The Insanity of God

I finished this book yesterday.  I rarely recommend the books I read because they don't have wide appeal (Dickens, academic subjects) but this is the exception. 

I really think everyone should read this book. I read it on Kindle.  Get a copy if you can.

Why?  Because it is reality.  The reality of what the vast majority of Christian believers face on this planet in places like South and Central Asia, China, Russia, and the Horn of Africa, to name a few.  The idea that after the fall of communism, persecution ended, is sadly untrue. 

Second, it is a compelling and accessible story.  Although an academic by training, the author (who goes by the name of Nik Ripken but that is an alias) chose to write in a straightforward style that I would guess is at the 8th grade reading level.  One need not be a college graduate to read and understand this book (which is not to say college graduates are necessarily smarter than the norm). 

Third, it will change your life or at least your way of thinking.  If you haven't been praying for the persecuted church, it should make you start.  If you are clueless about the lives of those outside the West, it's time to get over your cluelessness. 

That is not to say I agree totally with his conclusion, or that I understand his choice of title.  The title is catchy and probably helped book sales. Since it's a not a bait and switch situation, and since this story needs to be told, the title is not a problem; I just don't think it represents what is in the book.  Plus, are we in a position to say God is insane?  I mean, that is what the title is saying.  It is our perception sometimes from a human standpoint, and Paul says the cross seems insane to the unbelieving world, but . . . . I would question the title.

The second issue I might conceivably have is his conclusion that persecution is a good thing.  I really, in my heart of hearts, would guess that those who live under intense persecution would prefer it be lifted.  I don't have the right to say "you are blessed to live under persecution" when I don't.  So I wlll continue to pray fervently that people like Kim Jong Un are taken out of the way (and I don't much care how) so that Korean people will have a better life and freedom of worship.  I will pray that ISIS is defeated so that Christians are not beheaded. 

"Deliver us from evil" we are told to pray.  I don't believe that we as Christians are supposed to embrace the worst in life; we are only to accept it, joyfully, when God chooses to bring it.  We would not embrace cancer; we would seek treatment.  Christianity is not a religion of submit to everything that happens just because.  We have a Savior who relieved suffering.

I don't believe this is what Mr. Ripken really means to say, only that bold witness is going to cause persecution, and it will.  But I felt at the end that persecution was shown as a good thing and I'm not sure it always is. 

Either way, the book is a must read and I recommend it thoroughly.

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