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Thursday, July 23, 2009

Religion Saves + Nine other Misconceptions by Mark Driscoll


So this is going to go down as an embarrassing moment for me. I got an email today asking me about this tour, and I went, "huh? what?" Insert very sheepish look. I sent off a quick apology, and began to research the issue. So I honestly don't know what happened. However, as I looked through my old files, I realized that I was super excited about this book, and even though I've missed my date, I've got to blog about it.

I wanted to read this book because I'm always interested to see what people will do in terms of clearing up misconceptions about Christianity. The truth is, I'm not comfortable with a lot of the information out there about Christianity. I love anything that's going to clear up misconceptions or, as I often secretly think, stupid stuff supposedly smart people believe.

But, since I'm pretty honest here anyway, I might as well admit to wondering about the stupid stuff I might believe. For those of you who don't know, I didn't grow up in the church. I wanted to know God, but my parents weren't too excited about the idea, so I ended up going to just about any and every church my friends invited me to. I learned a lot of things. Some true, some false, and some really messed up. I've spent my adulthood sifting through that information and searching for the truth.

The thing I appreciated most about this book was the heavy reliance on Scripture. Driscoll didn't just say, "God says," which is a huge pet peeve, but he gave the reference. He laid out the facts, why he believed what he believed, and left it to the reader to make an educated decision. I like that he didn't mince words. I'm not sure if I agreed with everything he said, but in areas where I disagreed, it made me more open to consider his points, evaluate them against Scripture, and really consider what I believed and why. Definitely a good book for people who want to dig into the truth.


About the book:
Religion Saves: And Nine Other Misconceptions

After 343,203 online votes on the Mars Hill Church website, nine questions for Pastor Mark Driscoll emerged as the ones most urgently calling for answers.

Inspired by 1 Corinthians, in which Paul answers a series of questions posed by the people in the Corinthian church, Pastor Mark Driscoll set out to determine the most controversial questions among visitors to the Mars Hill Church website. In the end, 893 questions were asked and 343,203 votes were cast. The top nine questions are now each answered in a chapter of Religion Saves.

After an introductory chapter devoted to the misconception that religion is what saves us, Driscoll tackles nine issues: birth control, humor, predestination, grace, sexual sin, faith and works, dating, the emerging church, and the regulative principle.

Because the purpose of this book is to address commonly asked questions, all readers will find relevant, engaging material, written in Driscoll's distinctively edgy, yet theologically sound style.

In his distinctively edgy, yet theologically sound style, Pastor Mark Driscoll addresses the nine most controversial questions posed by visitors to the Mars Hill Church website. This book is part of the Re:Lit series.

About the author: Meet Pastor Mark!

Mark Driscoll is the founding pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, one of the fastest-growing churches in America. He is president of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network and is the author of several books, including Vintage Jesus.

Pastor Mark preaches on Sunday, trains pastors, and writes curriculum. Mark is married to his high school sweetheart, Grace, and they enjoy raising their three sons and two daughters.

More about Mark here!

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