One of my favorite books, ironically in that I am an avid reader of any novel, is a non-fiction piece by Philip Yancey, also mildly ironic in that so often recently I tire of the typical Christian with some new insight into a faith so old. Now I sound cynical, but hear me out. This book is called "Soul Survivor: how my faith survived the church" or something very similar to that. It's come out in a couple of editions with slightly different names, but this is about right. This book was first introduced to me by a dear friend and mentor that I have now unfortunately fallen out of touch with but will forever be indebted to, Gaye Haralu. And as many times as I've bought this book, I've given it away, so I don't even think I own it currently.
In this book, Yancey spends one chapter each (except one chapter where he smooshes Tolstoy and Dostoyevski into one) explaining why 13 historical people have saved his faith from the church. At more than one time in the near or not so near distant past, I've struggled with the inconsistencies, even hypocrisies of the fellowship of people we call the church, and I love how real Yancey is as he talks about each of these people.
In the second chapter I believe, he gives great credit to GK Chesterton. Chesterton was a contemporary of CS Lewis', and was mostly known for his essays and articles as he mostly worked for newspapers. Look into him, he's great. Yancey quotes him thus: "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried. The real question is not 'why is Christianity so bad when it claims to be so good?' but rather 'why are all human things so bad when they claim to be so good?'"
he also says... "God, who is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, 'Do it again' to the sun; and every evening, 'Do it again' to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we."
and... "Even mere existance, reduced to its most primary limits, was extraordinary enough to be exciting. Anything was magnificent as compared with nothing."
and one of my favorites... (quoting first Yancy, then Chesterton) "When the London Times asked a number of writers for essays on the topic 'What's wrong with the world?' Chesterton sent in the reply shortest and most to the point:
Dear Sirs:
I am.
Sincerely Yours,
GK Chesterton"
This is what I pondered again today, what about you?
