When I came to the church I pastor six years ago, we had a policy in our church library that put pretty much anything that was donated onto the shelves. The man who oversaw it did a great job carrying out this policy and even he felt the need to keep some things from making it onto the shelves at times. Since the death of that faithful servant, we had pretty much continued that policy, but recently we decided it might be best to have a library where everything was truly useful, relevant and as biblically sound as possible. This process has sought to remove books that are heretical, come from authors who have moved away from a conservative view of the scriptures or that just don't have any spiritual content to make them relevant to a church library.
I know this not an exact science, as some will see certain books as crossing a line that others don't, but in thinking through the process it has become clear that there are many Christian books that while not heretical, are also not helpful.
I have come to see most current Christian books falling into one of two categories, either they seek to help the reader see how wonderful they and their plans are, or they seek to help the reader see how wonderful God and His plans are! I am not suggesting that telling people God loves His children is heresy, it is important we recognize God's love for us in Jesus:
Rom. 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
A message we hear repeated in many Christian books is "God loves you just the way you are"! Well biblically, God has demonstrated His love in the world by sending His Son, and He has shown a benevolent loving kindness to everyone by supplying us with food, water, air, etc. Yet, before we are saved we are God's enemies, and if we stay the way we are, unredeemed, we will eventually find ourselves forever separated from God's relational love and even His benevolence!
When God's word tells us of God's love, as with the passage above, it is not so we will spend more time thinking about how wonderful we are, but so that we spend our time thinking about how wonderful He is in saving such rebellious rascals as us!
The truth is, God's word assumes we all love ourselves plenty:
Matt. 22:36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Some have said this passage is teaching that we need to love ourselves, before we can love God or others, but that is nonsense! This passage assumes that we love ourselves plenty and that is why we already spend lots of time thinking about us and our needs. What we are commanded to do, and is also best for us, is to stop thinking about us so much and rather focus more on worshipping God and meeting the needs of others!
If someone only read popular Christian authors, rather than the Bible, they might get the impression that the Great Commission is to go into all the world and tell people how wonderful they are!
However, the great commission actually says:
Matt. 8:28 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Thinking too often about us, positively or negatively, is a failure to worship and obey God! However, this self-focus may not go away simply by learning this truth, as old habits often die hard, but the cure is being reminded to stop thinking about us and rather to think about God and how to minister to others!
Telling people of God's love for them in Jesus is certainly not heretical, but if we don't help them see their need to focus on God and obey His will, it is ultimately not helpful!
"Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."
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