Thursday, October 23, 2008

A brief rant about Christian book stores

I was at a local Christian bookstore today and was rather perplexed/put aback by a sign that was placed under the new book by Rob Bell - "Jesus Wants to Save Christians." The label reads:
"This book may contain thoughts, ideas, or concepts that could be considered inconsistent with historical evangelical theology..."
I am all about using discernment when I'm reading a book - even the bible. The thing that got me a bit worked up was the fact that this sign was only applied to 2 books that I could find in the store. Are we supposed to blindly believe all that is written in the other thousands of books there and only use our discernment on these books? What's the deal? While I'm please that Lifeway would carry a book that is controversial and that they might not fully agree with, this specific labeling as "dangerous" is not only bad marketing, but insulting to me as a customer.

What do you think? (your opinion of the author/book aside)

7 comments:

  1. Well, Erik you know I'd be upset about that! To me that's retarded and Lifeway needs to take a chill pill. I think that the reason they did it though is more for a trying to appease the conservatives and Christians who don't like Rob Bell (which in Alabama might be higher than NY). Maybe they're trying to cover their butts?

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  2. Yeah, that's what I was thinking Marv

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  3. It does make me kinda peeved that they think they need to put a warning label on a book. We do need to test all spirits against Christ, even the pastor's message at church every week.

    This situation reminds me of the "here's your sign" song. The whole point was that someone had to do what the stupid warning labels were talking about and then sued the maker for not warning them about stupid and extremely obvious things about the product. Like the woman who sued McDonalds for spilling hot coffee on herself which resulted in a burn! Silliness I swear!

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  4. Have you all seen this? No warning labels here. http://jesuswantstosavechristians.blogspot.com/

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  5. Thanks for sharing Jejeel

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  6. Just keep in mind that this is the same Christian bookstore chain that put a magazine which featured female pastors behind the counter like it was porn or something.

    I haven't stepped foot in a Christian bookstore in years. I reached my tipping point a long time ago.

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  7. wow, never heard that one - sorta funny/sad. In my defense, I had a gift certificate to spend. I usually only go to Christian bookstores for a very few limited things that are hard to find elsewhere (i.e. testamints, j/k)

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