The Christian Atheist, by Craig Groeschel

It doesn't take much of a stretch to say that many, if not most, American Christians live like Christian atheists.  Sure, we have Christian values (whatever that means in your particular Christian circle), we attend church, maybe even several days a week, maybe even in leadership, we listen to Christian music, we have Christian friends.  But how much of that fully acknowledges God's role in our lives?  This question has troubled me for a long time.  If I have a non-existent devotional life, if I don't consult or acknowledge God in my daily decisions, and if I otherwise live without daily interaction with him, I guess I'm counted among the Christian atheists. 

When I saw the title of Craig Groeschel's book, I knew I had to take a look.  Groeschel is founder and pastor of LifeChurch.tv, one of those church names that makes me groan on a number of levels.  Even though the church follows that multi-campus, marketing driven, seeker-friendly, ultra-hip model that makes me sick, I have to give him credit for reaching lots of people.  As the domain name in the church name suggests, they are spread over several locations in several states, linked together by technological means. 

Besides attending at one of LiveChurch.tv's real campuses, you can apparently attend as an avatar in the virtual worship center.

I have never heard Groeschel preach, but I am thinking that The Christian Atheist must reflect his teaching/preaching style.  One the plus side, he uses lots of personal stories, both from his own life and from people in his church and who he has met.  He's not one to get stories from "Sermon Illustrations Weekly"; he brings real lives of real people into his teaching.  Groeschel covers many of the ways I live as a Christian atheist: not praying, doubting his total love for me, questioning his sovereignty, trusting in my efforts and money for my needs, not sharing my faith.  In much of the content, he addresses the typical American pagan, who thinks he's a Christian but who has never made a decision to follow Christ, but much applies to people like me, who have been Christ followers, but who go through the motions of faith and church, and don't live in communication and relationship with God on a daily basis.

Ultimately I was disappointed in the book.  It showed Groeschel's engaging style, but lacked much substance.  The target audience would be the seeker, without a background in Christian teaching and theology, which probably makes sense.  I get the impression that's who he preaches to every week.  For someone who has been immersed in church life and Christian teaching, there's nothing new here, and what is here is pretty superficial.  That's not to say it's completely without value, but I will say the value is quite limited.  I guess it will take a lot more than Groeschel's book to break me out of my Christian atheism.