(May 21, 2017 at 8:47 pm)The Valkyrie Wrote: Why the fuck do the loons think sitting at a bus stop, quietly reading my book, is an invitation to talk to me??
The loon part probably? Oh I'm sorry, he's the new Tolkien, that's just why you'd never heard of him...
I just finished Hemant Mehta's "I Sold My Soul on eBay". Mehta describes this as a book for Christians and atheists, but really, it's primarily for Christians. Even then I'd go so far as to say Catholics mostly need not apply, as he pretty much says ritual is boring and incomprehensible to an outsider (although that's a valid critique. I've attended one Traditional Latin Mass in my life, and I too, was very at a loss as to what was going for most of the three hours). So really, the target audience of this book is primarily Evangelical Christians.
People over on Goodreads get defensive as he doesn't talk much about doctrine, dogma, or other things that are important to many devout Christians, however, they fail to realize, that's not the point. The point of this book is to show the nature of corporate worship through the eyes of someone who does not usually attend, and what sort of things they look for. So when he keeps talking about pastors' personal charisma, the hate shown by some people, or just the fact that there ALWAYS is a television camera blocking his view of the stage at any Evangelical church seriously, like every Evangelical church he talks about, he mentions trying to see around a camera, these are things that are worth noting. Outsiders don't care about the doctrine, they don't believe in it, and if they do come to believe, they'll learn about it better at a later date.
What Mehta does in this book is to appeal to the "seeker friendly" churches, to use the Evangelical buzzwords. He shows how they can improve their branding and guest retention experience in an era when church attendance is on the decline. All in all, this is 5 stars for me, because it's a better and more honest look at Christianity and Christians than any other book I've read recently, especially those written by Evangelicals like Lee Lying For Jesus Strobel.