faith

My corner of Facebook has been fixated on this article by NYCpastor entitled “10 Women Christian Men Should Not Marry.” Since I meet more than half of the criteria that supposedly makes me unworthy to catch a Christian man’s eye, I thought I would spend some time interacting with the material. Feel free to read his article before continuing. I will list his 10 deal breakers, but the words after are mine.

1) The Unbeliever.
Alright, so on this one quality, NYCpastor and I agree. I think people do best to marry someone from their same faith, and even more, to marry someone whose faith is of similar importance to them. My Christianity informs everything I do and hope for, and is therefore a huge part of my personality, motivation, and time. Marrying someone who doesn’t understand or share that passion is going to make for an increasingly disconnected relationship. So sure, marry someone of your same faith (or lack of faith). I think that’s wise.

2) The Divorcee.
As a counselor, I have seen female clients who experienced abuse in their marriages. Two of my friends work at a domestic violence counseling center, and the women they work with have suffered horrifically brutal lives at the hands of their husbands. This is Texas, so often those husbands claim to be Christians. I’m not a fan of NYCpastor’s ignoring the very real fact that 1 in 4 women will experience domestic violence during their lifetime. Writing divorced women off as inherently unappealing when they might be escaped survivors of intense trauma bothers me. Continue reading →

What an fascinating book! Christians often think “meek and mild” automatically means “not influential.” Hewitt adamantly disagrees. While he admits the need for ministers and missionaries who focus on individual change, he is a huge proponent for Christians diving into American politics, finance, and entertainment. Citing examples such as William Wilberforce, he believes that Christians can, and should, affect global change.

To that end, Hewitt’s book is divided into chapters of varying length, but uniform practicality. He is refreshingly direct, advising readers to live deliberately from a very young age. I really admired his lack of BS; he doesn’t really care if people agree with him. He has seen how the world works, and he wrote this book to tell you about it. For instance, he tells readers that future politicians must live in DC, future financiers must live in NYC, and future entertainers must live in Los Angeles. Ideally, you should live in all three at some point, and before age 25. He sets a high standard, but then, world leaders have a lot to live up to.

Balancing Christian humility with ambition is seemingly impossible, but Hewitt has done it. This book is a must read for Christians who want to affect the world on a systemic level, and it probably ought to be read by everyone else too. It’s that good.

Book Jacket

Influence is not accidental. It is earned. In, But Not Of charts the course to acquiring influence over the life of a career while remaining committed to the commands and example of Christ.

Broadcast journalist and law professor Hugh Hewitt not only challenges us to become more engaged in steering the course of history through politics, law, finance, and entertainment, but he also maps out simple, effective strategies that will enable us to bring our visions of influence to pass.

Release Date: May 2010

Want another opinion? Check out reviews at Christianity Today and Brothers Judd.