Stuff Christians Like, the Book

I am reading an outrageously humorous new book titled, "Stuff Christians Like" by Jonathan Acuff. It is one of those guilty pleasures. Acuff skillfully dissects "Christians" by taking our words, our thoughts, and our bad habits and opens them for the world to see. It has sarcasm but also a message. It sometimes seems to border on Sacrilege until you realize this stuff is how we (Collective we) think at times. Each thought is about a page or page and a half instead of chapters. It is an easy read. Note: If you go into his web page of the same name, you can download the audio book for "Free"

Here are some of the thoughts:

* Using "Faith like a Child" as an escape pod from difficult theological discussions

* Complaining about not being"fed" at church

* Watching R-rated movies but only if they are violent

* Judging Fundamentalists for being judgmental

* Being slightly less nice than Mormons

* Saying "I'll pray for you" ... and then not

* Using"let me pray about it" as a euphemism for "No"

* Not knowing which meals to pray before

* Raising hands in Worship: the five forms: The Ninja, The Half and half, The Pound Cake, The Double High Five, and the YMCA

* Fearing your church will do something wacky the one time you invite a friend

* Stealing members from other churches

* Not throwing away a Bible

* Feeding kids their body weight in Goldfish Crackers

* Skipping church if you catch even a whiff of a guest speaker

and many, many more.

Here is one to share:

Having a Spiritual Excuse not to have Spiritual Discipline by Jonathan Acuff

starting here: "So to assuage that guilt of not having a consistent quiet time, you'll say, "I don't want to just go through the motions with my quiet time. I want it to be heartfelt, not just something on my to-do list."

That's a great excuse for a number of reasons. First of all, it makes you sound holy. "Wow, this guy is so passionate about spending time with God that he's not going to just phone in his quiet time. He's going to wait until he's truly motivated."

Second, it's one of those lies that if you say it often enough, you eventually start believing it yourself: "That's right. I do love spending time with God, and the best way to show it is by not spending time with him until my heart is right. I want to be on fire for God and not fake it. Until I'm sincere, I'll respect him enough to avoid him."

Yikes!

FYI: He is on FACEBOOK as is Stuff Christians Like.

FYI: I bought this at Barnes and Noble

I think I will steal from him often.