Book Review - Radical by David Platt

I first heard of this book from a friend of mine and pastor at Emmanuel Church of Greenwood named Shane Combs.  Shane introduced me to this book after he spent time reading it during my internship this past year.  Shane assured me that it was a book that would challenge my faith and my way of life as I knew it.  I took his word for it and it was entirely true.  

Among the books I have read over the past year this book is one that is set apart from the rest.  Throughout the book Platt describes different scenarios where he believes the American church has fallen short.  For most people the "American Dream" is something worth striving for and Platt sees this to be true in most churches today.  The "American Church Dream" of starting a church and it exploding to having thousands of members with a great speaker, media, and performance all in all.  But what seems to go by the way side in churches like this is the power of the scriptures and the redeeming power of Jesus' sacrificial love. The megachurch world is so concerned with reaching this point of superiority as a church, but where is our knowledge of the scripture and our true yearning for its' power. 

The book was filled with hundreds of facets of the modern day Christian church that must be changed, but for some reason this seemed to stick out.  I am not sure if it is because I seem to take for granted the book that is the living breath of God.  Because I have spent much of my lifetime with at least one bible available (not to mention four or five dependent on the translation) I have lost the anxious and excited spirit when it comes to reading the holy word of the Lord.  We, as people of God, should be praising constantly that we have the privilege to freely read and preach God's word however and whenever we please.  I am not the most patriotic of Americans, but I am thankful that God has allowed me to live in a country that allows me to freely read and worship the word of the Lord.  But my question is what would we feel like when we read the scriptures if it were not a freedom?  How would we react to the holy word of God if it was not so readily available to us?  

Platt raises these types of questions in a book that must be read by modern day Christians.  It shatters the things that seemed to be so important and brings to light the importance of the scriptures once again.  Read this book for you will be radically changed. 

till another day, 

normallyINDIE