Book Review: Christian Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites . . . and Other Lies You’ve Been Told by Bradley R.E. Wright 

I’ll be the first to admit that reading a book about statistics was would not be my first choice. But I chose this book alone on the strength of its title which is, in case you didn’t notice, AWESOME! This book is the 10th or so book that I’ve read with a group of friends we call the Broadly Thinking Christian’s Men Club. I have to admit that this book is perfect edition to this group. Wright not only challenges some of the most commonly held misconceptions about Christians and Christianity but does so in an extremely approachable and entertaining way.

Wright takes up the seemingly insurmountable take of trying to convince us that many of our “favorite” statistics about Christianity are often not as accurate as they might appear. Wright tackles these questions with wit, charm, and thoroughness. Each chapter addresses a specific subset of stereotypes and conceptions about Christianity. Do Christian’s behave morally? Is Christianity going to die out in the next decade? Are Christians racist? While we are all familiar with the standard answers to these questions the ones the Wright provides are insightful, convincing, and more than a little surprising.

No book review is complete without noting flaws and while this book was excellent it wasn’t perfect. I have only one major gripe with this book. The call to action is almost nonexistent. Throughout the book the thought in the back of mind was, “Interesting, now what do I do?” Should these stats make us content or worried? Should we tell people about these great stats or do we rest on our haunches? I dare say that Wright even dodges the issue entirely in the final chapter of the book. He simply tells us that now we can think more critically. But even that chapter is written with such finesse and humor that it’s hard to be upset.

How is it important to the Christian Man?

I would say that Christians Are is a great book for anyone to read. But since this is a blog for Christian men I suppose I should play to my constituency. 1 Peter 3:15 calls us to always be ready to give a defense of the faith. This book helps to accomplish that end. In addition to taking a closer look at statistics about Christianity he challenges us to think more critically. Wright points out that stats somehow bypass the critical thinking part of our brain and go right to the “that makes sense” part of our brain. But why should this be? The answer is it shouldn’t.

Recommendation

I strongly recommend this book for anyone who has ever heard a stat, anyone who is a Christian, anyone who wants to think more critically, and anyone who enjoys humor.

The Grand Weaver: Book Review

The Grand Weaver by Ravi Zacharias is a book about where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going.

God has a plan.

We may not always understand the plan but the plan is always there. Ultimately, Zacharias is showing us that God has a plan and we are all part of it. This book does an excellent job of explaining that God has a plan but I think that it didn’t do a great job explaining what we must do about it. 

What was good?

Zacharias does a great job showing that God has a plan and we can always see the plan if given the opportunity to do so. At the beginning of Grand Weaver Zacharias gives an awesome analogy about a dress weaver and his apprentice. The apprentice, seemingly, just moves around the weaver’s shuttle and loads the thread. While the weaver has a beautiful picture in his mind the apprentice will never see it until the dress is done. This, argues Zacharias, is how we, as humans, fit into God’s plan. We never seem to know what God is doing through the high points and low points of our lives. But if we take a minute to look back on all of the work He has done in our lives we will recognize that God is the Grand Weaver and his thread is the lives of human beings.

The remainder of the book is a look through the various aspects our lives followed by explanations and example of how these things fit into God’s grand scheme. Zacharias expounds on this subject with his usually charm and intelligence. The book, despite being heavy on content matter, is a breezy read. I found that this book was a real page turner. Not something I can usually say about Christian living book. Also, Zacharias provides some great biblical explanations that prove that God has plan.

What was bad?

I’m a HUGE fan of drawn out, in-depth, and probing studies of the bible and theology. So this book appealed to that side of my nature. However, I also think that if a doctrine doesn’t affect the way that I live then it ultimately isn’t of use. Grand Weaver fails to provide any really good application. That’s not to say there is no application but Zacharias doesn’t really get to explaining how the fact that God’s has a plan affects my life every day.

Rating 
If you’re not sure that God has a plan or if you wonder how bad things can be part of God’s plan then this is the book for you. But if you already believe that God has a plan for your life then you can probably skip this book.