this is evidenced in a particular book?
Is there even a need to speak to those next to us regarding the dangers inherit in dieting on “Christian reading?” In other words, will “Your Best Life Now” really damage people?
Let’s try to get some legs on how to apply our beliefs on either side of the argument – making or marring. How do you know/what would you say?
It’s a tough thing to do. On a personal level, you always come off as the one that is cynical and judgemental – possibly even jealous of someone else’s success. You are seen as working against Christianity.
Practically, no book is perfect (except one) and no book is exempt from misinterpretation. Just the other day I was discussing the dangers of “Wild At Heart” offering the idea that God takes great risks in us humans. Then I went home and read C.S. Lewis saying the very same thing in “Mere Christianity.”
I also recently read “Hard to Believe” by John MacAuthur. The premise of the book is great but I just had to gloss right over all the places where he goes off on contemporary music being bad for churches.
I think the problem is silence. Most mature christians gloss over the questionable and expect everyone to also. We also fall into the rule, “if you don’t have anything nice to say…” – when was the last time you ready a scathing review of a CD or book in a mainstream Christian publication?
To carry the food analogy a bit further, imagine the FDA being silent about Burger King’s new breakfast sandwich. There was a whole press release about the thing being off the fat and calorie charts. Imagine the FDA being silent about calories, cholesterol and such and the masses going out a grabbing one for breakfast everyday. (Supersize me!)
That’s how I see The Church – avoiding confrontation, avoiding issues, avoiding education, avoiding feeding the flocks real food.
I’ve got little enough time to read the books I want to read, let alone the ones I might suspect need picking apart. So in terms of specifics, I’m afraid I’m going to end up punting on detailed criticism most of the time.
Perhaps it would be better to just encourage people to eschew reading tons of fluff and read just a few really good books more deeply. I suppose that could serve to help people make more careful decisions about what they read.
Spending time in a book is just like spending money on a purchase. A wise person doesn’t spend money on impulse; neither should we squander time on a book just because it seemed good at the moment. Don’t just pick up a book and casually give it precious hours you cannot recover – put it down, move on to other things, and if it still seems worthwhile after a day or a week, then go ahead and invest your time in it.
But spend your time wisely: most books these days are just sugar water. Take C.S. Lewis’s advice and read the old books – if they’ve been around for decades and centuries, and people are still reading them, chances are they have something good to say.
How do we put this discernment in practice? How do we approach those fellow Christians who seem to be gorging themselves on this cotton-candy theology? I’d say there’s a pretty simple test for the true worth of a book…use the Bible as a rule.
Ask yourself (or the person you’re concerned about): does this book take a Biblical principle/passage and then use man’s reasoning to derive a whole scheme or worldview for life from it? That’s dangerous, and that’s where people start following a book or an author and not Christ. Or, does this book take sound Biblical principles from the counsel of a larger portion of Scripture and use exegesis to bring out the worldview for our lives taht is already in His Word? This kind of book is helpful and edifying in that it points us back to the Word, instead of leaving us with a final, inspirational, upbeat last chapter.
I see this line as being somewhat the same as the difference between an expository sermon and a topical one.
Thanks, Jeffrey, that reminds me…
Want to know how to read the Bible for all its worth?
If not, I can recommend How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, by Fee & Stuart.
I’m slowly making my way through it right now… so far, it’s been excellent. It aims to take you beyond the milk of “daily devotions” and into the real meat – genuine study of the Word.
My only mild disagreement with the authors is that they prefer a dynamic equivalence translation over more literal translations (I’m an ESV guy myself, but the ESV had not been published when this book was written).
However, that’s only their “if you only use one Bible” recommendation – their advice is to use a number of carefully chosen, faithful translations, which should include at least one “literal” and at least one “dynamic” flavor in the mix.
Sorry for the tangent…
… er, make that “If *so*, I can recommend…”