Faith Venture

It’s summer and vacation time. With grandkids at 3 and 5, there isn’t as much time for reading as usual. I did finish a couple of books last week. They couldn’t be more different. Ravi Zacharias, “Why Jesus?”, holds New Age spirituality up to the benchmark of Christian dogma and finds it misleading and wanting. Elaine Pagels tackles the politics and society of the early centuries of Christian thought focusing on interpretations of the “Revelation of John (of Patmos)” in “Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation.”

Has anyone ever made a chance remark that influenced what direction your life takes from that place in time? The speaker at Willow Creek Community Church Sunday talked about a “chance” encounter with a man whom he had never met before nor seen later who set him off toward a career in the ministry. Made me think of chance remarks that people have made to me that either set me off toward something or stopped me from going that direction.

I was coaching youth soccer and was on the school board. A chance remark from the athletic director asking if I’d ever thought about becoming a referee started me on what is now a 26-year career as a soccer referee leading up to receiving a high award Saturday.

What really concerns me reading through these books is the care that must be take when someone makes remarks about theology or belief that can send you off on a wrong path. Zacharias takes on some current cultural heroes in Deepak Chopra and Oprah Winfrey. He shows how their incomplete philosophy of salvation can lead people astray. One remark from Winfrey while at the height of her power on TV could move millions of people.

I wrote recently about reading source material. Go back to the Bible for grounding. Read lots of other books and authors, but always ground it in source material to test whether they have gone off in a wrong direction.

This entry was posted on July 9, 2012 at 7:07 am and is filed under Disciplines, Faith, Study. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.