Friday, May 13, 2011

Good Enough For The Right Audience


  In How Good Is Good Enough? Andy Stanley offers a quick and easy read that tackles the question clearly stated in its title: Can I earn the everlasting life after this one, and if so, what or how much must I do--how good must I be? Stanley addresses the assumption lying in back of the minds of many, namely, that if anyone goes to heaven, it must be the good people. He then outlines the Biblical view that all have broken God's commandments, and that due to this none are “good enough”. This is followed by an exposition of the solution also found in Scripture, that Jesus died and was resurrected to cover the cost of sin, and to provide a way of reconciliation and everlasting life with God.

Stanley's book is admirable in that it is a brief, to the point, and readable treatment of the Gospel message, as applied specifically to a mindset that seems best described as nominally Christian. It's a book to hand to a friend who thinks she's ok with God because she's, comparatively speaking, a good person—the sort of person who, when asked what she means by “good”, might answer, “Well, it's not like I'm killing people or anything.” For this person, Stanley's book can clarify her standing before God, as well as the Gospel message.

However, Stanley's book assumes a great deal of what I would call prerequisite background beliefs for believing in Christianity. What I mean is that the audience this book seems intended for—such as the hypothetical person mentioned in the preceding paragraph—already believes the following: God exists, there's something like objective morality and sin (otherwise why would being good set one apart from those who are bad?), there's an afterlife in a heaven of some kind, etc. This is fine, given that one recognizes the limited audience. However, giving this book to an atheist, an agnostic of various stripes, or folks from non-Western religious backgrounds may have limited impact, due to a lack of common worldview ground. At the risk of redundancy, consider an atheist who grew up in a completely non-religious family. Talk of God, sin, and the goal of making the cut into heaven may seem not the least bit plausible, and perhaps absurd. In these cases, what I think is helpful is what Francis Schaeffer referred to as “pre-evangelism”, or helping to bring into place the requisite beliefs concerning God's existence and the rest.*

For the audience it targets, Stanley has put together a handy, effective little book. I can recommend this book as one worth offering to a friend who believes (or leans toward believing) in God already and is actively asking questions about Christianity; or a nominal Christian who hasn't thought enough about Christianity.

* I realize the idea of "pre-evangelism" will come across distastefully to some Christians, possibly as suggesting that Scripture or faith is not enough. Unfortunately, this post isn't the place to address such issues. But if you disagree with me on this, we ought at least to agree that reciting "Jesus died for your sin" will be less plausible/meaningful to someone who doesn't agree in the first place that God exists. And assuming we both agree that writing off such a person as unreachable is the wrong move, well, it seems the next move is the address stumbling-block questions this person may have. But that's pre-evangelism.

“I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review”.