Finally finished this book the other day. Kind of pathetic (of me) considering it's rather short and it took me so long! It's packed with a lot of thought provoking statements that I needed some time to mill around. Here's my favorite quote:
I wouldn't necessarily say this quote summarizes the book, because it's only a small step in understanding what E. McManus is really getting at in the book, which I think encourages believers to step out of a mundane, comfortable lifestyle and really take part in the world that God is calling us to. Become a barbarian for God. Well, something like that. Being a lifetime civilized, suburban chick it's a bit of a stretch for me, but I do get it.
This particular quote really struck me because in some ways it really says what I think the "missing generation" is saying, that just believing something doesn't cut it any more. If you aren't going to act on your beliefs then are they really authentic??
There is an aspect of all the intellectual discussions that I can't even make it halfway through on some of these blogs that really make me wonder if the writers ever put into practice what they are trying to articulate. One of the reasons I loved the Born into Brothels movie so much was because it documented the developmental process of a "barbarian." I don't know if she was motivated by God, but she chose a project, became passionate about saving these children from a hopeless life of slavery and worked tirelessly to reach her goal. She recognized that there not many more barbarians out there who would join her, so she offered them a way to support her by selling the children's photographs to raise money to accomplish her dream. I found it interesting that only one man chose to join her in the quest physically. He came, worked side by side with her and even chose one of those children to take to Amsterdam for a week. One man.
I would highly recommend this book, but don't read it if you don't want to be challenged to change the way you respond and act to the world around you and your system of beliefs. I will likely read it again because I'm quite certain I missed a few important points the first time around. Not to mention, I can see that I'm still not quite the barbarian that I should be!
Somehow Christianity has become a nonmystical religion. It's about a reasonable faith. If we believe the right things, then we are orthodox. Frankly whether we ever actually connect to God or experience His undeniable presence has become incidental, if not irrelevant. We have become believers rather than experiencers. To know God in the Scriptures always went beyond information to intimacy. We may find ourselves uncomfortable with this reality, but the faith of the Scriptures is a mystical faith. It leads us beyond the material world into an invisible reality. We become connected to the God of eternity. Who you are at the core is spirit. God is Spirit. To walk with God is to journey in the spiritual realm. -Erwin McManus, The Barbarian Way, p. 61.
I wouldn't necessarily say this quote summarizes the book, because it's only a small step in understanding what E. McManus is really getting at in the book, which I think encourages believers to step out of a mundane, comfortable lifestyle and really take part in the world that God is calling us to. Become a barbarian for God. Well, something like that. Being a lifetime civilized, suburban chick it's a bit of a stretch for me, but I do get it.
This particular quote really struck me because in some ways it really says what I think the "missing generation" is saying, that just believing something doesn't cut it any more. If you aren't going to act on your beliefs then are they really authentic??
There is an aspect of all the intellectual discussions that I can't even make it halfway through on some of these blogs that really make me wonder if the writers ever put into practice what they are trying to articulate. One of the reasons I loved the Born into Brothels movie so much was because it documented the developmental process of a "barbarian." I don't know if she was motivated by God, but she chose a project, became passionate about saving these children from a hopeless life of slavery and worked tirelessly to reach her goal. She recognized that there not many more barbarians out there who would join her, so she offered them a way to support her by selling the children's photographs to raise money to accomplish her dream. I found it interesting that only one man chose to join her in the quest physically. He came, worked side by side with her and even chose one of those children to take to Amsterdam for a week. One man.
I would highly recommend this book, but don't read it if you don't want to be challenged to change the way you respond and act to the world around you and your system of beliefs. I will likely read it again because I'm quite certain I missed a few important points the first time around. Not to mention, I can see that I'm still not quite the barbarian that I should be!
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