As an employee of a normal, "secular" bookstore that keeps a well-stocked religion section, and tries to carry the books that will sell, I understand a little bit of profit motive. One wants to stay in business. But I have a harder time understanding the pure profit motives of so-called "Christian" businesses, which are supposed by their very nature to keep a few doctrinal and moral standards.
Christian Book Distributors is actively promoting Joel Osteen's new book. If you really want to read a nice self-help book that isn't Christian, but really will help you in your Christian life, I can show you a few titles. Pick up Byron Katie's Loving What Is, or something. But for the love of God, the Christian one, don't by Osteen's book. And don't buy from CBD.
I pick up their sale items sometimes. Now I won't. Go read as Michael Spencer rips them up.
Oh, and as you'll see, a LifeWay employee informs us that their stores don't carry Osteen's book. I had wondered, but not gotten around to calling or visiting. This heartens me - truly a boon to ecumenical relations...
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2 comments:
Kyle,
Great post! I was in a Family Christian Store in Denver, Colorado a few weeks ago and I was shocked at the size of the "self-help" and "Christian fiction" sections - they took up most of the store along with those miscellaneous "nick-nacks" that you can put on your mantle at home. I was looking for a book on the "emerging church" and had a hard time finding anything in that subject. I asked the salesperson, and she pointed me to the back corner of the store, where one bookshelf held all the books on mission, discipleship, and leadership! Talk about the scandal of the evangelical mind!
Cheers, man, thanks for reading.
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