subject: Faithstruck on Your Way to Work? [print this page] Faithstruck on Your Way to Work? Faithstruck on Your Way to Work?
Remember Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life? Even if it was outside your usual genre, you probably skimmed a few pages and went over the back cover while browsing at the local bookstore and wondering, Why is everyone recommending this book to me, anyway? Best-sellers that are big enough are hard to escape, most especially if they carry any whiff of being an advice book.
Many of the religious topics covered by these books seem fantastically esoteric, but their presence, even that of the most dicey among them, is perceptible everyday life. This is true even for individuals who consider ourselves to be significantly distanced from the matter. If you need proof look no further than your coffee table book collection or DVD pile. Maybe you haven't read (nor plan on reading) that thick book your non-religious (by the way) friend gave you last year but, more than likely, it wasn't the first time that particular volume was pressed urgently into your hands. Next week, take comfort in knowing that you're not confused: conditional security is actually applicable outside management meetings at the office. These topics just come up sometimes.
Warren's book apparently touched a national nerve and ignited conversations about the meaning of the gospel of prosperity, known by some as the gospel of greed. Was Rick Warren another Gordon Gekko or a real-life version of Luis Buuel's Padre Nazarino -- his best intentions wholly misunderstood? Perhaps you can check the shelf again for another movie that might helpfully explain the meaning of the gospel.
All joking aside, non-believers are not alone in their search for explanations. The devout themselves openly speak about regularly pausing to ask, What is the gospel message really trying to get at? Quick! How many of your friends just told you (again) they have bible study this Saturday night? Believers study because they continually seek to understand, in addition to just enjoying hanging out with their church friends. But the first observation runs counter to the characterization, by some, of all believers as possessors of a blind faith, in the pejorative sense. Like vocations and individual interests, faith comes with varying degrees of ease to people; we all know that not everyone will grow up to be a nun or mega church pastor.
Some people never stop finding a path to religious reflection in every place or object they happen to rest their eyes on. Others come upon these same paths without purposefully searching; it occurs because they inhabit the same socio-cultural geography as believers -- in other words, we're all on the same planet. So don't be too surprised if next Sunday, out of the blue, and of all days, you find yourself weighing the arguments describing how imputed righteousness is another way of saying "justification by faith."
Sam Walters is a freelance writer living in Los Angeles. Her writing appears in print and online.
