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4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
I agree with about 60% of this book. The 40% that I disagreed with really bothered me.
Matt Walsh would probably tell me that that 40% bothered me because I am not truly a believer; I am blinded by sin and cannot see that his words are all true. He has a very all or nothing view of Christianity. He refers to Christian leaders he disagrees with as apostates and heathens; he only once implies that the church should go back to killing these apostates though. I'm getting ahead of myself.
The book opens on it's lowest note. Right off the bat Walsh indulges in a bizarre fantasy in which a group of (Muslims I think?) people come to America to persecute Christians. They are really hellbent on persecuting Christians but bizarrely walk around making sure these Christians are theologically sound. They are really shocked by the Christians because they support abortion and indulging "men dressed as women" in their "illusion". They apparently are shocked by this, but don't feel it's worth persecuting. They call the Christians too "Effeminate." Walsh refers to people he disagrees with as effeminate a fair amount, he likes to call "liberal pastors" limp wristed as well. In the end one of the Christians professes the apostles creed (plus some extra so we know he's a good conservative). The Christians then crucify him. The people who came to persecute Christians leave disappointed. Oddly enough Walsh portrays the potential persecutors as agreeing with him on everything, but also wanting to kill him for it. It's really odd.
I feel like I can just finish here because that bizarre paragraph shows a lot of the problems here. Walsh is incapable of taking anything those who disagree with him say seriously and views it all as capitulating to culture. He has a very dualistic view of the world, and any wrong belief puts you in the realm of the devil.
It was at this point that I looked up who he was and realized that he was that blogger I'd occasionally see in my newsfeed 5 or 6 years ago. For some reason my brain is incapable of remembering his name. I keep having to double check it even now. This is a comment about me, not him.
There's a lot of things I agree with. I agree the church often loses its way and its focus. I agree Sunday service should be about Christ and I agree that Christianity is a religion not a relationship. That's all good. I even found myself laughing with him occasionally. There were whole chapters where I thought that I had misjudged him by that intro paragraph. I was occasionally bothered by his habit of defending his argument by spitting out the references for a bunch of bible verses out of context. It's just a bad and slightly dishonest way to defend a position, and relies on people not looking them up. That said, I think calling it dishonest is wrong; I wholeheartedly believe that Walsh believes he is right about everything he ever says, or at least that's how he presents himself.
Then I got to the later chapters where he goes off the rails again. Walsh spends quite a lot of time talking about how much he doesn't like transgender people. I honestly am not sure how it's even relevant. He mostly talks a lot about how if he uses the "wrong" pronoun for someone then he is lying about them. It's an odd argument, but more importantly it felt very irrelevant to the overall topic of the book.
Walsh also hates the public school system; he says that it exists primarily to indoctrinate children into our culture. He's not entirely wrong, but the only real example of this he gives is another rant about transgender people and how the school system apparently spends a lot of time on that topic. As a teacher, I haven't noticed this but maybe like a frog in water I'm just too immersed and can no longer recognize that that's all I'm teaching (that was a joke; I shouldn't clarify that, but I felt a need to).
The main concern I had though came from an overwhelming feeling throughout the book which I would best describe as worm theology. Worm Theology comes from a line in a hymn by Isaac Watts; "Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I." This was prevalent throughout the whole book, but especially the later part of it. Walsh hates the word self esteem. He considers high self esteem to be a mental illness and low self esteem to be correct. He says we should feel shame and dislike ourselves because that is our correct place. We should have no shame in God, but we should have shame in ourselves. I can't agree with this, although I guess it's appropriate for me the Lutheran to be incensed at a Catholic (I think?) overemphasizing shame and seemingly commanding me to live in crippling self hatred. I already suffer from too much self hatred, I don't need Matt telling me that those few times I feel good are lies from the Devil. My depression is not God's will for me; I will not accept Matt telling me that the times I am not depressed are the problem.
The problem here is law without the Gospel. Matt spends around a page or two talking about the hope we gain in Christ. After a couple hundred pages of burdening crippling law that is just not enough. The law points to our need for Christ, Christ forgives us and releases us from that burden, to then call ourselves a worm is to tell Christ that his sacrifice was not enough, that his love and forgiveness has no power.
At some point I switched from using his last name to his first. I don't know why.
Am I criticizing a Catholic (??) for not being Lutheran enough? Yes.
Does that make me the same as Matt? No, because I believe that he's still a Christian even though I think he's wrong about a lot of things.
PS. He's a Catholic, right?
Matt Walsh would probably tell me that that 40% bothered me because I am not truly a believer; I am blinded by sin and cannot see that his words are all true. He has a very all or nothing view of Christianity. He refers to Christian leaders he disagrees with as apostates and heathens; he only once implies that the church should go back to killing these apostates though. I'm getting ahead of myself.
The book opens on it's lowest note. Right off the bat Walsh indulges in a bizarre fantasy in which a group of (Muslims I think?) people come to America to persecute Christians. They are really hellbent on persecuting Christians but bizarrely walk around making sure these Christians are theologically sound. They are really shocked by the Christians because they support abortion and indulging "men dressed as women" in their "illusion". They apparently are shocked by this, but don't feel it's worth persecuting. They call the Christians too "Effeminate." Walsh refers to people he disagrees with as effeminate a fair amount, he likes to call "liberal pastors" limp wristed as well. In the end one of the Christians professes the apostles creed (plus some extra so we know he's a good conservative). The Christians then crucify him. The people who came to persecute Christians leave disappointed. Oddly enough Walsh portrays the potential persecutors as agreeing with him on everything, but also wanting to kill him for it. It's really odd.
I feel like I can just finish here because that bizarre paragraph shows a lot of the problems here. Walsh is incapable of taking anything those who disagree with him say seriously and views it all as capitulating to culture. He has a very dualistic view of the world, and any wrong belief puts you in the realm of the devil.
It was at this point that I looked up who he was and realized that he was that blogger I'd occasionally see in my newsfeed 5 or 6 years ago. For some reason my brain is incapable of remembering his name. I keep having to double check it even now. This is a comment about me, not him.
There's a lot of things I agree with. I agree the church often loses its way and its focus. I agree Sunday service should be about Christ and I agree that Christianity is a religion not a relationship. That's all good. I even found myself laughing with him occasionally. There were whole chapters where I thought that I had misjudged him by that intro paragraph. I was occasionally bothered by his habit of defending his argument by spitting out the references for a bunch of bible verses out of context. It's just a bad and slightly dishonest way to defend a position, and relies on people not looking them up. That said, I think calling it dishonest is wrong; I wholeheartedly believe that Walsh believes he is right about everything he ever says, or at least that's how he presents himself.
Then I got to the later chapters where he goes off the rails again. Walsh spends quite a lot of time talking about how much he doesn't like transgender people. I honestly am not sure how it's even relevant. He mostly talks a lot about how if he uses the "wrong" pronoun for someone then he is lying about them. It's an odd argument, but more importantly it felt very irrelevant to the overall topic of the book.
Walsh also hates the public school system; he says that it exists primarily to indoctrinate children into our culture. He's not entirely wrong, but the only real example of this he gives is another rant about transgender people and how the school system apparently spends a lot of time on that topic. As a teacher, I haven't noticed this but maybe like a frog in water I'm just too immersed and can no longer recognize that that's all I'm teaching (that was a joke; I shouldn't clarify that, but I felt a need to).
The main concern I had though came from an overwhelming feeling throughout the book which I would best describe as worm theology. Worm Theology comes from a line in a hymn by Isaac Watts; "Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I." This was prevalent throughout the whole book, but especially the later part of it. Walsh hates the word self esteem. He considers high self esteem to be a mental illness and low self esteem to be correct. He says we should feel shame and dislike ourselves because that is our correct place. We should have no shame in God, but we should have shame in ourselves. I can't agree with this, although I guess it's appropriate for me the Lutheran to be incensed at a Catholic (I think?) overemphasizing shame and seemingly commanding me to live in crippling self hatred. I already suffer from too much self hatred, I don't need Matt telling me that those few times I feel good are lies from the Devil. My depression is not God's will for me; I will not accept Matt telling me that the times I am not depressed are the problem.
The problem here is law without the Gospel. Matt spends around a page or two talking about the hope we gain in Christ. After a couple hundred pages of burdening crippling law that is just not enough. The law points to our need for Christ, Christ forgives us and releases us from that burden, to then call ourselves a worm is to tell Christ that his sacrifice was not enough, that his love and forgiveness has no power.
At some point I switched from using his last name to his first. I don't know why.
Am I criticizing a Catholic (??) for not being Lutheran enough? Yes.
Does that make me the same as Matt? No, because I believe that he's still a Christian even though I think he's wrong about a lot of things.
PS. He's a Catholic, right?
Conservative commentator and podcaster, Matt Walsh, who is also a traditional, conservative Catholic, critiques American Christianity and it's often unBiblical slide toward liberal thinking and practice. I have listened to Matt Walsh's podcast for a couple of years now, and I found the content of this book to be somewhat like the content of his podcasts. Walsh is strongly opinionated and not very kind and he can be downright offensive, but, in this book, he backs up his claims and arguments in this book with scriptures from the Bible and Christian philosophers and writers such as C.S. Lewis. I strongly agree with some of the things Walsh says, and strongly disagree with other things, but I gave the book 4/5 stars because I liked how Walsh presented his arguments, and I agreed with most of what he said.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Disappointed audio version was not narrated by Matt himself, especially considering he has his own show and podcast.
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I normally don’t put 5 stars on book reviews because it takes a lot to get me to believe a book is deserving of all 5 of those stars, but boy was this book deserving and more.
I think this book brings up a lot of great points and really calls to attention how much society has strayed from what we were made for. We were made for Him, to follow in His steps, and to heed His word. And yet, society just does what’s easy and convenient nowadays. We fall away from Him, because following Him isn’t easy. It was never meant to be easy, life is suffering, but suffering brings about beauty. We need to be able to see that.
I definitely think every Christian should read this book and reflect on how they see their faith. It opened my eyes to things I was doing wrong, and ways that I can grow closer to Christ.
What’s important is that we see our mistakes and our sins and move on from them. We try again, and we climb to get closer to God.
I think this book brings up a lot of great points and really calls to attention how much society has strayed from what we were made for. We were made for Him, to follow in His steps, and to heed His word. And yet, society just does what’s easy and convenient nowadays. We fall away from Him, because following Him isn’t easy. It was never meant to be easy, life is suffering, but suffering brings about beauty. We need to be able to see that.
I definitely think every Christian should read this book and reflect on how they see their faith. It opened my eyes to things I was doing wrong, and ways that I can grow closer to Christ.
What’s important is that we see our mistakes and our sins and move on from them. We try again, and we climb to get closer to God.
This book really caught me off guard. I'm very familiar with Matt Walsh's rhetoric. While written in his typical inflammatory style I was surprised by how personal this book hits and reads. It is certainly damning for the casual practice of Christianity or spiritualism, but unlike other Walsh thoughts the solutions center around how to change yourself and become truly converted to Christ.
The book is very scripture heavy too which I found a very thoughtful counterpoint to his logical arguments.
I was also surprised by how easy it felt to read it's actually hard to put down. In many ways it reads like a more brutal C.S.Lewis, but at the same time I've never read anything like it.
The book is very scripture heavy too which I found a very thoughtful counterpoint to his logical arguments.
I was also surprised by how easy it felt to read it's actually hard to put down. In many ways it reads like a more brutal C.S.Lewis, but at the same time I've never read anything like it.
At times, this is very in your face and confronts the somewhat lacks way we live out our Christian faith. It caused me to reflect on the churches’ lack of having a backbone and lack of conviction, which has lead to many of the current cultural issues we face today.
challenging
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. That is not to say that I did not find it challenging and even infuriating at times, because I did. Matt Walsh has a firm understanding of what modern Western culture has done to our spiritual development, and as hard as it is to admit, we who consider ourselves "champions of Christ" are often a big part of the problem.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness." - Matthew 23:27-28
“Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.” Luke 20:46-47
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Matthew 7:1-2
Yeah, I think I'll be avoiding this...