July 10, 2008

Your God is Too Small by JB Phillips

I just finished reading Waiting for Snow in Havana and can't wait to discuss it with you all on the 15th!
I hope you weren't waiting for me to post a review of White, the third book of the Circle Trilogy. Yes, I posted reviews of the first two. But I'm not going to for the last one. I'll just end up giving too much away. Besides, if you read the first two, you aren't about to skip out on the last one!
Your God is Too Small is a great, short little book that provides a great defense of the Biblical God in a time when Christianity is being tested from every side. Oh, did I forget to mention that this book was first released in 1952? I was surprised at how this book did not feel at all dated. Sure, there were no references to the Internet or anything, but I feel that largely, Christianity has the same struggles that it did then.

My favorite part of this book was when Phillips details all the different misconceptions of God. Some view Him as a resident policeman, parental hangover, grand old man, meek and mild, etc.

This is a great book if you are interested in how the Christian church can/does combat the many cultural influences against it.

A few great quotes:

"But if the Churches give the outsider the impression that God works almost exclusively through the machinery they have erected and, what isworse, damns all other machinery which does not bear their label, then they cannot be surprised if he finds their version of God cramped and inadequate and refuses to 'join their union.' " - p. 38

"But there is nevertheless a very real danger that the child will imagine this God not merely as 'old,' but as 'old-fashioned'; and may indeed be so impressed with God's actions in 'times of old' that he may fail to grasp the idea of God operating with unimpaired energy in the present and leading forward into a hopeful future." - p. 23

Oh, and this one made me laugh: "This planet eventually, as far our knowledge goes, either will become too cold to support life (even by artificial means), or will be destroyed by collision with some other heavenly body." - p. 65, emphasis added. Just goes to show that global WARMING wasn't always the concern.

2 comments:

  1. I haven't been able to get my hands on the Carlos Eire book yet, I have it on hold at the library.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just picked up Waiting for Snow in Havana at the library and it is next on my list of books to read.

    This book sounds like something I would really enjoy. I have always been interested in how churches deal with different situations.

    ReplyDelete

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