Wow. Just finished reading this
book, and it was very intriguing. Basically, the author abandon's Brown University (uber-liberal) for a semester's hiatus at Liberty University, a super-conservative Baptist University. He goes in as an agnostic liberal and, well, comes out on the other side. It's a true story. And he wrote a book about his experience. I thoroughly enjoyed the read because it's funny, It's also a very insightful look in to the Christian world from an outsider's perspective. It's extremely thought-provoking.
A few things really surprised me...
- the author was very open -minded. He was extremely willing to lay aside his personal beliefs to fully envelop himself in the process. Moreso than any Christian would be, likely because of our moral compass, but also a lot of notions that we have hard-wired into our systems after years of warming pews. I was surprised at his depth of commitment to the project.
- the author seemed to genuinely enjoy the experience (with a few bumps along the way) but maintained his objective viewpoint.
- the author easily slid back to his previous world view, sadly very little changed after such an intense encounter with God. It reminds me just how hard Satan is working to drag our very souls away and how generally oblivious we seem to be to his efforts. We are so quickly washed away in the cares of this world that we don't even realize we've moved until one day we look up and notice the distance we've put between ourselves and God.
- the hatred and misunderstand of numerous students and faculty. How is it that God is love, and God is in us, yet we continually fall so short of love? It breaks my heart.
- the author pointed out numerous times how the school and it's faculty and it's students were so consumed with the 'legal' battles (pro-life, homosexual marriage, creationism vs. evolution) but had so little care about the general condition of the world. At this point, I wanted to tap the author on the shoulder and tell him he visited the wrong evangelical school! I beleive that isn't the case for most churches. We care about the rest of the world. Why, the Assemblies of God does so much through Speed the Light, Light for the Lost, Convoy of Hope, and BGMC, just to name a few. Yes, we are concerned about the moral degradation of our country, of our planet, but we want to meet real, physical needs, don't we??
- some of the Christians he encountered were consumed with hate. I kept thinking, if these people are filled with the love of Christ, where is their joy? Such a poor representation of what Jesus did for us. I understand hating sin. But we have to love the sinner. How do we adequately translate that into a sin-filled world? Jesus hung out with sinners, but (though tempted with every sin we are) he never succumbed to sin. How did Jesus love sinners without excusing their sin? And almost as important, how can I do the same? I've spent a lot of time thinking about this (even before my journey into this book) and I've come up with two intertwining theories. 1.) Jesus is pure. So pure. Pure like nothing you or I have ever encountered. He is everything good and right and just all wrapped up into a person. We see snippets of it in the Bible (as best as a person can describe it) and I've personally felt glimpses of His glory during worship and quiet times, but have certainly never beheld His glory in it's fullness. I think His purity in real life was a thing to behold and sinners, being around this holy great light, well, it put their lives in perspective and they immediately felt a deep desire to clean up their act just by being near him. When you are around someone who is holy, who is just and kind and good, it pushes you towards holiness. 2.) Jesus was a man (a God-in-flesh man) but he was thoroughly devoted to His quiet time. He spent time with the Lord on a regular basis, consulted Him through out the day. He knew His scripture backwards and forwards (the Word became flesh) so He lived it day in and day out.
I'm not perfect. Oh, so far from it. But I have a deep desire to be oh-so-close to Jesus and to witness His purity, His glory, and to try to live up to His plans for my life. I know that by spending time in His Word I will better absorb His plans for my life, and learn how to react how He would react, speak as He would speak, love as He would love. The only way I can learn to love the sinner and not the sin is to learn to love like Jesus. No wonder so few Christians have achieved it. Such devotion it will take. What a mighty task, but what a perfect endeavor. I think, as the church, we need to really think this through, and pray for God to show us how to love people to Him, rather than beat them over the head with our seemingly strange beliefs and 'thou shalls and thou shall nots'. We need to love people where they are at, and ask God to work out the rest in our hearts.
Back to the book...
I guess I really enjoyed hearing what an outsider thought of the church. I'd like to think if he had visited my church, he'd felt differently. But I could definitely see where he was getting some of his information. Churches are lead by people, and people, by definition of humanity, are sinners. Sadly, it's obvious when you walk through the doors that people have agendas and lots of the time it's not for God's glory.
I encourage you to read this book. Like I said, it was definitely thought-provoking.
Total aside... My mom comes tomorrow evening! Sarah's getting better. And I'm really missing theLOFT tonight.
Ok, time to go do my Bible study. Thanks for reading.
