Reddit reviews Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream
We found 6 Reddit comments about Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
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That's a very good question, and one that I wrestle with as well. I feel like I could always give more, so where do I draw the line?
My only advice is to keep wrestling with this, and keep praying about it. My church community has a very big focus on the poor, and this topic comes up a lot. Each person has to make their own decisions based on what god wants them to do. There are no hard and fast answers for everyone.
Also keep in mind that sometimes God doesn't want us to give something away, but rather share it and use it for his kingdom. Your car, your house, etc... Maybe he wants you to have them, but also to be ready to share them whenever someone is in need.
Keep praying, and keep looking into this issue further! Your heart is in the right place. You also might enjoy reading about money and the Kingdom... I've heard Neither Poverty Nor Riches is a good book on the topic. You might find value in the book Radical as well.
Attended valley baptist over a decade, rarely to never would they care about politics to that level, especially during a main service. to be entirely fair Southern Baptist Convention leadership is pretty anti-trump,
Even if the average redneck southern baptist filling the pews or often preaching are voting for and supporting the guy and drowning out the conversation, the leadership of the SBC believe it or not cares more about the gospel and purpose than it does about right wing talking point. The head of SBC Missions board, Platt, had a hugely popular book hitting exactly that, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream challenging the typical right wing cultural conservative evangelical crap long before the election.
Even if Trump is picking and choosing the asshole second generation spoiled children of the religious right like Franklin Graham and Fallwell Jr to bring the evangelical name recognition to his reign, doesn't mean the direction of the SBC is on board with it.
I can recommend a sunday school teacher / bible study group from valley baptist that OP may be interested in...
I think it has to do with bad language we've been using. I'm a lot more careful in how I talk about it when I preach on this topic ever since I recognized this.
We often refer to the moment when someone chooses to follow God as "being saved" and start referring to those people as "saved" from then on. That's not a biblically sound way to talk about it. The term "born again" has the same problem. I end up using the term "made a decision to follow Christ" which I think more properly conveys the idea; it's not magic words you uttered, it's a commitment you made and you will either follow through on it or not.
David Platt often expounds on this quite well in his sermons on salvation and in his book Radical
Also, "Radical". And it's only 7.50 on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Radical-Taking-Faith-American-Dream/dp/1601422210
There are some people, like David Platt, that interpret these verses more strictly than most Christians. I'd say it's something my wife and I struggle with a great deal as well, even though we're saddled with a hefty amount of student loans. I think the Christian life must be committed to giving as much as you can to as many as you can. Does this mean we force ourselves to suffer so that when we stand before God, we can say, "Ha! You owe me!" Absolutely not. We do this from an outpouring of our faith.
Here are some quotes from David Platt on the issue from his book Radical. Keep in mind these are his opinions, but he draws them from his analysis of Scripture.
>What is the difference between someone who willfully indulges in sexual pleasures while ignoring the Bible on moral purity and someone who willfully indulges in the selfish pursuit of more and more material possessions while ignoring the Bible on caring for the poor? The difference is that one involves a social taboo in the church and the other involves a social norm in the church.
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>Regardless of what we say or sing or study on Sunday morning, rich people who neglect the poor are not the people of God.
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>First, some try to universalize Jesus’ words, saying that he always commands his followers to sell everything they have and give it to the poor. ... The other error is to assume that Jesus never calls his followers to abandon all their possessions to follow him. ... That Jesus did not command all his followers to sell all their possessions gives comfort only to the kind of people to whom he would issue that command.
Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream David Platt