I just finished a fantastic book borrowed from my father's library. It's the best source for books these days. The basis of Jim and Casper is that they travel around to ten famous and different churches in America and rate them. Throw in the twist that Casper is an atheist. It is amazing to see the church through the eyes of an objective viewer, someone who doesn't just think well that's how we've always done it. It makes you as a church goer think twice about why we do what we do.
Here are some of my favourite sections in the book.
"Case in point: The preacher asked everyone to 'greet the people around you.' Well, I don't mean to throw cold water on your church thing, but frankly, I thought that was lame. Why do you have to tell people to talk with each other anyways? Why didn't someone voluntarily approach me?"
"I don't mean to be overly critical, but what if instead of asking people to pray a prayer on order to go to heaven, the pastor challenged everyone to go out and serve someone else here on earth? Could you imagine if he told everyone here today to go out and make a difference today...can you imagine what a difference that would make in one day alone?"
"If a complete stranger comes up to me and starts professing his faith, it's easy -too easy- to say that dude's nuts. But when people take the time to tell me about themselves, give me some context for their story, give me names, places, and times, it makes a lot more sense."
"Well, it's right here, in the heart of the city. Amidst the poor and suffering. To me, that
makes more sense than building a campus our in the middle of nowhere. Put your church where people need it the most."
"I don't understand why they need to do the big show. Why don't they just help people and call it good? Why the fog machine, camera crews, multiple screens, PowerPoint, and the lights, lights, and lights? Is this what Jesus told you guys to do? Put on a Christian rock show that's visually and sonically indistinguishable from a non-christian rock snow, change the words, and call it church? Is that pulled from the Bible?"
"Did he just say he healed someone who couldn't walk? Then why in the world is he wastig time hanging out in church? Doesn't he know there are thousands of people in this city who need his touch? ... If this man can truly heal people: get out there then! There are people who need your help!"
"Churches using technology to communicate better doesn't bother me at all. What was bothering me at those churches was the amount of money that was clearly being spent on technology and equipment, which I see as vain at best, hypocritical at worst. How are you helping others by spending your offering money on a Hollywood stage show?"
"Why is a church deemed successful by it's size rather than it's ability to truly teach it's people?"
"The pastor made up his mind about what he wanted to say and the pitch he wanted to make, and then he selected passages in the Bible that support his pitch."
I really enjoyed looking at church from the perspective of a non-believer. It definitely enforced some of my struggles with mega churches and also challenged many of the things I do every Sunday or in every day life.
I truly do believe that following Christ does require sacrifice and should not be comfortable but I'm continuing to learn how I'm supposed to sacrifice in my own life. Being a Christian shouldn't be easy and the same foes for churches, they should always challenge why they do what they do and whether that is what Jesus would have wanted.
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