It’s really exciting to hear what people think of I Sold My Soul on eBay after they’ve read it. It may not always be what I want to hear, but it’s great to learn about how various people took in the book.
It’s especially interesting to me what Christians have to say, because they are the target audience for the book. There are a few Christian bloggers who have recently shared their thoughts. I apologize for putting them all together in one post, but you do see a number of ways people respond to several parts of the book.
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Luke Geraty goes through many of the points I make and has in-depth responses to them. For certain points, he tries to explain how I may not understand certain aspects of church because I’m not a Christian, but on other points, he wholeheartedly agrees. After a very thorough critique, he says this:
Well, thus concludes my initial thoughts after reading this book. I highly recommend that people read this book. It was fantastic. I just encourage you to weigh everything with what the Scriptures teach and yet be open to examining why you may do what you do. Like I said, I Sold My Soul on eBay is a one of a kind! Order a copy from Amazon.com or borrow mine.
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Steve Netniss gives a response to each part of my summary of the good/bad parts of church. But before he gets to that, he shares this anecdote:
My dad did something great when I was young. He was teaching me how to ride a bike and he would hold on to the back of my seat and run with me so that I felt safe peddling without the training wheels. I can still remember the day I turned around to see if my dad was still holding on to the seat and he was 50 feet away with a big smile on his face watching me soar. Needless to say I didn’t know how to stop and so I started crying and crashed. But the point is that I realized I didn’t need my dad their holding my seat. I could ride my bike on my own. Hemant I think could relate to this experience. After Hemant rejected the existence of God he learned that he could make it on his own and actually enjoyed it much more then trusting in God. This sort of thing happens all the time. If you’re honest, I’m sure you could remember a time when you’ve felt that your faith was just a crutch to serve a need that could be served elsewhere.
There’s a word “enjoyed” in there that I would like to change… but what a wonderful example of what it’s like to become an atheist. Steve “gets” it.
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Leigh Anne manages to connect the political world to my comments about the church talking about the need for social justice but not always following through with it.
She ends that part of her post with this comment:
After all, what did Jesus spend his life doing? Telling people what they could or couldn’t do, or taking care of the poor and oppressed?
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Stew Carson makes a bold suggestion about the book:
It was a great read and would do well to make it’s way in to a seminary curriculum for prospective pastors.
Stew also agrees with a number of the criticisms I have and explains why he feels that way.
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C. E’Jon Moore says this:
Mehta gave me a lot of food for thought. A lot of things that I take for granted and enjoy, Mehta had legitimate questions about. And he refused the fit the stereotype of atheists that Christians tend to buy into, being evenhanded in his approach and refusing to be mean-spirited in any of his questioning of Christian practice or theology. While I didn’t agree with everything and felt that certain questions asked had viable answers, it was a humbling [experience]. Mehta cannot possibly represent the mindset of every unreligious person, but he provides a candid glimpse into a world Christians often misunderstand or disregard entirely.
He also juxtaposes the book alongside another written by a successful pastor and writes about his feelings after having read each book.
[tags]atheist, atheism, I Sold My Soul on eBay, Christian, Luke Geraty, Scripture, Bible, Steve Netniss, Jesus, Stew Carson, C. E’Jon Moore[/tags]
