I recently completed Larry Osborne's book, A Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God. I first heard about Osborne about a year ago. He pastors North Coast Church in Southern California. I like the way he thinks and I would highly recommend this new book.
For years, I've often wondered how Christians grew spiritually without access to a Bible, study course, Sunday School class, or small group. We place so much emphasis on reading. In fact, to the Christian in the Western hemisphere, spiritual growth is not possible without books. But the Gutenberg press wasn't invented until the 1500's. Only in the past couple of centuries have Bibles and Christian books been available. How did Christ-followers grow in their faith without their own personal copy of the Bible? How did they survive without Christian publishers?
Osborne talks about this briefly to make the case that the Church has designed conventional paths to spiritual growth for certain types of people, i.e., people who like to read and study. Now, you have to understand that this is descriptive of me. I love books. I have three stacks of books that I'm wading through now! So this is not an indictment on readers. Instead, it is a concern that we have made the path to spiritual growth too narrow.
Like new cars on the showroom floor, we've developed two types of Christians: the basic model including only the necessities and the super-deluxe package with all the extras. The basic model Christian attends Sunday services and might sit in on a Bible study once a week but he doesn't read all of the latest books on the Christian best seller list or study the Bible with a highlighter in his hand. In addition, the basic model Christian doesn't show up for Sunday or weeknight classes or services, serve on any important committees, or otherwise take full advantage of all of the "features" that the Church offers. The super-deluxe Christian, of course, does all of these things.
Is this right? Does the basic model Christian suffer from a lack of commitment or have we created a faulty paradigm of what makes for a "committed" Christian? We too often debate over sound doctrine and nitpick over what a Christian should or should not do (legalism). But Jesus spoke of the kingdom of heaven belonging to those who are like little children (Matthew 18). Jesus is pleased by a simple childlike faith. Why isn't that good enough for the rest of us?
A contrarian is a person who asks, "Is this really true?" Larry Osborne is brave enough to ask questions about many things that we assume are true, Biblical, and right. But you'll find that we (the Church) have made up some things that aren't necessarily accurate according to the Bible. It's an interesting and eye-opening book. In case you're skeptical of this contrarian, Osborne is a solid Bible teacher who uses the Bible as the foundation to question some of our methods and models that the Church has created.
Some quotes from the book:
"God doesn't just put up with our differences, he savors them - and adapts to them."
"No two relationships with God will ever be exactly alike."
"Lets be real. We may know in our head that each Christian has a unique assignment from God. But when the assignments produce radically different lifestyles and approaches to spirituality, we have a difficult time validating both."
"The most important thing in pleasing God is not a particular approach to spirituality or style of ministry; it's the fruit that matters, the end results produced by our life and ministry."
"God often liked to hang with and bless the very people I'd been told he'd want nothing to do with."
"Gold package Christianity doesn't draw people to God; it scares them away."
"The only sure and reliable sign that I'm on good terms with God is my obedience to his commands and laws. This alone proves that I know him and love him."
The wrong question to ask yourself, "How are things going?" The right question, "Am I doing the right things?"
"The formula for maximized potential is strangely similar to the recipe for a nervous breakdown or a broken home."
"Jesus didn't say, 'If you love me, you'll fulfill your potential.' He said, 'If you love me, you will obey what I command.'"
"While potential seeks greatness in being all I can be, serving others seeks greatness in helping others be all they can be."
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