Dangerously Alive!

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I finished the outstanding book, Dangerously Alive over the bank holiday weekend. Detailing the adventures of Simon Guillebaud in Burundi over the last 10 years, this book is not for the faint hearted. It will provoke, unsettle & make you smile in equal measure.

The book is full of stand out quotes, but from amongst them, these words by Robert Capon stood out all the more: As we move inexorably into the summer, another day, another week, another month - allow them to stir you from any sense of complacency or self centred, comfort eating religion that so easily settles over us. How about a different approach? Over to Guillebaud & Capon:

The Good News is no longer good news, it is okay news.
Christianity is no longer life changing, it is life enhancing. Jesus doesn't change people into wide eyed radicals any more; He changes them into 'nice people.'
If Christianity is simply about being nice, I'm not interested.

What happened to the radical Christianity, the un-nice brand of Christianity that turned the world upside down? What happened to the category smashing, life threatening, anti-institutional gospel that spread through the first century like wildfire & was considered dangerous by those in power?
What happened to the kind of Christians whose hearts were on fire, who had no fear, who spoke the truth no matter what the consequence, who made the world uncomfortable, who were willing to follow Jesus wherever He went?
What happened to the kind of Christians who were filled with passion & gratitude & who every day were unable to get over the grace of God?

I'm ready for a Christianity that 'ruins' my life, that captures my heart & makes me uncomfortable. I want to be filled with an astonishment which is so captivating that I am considered wild & unpredictable &, well, dangerous. Yes, I want to be 'dangerous' to a dull & boring religion. I want a faith that is considered 'dangerous' by our predictable & monotonous culture.

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