All Posts Tagged With: "Christian"

Free Christian Classics Online

December 17th, 2008 • stephenlawes • 0 comments • Related • Filed Under

For those of you on the Christian Book Club who really enjoy reading the classics, the following is a list of some great titles that are free for reading and printing. We have included the titles and URL addresses for your convenience.

The Cloud of Unknowing. -Anonymous. Translated by E. Colledge and J. Walsh.

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/anonymous2/cloud.txt

The Confessions of St. Augustine

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/augustine/confess.html

Follow the Lamb - Bonar, Horatius.

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Bonar%2C%20Horatius%2C%201808-1889

Practice of the Presence of God: The Best Rule of Holy Life - Brother Lawrence.

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/lawrence/practice.titlepage.html

The Pilgrim’s Progress - Bunyan, John.

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bunyan/pilgrim.txt

Institutes of the Christian Religion - Calvin, John.

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.txt

Journal - Fox, George.

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/fox_g/autobio.txt

Purity of Heart - Kierkegaard, Søren.

http://www.religion-online.org/showbook.asp?title=2523

A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life - Law A.M., William.

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/law/serious_call.txt

The Spiritual Exercises - Loyola, Ignatius.

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/ignatius/exercises.txt

Pensées - Pascal, Blaise.

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/pascal/pensees.txt

The Imitation of Christ - Thomas à Kempis.

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/kempis/imitation.txt

Journal of John Wesley - Wesley, Rev. John.

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/journal.txt

After you read any of the books listed here, please feel free to comment or encourage others to read the books you found to be a blessing. We also hope you will join us in our monthly discussions of the books we are reading as a Christian Book Club.

Velvet Elvis - Week 3

October 20th, 2008 • stephenlawes • 1 comment • Related • Filed Under

On Christian Book Club we are continuing our reading of “Velvet Elvis”. I think that this is a very interesting read. I get why it has some people stirred up. There have already been a couple of times when I could feel myself getting a little defensive as I read the book. One example was when he wrote about the virgin birth. He certainly affirms his belief in the orthodoxy of the Christian faith, but when he is submitting the questions is still gets me a little excited. Ultimately, I think it is a very positive experience to be challenged. I don’t want to be stuck in “brickianity”. Let me know if any of Bells ideas have got you thinking. I look forward to your comments as we continue our reading. This week you should be well in into Movements 5 and 6.

273081: Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith
By Rob Bell

Velvet Elvis - Week 1

October 1st, 2008 • stephenlawes • 3 comments • Related • Filed Under

This month on Christian Book Club Online we will be reading Rob Bell’s Velvet Elvis. I have done a quick look through and I am looking forward to reading and commenting on the book. It looks like it should read pretty quickly, which should be helpful for everyone with a full schedule. Let’s read the book in the following format:

Week 1 - Movement One Jump, Movement Two Yoke

Week 2 - Movement Three True, Movement Four Tassels

Week 3 - Movement Five Dust, Movement Six New

Week 4 - Movement Seven Good, Epilogue

I will include a link to the book in this post in case you don’t have your copy yet. I thin what Bell wrote on the back of the book is interesting.

“We have to test everything. I thank God for anybody anywhere who is pointing people to the mysteries of God. But those people would all tell you to think long and hard about what they are saying and doing and creating. Test it. Probe it. Do that to this book. Don’t swallow it uncritically. Think about it. Wrestle with it. Just because I’m a Christian and I’m trying to articulate a Christian worldview doesn’t mean I’ve got it nailed. I’m contributing to the discussion. God has spoken, and the rest is commentary, right?”

It looks like it should be an interesting read!

273081: Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith
By Rob Bell

Mere Christianity - Week 2

March 8th, 2008 • stephenlawes • 0 comments • Related • Filed Under

This week the Christian Book Club will be reading “Book 2 - What Christians Believe”.

Lewis says that repentance “means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years. It means killing part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death” (p. 57). Real repentance has to do with dealing with our selfishness. Again, I think our culture has taught us that we need to always be looking out for number one. How do we embrace the idea that this selfish part of us has to die. How does this tie in to the death of Christ on the cross?

CS also has a great analogy about how Christians see good on page 63. “…the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life within him. He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us; just as the roof of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun shines on it”. What other analogies have you read so far in the book that you have enjoyed?