These were the first articles in our church newsletter, they are a few years old, but I think they still work.
I am reading a very interesting book by Neil Postman called Amusing Ourselves to Death. In it, he evaluates the effects of television upon American culture. He gives good evidence that television has probably done much more harm than good to our culture. Perhaps it is no coincidence that Dumb and Dumber has become such a success in movie theaters. We no longer think, communicate or actively participate. Instead, we sit mesmerized by the light of a picture tube passively watching others live, love and destroy instead of "seizing the day" and living life with passion, joy and adventure.
There are many social critics that are writing about the "Dumbing down of America". Unfortunately, Christians are not immune to this trend.
Christians are to love the Lord their God with "all their mind". This may be one of the most neglected statements in scripture. Mark Noll has written a stinging critique of Evangelicals called, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. His thesis is that The scandal of the Evangelical mind is that there is no evangelical mind. Christians are not "loving the Lord with their Minds" and for the most part do not think or care to think.
Let me encourage you to find the "off button" on the television a little more often. Live life "for real" instead of vicariously. Communicate and have fun with your family in interactive ways. Invite someone over for fellowship. You may even find the time to read a good book!
With Joy, Pastor Jeff
2 Tim 4:13 "When you come bring the cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments."
Commenting on this verse in which Paul requested his books as he awaited trial and certain death, Charles Spurgeon wrote:
"He is inspired, yet he wants books! He has the the Lord, and yet he wants books! He has had a wider experience than most men, yet he wants books! He had been caught up into the third heaven, and had heard things which it is unlawful for a man to utter, yet he wants books! He had written the major part of the New Testament, yet he wants books!"
Next to the study of Scripture itself, nothing has influenced my thinking and my life more than good books. I wish that more Christians today were readers, for there are so many great books that would challenge their thinking and way of life. Just imagine how much could be gained in a year, if only an hour a day which is now wasted to T.V. could be channeled toward reading good books.
To give you a little incentive, I put together a list of some of the most influential books I have ever read. I tried to narrow it to ten, but I was having trouble narrowing it down even to twenty. So here it is: my top twenty countdown.
1) The Pursuit of God, A.W. Tozer. Christian Publications.
2) The Knowledge of the Holy, A.W. Tozer. Harper and Row.
3) Bush Aglow, A Biography of D.L. Moody. (just an example, good Christian biography will challenge your walk with the Lord)
4) The Celebration of Discipline, Revised edition. Richard Foster, Harper & Row (His revised edition is better)
5) Mighty Prevailing Prayer, Wesley Duewel, Zondervan.
6) Addicted to Mediocrity, Franky Schaeffer, Crossway Books. (an application of the Philosophy/Theology of Francis Schaeffer by his son. Read also, The Complete Works of Francis Schaeffer.) Humorous, controversial, convicting, sometimes unsettling, but influential.
7) Revival Lectures, Charles G. Finney, Revell.
8) The Body, Charles Colson, Word.
9) The Pleasures of God, John Piper, Multnomah. (also Desiring God or anything by the same author)
10) Transforming Grace, Jerry Bridges, Navpress. (all of his books are worth reading)
11) The Freedom of Simplicity, Richard Foster, Harper and Row. (This title is one of the more controversial and convicting)
12) Wholly Sanctified, A.B. Simpson, Christian Publications.
13) The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds on Prayer, Baker.
14) Devotional Classics, Edited by Richard Foster and James Bryan Smith. Renovare. Harper and Collins.
15) The Holiness of God, R.C. Sproul. Tyndale.
16) The Christian Book of Mystical Verse, A.W. Tozer. Christian Publications. (Hymns and poems for your devotional times)
17) Margin, Richard Swenson, Navpress. (If you are too busy to read and feeling stressed out: YOU NEED THIS ONE!)
18) No Place for the Truth, David Wells, Eerdmans.
19) The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, Mark Noll, Eerdmans.
20) Where Do We Go From Here, Ralph Neighbour, Touch Ministries.
Pastor Jeff