This past Sunday,
He writes in a personal tone and presents the message of redemption in a clear manner while interweaving his own story of disbelief. Â The book reads like a candid conversation with the author on a very difficult subject..
What is interesting is a blog the reviewer, Stephen Escalera, wrote about the final, edited version of his review. Â I am including one paragraph of his response to that final version.
While I am excited about having a review published in print, I am also very disappointed with the editing. As published, the book comes across as rather postmodern with perhaps only a hint of the gospel. However, the book is very strong on presenting the gospel and I said as much as originally written in my review. However, in the editing process, the key paragraph of the review was pared down to say next to nothing about the author’s message in his book.  I’ve posted the paragraph as it was originally written, with all the bolded section indicating what was omitted:
You can read the rest of his thoughts
Just thought this was an interested look into the world of reviews.
For the record, I have no reason to think that the Roanoke Times had any ill motives in editing down Stephen’s review. Â The more writers I know and speak to, this is a pretty normal thing. Â Just another piece of the puzzle.
Peace, Jim
I have broken one major rule of blogging.
And I am about to break another.
The first rule of blogging is that if you want your blog readership to grow, then post consistently. Obviously you want to post high quality content, but you need to do that regularly. Over the past couple of weeks I have just been too busy to post much at all.
The second is that it is best to stay in your own lane. What that essentially means is you are most helpful to the blogospere if you select a couple of subjects that you care about and have some experience in, and stick with those. Unless your blog is intended to be about everything, then scaling it back to a few things can be good.
I say all this because I am about to step into a new blogging area. Don’t know if I will be regularly swimming in this particular pool or if this is just a brief dip. Either way, here goes…
I have been under a fair bit of pressure lately. Not exorbitant, but not light either. I am the husband of a wife that I dearly love and truly enjoy spending time with, and the father of three kids. Noah is thirteen, Seth is eleven and Emma will be ten this summer. Between math, sentence diagramming (thanks Jenna for guiding us through that one,) puberty, soccer, basketball, piano, girls saying mean things about you… It gets busy fast.
Then there is my ministry with [nlcf]. As we enter a different season as a church, several of the things that we will be doing are things that I will be heavily involved in. I love working with this church! I truly do, but one of the hardest things I do each week is figure out what I won’t do that week so that I can live a life of balance.
Then there is Should We Fire God?. I will be honest with you, doing what needs to be done and what I would like to do for the book could easily be a full time job all by itself.
I manage Seth’s soccer team, try to exercise, get enough sleep, have some growing friendships and have a meaningful and growing relationship with my Messiah.
It is a lot to do. Please hear this, I am not complaining and I am not saying any of his so that anyone reading this will feel sorry for me. Everything that makes my life intense during this season is borne out of a blessing I am enjoying. So… let’s be clear with that.
All this run up really just leads me to the reason I am blogging tonight instead of sleeping (or watching Glee.) The speed and pressure of life can sometimes make it easy to pass over moments where I have the opportunity to connect with someone. Tonight I almost missed one with Seth.
Tracy mentioned to me that he seemed more upset than usual and so I stopped what I was doing and went up and talked with him about it. After we dealt with the issue that had made him frustrated, he just kept going and I was privileged to be along for the ride. I got to hear his frustration with a kid in his class, his fears about talking to his coach regarding some things he doesn’t understand, the new type of clothes he likes (Aeropostale), how he is as long as the mattress when we extends his arms, how nervous he is about starting middle school next fall, and why he never gets in trouble doing his morning work.
We didn’t talk about much in great depth, but we talked about him. I loved it, probably that twenty or thirty minute conversation was a highpoint of my day. And I almost missed the chance – had he not been in such a bad mood and had Tracy not been paying attention I probably would have.
The scriptures tell us that children are a blessing from the Lord. Yes, they are a responsibility and yes that responsibility is very heavy at times. Tonight, I just sat in my sons’ room and enjoyed the blessing. I was blessed to hear about his emerging life and I was blessed to be reminded that I can be two feet away from someone and completely miss what is going on in their world.
Here’s to hoping it doesn’t take an abnormally bad mood for us all to have those moments in the future, eh?
Peace,
Jim
This just in…
Jim Pace, a Virginia Tech graduate, long-time Blacksburg resident and pastor of New Life Christian Fellowship, Â is claiming the right to walk into Books-A-Million in the First and Main Mall from 7-10PM, and start defacing books. Â Claiming to have written one himself, he promises to try to restrict himself to signing his own alleged book. Â As the evening progresses, however, he said he might extend his signing to books written by other authors and even some nicely produced calendars. Pace has repeatedly referred to this a autographing or signing. Â Regional BAM management contests his use of those terms. Â Here is an official statement:
It isn’t that we want to harrass this likely very troubled YOUNG man. Â If his personal delusions include him having written a book, then that is fine with us. Â Our issue is with his use of the term signing. Â We feel that for that term to apply, the signature must somehow increase the overall value of the book that is signed. Â We feel defacing is more appropriate as Mr. Pace is merely ensuring that no one can return his book to our stores, and that the owner would have to list it as used on ebay. Â We wish Mr. Pace all the best and hope that he gets distracted and just forgets to show up.
Mr. Pace was unavailable for comment as he was busy trying out new pens. Â We promise to continue following this story as it unfolds.
I have a friend named John Chanlder. Â I actually have two.
Both are very smart, innovative and loving followers of Jesus. Â This review comes from the one that has relocated to Austin Texas to start a community of Christ followers called
The reason I am posting his blog review is not just that it is good. Â I have promised to post any really scathing ones I get… I least I hope to have the courage to do so. Â The primary reason is that I truly respect both his theological approach and his ability to effectively reflect on what he is reading. Â He is one of those friends that if he were to say this is a good book, you should take a look… well… I do.
Thanks John for sharing. Â Take ‘er away…
At the Ecclesia National Gathering in February, my friend Jim Pace pulled out of his bag a galley copy of his now released book, Should We Fire God?, and handed it to me. Seeing Dallas Willard across the small conference room, I wondered aloud if I could get him to sign it for me.
Thankfully, Jim has a sense of humor.
In fact, he’s one of the funnier people I know. But there’s a lot more to him than his humor. I’ve shared many a late night discussion with him, diving into some of the deeper topics of theology and life, and he (almost) always impresses me with his thoughtfulness.
It’s a curious thing to read a book by someone you know. Sometimes, you feel like you are hearing a voice from someone that doesn’t match up with the person you have talked with and spent time with. Other times, you can picture the person sitting before you, talking as you read, even hearing the words in their voice. The latter was my experience with Should We Fire God?
Jim has pastored in a campus church near Virginia Tech for over a decade. As the Virgina Tech shootings unfolded in 2007, Jim found himself in the middle of the questions and hurt that filled his own mind, the city of Blacksburg, and our nation. This book came out of the honest question about God’s seeming absence in such a tragedy. Jim tackles a difficult topic with grace as he mixes his knack for telling a humorous story with his ability to think below the surface on hard issues. Both play well with each other, allowing the reader to laugh, ache, and ponder their way through the pages.
There are many books that have been written that tackle the problem of evil from a Christian worldview. Some dive so much into theology they lack a connection with the heart, others come across as trite. But a handful are able to grapple with both the heart and the mind in this difficult topic. Jim has written a book that fits in with the last group.
So, yes, in case you didn’t hear, Blacksburg has the distinct “honor†of hosting a group of protesters from Westboro Baptist Church. If you aren’t familiar with the name of the church itself, they are the “godhatesfags†people. Let me give them the chance to tell you why they are coming. The following is an excerpt from their website.
Virginia Tech N. Main St. & E. Roanoke St. (SW Corner) WBC to picket Virginia Tech to connect the dots. God sent the killer because of your proud sin! You raise your kids to believe they can disobey God with impunity, and that His commandments are all on the table to be disposed of whenever you please. That’s why they think fornication, adultery, and sodomy are all just in good fun (instead of the filthy practices they are), and that’s why the wrath of God is on them. God is cursing you by killing those same children that you have lied to all their lives. VA Tech was just GodSmacked — another of your students murdered — and you still refuse to heed and obey the standards of God. Woe unto you! “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness…!” Isa. 5:20. You’re going to Hell, and you’re taking your kids with you.
Ahh… if it wasn’t so offensive and if it didn’t deal with such painful memories, it would almost be funny.
As the fact that they were coming has settled in, I, and many other leaders in NLCF and other local churches and ministries, have been asked what our response is going to be to the protest. The suggestions have ranged from completely ignoring the whole deal to some things that verge on the illegal. 🙂  The question, are they accurate in their perspective of why these horrible events seem to keep happening here? is easily answered with a very loud NO. Understanding how to respond in a Christlike way to them is a bit more difficult. We need to reflect carefully to come up with a response that blends the purity of God with the love of God.  Obviously, the best blending of qualities that we can look to is Jesus.
Three different possible responses to their protest have received the most attention, so here are my thoughts on each.
On the issue of aligning with a plan that will raise money for groups that are not specifically Christian groups.
The most widely accepted plan for responding to the Westboro protestors is to put up a table near each of their protest locations, then raise money for the groups they are protesting. Personally I love this idea. It takes the opportunity they are creating to produce something good. Love it, love it, love it.
Some that I have spoken with are concerned because the groups we will be raising money for are not Christian groups.  When reflecting on an issue like this one, I think that we look to how Jesus interacted with non-Jewish people or those who weren’t following the Jewish code in his day.  Clearly those people were doing things that God didn’t want them to do, just like any of us.  But Jesus went straight for them.  Now we don’t know what jokes he laughed at when he was at the parties that earned him the label of friend of drunks, and which ones he would have turned away from, but we know that the people at those parties liked him. They sensed an acceptance from him.  To me, that is important.  I feel compelled by this to be as involved with as many groups as we can possibly be.  There are many groups that are pursuing aspects of the reality God is calling us to be a part of, they just aren’t doing it out of devotion to him. I believe we should look to see where we can link up in cases like this, certainly there would be reasons that would make that desire impossible, but I haven’t seen anything in what we are raising money for that rises to that level in any way.
Also, the shootings were a very communally felt moment for us all. Â I feel that to come together in responding to this protest is the right thing for us to do.
On the issue of concern about sending a thank-you note to Westboro Baptist Church.
An additional component of the raising money plan was to potentially send WBC a thank you note. The note would thank them for giving us the opportunity to raise money for those groups and give them the amounts we were able to raise.  Obviously, there is a bit of sarcasm in there, and personally, I like the idea. But I have been hearing very good points that it is an unnecessary slam on them. That it seems cruel.
All I can say on that one is that the arguments against sending the thank you note are very solid.  Because we are cooperating with what the university’s student government is doing,  we at NLCF don’t control whether or not it is sent anyway.  Ultimately I am cool either way.  In a great book, The Humor of Jesus, many of Jesus’ puns and one liners are brought more to light.  I think Jesus took little shots here and there to make his point.  He never did it passive aggressively, he was always moving towards an overt point and the zingers were used to make the point another way.  So, I can get behind the letter as that zinger, and I can respect the opposing viewpoint.  I am cool either way.
On the issue of showing love to the protestors.
Some have suggested that if we really want to show counter-cultural love to WBC, we should seek to serve them in some way. Give them water, food… all Ex-Lax free.  🙂  Personally I love the question of how do we love them, as we are called to love our enemies, but I disagree with this way of doing it.
The more I reflect on it, the more I sense the Westboro protestors should be seen as modern-day Pharisees.  They are sporting a very false righteousness and in the process, they are almost completely missing what God is doing.  Jesus told the actual Pharisees that they picked up on some parts of truth and missed others entirely.  Very much what the WBC people are doing. So, if we look at Jesus’ response to them, he tended to express grace towards them in other ways.  As I have reflected on the gospels, I tend to notice that he goes after them in response to their accusations, their attempts at entrapment.  It doesn’t seem like he seeks these moments out so much as he responds what they are trying to do to him.  So I don’t think we should plan to go after them verbally or otherwise.
While I like the concept of handing out water to them, and LOVE the fact that the question of how do we love our enemies in this context is being asked, I would suggest we not do that. Â One reason is that Jesus’ strongest words seemed to be reserved for those who were misrepresenting the truth about God. Â People that should know better. Â He said it would be better to tie a stone around your neck and drown yourself than intentionally mislead people about the faith. Â He called the Pharisees one of the most unclean things they would have known in their day. Â He referred to them as nicely painted tombs, Â places where bodies were decaying. His point was that they way they were calling others to be clean rendered them unclean. Â They were focusing on an outward show and missing the centrality of inward humility and faith. Â Strong stuff.
One thing we need to understand is, that was grace.  Jesus was showing them grace by speaking very directly to what was warring against their souls. Hatred and arrogance like the Pharisees and the WBC folks demonstrate is not neutral to your heart, it tears them apart.  Exposing that for what it is, is love.  I think the other way Jesus showed grace was by allowing anyone (for example Nicodemus,) to come and be helped.  He didn’t say, “You are one of them, get out of here!”  He would allow ANYONE to come to him if they came with a heart of humility. That is why you see him talking to prostitutes, alcoholics, blue collar workers, white collar workers, people from the lowest strata in society to the very highest, and also to Pharisees.
But, if you challenged him in arrogance, whatever you were: a rich young ruler, a scribe, or one of his own brothers, you got the challenge right back.
Jesus also had very challenging words for those who used the power they had been given wrongly. He truly cares about how we use the power that is available to us. I don’t believe that the Westboro protesters seek God in faith and humility before they decide to protest every site they travel to.  And I don’t think they would be willing to speak to those they have hurt with any sense of godly love.
I believe they have become what they claim to be against. I believe they have become a protest organization that claims it speaks on behalf of God, whether he would have them speak or not. They are not open to being in community with other churches and they are not willing to submit to the broader body of Christ. I believe they protest simply because that is what they do. I feel that they have become a protest organization.
The way I think this works out is like this… Â We don’t come with water or any other affirming gesture, or with aggressive posturing. Â If any of the WBC people show a desire to speak or come to us in humility and honesty, we should be prepared to respond with love. Â If anyone else in the crowd begins to attack them, if the police aren’t there, we defend the Westboro people. Â We pray for them in faith that God is capable of showing them the error in what they are doing.
It would also do us well to make sure that we aren’t the same type of person that they are. Are we willing to allow others to speak to the deep parts of our lives? Are we willing to allow others to show us how our lives could more reflect the love and life of Christ?
God, please be with us as we go through this.
Jim
Christopher Hitchens and I don’t agree on a great deal. Â He has written a number of books, God is not Great, Why Orwell Matters, and The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice, among many others. Â I like his writing style but I disagree with almost every position he takes. Â But I saw an article he wrote on Slate, and have to say that I agree with an awful lot of it. Â He is dealing with the repeated reports of covering up child sex abuse by priests in the Catholic Church. Â If you haven’t read Hitchens before, you will notice his characteristic overstatements, but, his argument is a very fair one. Â Let me know what you think. Â Is he being fair or not?
I know that I am very fortunate. Throughout this entire book process I have been blessed to have many people that are very well connected really like the book and want to help me out. As a result I am getting offers for interviews left and right, magazines, blogs, and offers to speak at churches to get the word out. I have been humbled by all of it.
It has been a struggle too. I have a longstanding struggle with success. Sometimes I like and want it too much, other times things are fine. I definitely swing back and forth on that one. One way that struggle shows itself is that I have felt very strange telling people about the different interview opportunities, speaking engagements, you name it, that have come with this process of releasing the book.
I have been challenged by good friends to get over myself and to just let people know what is happening. I have been told that everyone is perfectly capable of checking out the links or skipping right over them. Proverbs tells us that “wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.” I have very good friends who are willing to care about me enough to help me to get over myself.
If this is the last book I ever write, I am perfectly fine with that. Well, almost perfectly fine with that. 🙂 If this is the start of a writing gig that becomes a part of my ministry here that would be great too. Either way, here I am. Getting over myself. For at least a while.
One of the more recent interviews was with Russell Trunk who is the Director and Editor in Chief of
Russell was actually very gracious and asked some very in-depth questions. I love it when the interviews get into the guts of these tough issues, Russell very deftly did just that.
Here is the interview with
Thanks for all your support through this. Remember, April 8 is just around the corner! In gratitude for your prayer and help in all this… I give you a very special gift. Just drink it all in. Let it waft over you…. ahhhh….
Your welcome, Jim
Maybe our world is violently spinning out of control and those of us with faith in God are just the last ones to get the memo. Maybe there really is no one in charge. Maybe we are like kids in the back of a car careening down the highway with no one at the wheel, frustrated at all the swerving but confidently telling ourselves that someone must really be up there. How could there not be? Maybe April 16, 2007, is and should be the final nail in a coffin full of them already: the final example of a God who either doesn’t exist or is so impotent at his job, he’s hardly worth following. — Excerpted from Should We Fire God?
Please feel free (and encouraged) to share this video with anyone that you think might resonate with the above quote. Whether they, or you, are like me; an apprentice of Jesus who has questions about the amount of suffering in our world, or are someone that is not a follower of Jesus but is curious about those answers. Anyone that you think reflects on these issues…share away! 🙂
BTW – I forgot to ask Robbie to include the fact that the book will be out April 8, but is available for pre-orders on Amazon.com and other sites right now, is being offered for the Kindle and will be available as an audio book as well. Could you mention that when you share it? 🙂
If you are willing to post the video to your blog, facebook page…you name it. Help a brother out, eh?
Many, many thanks, props and spirit fingers to Robbie Poff at Highland Films for doing a fantastic job on the trailer. If you need, or would benefit, from video work but don’t have the capacity to do so…cannot recommend him highly enough.
I, like many who read this blog, have been angry this week.
I have been angry at components of the Haitian government that have slowed the rescue efforts so many are risking their lives to be involved in.
I have been angry at myself for being able to do so little of value in the face of such suffering.
I have been angry that for every wonderful and miraculous rescue, there are probably twenty who aren’t.
I have been angry at how the death toll is guaranteed to continue to climb as lack of access to medicines, food and clean water will undoubtedly usher in who knows how many diseases.
I have been angry that child sex traffickers are using this as an opportunity to literally steal children and make them sex slaves.
I have been angry at God for not stopping this gigantic earthquake.
And I have been angry at Pat Robertson.
There are probably quite a few of us that became angry when we heard what he was quoted to have said. In such a time of anguish and desperation, the very suggestion that there is some communal Haitian fault for this — that they brought this on themselves — seems unconscionable. It seems cruel and wrong.
More than that, it is cruel and wrong.
Yes, I agree that God is sovereign, and as such has the capacity to do whatever he feels is best for our world. Yes, I agree that there are times when our very limited amount of insight can make it possible for us to totally miss the bigger picture that God, by necessity, works with all the time. Yes, I agree that there is a demonic realm that is very real and that can bring physical consequences.
But it is very hard for me to see how a God that would respond the way he has regarding the reconciliation of our world with himself, would seemingly karate-chop a major fault line in Haiti because of some vagely alleged, century old, decisions. A God that would take the penalty for all of the rebellion caused by humanity on himself. A God that would voluntarily decide to simultaneously experience the horrific pain of a Roman cross and the crushing weight of our cumulative rebellion – while also experiencing the sensation of watching his son be tortured and killed as an innocent – while also experiencing the pain of having to watch the whole thing unfold, all the while knowing that he could stop it, but knowing that he must not. I don’t think we can touch that level of suffering in our experience.
He took it all, voluntarily. So that we could be with him. Willingly. Lovingly.
A God like that doesn’t karate-chop fault lines.
I do believe that evil caused what happened. Our world has plenty of demonstrations of the evil the the scriptures point to being more than just a theological or philosophical construct. The greed that caused the Duvalier family to set back what could have been a much more advanced Haiti, by decades. Crushing poverty that forces people to simply exist and all but prevents them from thriving. Fear that helps to turn one person against another. That helps gangs, and not coalitions, be formed.  And I believe that what we see everywhere on the social level is represented in the physical one. It would seem that even the creation, the planet, isn’t working in sync like it should – fault lines included. I don’t believe that earthquakes were ever the intention of God. I think that our relational brokenness with one another and the planet’s brokenness go hand in hand. We all await a re-creation.
But, ugggh, to the issue of my apology.
There is a part of me that has come to expect Pat and others to say what he did. Things that not only do not represent my view of how scripture reveals the character of God, but they even make my task of representing Christ in our world much more difficult. I have to deal with what they say more often than I would prefer. It is often assumed that their views represent mine, that because we both would share the label, Christian, we look at the world through the same lens. I have often said that it seems like I seem to walk into other peoples’ issues with God, I think views like what Pat shared, create a lot of those issues.
So, my heart has grown a bit cold to Pat and so many others. Granted, in my cluster of friends, church planters and thinkers, going after some of those guys is pretty common. We joke about them, roll our eyes, maybe mock them a bit.
But mouthing off wrongly about how he mouths off wrongly doesn’t seem to be the right way to go.
The reality is that Pat has done some good things over the years. The one I personally feel best about is Operation Blessing, a non-profit that has provided disaster and hunger relief for over 192 million people in over 90 countries, and in its history has provided over one billion dollars worth of goods and services.
The reality is, Operation Blessing has helped a lot of people. People have eaten as a result of Operation Blessing that wouldn’t have without it. Homes have been rebuilt. Those people matter.
So, that helps. At least me. At least some.
It helps me see him as more of a three dimensional person, not the cranky personality he seems to have become. It helps me see him as a man that has done some good and some bad, like me. And it makes me reflect a bit more on Romans, chapter two.
“But if you think … you can point your finger at others, think again. Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself… Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors. But God isn’t so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you’ve done.” Rom 2.1,2 Message.
In this section of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, God is saying that all of us can claim the moral high ground, but it is rarely deserved. And even if we are actually on the right side of an issue, we cannot allow that to cause us to become arrogant. God sees through our charades, he sees our heart… This section doesn’t tell us we cannot talk about what is right and wrong in our world, it simply reminds us that while we do, remember that we are every bit as in need of God’s grace as anyone else.
It makes me think about me, making fun of Pat Robertson. I condemn myself. Yes, I think what he said was wrong. But I spoke out of anger, not to help him — but to have some fun at his expense.
Dang! 🙂
It doesn’t change the fact that his words were unthinkable. It doesn’t change the fact that any hope of Pat having a lasting semi-mainstream legacy seems to ride on someone from his inner-circle telling him in love that he needs to apologize and then to be quiet. He was irresponsible and his words were cruel.
But it reminds me that any of us are capable of the same thing.
No doubt, by we have all seen the horror unfold in Haiti. A 7.0 earthquake hit right on a fault line six miles underground and ten miles southwest of Port-au-Prince and has devastated much of the country. Already 80% of Haitians live below the poverty line with 80% in abject poverty. If you have ever been to Haiti then you know much of the country’s infrastructure has been poorly constructed and is now decimated. The worst earthquake to hit the country in 200 years.
You may know some relief organizations that are working in the area or that can mobilize quickly. If you do, give to them, if not, here are some options that we know about. Please post in and add to our list.
Here are some additional agencies that I ran across on
* Catholic Relief Services
* Christian Reformed World Relief Committee
* Church of the Brethren
* Church of the Nazarene
* Church World Service
* Covenant World Relief
* Episcopal Relief and Development
* International Orthodox Christian Charities
* Lutheran World Relief
* Presbyterian Church USA
* Reformed Church in America
* Salvation Army
* United Methodist Committee on Relief
* World Hope International
* World Relief
* World Vision
Please add to this list or give feedback on what is already listed.
God seems to have a very important place in his heart for widows, orphans…people that are in desperate positions. We are called to love them and help them. We simply must do this now.
Micah 6.8 tells us this. “… the Lord has already told you what is good, and this is what he requires: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” This isn’t the whole story between us and God, but our care for those who need that care is a part we simply cannot afford to pass over.
Please do something, and post your ideas here for things that we can do as well.
Peace