Posted on 01/24/2008 11:14:00 AM PST by rightwingintelligentsia
ORLANDO, Florida (AP) -- Donald Miller still loves God and Jesus. Don't misunderstand him.
His problem is with Christianity, at least how it's often practiced.
"It's a dangerous term so I try to avoid it," said Miller, who considered giving up his career as a Christian writer and leaving the church in 2003 because he couldn't attend services without getting angry.
For him, the word conjured up conservative politics, suburban consumerism and an "insensitivity to people who aren't like us."
To quell his rage, he sat in his boxer shorts and banged out a memoir of his experiences with God, stripped of the trappings of religion.
"Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality" sold just enough to pay a few months rent. Then five years later, spurred by a grass-roots movement of 20-something Christians longing to connect to God without ties to the religious right, the book became a sudden hit.
Fans were buying caseloads and passing out copies to friends. It peaked at No. 18 on The New York Times list of best-sellers among paperback nonfiction in November. He was mobbed by fans after a recent Young Life conference in Orlando where he addressed a crowd of roughly 4,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
“The only ones who are going to inherit the Kingdom are the ones who become like little children ... trusting that, since they can’t be good enough on their own - no matter what they do, their Father paid the price by sending His Son.”
I don’t know enough about this book to comment on it, but you’re absolutely right. The whole reason Jesus came to earth was to die for our sins, take our place. Anyone who humbles himself, and becomes like a little child, receives His grace. It’s not about our righteous, because they are as filthy rags, but His righteousness. We certainly should do our best to follow His laws, as we are not to be of this world. However, the main difference between Christians and the rest of the world is the fact we’ve accepted his redemption.
I wrote the wife and said I'd like to get Blue Like Jazz just to get some ideas.
Liberalism IS demonic! It’s a disease. It’s destructive.
I have a long history with the “Christian fiction” based on prophecy and other “peculiarities” of scripture. I read Frank Peretti’s “This Present Darkness back in the 1980’s and I was interested in my minds semi-intellectual interpretation of what I was reading. I only got a chapter into the follow-up book and threw it away. I actually rented the one Left Behind movie and was shocked to see the two witnesses actually talking in complete sentences. No specific words are attributed to them in the Bible.
The Left Behind series is like The Last Temptation of Christ. It is “admitted” fiction based on the Bible. Both offend me for the exact same reason – they shape peoples understanding and beliefs in what the Bible says according to the author’s agenda under the guise of being admitted fiction. It gives me the creeps as well as the willies.
I also am a former Pre-tribulationist who has since “converted” to Mid- or Post-tribulationism, or Pre-wrath, depending on how you define it. The web site that seems to agree with my view the best is this one:
http://watchmanbiblestudy.com/BibleStudies/Definitions/Def_Pretrib.htm
I don’t prescribe to every single thing this guy says, of course, but he covers this issue nicely and very much as I see it.
precisely...abortion, homosexuality, class envy, exploitation, immorality...
That was righteous anger.
I like his books. I don’t agree with his politics but his books are enjoyable. He does not take himself too seriously and most of the humor in his books is directed at himself.
I can see why some here have their panties firmly in a wad simply because he does not toe the “Dobson Mandate”.
“I wrote the wife and said I’d like to get Blue Like Jazz just to get some ideas.”
I know you are very busy but would value your impression of the book after you have had a chance to read it.
No mioght about it!
reverend’s JACKS-nnnn and Sharpton come to mind...
Liberal or conservative we have all fallen short. Knowng that will teach us to hold our views in humility. Not knowing it will lead to ideological fanaticism—on either side of the divide.
Yes,liberalism is demonic,diseased and destructive.
Yet why do we keep turning out new generations of liberals in this country?Could it possible be that we conservatives are not presenting the message properly or maybe a lot of us just seem like hateful angry people much of the time.
I grew up in a very conservative family but leaned to the Left between the ages of 19 to 25 or so.Why?Because the people who defined themselves as Right wing did not have the answers for me anymore in a world spinning out of control and seemed just as amoral and hypocritical as the Left.Too much racism back then as well.You got tired of the anti black and anti-Jewish rants.
And it is true that most anti-semitism TODAY comes from the Left.That sure wasn’t true in 1966.
I think it’s several factors.
Yes, conservatives are no more perfect than anyone else, but at least it’s more of a delivery issue rather than one of substance.
Don’t forget the world is the world and will only get worse. In reality we don’t have alot of control over that fact. We can try to make it a brighter place by shining the light of Christ in the darkness, which means being forgiving and leading the way by example, and control what we can control, but I’m convinced he doesn’t want us to be somehow ‘sensitive’ to destructive liberalism either!
“It’s not unilateral - just try saying you’re a Progressive Democrat in your typical Evangelical church. People will look at you like you have a demon in you”
Because you do! At least some level of oppression if not possession. Christian and Progressive have no part with one another, because after all, love of Christ is shown by our obedience to His word.
They do have a demon in them. You cannot be a democrat, or vote democrat without totally ignoring or not caring about evil.
Have you read his books? I have read them and they are challenging to christians. I do not agree with him in some areas but he is not proclaiming a distorted gospel. He isn’ exactly hate filled, just a different perspective.
See this is out of context because he actually does attend another church. The media is distorting his view point.
Sure did .. as well as all three of Miller's books.
The article references
a grass-roots movement of 20-something Christians longing to connect to God without ties to the religious right
I know a lot of these "kids" and they are weary of religiosity. They want a relationship with Christ and open, honest accountability - not a bunch of rules and a political agenda.
The title of the CNN article reads
Christian author has problem with conservatives
... which isn't the case. He has a problem with pharisees.
What about
“These people are absurd. I’ve been a Christian all my life and I don’t even know Christians this weird,” said the Portland, Oregon-based writer, who is single.
why on earth did you set up this strawman? Self-sabotage of your viewpoint? Self -loathing?
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