There's an awful lot of jabbering lately, in the form of Christian books on relationships. There are tons of them. I've even heard that some are good, and maybe they are. But why now? What is making relationships between men and women such a popular thing to talk about? Even the good books saying, "Let God handle your future" testify to young people perhaps unhealthily desiring relationships. If you don't believe me, what did you buy that book for? I'm not innocent of this, either. I think of relationships a lot. But I'm not reading any books on the subject. I'd rather think about God's goodness and mystery than be in a self-absorbed quest to discover why God hasn't given me a particular blessing yet. Easier said than done, but I'm trying. Imagine the outcry if mainstream evangelicals wrote books like, "Why Hasn't God Made Me Rich?" Think of the outcry, and rightly so. But noone tells all these romance advisors, "If you want to help me, then shut up already!" Yes, Josh Harris, that means you. Sorry. This is kind of a rant now, but if someone starts off a conversation with, "You ought to read this book..." and we're not discussing theology, or worship, or ecumenism, I'm cutting them off.
I once had a friend, a dear friend, who helped me with personal care needs in college. Reformed Presbyterian to the core. When I was a Reformed Presbyterian, I visited their church many times. We were close. I still consider his siblings my friends. (And siblings in the Lord.) Nevertheless, when I began to consider the claims of the Catholic Church to be the Church Christ founded, he took me out to breakfast. He implied--but never quite stated--that we would not be brothers, if I sought full communion with the Catholic Church. That came true; a couple years later, I called him on his birthday, as I'd done every year for close to ten of them. He didn't recognize my number, and it was the most strained, awkward phone call I have ever had. We haven't spoken since. We were close enough that I attended the rehearsal dinner for his wedding. His wife's uncle is a Catholic priest. I remember reading a blog post of theirs, that early in their relationship, she told him of the p
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