“Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream.”

I just got through reading, “RADICAL: Taking Back Your Faith From The American Dream,” by David Platt and it left me both CONVICTED and INSPIRED to live the Christian life. The premise of the book is that a lot of Biblical Christianity has been distorted by values that Americans often exalt. Platt goes so far as to say that a lot of American Churches have not only embraced values that are not Biblical, but in a lot of cases contradict the Gospel.

Platt writes, “… we have missed what is radical about our faith and have replaced it with what is comfortable,” he goes on to write that we are settling for a Christianity that revolves around OURSELVES… when the central message of the Gospel is abandoning ourselves. It would be too easy to dismiss Platt’s claims except that he basis all his conclusions on Scriptures that can’t be explained away.

Platt points out that if you were to ask the average Christian what the MAIN message of Christianity… most people will say something to the effect, “God loves ME!” and whereas that’s true… is that really the MAIN message? If it is, then the Gospel become all about ME. YES, God loves me, but He loves me so that I may, “make His ways, His salvation, His Glory, and His Greatness known to all the nations.” Wow… talk about a major paradigm shift.

I love the way Platt masterfully points out the “Blind Spots” that we often have as Christians. He uses the example of Slavery in the 1800’s. How can anyone who believes in Christ rationalize an institution as evil as SLAVERY? Yet it happened! The pastors in that day twisted Scripture and people believed just want they wanted to believe. Platt then goes on to point out that today’s “Blind Spot” revolves around WEALTH and POVERTY. Today more than a billion people in the world today live and die in desperate poverty. They attempt to survive on less than a $1 a day and close to two billion people attempt to survive on $2 a day. More than 2,600 children die tonight due to starvation and preventable diseases. YES, the church is helping, but is it helping enough?

Platt ends his book by issuing a challenge to try what he calls, “The Radical Experiment,” in which you will commit to 5 things over the course of a year.

1. Pray for the entire world.

2. Read through the entire Word.

3. Sacrifice your money for a specific purpose.

4. Spend your time in another context.

5. Commit your life to a multiplying community.

If you want more information about the book you can log onto his website at www.radicalthebook.com Thanks David, for such a timely and prophetic book and yes… I think I’ll take you up on that challenge.

This book was provided for review by the publisher, Multnomah Books.


Comments Off on “Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream.”

Filed under Book Review, Radical

Comments are closed.