Before The Babylon Bee, before John Crist's hilarious videos went viral, there was Jonathan Acuff's satirical blog stuffchristianslike.net. What started as a parody of the popular "Stuff White People Like" blog turned into a laugh-out-loud perspective on the quirky life of the American evangelical. After building a following and lots and lots of page views, Acuff collected the blog entries into book form, in Stuff Christians Like.
Acuff wants to provide a cure to Somber Christian Syndrome (SCS), "a disease that tells you that to be considered a good Christian, you have to be serious all the time." Unfortunately, many, inside and outside the church, believe that all Christians have SCS. You have to have a good sense of humor to read Stuff Christians Like. If you are a Christian or have attended an evangelical church in the United States, chances are you'll see yourself, your friends, and your fellow churchgoers in these pages.
How about "when someone asks us to help out at church and instead of saying, 'No,' we say, 'Let me pray about it.'" Can you relate? How about VBS as free child care? "When our kids are out of school for the summer . . . we Christians put aside our denominational differences and bounce our kids like Ping-Pong balls around the county to different Vacation Bible School programs."
Acuff writes tons of too-close-to-home humor, but he also has a knack for bringing some serious conviction in a light-hearted way. Maybe you've made some of the same excuses for not having a quiet time. Maybe you have been a bit of chicken when it comes to witnessing. Maybe there's just a smidge of hypocrisy in your Christian walk. If you like to laugh at other people, but don't mind laughing at yourself, you will enjoy Stuff Christians Like.
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