I’m currently reading through Donald Miller’s book “Blue Like Jazz”.   In the book, Donald’s primary point appears to be the issue of American Christian self-addiction.     His contention is that our entire “Christian” foundation is based upon what we can get for ourselves and how it makes us feel.    Our focus is inward, rather than outward.

When considering the current “fad” of “Praise & Worship” and the pursuit of a meaningful “experience” with God, I can see where Donald is coming from.   

This also spills into our approach to politics and culture.    Many Christians want to see God take away certain political leaders or change certain areas of our pop culture, mostly because it makes the Christian feel uncomfortable.     Don’t misunderstand that I endorse unethical behavior or entertainment, but I can see how we continue to approach the issue from how we feel about it, rather than looking at how God may be in control and looking for us to interact with these opportunities.

At one point in the book, Donald tells a story of an experience he had a college festival.   Donald and some friends built a “confessional booth” and were preparing to pronounce their Christian belief to the primarily non-Christian students and faculty.   However, they chose to approach the issue from a standpoint of “confessing” to the non-Christians regarding the way Christ has been misrepresented over the centuries.    The only purpose was to show the students that Christ is not necessarily what has been presented to them, and that the Christians are asking the non-Christians to forgive them for the mistakes that have been made in the name of Christ.

In my mind, this sounds like a great example of realizing our past “evangelism” techniques have been more self-motivated, rather then actually looking to reach out to our fellow man and relate to them on a REAL level.

I will offer more comments and thoughts on the book, as I progress.