Black and White Wednesday- Radical

I started a book this week after several friends, who I have a ton of respect for, recommended it to me. It is called Radical and was written by David Platt who is a pastor in Birmingham, Alabama.  I am less than 1/2 way through but am challenged by much of what he has said so far.   Here are a few quotes from the first 4 chapters that caused me to pause and think.

"Because we are starting to redefine Christianity.  We are giving in to the dangerous temptation to take the Jesus of the Bible and twist him into a version of Jesus we are more comfortable with."

"We are molding Jesus into our image.  He is beginning to look a lot like us because, after all, that is whom we are most comfortable with.  And the danger now is that when we gather in our church buildings to sing and lift up our hands in in worship, we may not actually be worshiping the Jesus of the Bible.  Instead we may be worshiping ourselves."

"What if we take away the cool music and the cushioned chairs? What if the screens are gone and the stage is no longer decorated? What if the air conditioning is off and the comforts are removed? Would his Word still be enough for his people to come together?"

"I invite you to consider with me a proper response to this gospel.  Surely more than praying a prayer is involved. Surely more than religious attendance is warranted. Surely this gospel evokes unconditional surrender of all that we are and all that we have to all that he is."

"But here the gospel and the American dream are clearly and ultimately antithetical to each other.  While the goal of the American dream is to make much of us, the goal of the gospel is to make much of God. "

"In the process we have unnecessarily (and unbiblically) drawn a line of distinction, assigning the obligations of Christianity to a few while keeping the privileges of Christianity for us all."

 I am looking forward to the message of the next 100 pages.  I think.