While reading those other books about grace and works I decided that I would reread my personal favorites "Believing Christ" and "Following Christ" by Stephen Robinson. I love these books. While reading them this last time I thought that perhaps I should start giving them out as gifts to young men leaving on missions. I talked to Karen about it and she had the same thought that I did about it. Some mission presidents probably wouldn't mind their missionaries reading them and some might (although I would have a hard time understanding why someone would.) I don't know what I'll do about it for sure.
These books are just too awesome to try and review so I'll just share some stories about them. First it took me a long time to read "Following Christ." I thought that "Believing Christ" was so excellent that "Following Christ" could possible be worth buying, what else could be said? In fact I don't think that I ever read it until I was able to get the PDF version off of the LDS Library and read it on my iPod. How's that for a stupid person? Guilty.
The full title of "Following Christ" is "Following Christ: The Parable of the Divers and More Good News." The full title of "Believing Christ" is "Believing Christ: The Parable of the Bicycle and Other Good News." When I read "Believing Christ" the first time I quickly picked up the 'Parable of the Bicycle.' It's the story where Bro. Robinson tells his daughter in a offhand way that if she saves up all of her money she will one day be able to buy a bicycle. His daughter takes him at his word and starts saving every penny she earns. A short while later Bro. Robinson notices her saving some money from a chore and asks her what she's doing and she reminds him that she's saving everything she earns so she can get a bicycle. Bro. Robinson remembers the promise he made her so he takes her to find a bike and when they find it she realizes it will take her forever to buy the bike. Or as Bro. Robinson puts it, buy the time she's saved enough for a bicycle she'll probably want a car. So he tells her that if she'll give him everything she has and a hug and a kiss it will be enough for a bicycle. That's like the covenant we make with the Savior, except our efforts are even less in comparison to His.
However I read through "Following Christ" and when I got to the end I wondered how I'd missed the 'Parable of the Divers?' This time I was going to pay attention to make sure that I got it, and I was surprised and a little disappointed when I read through it. The parable this time is about a diving competition where Bro. Robinson and his friends are all in a diving contest. They've all had years of practice on the diving boards in their backyards and what not. There is a young man that come from a less well to do part of town and while he hasn't had years of practice in backyards he's got something that they don't have – he's fearless. While they're doing pretty swan dives and what not, he's doing back flips and one-and-a-halfs and gainers and what not, and while they're form is perfect on the easier dives his is not so good on his dives. The scores on the dives make Bro. Robinson and his friends think that they're winning, but when the final score is given the fearless young man has won. Bro. Robinson goes to protest and finds out about degree of difficulty. While the fearless young man might not have scored as high on his dives the multiplier for the difficulty of the dives made him the ultimate winner. Bro Robinson says that we will all be judged on how we handled the life that we were given to live.
I don't know why I missed this. I guess that I thought that anyone that was participating in a diving contest should know about degree of difficulty, so maybe the story just didn't ring true with me, and I didn't relate to it as well as the first parable. Anyway I was pretty surprised when I read it through the second time. I mean I agree with the story and everything it just didn't hit me as hard as the first one on reading through it.
Something else that he said the "Following Christ" really struck me this time. He said that LDS use 'sealing' in the same way that many Evangelical Christians say 'saved.' We're not really 'sealed' yet, but the promise and intent is their and we function as though it is already a fact, and it mostly is a fact. I thought that's a great way to think of it.
One other thing he said that I missed is that when he said some Christians believe in "cheap grace" i.e. that once you've accepted Christ you're not expected to do anything else, but it's not as many as LDS believe it is. I think that I'm finding that to be true.
I give these books 5 stars and would recommend that anyone should read them.
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