I’ve Been Churched

16 posted on October 16, 2008

POSTED IN: Authenticity, Book Reviews, Childhood Memories

My Review of ‘Churched’ by Matthew Paul Turner

I received an advance copy of Churched in the mail a couple of weeks ago and was anxiously looking forward to reading it. I knew it was going to be good because only great writers get to use their first, last and middle name on the book cover.

I sat down to read about Matthew Paul Turner’s “journey to God despite a holy mess” and was immediately drawn into the story. Within a few hours I had read the book cover to cover in one sitting.

Turner’s humorous storytelling style made this book a fun and easy read. Every 10 or 15 minutes I called out to Lisa in the other room, “Honey, listen to this…” Some of the stories were so laughable that you might almost wonder if they were true. But having been thoroughly “churched” myself I knew that situations like those could only happen in a church.

So many of his recollections brought back memories of when I attended Sunday school as a child with my hair slicked back and my clip-on tie firmly attached to my collar.

I thought the devil was easy to spot when I was younger. To me, he stuck out like a black dot on a white sheet of paper. I’d be minding my own business and all of a sudden – boo! – Satan jumped out from behind a corner like he was a jack-in-the-box. he sought out ways to devour me, tempt me, or get me to take up smoking.

I was trained in Sunday school to spot the devil. My teachers told me to watch out for roaring lions, disgruntled angels, women wearing low-cut blouses, and Billy Graham. Those were sure signs that Satan could be close.

I remember the songs we sang that contrasted the stomp-the-devil-to-the ground-and-make-him-sit-on-a-tack to the ones that reminded us just how big and strong our God was.

A part of me always believed that God was bigger than how the people at my church talked about him. They thought of him as big, of course. And strong. One of the songs we used to sing in Sunday school boasted, “My God is so big, so strong and so mighty; there’s nothing my God cannot do.”

We’d scream-sing those words so loud that our teachers would worry that our blood vessels would pop. But the big God that my pastor and Sunday school teachers talked about seemed like an if-he-ever-stepped-on-me-he’d-smash-me kind of big. Angry, giant big. It always made God seem unloving and uncoordinated.

But probably the part of Turner’s book that grabbed me the most were his stories of conforming to the popular image of what it meant to be a Christian, from the “Baptist haircut” to the way he talked.

At my church and school, perception was everything. How people viewed you was much more important than how you actually were. The truth didn’t matter. What people believed to be the truth mattered. I learned early on that if everybody believed I was the well-behaved, good-natured boy without a sin in the world, it didn’t matter what the truth was. The truth was secondary to a person’s opinion or perception of truth.

As I read Churched I alternated between laughter at some of his stories and wincing as I remembered some of mine. I’ve seen the worst of legalism and fundamentalism in the church. I tried to conform to the scripture-quoting, suit-wearing, hymn-singing Christian everyone told me I needed to be. I looked the part on the outside but inside I was a mess.

This book paralleled my childhood in so many ways which, at times, was a little uncomfortable. However, it was the thread of hope that ran through the pages that reminded me that each of us are on a journey to God. For some of us, our journeys include stories of sex, drugs and alcohol abuse. But some include singing hymns, doing Bible-drills and burning secular music.

I’m so thankful that my journey led me out of that “holy mess” to a real, genuine relationship with God, one that was unhampered by legalism and hypocrisy.

Reading ‘Churched’ reminded me just how far I’ve come.

****

Order Churched on Amazon.com
Visit Matthew Paul Turner’s blog

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This entry was posted on Thursday, October 16th, 2008 at 9:03 am and is filed under Authenticity, Book Reviews, Childhood Memories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

13 Comments

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October 16, 2008

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1 Adam said:

Great review.. I definitely need to check this out. Sounds like I will be able to relate pretty well. Growing up attending a strict Mennonite church to then going to the complete opposite to a charismatic evangelical church.. Ive seen every aspect of 2 very different churches.

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October 16, 2008

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2 Aaron said:

Definitely sounds like a good read. And I must say, I’m impressed that you were able to match ties with the book’s cover. I mean, matching fonts was a given, but ties? Now THAT’S impressive!
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October 16, 2008

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3 Brad Ruggles said:

@Adam – One of these days we’re going to have to swap stories.

@Aaron – Matching ties? Child’s play! Come on, I can Photoshop a matching tie in my sleep.
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October 16, 2008

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4 Nick said:

I’ve enjoyed what I have read so far. I am Matthew Paul Turner…his story sounds a lot like mine.

I’m just impressed you own a tie.
I do too, there are always funerals to go to.

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October 16, 2008

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5 patrowland said:

great take baptist brad, I look forward to finally reading it. It may have to move up closer to the top of my stack of books.

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October 16, 2008

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6 Brad Ruggles said:

@Nick – Oh yeah, I own plenty of ties. I just don’t wear them much anymore. I did think it was pretty convenient that I owned one exactly like the one on the front cover of the book though.

@PatRowland – Wow, Baptist Brad? Let’s hope that nickname doesn’t stick.
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October 16, 2008

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7 Abbey said:

Wow…I can definitely relate to some of the stories on there. The church I go to now is a lot less hypocritical than the one I grew up in…not to mention myself…=)
This is some good stuff. I will definitely have to pick up this book!
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October 16, 2008

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8 Juli Jarvis said:

I love it! You’re so right — “out of that ‘holy mess’ to a real, genuine relationship with God, one that was unhampered by legalism and hypocrisy.” I raised my kids in this kind of climate, and just trust God now to draw them closer and closer to Him and away from all that legalism and fake religion! Thanks for sharing.
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October 16, 2008

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9 Nick said:

@ Brad – Even without Photoshop you would probably have a good chance of finding one identical in your local goodwill or in my dad’s closet

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October 16, 2008

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10 Vince said:

I was there. But I always struggled with it. I sat on the fringe of my baptist church youth group. I was there every time the doors were open but my questions got funny looks and ‘i’ll talk to you after’.
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October 17, 2008

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11 Rachel Rowell said:

I am SO getting this book. Like now!

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October 22, 2008

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12 » You Know You’re Churched If… – BradRuggles.com said:

[...] week I wrote about Matthew Paul Turner’s new book Churched (which is amazing by the way, buy it here) and [...]
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October 30, 2008

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13 Bible Verse of The Day said:

Superior post.Sustain the eminent work,You must definitely have to keep updating your site