I spend most of my day editing in some form or another. By the time I get home in the evening, I’ve had enough of words, so it takes something special to pique my interest enough to actually read a book. Right now, I’m reading two books. It’s taking me a while to get through them because I don’t devote a great deal of time to reading, but these books are so good and rich that not only am I reading them, I’m writing about them. They are “unChristian” by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, and “What Was I Thinking?: Things I’ve Learned Since I Knew It All,” by Steve Brown.
The premise of this book is that Christianity has an image problem. It does. I could have told the author’s that before they went and did all that research, but I’m glad somebody bothered to actually do the research to prove it. The authors are from the Barna research group, and have spent years interviewing non-Christians to find out what their perception of Christianity is.
The results? The majority of the people interviewed don’t have a problem with religion. They don’t have a problem with God or the Bible. They don’t have a problem with Jesus, in fact they think he’s a pretty likable fellow. Their perception of Christianity though is that the majority of Christians act in ways that are, well… unChristian.
The book points out that the church as a whole is known for being anti-gay, too political, and more concerned with making converts than with loving people. It’s a must-read for Christians. It’s eye-opening, even for a cynic like me. I will warn that it is a bit hard to read because it will break your heart finding out how Christians are perceived and what kind of message we are sending to the outside world without even thinking about it.
Steve Brown is a great American. He’s in his 60′s or 70′s and is, as he puts it, an old preacher who is tired of religion. I’ve heard him preach on several occasions and it is the most authentic, and most meaningful teaching I think I’ve ever heard. The reason is, he has learned life-changing truths about God through experience.
Chapter titles for this book include, “God is a lot bigger than I thought he was,” “People are a lot worse than I thought they were,” and “People are a lot better than I thought they were.”
This book also addresses some of the issues Christianity needs to deal with. In one section, entitled “The Bible is not a magic pill,” the author talks about how so many Christians just tell people who are hurting to read the Bible and think that is going to solve all their problems. Then, he goes on to talk about how a lot of Christians have made an idol out of the Bible. I’ve often thought that myself, but I haven’t really had the courage to say it. It needs to be said though.
This book, like all of Steve Brown’s books is incredibly eye -opening. If you really want to see the Christian life in a new light, you can’t miss this book.