(“Start thinking you’re a big deal.” That’s the answer most leaders give me when I ask them how leaders wreck their ministries. Ego, pride, thinking you’ve got mad skillz with a z not an s, that’s what happens. Which is why I will always welcome guest posts that poke fun at me and the Stuff Christians Like book. It’s a great way to not take everything so seriously. It’s also a great way to laugh, especially since today’s guest post created 4 new SCL based spin off sites. Seriously, 4 new sites. Ridiculous. Long live the Chad Gibbs guest post.)
I was afraid this would happen. Jon Acuff wrote a book, and everyone loves it. Wait, that’s not what I was afraid of. Jon’s a funny guy, and a good writer, and I’m happy for him, in a ‘I wish it were me’ sort of way. But what I was afraid of, and what has already come to pass, is that some of you are starting to take this book a little too seriously.
Just last month, investigative journalist John Crist revealed that many among you are now using the Stuff Christians Like book as a morning devotional. This is appalling, though not surprising, since Acuff himself used Don’t Rhyme for the Sake of Riddlin’: The Authorized Story of Public Enemy
What I’m talking about is how many of you are now treating SCL the book the same way you treat scripture, which isn’t always good. After searching the Internet for just a few minutes I found thousands of websites where people are doing to Jon’s book the same things they do to God’s. Here are a few examples.
At this first site, an N.T. Wright wannabe suggests readers of SCL will only understand the true meanings of Jon’s words if they keep in mind the historical context of the writings, which turns out to be Atlanta in 2009.
Another, more troubling site, takes one out-of-context line from the SCL book, then uses it as the cornerstone of a new, bizarre version of the prosperity gospel.
A man with the presidential-sounding name of Wilson Adams is running for our nation’s highest office while prostituting his faith in the ‘good book’. Though it’s probably not the good book you are thinking of, and his platform is too ridiculous to even mention.
Finally, this site took Jon’s chapter on missionary dating a step too far by setting up a missionary dating service. They claim all you have to do is fill out a short survey, and within days you will be unequally yoked.
Look folks, the Stuff Christians Like
(For more great stuff from Chad Gibbs, check out his blog and his first book, God and Football: Faith and Fanaticism in the SEC
