Many of us have felt discomfort in our spirits while attending institutional church. We’re not quite sure what’s wrong so we suggest tweaks to help things run smoother hoping that will fix the problem. It never does. This recent (2024) book by C J Penn reads like his personal journal as he begins to remove the graffiti from God’s masterpiece.
His honesty is refreshing and the pages are filled with scripture and quotes from others. Like the Matrix movie he takes the red pill and documents his journey out of church religiosity. Throughout the book he encourages readers to start their own journey.
The first half of the book flowed nicely but then I came to Chapter 16 entitled “Christian in Name Only” which seemed to be completely out of character. His disparaging remarks on Trump and on his Christian supporters and his remarks about the pro-life movement were concerning.
Mature Christ followers know the temptation on relying on politics to save the world. Politicians will never save the world and legislating morality doesn’t work. It’s completely legitimate to write about how Christians can get overly zealous about politics and politicians, but the writings here railed against one politician and one political party.
Honestly, I didn’t read the rest of the book. Hopefully, the author will rewrite this chapter presenting a more general view of politics and religion which I agree is well needed.
2 replies on “Beneath the Graffiti”
I’m sincerely sorry I lost you with chapter 16. As I mentioned in our Facebook conversation, I totally get what your concerns are with that chapter, and I definitely plan to revise it when the time feels right to release a new edition. From my perspective, I totally failed with respect to chapter 16, because some of the best truths of Christianity come in the chapters that follow that. But that won’t help anyone if I loose them at 16. Again, I’m sorry for that.
But also, thank you very much for you honest and open opinion. It’s really helpful.
Blessings CJ, I wrote the review but didn’t push it out there. I went back and started to read 17 but again another reference. I really liked your book and can’t wait for the revision.