I read a good number of books by mega church pastors to plagiarize gleen ideas for sermons. Most of these books end up shelved - not being of much value other than the illustrations and quotes. The Contrarian’s Guide to knowing God was an exception to the norm…I really liked it!

Most “sermon-series-turned-books” just don’t come across as all that thoughtful to me…this one did. Pastor Larry Osborne takes on much of the conventional wisdom on spiritual growth and forces his readers to reexamine their long held assumptions. He also put language to one of my theological pet peeves and that may be of great help to me.

It is called the “Contrarian’s” Guide as contrarian thinking, at its best, asks if conventional wisdom is true.  This book challenges many widely held assumptions on the Christian life and spiritual growth.

First my pet peeve. It seems to me that some Christians make knowing the Bible the point of being a Christian. I think, for some, the Bible almost ends up being an idol viewed as the missing member of the Trinity. (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Book.) I have always believed that our chief purpose in life is to serve God, not become Biblically literate. Of course, knowing the Scriptures helps us understand how to please God, but that is a means to an end. Don’t get me wrong, I am pro-Bible and don’t think Christians read it enough, but as Pastor Osborne points out in his book, If knowing the Bible is a point of being a Christian, how did Christians for the first 1600 years or so have any chance of pleasing God? What about those that can not read? Do they have a shot to glorify God?

Also, he takes on another issue I have been struggling with. It is the idea that the only God pleasing spirituality is one that looks like an introverted and introspective monk. He points out, and I believe rightly so, that the reason we may think that is so is because only smart introverts write books on Christian formation.  Where are the scatterbrained and odd models for us to follow?  How many people in the Bible look and act like Dallas Willard or Richard Foster?  (My question, not his.)

I appreciated his “real world” approach to growing in faith.  He writes about how it seems rare when people grow based on our clever strategies and baseball diamonds.  He does not write opposing the idea of such 101, 201, etc. progressions, but at least having a more realistic approach to growth.  Quite frankly, I find his approach to be much more based on the work of God in a person’s life and not human effort and sociology.

A final theme I found helpful was when he writes on the subject of passion.  We have somehow come to believe that A good Christian should always be “on fire” for the lord and have a passionate relationship with God.  He tackles in a thoughtful way what it may really mean to be with your “first love.” (Rev. 2)

If there was one thing I did not appreciate it was a lack of a call to anything other than a ordinary life.  He makes a point, and again I believe rightly so, that not everyone is called to be a leader and not everyone is called to change the world.  But I think he may have in the process of making that point understated the need for followers of Jesus to life sacrificially so the world may be changed.  It really is a minor point of disagreement.

As sermon series to books go, this one is the best I have read in years. I recommend checking out The Contrarian’s Guide to knowing God