Stop Dating the Church!: Fall in Love with the Family of God
Thursday, October 8th, 2009 at
10:16 am
- ISBN13: 9781590523650
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Product DescriptionPutting in their hour or two on the weekend, many Christians take the rest of the week off, neglecting the church and her needs. It’s not a serious relationship. Some shop around, looking for a church that suits their lifestyle. It’s dating, with no assurances, no obligations. Bestselling author Joshua Harris calls Christians to stop playing the field and commit, just as Christ is committed to us, His bride. In his new book, Harris explores the ramifications of . . . More >>
Stop Dating the Church!: Fall in Love with the Family of God
Tagged with: Church • Dating • Fall • Family • Love • Stop
Filed under: Dating Books
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I don’t have to own this book (don’t worry I will) to know that it is good. A lot of what people are lacking today in their walk with God is being committed in the church. I can’t tell you how much my church has supported me and helped me go through some of the darkest times of my life. Of course, that is secondary to what God has done in my life. In addition to being helped in the church, I learned a lot about servanthood and working with people. It’s not always easy, but can be done. I also learned how to speak the truth in love to people. I wouldn’t trade my walk with God or ministry duties for the world!
Rating: 5 / 5
This book is about as ridiculous as all of his others. Apparently harris believes that the Church is the non profit organization on the corner that meets in the nice stained glass artifice twice on sunday and every wednesday. You know, the one that has a pastor whose salary is paid by the giving of the congregation. I believe it could be that. Or it could be the group of friends who meet at someones house, or the students that meet at the local coffee shop or pub. In the promotional material, we are admonished for having a consumer approach to church, asking not what we can give, but what we can get from a particular church. While this is true to an extent, it is also a convenient cop out for churches that have become so commercialized and seeker friendly that they no longer offer any thing of substance for those of us who seek more spiritual meat. Which is exactly why people have stopped going to the stained glass artifice on the corner, and started going to the church that meets in homes and coffee shops. It sticks to the archaic belief that to be a christian you MUST go to church, which implies that all those who go to church are christians. Of course neither are true, but the danger of that mindset is real. Read the book, form your own opinion, but dont take harris’ opinion as biblical truth. Know the difference. For a better read, check out someone like donald miller.
In reference to some of the comments, I am actually NOT an emergent church guy. There are some of points that i might agree with, but i also dont like the trendy vibe that i get from the whole deal either. i have never really been one for labels, and i dont intend to start picking them up now. As far as starbucks, i wouldnt know. I refuse to spend 5 dollars on a fru fru cup of coffee, when the real kind can be had for 89 cents at the gas station. Im not a miller clone, as i can tell from his writing that we would no doubt be on opposing sides of a political argument. I recommended Miller because his honesty is refreshing. He has no problem admitting when his honest feelings dont nessecarily line up with what religion says they should. To say that he didnt really have a relationship is a little shortsighted. I think they book shows he has a genuine relationship, flaws and all. That is, i feel the difference between the two. Miller shows a more genuine every day faith, complete with struggles and doubts, while Harris props his book up on tired rhetoric, all the while seemingly oblivious to the problems the church of today has gotten itself into. In doing so, he fails to address the problem that made many christians stop attending in the first place. Its as if he would say, “This is the church weve got, and like it or not, you have to support it to be obedient to God”. I find that a little suspect coming from someone whose salary depends on having a church full of people to give in the offering. My point is that where two or three are gathered in his name, god is there also. Church can be had with a few like minded friends in someones living room. And ive had more in depth theological discussions over a plate of nachos than ive ever had in sunday school.
People seem to forget that once before the “church” got so far away from what it was supposed to be that it wasnt even recognizeable. . . . and Martin Luther went and nailed the reasons why to the front door.
Rating: 1 / 5
I was quite impressed with Joshua Harris’ “Not Even a Hint” which I thought was better written than “I Kissed Dating Goodbye”.
The best line in “Stop Dating the Church” is on page 30 where he raises a profound question based on Ephesians 5:32, “Is it possible that God didn’t get his inspiration for loving the Church from marriage, but that one reason God created marriage was to illustrate His love for the Church?”
However the rest of the book suffers from ideas about the church which aren’t thorough. His thoughts on denominationalism is a case in point. Obviously, the founders of the various denominations didn’t think the issues that caused them to split from the larger Body weren’t “secondary matters”. To sweep disagreements under the carpet of “secondary matters” is naive thinking. For example, many churches that advocate gay marriages would say that the sole commandment of Jesus is love and acceptance and that the Scriptures do not intend a blanket condemnation of homosexuality. Also, did anyone notice that Harris did not mention the doctrine Trinity as a benchmark of essential doctrine?
On that note, in his chapter “Choosing Your Church”, the first criteria he places as important is “is this a Church where God’s Word is faithfully taught”. Harris shoots himself in the foot by quoting 2 Timothy 3:16 to make his point. Every Christian knows this verse doesn’t really say that a good church is one which must be “governed” by the Scriptures, only that it would be “profitable” to use the Scriptures. There’s a difference. Logically and historically also, we would run into problems. The list of books to be definitively recognised as Scripture came late in the 4th century. So obviously, for the early Christians, this was not an issue.
This topic was a landmine and sadly, Harris stepped on a few of them. However, I still look forward to more books from this writer.
Rating: 2 / 5
I have a big problem with the chain of logic put forth by this book. True, Christ’s love for the church is like the love a man has for his wife. True, the ministry God has for us seems to be centered around the local church. So far so good. But then, we run into problems because the church universal is equated to the local church, and since we are called the Bride of Christ and Christ is the groom, then me being uncommitted to my local church is the same as being uncommitted to Christ. Any Christian not committed to the local church is just “dating” the local church, so he is just “dating” Christ and not really committed to the faith. Sorry, that is just not in the Bible, and I cringe when I read reviewers report how faithful Josh Harris has been to the Bible in this book.
This book calls for things that are almost cultic. It gives an example of a man who attends the song service in one church and the preaching in another church, and says that he is too-timing Christ. Missing church for hobbies like hunting is not allowed. The solution for people not taking church seriously enough is for no one to ever be allowed to miss a service. Nothing is important enough to keep a Christian from faithful church attendance.
How can this be applied? Well, Christians would then be prevented from becoming doctors, because sometimes doctors have to miss Sunday morning services because of emergencies, and we know that nothing is more important than Jesus. Ditto, policement, firemen, paramedics, and military personnel.
In sum, this book makes note of one extreme, apathy on the part of churchgoers, and calls for the establishment of cult-like rules to remedy it.
Rating: 2 / 5
I like the illustrations Josh gives with the Church being the Bride of Christ, but this book was totally written from a pastor’s perspective. Josh believes you should be at the church whenever the doors are open, and if you are not there, you are living in sin. Come on, it’s easy to be at every single church function when that’s your job and you have Mondays off!
One big contradiction is that Josh later talks about how important it is that we reach out to people. So, when we’re doing church activities when our time is free, when do we reach out? I think this book is similar to I Kissed Dating Goodbye. It’s filled with lots of personal opinions with shallow scriptural references. There are some good ideas, but keep in mind they are all opinions.
Rating: 2 / 5