There’s just something about a free or very inexpensive book that I find difficult to resist. When Francis Chan’s two books were offered for free Kindle download, I took advantage of the deal. I had read Crazy Love early on and although Chan is quite different theologically than me I got some good nuggets out of it. I hoped that the next two would be the same.

Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit tackles the complicated existence of the Holy Spirit. Chan begins with the assertion that Christians in the American church have left the Holy Spirit out of the process. Of course, I’m sure Chan has not visited every church in the USA, but he still feels confident in make assessments about their vitality. Then Chan delves into Scripture to prove his assertions about the existence of the Holy Spirit and the way the Holy Spirit works. Immediately I had issues. Chan states that the Holy Spirit is a male person that inhibits our bodies once we invite “him” in. I struggled throughout the book for a variety of reasons, but the essential nugget is that we do not engage the Holy Spirit as fully as we should and that our lives and churches would be more vital if we did so. I had actually been focusing on this for Lent and was able to pull out what I think the Holy Spirit was telling me through this work.

Erasing Hell: What God Said about Eternity, and the Things We’ve Made Up was even more of a struggle for me. Chan’s writing is erratic and frantic and the entire work seems forced. In the introduction, he presents the idea that he was open to whatever he learned during this study of what God says about hell and hoped in fact to find out it doesn’t exist. The results do not reflect this assertion. He drew conclusions that I did not feel were logical in many cases. He claims that Scripture is inspired by God and has all authority, but does not hesitate to bring in other sources when what Jesus is attributed as saying does not prove his point strongly enough. He reacts so strongly to Rob Bell’s work Love Wins that it is a distraction. I’m still struggling with the emotions that this work stirred in me. I understand the fear that I and/or people I love may spend eternity in hell. However, I feel so strongly that God is all powerful and capable that I do not think God is bound by anything written in Scripture. This may be where I differ most from Chan. God is God. The Bible is not God. God can do whatever God wants and however God wants. I trust God and put my trust in God. My biggest issue with preachers like Chan (aside from his extreme arrogance) is that my experience is that if we really want people to come to know and love God we will love them where they are, how they are. We will not use hell to scare them to God. Even though Chan claims to struggle with the same practice, he then turns around and uses it in his writing.

When my son saw that I had these two books on my Kindle, he expressed great frustration with me. I understand that by reading these works I may appear to be validating Chan’s ideas. But I strive to remain open as possible to ideas that differ from my own. I think that only through education and exposure can I really claim what I believe. However, the next few churchy books will not be these types. I long to delve in writing that brings me comfort for awhile.