Author John Shore Responds!
In yesterday’s column of “Famous Lost Words” I featured an author, John Shore, saying in an interview that Christians don’t need to evangelize; they just need to live their lives and God will do the rest.
Well, imagine my surprise! The author himself responded, starting a nice heated debate.
Mr. Shore has taken issue with a few bloggers who have not read his book, but have critiqued it negatively. He wrote:
“C’mon, now: You know better than to criticize something you haven’t read. That’s just … wrong. : - )” And: “How in the world can you expect anyone to take you seriously when you’re too lazy to even bother READING a book you dare to then criticize? It’s so deeply …. well, lame.”
Everyone has offered to read his book if he provided a “sample” copy for free. So far, Mr. Shore has not taken us up on our suggestion.
Is it indeed wrong to criticize a book without reading it when an author has already declared the irrational content in a public interview? Do I need to read every Jehovah’s Witness book to come to the conclusion that they are misguided? Wait. JW’s share their faith. Bad example.
Mr. Shore also sent me a link to his website further detailing his rather, um, strange, Emergent positions. Here are some samples: “Simply love the nonbeliever in your life. Christ will take it from there… When it comes to the relationship between you and a nonbeliever–and especially with a nonbeliever to whom you’re necessarily close–be patient. Wait. Never stop waiting. Have no agenda.”
Read the “Heresy Watchdog” website set up in his honor here.
Read his take on this passive, do-nothing approach to evangelism here.
August 16th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
A good friend wrote to me about John Shore’s interview with Christianbook.com
Here’s what my friend said, and it’s very poignant.
****
This is one of the saddest and at the same time most hilarious and self-contradicting things I’ve ever seen.
First read these few excerpts below from his interview:
“And telling someone they’re wrong for believing whatever they believe
about something as important as the Humongous Universal Issues that any
religion or moral system addresses is about as insulting as anything you
can say to a person. It can’t help but make you come across as
condescending and disrespectful–as just about anything but loving. How
is that helping? How is that not violating the Great Commandment?”
“Because no matter how artfully or lovingly it’s put to them, the fact
is that no one on this planet likes being told they’re wrong about stuff
they believe-and (and this is a thing I think it’s sometimes too easy
for we Christians to forget) everyone has their own thoughts and
convictions on all the Big Life Issues, such as God, death, the nature
of the soul, morality, etc. And if you’re telling someone that what you
believe about those things is more valid than whatever they believe
about those things, then the bottom line is that you’re telling them
they’re plain, flat-out wrong. And that’s sure to alienate from you
whomever you’re talking to. And then your relationship with that person
will terminate. And unless you’re willing to get into seriously tweaking
of the meaning of the word “love,” that means you just broke the Great
Commandment with that person, since no one can love anyone with whom
they have no relationship at all.”
“It doesn’t matter how you say or put it, if in any way you communicate
to another person that they’ve made a mistake for not choosing
Christianity over whatever it is they have chosen to believe in, then
you have been disrespectful to that person. Which means that with them
you have broken the Great Commandment.”
Now, think about this: With the same breath that he tells us that it is
wrong, unloving, disrespectful, and a violation of God’s Commandment to
tell people that they are wrong, he is telling us that we are wrong for
believing that it is not wrong to tell people that they are wrong.
Hasn’t he therefore insulted us? been condescending, disrespectful, and
unloving towards us? Isn’t he “artfully” and “lovingly” telling us that
the things he believes about these things is more valid than what we
believe about them, and that we are therefore flat-out wrong. Hasn’t he
therefore alienated us, ended his relationship with us and therefore
violated the Great Commandment? Now, we’ve obviously heard of all the different
styles of evangelism that exist, therefore does he not contradict his
own philosophy by telling us about his “friendship-evangelism” view,
which we already know about. Shouldn’t he take his own advice: get to
know us, be nice to us, show us love by never telling us we’re wrong,
and saying nothing to us about his evangelism style unless we ask?
It amazes me that he focuses on the second part of the Greatest
Commandment: “Love your neighbor,” but he totally neglects the first
part: “Love the Lord…” What did Jesus say: “If you love me, keep my
commandments.” Outside of him defining this as the greatest commandment
what was the other great commandment he gave us?: “Go into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature.”
This is very sad. And I can’t believe people are buying into this
stuff.
But I guess if we really love them, we should never tell them that their
thinking is wrong. :- )
August 16th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Good stuff, Dale.
Don’t worry about people buying into this stuff; they’ve already bought into it pre-John Shore. It’s called disobedience!
I’ve read something somewhere about the sons of disobedience…
August 16th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Club Frustration. As Ray puts it. “I’m glad the disciples didn’t just stay in the upper room” but actually obeyed the command to “GO!”
August 16th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
I was another blogger who took issue with John’s book without reading the actual book, basing my opinion on his comments, interviews, book cover, and excerpt on his website. It’s not like the point of the book was not laid out in those places, by the actual author. I didn’t go out and buy the book for the same reason that I won’t buy or rent “Fahrenheit 911″; I know what the book (or video) is about based on the promo material and don’t want to waste my money on something that is diametrically opposed to my beliefs (and in the case of Michael Moore, I don’t want to support his drivel). It’s not like the gist of “I’m OK…” is not known from all the promo stuff and the general thrust is so un-New Testament that I can’t see putting down 14 dollars for it. Not evangelizing is simply not obeying.
I shared comments with John on my blog too and consider him a nice guy, but I can’t help but think that his book is either way misguided or very much tongue-in-cheek. (And he’s proof that authors like to google themselves often!)
John, if you’re reading, I’d like to give you this challenge: since you think that you should read things before criticizing, why not read some of Ray Comfort’s stuff (or listen to it) before criticizing evangelism. Ray will lay out for you the why and the how of evangelism (as will this blog). I would recommend “Hell’s Best Kept Secret” which you can actually listen to for FREE on http://www.wayofthemaster.com.
August 16th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
Robert and all,
I’ve been in touch via email with Ray and John. Ray has issued a challenge for him to critique “The Way of the Master” book and vice/versa.
I offered to send John a copy for free; I am just waiting for his mailing address.
Stay tuned…
August 16th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Oooooohhhhhhh double dares are out and all right?
Can’t wait to see where this goes!
August 16th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
Unfortunately, John Shore requested that he doesn’t want me to email him anymore. But I will give a report of our exchanges—and my conclusions about why he bailed on Tuesday.
A friend of mine has bought the book, is reading it with furrowed brow, and will provide me with some nuggets, that I will post.
It is vital that we battle for the truth; we should fight and defend it.
John MacArthur, in his commentary on Jude writes, “Although God’s people sometimes forget the importance of truth, Satan never does. Ever since the fall, the father of lies has done everything in his power to destroy, hide, and twist the truth—constantly attempting to replace it with falsehood and deception. Ironically, his deadliest attacks do not come from those who openly reject the truth, but rather from those who profess to know and believe it, but lie.”
We need to stand for the truth and expose the lies, even if someone, a nice guy like John, say, gets offended.
Or scared.
August 17th, 2007 at 6:52 am
I sure hope that he has not written a book about why we shouldn’t evangelize without first reading a book about why we SHOULD evangelize. That would be so… lame.
August 17th, 2007 at 8:19 am
We are reading his book as we speak, so I’m not “lame’ anymore. And btw, it solidifies my thoughts about how horrible his theology is. This book will make your eyebrows furrow so badly you’ll need to get cosmetic surgery to get them back to normal. Funniness aside, this is a very deadly opiate to the churches.
August 17th, 2007 at 10:40 am
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