Finding God in the Best Selling Books of All Time

April 30, 2012 by 1 Comment

By Karen O’Connor:

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This week I read a review in The Wall Street Journal of a new book titled, Hit List, written by James W. Hall, on how to make big money in fiction writing. The author of the book talked about many all-time best-sellers including Jaws, Peyton Place, and To Kill a Mockingbird. He also commented on religious works that sell so well that “most bestseller lists shunt them off into a separate category so the mainstream nonreligious books will have some slim chance of survival.” How interesting that finding God in the best selling books of all time actually creates competition for those books that have nothing to do with things spiritual.

Though the focus was on best-selling books, the Bible was not among those featured, even though it is easily one of the best-selling and most widely read books of all time according to the online report, The 21 Best-Selling Books of All Time by Ed Grabianowski. (Wikipedia reports an estimate of 2.5 to 6 billion Bibles sold.)

Finding God in the best selling books of all time may come about in various ways—through a character in a novel or in a true story of redemption, but it’s a sure thing if you turn to the Bible where God is on every page, from Genesis to Revelation. If you’d like to start reading the Bible but aren’t sure where to begin and what to expect, check out this article for practical suggestions: How do I start reading the Bible? posted at intervarsity.org.

And for fun view this YouTube video featuring the top ten best-selling novels of all time. You might be surprised at some of the titles found there.

©Karen O’Connor. Karen is an author, writing mentor, and frequent contributor to the Finding God Daily blog. Visit Karen on the web at www.karenoconnor.com

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Filed Under: Books, In History, In Life Tagged With: , , , , ,

Finding God When Disappointed by Christians: Hypocrites?

April 27, 2012 by 2 Comments

By Dianne E. Butts:

3 Things to Remember when Christians Disappoint Us

Image by Ambro: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Have you been wounded by a Christian, or read in the media about the failings of  professing Christians and decided they must be  hypocrites?

Have you then used that as an excuse to not believe in Christ yourself?

Well, do bear in mind:

1. Inevitably, professing Christians will disappoint us, because we all fail at times. Christians are supposed to live their lives striving to do what is right. But sometimes the failings of Christians are huge, which not only makes other Christians look bad but can also desperately wound others.

Know this, though: the Bible is filled with stories of God’s people failing: Moses killed a man and buried him in the sand, not knowing someone was watching. King David had an adulterous relationship and committed murder in an attempt to cover it up. Of course Christians shouldn’t do the terrible things Moses and David  did. The Bible is full of stories about terrible mistakes people made: not to endorse those mistakes, but to chronicle actual historical events and reveal repentance, forgiveness and redemption.

It is the grace of God and His forgiveness that saves us, not our bad (or good) behavior. (See the video embedded below!)

2. Still, God can use people who do bad things. Moses still led the people of Israel out of Egypt and built the tabernacle, one of the greatest object lessons that explains God. King David still fathered the bloodline that led to Messiah, as God promised would happen. David drew the plans and financed the Temple (the permanent version of Moses’ object-lesson Tabernacle) that his son, Solomon would build.

Have you ever done a bad thing? God can still use you for good, if you will begin now to cooperate with Him.

3. To not follow Jesus, because of  bad things some Jesus-followers do, will deprive YOU. When we stand before Jesus on Judgement Day (and there will be a Judgement Day!), telling God you rejected Him because you heard about a professing Christian who groped women, or was accused of not being honest in financial dealings, or made other even more terrible choices won’t fly. God will judge you on what you do. You won’t be able to use any other failing people you justify as hypocrites as your excuse.

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. Romans 14:13 (Bible, New International Version)

Are you confused about the relationship between works (good deeds we do) and faith, and how that affects your salvation? Here is an excellent short film from Igniter Media that explains it well, and creatively too!

You Do The Math, from Igniter Media.

Downloads and DVDs are available at http://www.ignitermedia.com.

 ©Dianne E. Butts. Dianne has over 275 articles and short fiction in more than fifty publications. She is a regular contributor to Finding God Daily. You can find Dianne’s blog HERE.

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Filed Under: At Church, In Difficulties, In Life, In the News Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Find God in an Interview with Rick Warren (Saddleback Church) on ABC

April 26, 2012 by 1 Comment

By Dianne E. Butts:

 


Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A few weeks ago on Easter, Jake Tapper, sitting in for George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week,” talked with Pastor Rick Warren about the Christian faith, politics, and more. You may find God in this interview with Rick Warren on ABC (embedded below).

Rick Warren is pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, and author of The Purpose Driven Life: What On Earth Am I Here For? which has sold more than 30 million copies and been translated into more than 50 languages.

When asked about when he has felt unable to trust God, Warren said, “I think a lot of times God takes away your feelings so you have to depend on faith. And faith is kind of like a tide: it rolls in, it rolls out. You keep on going.”

On Mitt Romney’s Mormonism: A ChristianPost.com article recapped Warren’s thoughts: “The ‘key sticking point,’ for many Christians regarding whether Mormons share their faith is the trinity, according to Warren. ‘That’s the historic doctrine of the Church. That God is three-in-one. Not three Gods. One God in Father, son and Holy Spirit. Mormonism denies that.’”

Warren gave the invocation at President Obama’s inauguration.  Tapper asked what’s the state of the union spiritually? Warren said the coarsening of our culture and the loss of civility in our civilization concern him most.

On politics, the Christian Post.com article said Warren “believes in the separation of church and state, but does not believe in the separation of faith and politics.”

“Faith is simply a worldview,” Warren said in the interview. “Everybody has a world view. So we’re saying that only those with religious worldviews aren’t welcome at the table? …I’m in favor of everybody being able to come to the table with a worldview. I do not believe in imposing what I believe on everybody else.”

About  Tim Tebow? “The fact that Tebow would get criticized for kneeling and praying? I could give you 15, or 50, other things you should be more worried about in that coliseum than a kid kneeling down to thank God that he played good.”

Asked by a viewer via Twitter if Warren believes faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven, the pastor said, “I do believe that… Jesus said, ‘I am the way. He didn’t say, ‘I’m one of the ways… I don’t think any of us deserve to go to heaven. I think the only way any of us get into heaven is God’s grace… The fact is, it’s available to everybody.”

Listen to the whole interview. You may find God in this  interview with Rick Warren.

Rick Warren from Saddleback Church on ‘This Week With George Stephanopoulos’ interviewed by Jake Tapper

Video interview:

© Dianne E. Butts. Dianne is a freelance writer, author, and screenwriter. Her latest book is Deliver Me, for those in an unplanned pregnancy or with one in their past, just won a “Book of the Year” award. Her first book Dear America has just been republished for Kindle. Follow her writing at www.DeliverMeBook.blogspot.com

 

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Filed Under: Books, God's Love, God's Will, In Difficulties, In the News, Jesus, Prayer Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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