Today I was flipping through my inbox and found my latest CBD catalog. John MacArthur’s new book A Tale of Two Sons caught my eye. MacArthur usually writes something worth the time it takes to read (more than I can say for most). I was turning the pages and about three pages in was the Top 20 Hardcovers. It wasn’t long after glossing over the top 20 must haves that I was quickly sickened. Now most of you out there are going to think I am crazy, and I know some of the intellectuals will propose some logical explanation that makes the situation sound better than I am about to make it sound – so be it. But at least hear me out!
The top 20 hardcovers is a sad indicator of the state of “Christianity” in America today. The list included titles like Lucado’s 3:16-The Numbers of Hope, Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life is still number 4, and believe it not good old smiley health and wealth gospel Osteen’s Become a Better You is still number 5. The entire list was like this. And by this I mean topical, feel good, surface Bible study, be a better this or that, lots of stories, none confrontational, lack of Bible exegesis, lack of deep digging into Scripture, books! Nowhere in the top 20 is there even a book on Christian Evidences! MacArthur’s book on the truth war going on in “Christianity” wasn’t in the list, but his book on Twelve Extraordinary Women was!
Where are the books on being a better Bible student? In my opinion books like Walter Kaiser’s book Towards an Exegetical Theology should be a perpetual top 20 book. Where are all the Bible dictionary books? Where are all the Greek for dummy books? Where are all the digging deeper into Romans, or 1 Corinthians, or 2 Corinthians, or Galatians, or Ephesians, ok I think you get it. And what about the Old Testament? Have we completely lost any desire to even study it? Every single book in the top 20 began with a topic and sought to find a few Scriptures to scatter in here or there to back up the author's point.
How in the world did we ever get to the point where Christianity is shaped by man’s ideas instead of man’s ideas being shaped by Christianity? And that’s the problem with the list. It illustrates that this is where we are. We want Christianity to be what we want it to be. We want Christianity to be all about feel good stories. We want Christianity to be non-confrontational. We want Christianity to consist of someone else telling me what the Bible says instead of spending the time to dig out the truths from the text myself. We want Christianity to give lip service to Scripture about topics like grace, and prayer and then shut-up about things like homosexuality, worship, gender roles, or confronting culture.
Now tell me why I’m crazy….
Sow the Seed,
Caleb O’Hara
Monday, March 17, 2008
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