Finished If God Were Real (received as a LibraryThing Early Reviewers book) and letting review jell in my head right now.
If God Were Real
is a stark challenge to Christians to consider whether they actually believe in God. The "new atheists" are writing bestselling books challening the existence of God, and many of their arguments revolve around the failures of Christianity. The author actually agrees with atheists that many Christians are not living up to their claims and asserts that there is not much Christ left in Christianity. He argues that the institutional system called Christianity should be abandoned in favor of the pursuit of a new Jesus Movement that actually resembles the movement of Christ followers that Jesus began. He challenges the reader to consider what life would be like if we actually lived as if we believed in God. Each chapter examines how a particular part of life might be different if God were real to us. The evidence shows that most Christians live as "practical atheists." Atheists and seekers are also challenged in this book to consider God in a new way and to embark on an adventure of discovery of the real God.So read the description that prompted me to put in my request for this book from LibraryThing Early Reviewers. I must not have read it closely enough because I still wasn't sure whether to expect an atheist book or a Christian one. The title suggests that it was written by an atheist, but John Avant is a pastor who believes that Christians aren't living as if they really believed in what they profess. A more fitting title would be
If We Christians Believed God Is Real.
Avant begins with the assertion that most Christians are living as "practical atheists", as if God doesn't really matter in their lives. He goes on to illustrate how people following the teachings of Jesus Christ probably would behave if they really believed -- reaching out to "the least of these" (see Matthew 25:40), bringing others into the fold, loving others as themselves -- rather than seeing their churches as members-only clubs, pouring excessive resources into influencing legislation, and working themselves into a froth over trivia like Harry Potter and Teletubbies.
I'd be surprised if Avant manages to convert a single atheist -- his "proof that God is Real" is mainly conveyed through stories of people who have sunk to the ultimate depths and managed to turn their lives around for the better -- but his book should serve as a mirror and a wake-up call for a large number of professed "Christians".
A further note: For resources, Avant uses a considerable number of books by authors both religious and atheist, and I added over half a dozen books to my reading list by the end of the first two chapters, evenly spread between believers and nonbelievers. Now that I've finished the book, there are thirteen new titles on my list. If nothing else, I have this to thank Avant for.