The Other Side of the Sermon

The Principles of Stained Glass Practically Applied to the World of the Wine Glass

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity, General Christianity
Cover of the book The Other Side of the Sermon by John Rutledge, WestBow Press
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Author: John Rutledge ISBN: 9781449792237
Publisher: WestBow Press Publication: April 26, 2013
Imprint: WestBow Press Language: English
Author: John Rutledge
ISBN: 9781449792237
Publisher: WestBow Press
Publication: April 26, 2013
Imprint: WestBow Press
Language: English

The Other Side of the Sermon

arose from years of blindly following a faith that turned out to be inadequate for the challenges and opportunities of the real world. One eventthe death of my wife at forty-three and the difficulties that followedopened my eyes and set me to a search for answers.

And I found them. They had been there all along, but I had never heard them from a pulpit, or in a Sunday school class, or read them in any religious publication. The answers were practical. They were not the touchy-feely sweetness and light that give goose bumps to the gullible; they were tough, workable, necessary tools for living.

Christ, the supreme pragmatic, did not intend that his followers be foolsor fooled. Yet I had been both. Confronting, admitting, and reversing that took time. Three years of writing exposed my fallacious faith, and more than twenty years of practicing those writings have left me with one regret: that I could not have read the book instead of writing it.

We think of religion as a collection of dos and dontsrules by which we justify our behavior to ourselves, to others, and perhaps even to God. Preachers tell us what we must do and what we must not do. And yet Christ told his audiences what they did not have to do and of the discretionary that allowed interpretation.

Freedom from the have-tos, and the release to enjoy the whatever-you-want-tos produced a contented, guilt-free existence in which I could ignore tradition; disregard the opinions of others; and serve, worship, and live in freedom.

I met the practical Christ I had never known. If, in these pages, you meet him too, twenty-five years will have been well-spent.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The Other Side of the Sermon

arose from years of blindly following a faith that turned out to be inadequate for the challenges and opportunities of the real world. One eventthe death of my wife at forty-three and the difficulties that followedopened my eyes and set me to a search for answers.

And I found them. They had been there all along, but I had never heard them from a pulpit, or in a Sunday school class, or read them in any religious publication. The answers were practical. They were not the touchy-feely sweetness and light that give goose bumps to the gullible; they were tough, workable, necessary tools for living.

Christ, the supreme pragmatic, did not intend that his followers be foolsor fooled. Yet I had been both. Confronting, admitting, and reversing that took time. Three years of writing exposed my fallacious faith, and more than twenty years of practicing those writings have left me with one regret: that I could not have read the book instead of writing it.

We think of religion as a collection of dos and dontsrules by which we justify our behavior to ourselves, to others, and perhaps even to God. Preachers tell us what we must do and what we must not do. And yet Christ told his audiences what they did not have to do and of the discretionary that allowed interpretation.

Freedom from the have-tos, and the release to enjoy the whatever-you-want-tos produced a contented, guilt-free existence in which I could ignore tradition; disregard the opinions of others; and serve, worship, and live in freedom.

I met the practical Christ I had never known. If, in these pages, you meet him too, twenty-five years will have been well-spent.

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