A Sea Of Red

So I'm an avid reader. I've read the first 3 of the Left Behind series, which are a bit cheesy, but it's written well enough and it tells a good story.

I'm currently about to finish Kill Jesus which is so incredibly well written and set up, that I found myself really emotional during lunch today while reading. I would recommended this to anyone that's look for a good book.

Next up is a biography on C.S. Lewis. I love reading books about famous people, and C.S. Lewis works hand-in-hand with my new walk with Christ. His work in Apologetics is something that I'm hoping to find motivate me to make more of a difference.

Anyone else have any good books that they would recommend for a new Christian?

Stick with CS Lewis for awhile. Alister McGrath wrote a terrific biography of him after you work your way through some of Lewis' classics.

We have some voracious readers on here that will offer up some great suggestions to you. I am exceptionally partial to a Lynchburg-based writer who I heard bumped into Cider Jim recently.

Lucas, if you haven't read Lewis's Mere Christianity, I'd suggest reading that. Another great book that changed my life is Henry Blackaby's Experiencing God.

And Sly is referencing anything by Robert Sumner, and he's written a lot.

Has anyone read "The Heavenly Man"? Someone recently recommended it and it was one those books I couldn't put down- it usually takes me awhile to get through a book.

JI Packer is another excellent read and John Bevere has some outstanding books also

As someone new in the faith, I'd recommend the following authors:

JI Packer (particularly 'Knowing God')
Kevin DeYoung (pretty much anything he writes)
Mark Dever
Tim Keller
RC Sproul ('Holiness of God' & 'The Truth of the Cross' are particularly good)
Rico Tice ('Honest Evangelism')
David McIntyre ('The Hidden Life of Prayer')
EM Bounds
ND Wilson ('Notes From the Tilt-A-Whirl' & 'Death By Living')
Dietrich Bonhoeffer ('The Cost of Discipleship' & 'Life Together')
Dan Phillips ('The World-Tilting Gospel')
Donald Whitney ('Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life')
Jerry Bridges ('Trusting God')
Mark Jones ('Knowing Christ')
also, biographies of the great men & women of the faith are tremendously helpful for spiritual growth

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Once you start to get your footing and foundation built, you're going to find a treasure-trove of great authors and books as you dive deeper into the Christian life, theology, and church history. But none of this will amount to anything without significant time and commitment in Scripture.

Also, BE CAREFUL with what you read. There's a ton of crap out there. Browsing the Christian Life section at Lifeway can be like walking through a minefield. These Christian bookstores will sell just about anything.

Find some men close to you that are mature & knowledgeable in their faith, trustworthy websites that review books (booksataglance.com, booksandculture.com, discerningreader.com, etc), and solid pastors/podcasters that can help you weed through the bad stuff and steer you to biblical material. Honestly, that's not easy in the beginning, but it's so beneficial. And as you mature and own what you believe, you'll be able to do much of that yourself.

ALUmnus wrote:As someone new in the faith, I'd recommend the following authors:

JI Packer (particularly 'Knowing God')
Kevin DeYoung (pretty much anything he writes)
Mark Dever
Tim Keller
RC Sproul ('Holiness of God' & 'The Truth of the Cross' are particularly good)
Rico Tice ('Honest Evangelism')
David McIntyre ('The Hidden Life of Prayer')
EM Bounds
ND Wilson ('Notes From the Tilt-A-Whirl' & 'Death By Living')
Dietrich ('The Cost of Discipleship' & 'Life Together')
Dan Phillips ('The World-Tilting Gospel')
Donald Whitney ('Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life')
Jerry Bridges ('Trusting God')
Mark Jones ('Knowing Christ')
also, biographies of the great men & women of the faith are tremendously helpful for spiritual growth

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Once you start to get your footing and foundation built, you're going to find a treasure-trove of great authors and books as you dive deeper into the Christian life, theology, and church history. But none of this will amount to anything without significant time and commitment in Scripture.

Thanks!

That's what I figured as well, which is why after reading Killing Jesus, I've moved onto a biography of C.S. Lewis.

After this book and my trip to Jamaica, I'll probably read Bonhoeffer's Biography and some of his works.

I haven't read his new one yet, but Crash The Chatterbox by Steven Furtick is pretty good. The new one (Un)Qualified is supposed to be really good.

Craig Groeschel writes things that are really easy to understand for new Christians.

One of my favorites 2/3s of a book is Beautiful Outlaw by John Eldredge. The last 1/3 gets a little iffy with some personal stories but the first 2/3 where he looks into the personality of Jesus is pretty great. It'll change the way you read the Bible.

Time to go back into exile.

CaroneDesigns wrote:
Time to go back into exile.

Say it ain't so!

I'd also encourage your wife to read any of these books, but one specific to her that would be super beneficial is 'Housewife Theologian' by Aimee Byrd.

And not to start a fight with Mr. Carone, but I'd stay away from Furtick. He may say some good things, but he excels at taking Scripture out of context and making it really narcissistic. Just my personal opinion, of course.

Furtick is very focused on the individual in his writing, I won't deny that. I like the perspective on things though. I didn't read Crash The Chatterbox through new Christian lenses so that may be why I could separate the contextual issues in places.

Lucas, each month ChristianAudio.com offers a free audio book download. It can be hit-or-miss, but I've built a nice little collection of audio books over the years for free.

The free download for April is excellent, and I'd really encourage you to grab it and give it a listen.
Taking God At His Word by Kevin DeYoung

http://christianaudio.com/free/

Furtick's book sales are certainly profitable.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/steve ... sy-107571/

[quote]According to Elevation's chief financial officer, Chunks Corbett, the pastor is paying for the ($1.7 million) house with income from the books he's written and will write.

However, Anthony earlier told CP even that does not justify the house. "Well, it's the same thing that Kenneth Copeland says, it's the same thing Bishop Jakes says, it's the same thing that Benny Hinn says. The church is paying for the airtime that advertises their books, and not getting anything for it, and that's the bottom line," he said.

Black Jesus by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Love. Period by Rudy Rasmus

We did those two books (Plus Bohnhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship) in my Sunday School class, which is led by the dean of Perkins Theological Seminary at SMU