Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I had heard Brad Stine's comedy before and even had one of his CDs. Then, I had the pleasure of seeing him in concert last week.
His performance was fabulous. He is not only hilarious; he is extremely bright and relevant.
After his show, I bought some of his material. One of the things I got was, `Being A Christian Without Being An Idiot'. The title is certainly provocative. The material inside is relevant and thought provoking.
The main purpose of this book is to get Christians to think about many things that they consider to be Christian `truths', but which are oftentimes more about cultural and denominational traditions. He makes the point that, `Christians are different from each other in our theology, denominations, and social interaction,' and goes on to contend, `That's AS IT SHOULD BE!'
Some of the `assumed truths' that Stine dissects include the following: Satan causes most of the problems for Christians, drinking and smoking are sins, all `true' Christians will be offended by the same things, and sinners are worse people than I am. There are also several others.
Regarding smoking, he makes several points: 1) the Bible doesn't say anything about smoking, 2) `It does bring up gluttony, though, and our country by far has more health issues with overeating than they do with smoking, 3) many Christians don't drink or smoke, but have serious weight problems. He says, `Some temples have some extra rooms added on that weren't in the original architecture'. He goes on to point out that he is not judging, nor is he trivializing smoking. He uses this example to show that our culture does not take gluttony as seriously as smoking.
He points out such inconsistencies as the intense focus that many Christians have on the gay marriage issue while virtually ignoring the sky high divorce rate for heterosexuals including Christians.
Mr. Stine manages to get his humor in even while making serious points. While discussing the reaction of some Christians to the Harry Potter books, he talks about some book burnings that have occurred. He makes the point that Christians should be working to `draw people to the cross, not send them fleeing in horror.' He says, `I think a good rule of thumb is, if HITLER tried it, you may want to go another direction!'
This is really a terrific book. It is one that will make Christians think about important issues while having fun reading it. I highly recommend it. I also recommend that if you ever have a chance to see Brad Stine in concert, you take advantage of it.
Click Here to see more reviews about:
Being a Christian Without Being an Idiot
Click here for more information about Being a Christian Without Being an Idiot
