Confessions of a pastor
I have to be honest, I never read the following books:
- Wild at Heart
- Purpose Driven Church/Life/Youth Ministry/Husband/Dog/etc.
- The Five Love Languages
And I don’t want to.
Remember that guy in high school that never read the books in English class and still pulled an A on the test? That was me. I got the A because I picked up all that I needed to know during the class discussion.
I feel the same way about a lot of books that seem relevant to my life. They get talked about so much over coffee, in sermons, on blogs and in other books that I pick up all the main points.
I think that’s probably a testament to how good these books are. They impacted so many people, that the second hand impact is still pretty good.
What book(s) have you skipped that you probably should have read?
I’m reading “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day”, but 2 years after all my friends read it…
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Oh, and I have read Purpose Driven Life/Church and Five Love Languages.
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I think too many people do this with the Bible. They never read it for themselves.
I’ve read all the books you’ve posted here, but there’s a ton more that I haven’t read that I probably should have. Too many to list. I spend a lot of my reading time reading quality blogs on the internet – so I don’t get in as many books as I should. But I get a lot of reviews.
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Blue Like Jazz.
No desire to buy into the hype. I read the back cover and pretty much understood the book.
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@Bill Good call. You’re right we do do this same thing with the Bible.
@Brad I can see why you want to avoid that book. I can say that I have read it more than a few times. But then again it’s poison to fundamentalist pre-tribers like you …just playin’
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Vince, those particular books you list can be summarized by friends and you won’t have to read them. That is the nature of a book that spends 300 pages to teach one thing:
Wild At Heart – Men like to help damsels in distress
Purpose Driven Life – We all want to make our Maximum Impact for God.
5 Love Languages – We all express love individually.
The mark of a really good book is one that you CANNOT summarize. When people say “You’ll have to read it for yourself”, this denotes its complexity. How could you summarize Augustine’s “Confessions”, Tozer’s “Man the Dwelling Place of God”, or Sheets’ “Intercessory Prayer” in a few sentences?
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@Mike :: that is a great point. I have tried to articulate ‘Science and the Akashic Field’ before…no chance, you must read it to understand it.
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Blue Like Jazz and it isn’t because I don’t agree with it, I actually like Don Miller for the most part. It was just the thing when I was in college and I am one of those guys who likes to find the thing in his own time at his own pace, I’m stubborn but I do want to read it sometime soon.
Anything by Max Lucado….oh wait I don’t think I should nor do I ever have the desire to.
(although I have heard him speak and he seems like a great guy)
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My mom like max Lucado
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I see lots of people taking this approach with their relationship with God.
“Oh yeh – Ive heard of Jesus, my grandmother used to tell me about Him.” “I already know him through her.”
I never want to be accused of taking someones word for it. Even when it comes to knowledge. I want it first hand. I might get something totally different outa the book than the idiot that told me “I didnt need to read it…”
Im sure it also depends on why you are reading the book.
I can see that Mike has totally different views on the 3 books he mentioned than I do. I loved “Wild at Heart” (its more than damsels in distress” – It’s a call to men about the true nature of God in them. Obviously he missed the heart of the book.
Its dangerous to take someones word on education, or impartation, or even revelation….
Reading or not reading is basically education.
College was great for some but horrible for others.
I think each person should follow their own heart about the books they need or not need to read. Not just follow the trend. But again, some of us are NOT gonna read certain books just because they dont want to be trendy.. That’s even more lame.
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