First, I am going to start off with Heschel!! The book is a little hard to understand. I stayed one one page for about 20 minutes reading it over and over again. I feel that this novel will have to grow on me!! I think that it will be beneficial because I always wondered about the life of a prophet!! and the information that was given in chapter one was intriguing!!! Never knew that the prophet life would be so gloomy and alone!!!...But understanding his writing style will be a challenge....can wait to see the outcome....
After reading Shane's book, it made me rethink my faith and direction. In terms of Christianity as a whole, my views have changes. The book opened up a wider aspect and vision for my direction of Christianity. I take the religion seriously. Reading the book, his presentation of Christianity and desire to serve became contagious. All of could think about was changing my life to follow God's direction. Shane confirmed that when in doubt God will lead the way. Not only that but gave me inspiration to give to others. His book also caused me to analyze Christianity in America. Growing up in a Christian home, all I knew was God. I had no choice. I remember how simple church was growing up before the advancements in technology. Shane's examples of how churches are changing brought sadness and hit home!!! My church is changing and becoming more materialized!! I wasn't going to include this part but I think that what I encountered should be heard!!! Yesterday night, a spiritual dance group that I am involved in had practice for a performance. We usually use the audio system in the sanctuary to practice but the system was down. So we used a radio for practice. The radio needed batteries, so we went to ask our pastor. His exact words were....every ministry provides their own equipment but if you need batteries you can BUY them from the church!! They are 3 dollars a pack!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT!!! I was so shocked!! It was not a joke!! He was serious!! I felt as if my heart sunk in my chest and I had to leave!!! Thinking of what he said, I immediately thought of Shane and his perspectives of churches "changing"!!!!! This incident made me think about everything else in church that occurs that is ungodly!! My church sells DVDs and Cd's for 3 and 5 dollars a piece!! Instead of giving food to others that need it they sell it!!!! SO HUNGRY FOR MONEY!!! When will it stop? When will it end? Immediately, I consider going to my pastor but I am afraid I will offend him so I back off!!!! Later that night, me not standing up for what is right is ALL I can think about!! I am just adding to the trend not stopping it!!! Is my faith weaker than I thought?? Is God disappointed in me for not standing for him??? And how can I answer to him when I know it is wrong but I continue to go on like everything is right???? I NEVER would have even realized the actions of my church without reading this book. This book is a eye opener for me and ALL. i think that every church should have a copy because there is a individual relation for everyone implanted in the book!!! I pray that Christians will change!! I pray that my church will change!! I pray that the world will change!! Because as each individual relationship with God crumbles....the whole faith diminishes!!!! Can anyone relate??
Friday, January 30, 2009
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Thanks for sharing your personal reflections and reactions. It is often difficult to reconcile what our churches do and the call of the Bible to do justice for the poor. Shane helps us to see the disconnect between what we preach and how we live and worship. It's a tough challenge and one that I'm also trying to respond to. I will be eager to see how you move through this in the coming months.
ReplyDeleteWell to the first part of your response I agree as well. The gloomy and lonely life of the prophet really confused me. I thought that they would at least share hopeful information with the world sense they are perceived as messengers from God. But after having listened to some people in class today and researching some more on my own about the prophets I now have a little bit of a better understanding of why they were so gloomy. What I understand is that they are putting this "gloomy" information out there in order to bring people to justice and get them really thinking. But I'm still not really convinced that the messages needed to be told in the ways in which the prophets did: scaring everyone.
ReplyDeleteAnd to the second part of your post: that is ridiculous! I don't understand why a church would do that??? It just makes it that much harder for me to want to be a part of a community that is supposed to be so giving, kind, and nonjudgmental, yet is committing acts such as that one. It brings me back to my question: Why do people that call themselves "christian" live the way they live?
What??? They charged you for BATTERIES??? That makes me so very sad. Try not to worry about not approaching your pastor about it. As much as I would have wanted to, I don't think I could have immediately either. Actually I know I couldn't have. I think the important thing is that you realized the injustices in the world around you. I think that's one of the best qualities of Shane's book: 'the wake-up factor'. It definitely woke me up and opened my eyes to some injustices going on around me. My church recently considered spending millions of dollars to buy land for a Youth Center. While I think the idea of a place for youth to get together and learn about faith, a lot of us struggled with the amount of money it would take. They eventually decided not to go through with it, but what ever happened to the money they had semi-budgeted to buy the land? I can't honestly say for sure. But I have a hard time believing that all of it went to outreach or service. Money is such a hotly debated and almost worshiped topic in churches today, and I have no ideas about how to veer away from that. But, after Shane's book, at least we can acknowledge some problems with religions. Hopefully, after these realizations we might be able to stand up with solutions one day. Right now, I have none!
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