Easily Offended? Some More Reading

I think people who are easily offended miss out on a lot of stuff. We all have certain areas that we are a little touchy about. In those areas of my life, I miss opportunities to broaden my perspective because I am too sensitive about the issue. For a lot of folks, religion is just such an area. There are certain boundaries that once people cross, our defense mechanisms kick in and we stop listening. What we miss out on in the realm of religion is the opportunity to see our faith from another point of view and perhaps deepen and strengthen our beliefs.

This is all a long way to get to talk about the latest book I have read Lamb, The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal, by Christopher Moore. It was a Christmas gift from my wife Alisha and it was recommended to her by a close friend. Let me start with this: based on what I started this entry with, if you are easily offended about issues related to religion, Christianity or anything faith related, perhaps this book is not for you. Christopher Moore is not a religious writer, nor is he trying to write about religion. He says clearly in his "afterword",

The book you have just read is a story. I made it up. It is not designed to change anyone’s beliefs or worldview, unless after reading it you’ve decided to be kinder to your fellow human beings (which is okay), or you decide you would like to try to teach yoga to an elephant, in which case, please get videotape.[1]

That aside, this is one of the funniest books I have read in a long time. However, it isn’t just humor at the expense of Jesus or Christianity. Moore takes a lighthearted guess at what Jesus younger years might have been like. He did some great research to try and make an educated guess based on what we do know about that time in that part of the world (he does a really great job with the different factions of Judaism present during Jesus’ time), but from there he just makes stuff up. Whether he intended to or not, he ends up doing some great theology. If you can read this book through non-sensitive eyes you might start to see some truth about Jesus in a new way. If nothing else, you will probably laugh out loud quite a bit.

If you have read or do read the book, I would love to hear your thoughts.

peace,

will

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[1] Christopher Moore, Lamb, The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal, (New York: Harper Perennial, 2002-2004) 438