Wednesday, September 17, 2008

More Shack-alicious and First Impressions of Blue Like Yazz...

I've taken it on myself to start reading pop-Christian literature. I usually don't because, well, there's a lot of really good Bible teaching stuff out there.

Take that as you will.

Anyway, I watched Driscoll on "The Shack" last night, and was pleasantly encouraged to see his analysis was very similar to my own. One verse he drew on that I forgot about was this:

God has said in Romans 1:22-23, "Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things."

Whoops.

Whoops seems a light word when that 'mistake' results in the wrath of God, actually (from 1:18 and 2:1-11).

So I've started reading Blue Like Jazz. First impressions:
1) Miller has an amazing ability to write conversationally.
2) These conversations, so far, have done a great job pointing out the sin of man. He's done an excellent job showing how universal it is. He's done a great job showing how it's rooted in the self - in self-pleasure. He's done a great job showing that infects even the good things we do. He's done a great job in showing that everyone is sinful. Awesome.
3) He does a lot of needless ripping on nameless, descriptionless 'fundamentalists.' I'm not sure that's edifying or loving to certain people in the Church.
4) He makes a big deal out of being a political liberal. Eh, frustrating. I'd never say that being a Christian means you have to vote Republican (at least without some argument from Scripture), but at the same time, I don't like it. I think ALL Christians should have some sort of biblical political ethic - a biblical basis for what they think government should be and how we should interact with it - before engaging in such speech. Both Republicans and Democrats. Let's elevate God's words, not our unfounded opinions. Again, that goes for you all on both sides. Knock it off.

4 comments:

  1. Since your reading Blue Like Jazz, I thought maybe you'd like to read this review of the book titled "Green Like Envy"

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  2. Hmm...Well is this book worth reading then? I was going to but haven't yet.

    I know what you mean with great books out there, and since I started reading Christian books about scripture and evangelism, I have not been able to read any "regular" books.

    Also, at the moment I am reading:

    "Thinking Straight in a Crooked World" by Gary DeMar - its an apologetics book.

    and

    Some book about knowing biblical themes, definitions, etc better.. for beginners, jsut because I want to know more about the in depths about scripture. =)

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  3. I wouldn't. Don't think it's of that much use - except for maybe watching how Miller evangelizes.

    "Some book"? You don't remember the title?

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  4. Yay! I was glad to know you still write blogs! We were friends at NIU last fall, and I remembered a conversation we had about Calvinism? Anyway, I just had an interesting conversation with some Christian friends tonight, and was wondering if I could link them to your blog? They're a little unfamiliar with Calvinist theology. Let me know! Thanks! :)

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