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Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
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Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality

by Donald Miller

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3,27770801 (4.04)29
Info:

Thomas Nelson (2003), Paperback, 256 pages

Member:paulaldo
Collections:Your libraryRating:*****
Tags:recommend faith
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I read this book form cover to cover in 2 days! It is an eye opening journey from religion to relationship with Jesus. Don Miller takes you on a walk with him trough the point of being a religious Christian to being a real follower of Jesus. After reading this book you feel as if you have a made new friends. Don shows the reader that you can be a normal person and a Christian. Not the stereo type Christian but a real living Christian. I recommend this book to EVERYONE, Christian or not. Thank you to the friend who sent this to me. This book has opened my eyes to a lot of things I didn't know that I didn't know. ( )
  LorLe | Dec 30, 2009 |
It seems like I'm the only atheist that read this book so allow me to present an unchristian perspective on this book.

I am an ex-christian and I was loaned this by a family member who wanted to re-convert me. I read it out of respect for her. However the arguments in favor of the Christian God aren't really arguments, they're sentimental appeals. The author talks about how he feels as a Christian and what he thinks he gets out of his take on Christianity/God but he never actually addresses why, other than it feels good, I should believe what he believes. Considering this book seems aimed at people who are either faithless (like me) or having religious doubts I'd have to say it struck out.

I suppose if you're someone that's looking for a feel good reason to believe in God or want something to cozy you up to the God you already have this might be just the book you want. As someone that's interested in hard won facts, logic and refuses to scrutinize the idea of God and religion any less than any other facet of life I was unimpressed. ( )
  fundevogel | Dec 13, 2009 |
I'm late to the party, as usual.

Six years ago, when Blue Like Jazz came out, a bunch of people recommended it to me. I didn't read it. I tagged it TBR in my LibraryThing catalog. Every time it came up in conversation, or was mentioned in a book or an article, I'd say to myself, "Oh, yeah, I need to read that book soon."

So here it is, six years later. I borrowed it from a friend and read it in one day. The whole time I was reading Blue Like Jazz, I was pissed that I hadn't written it.

Donald Miller charts his spiritual journey in a series of autobiographical essays. His voice is sweet and almost child-like; he's real, and transparent, and funny. Miller, a lapsed Baptist reconditioned into a non-denominational Jesus-lover, struggles with the same existential dilemmas that keep me awake at night: the responsibility of being human, the irrationality of God, the meaning of life, and why girls like Pride and Prejudice so much, but guys don't.

(You can read the rest of my review here: http://greenroomthoughts.blogspot.com... ) ( )
  eba1999 | Dec 6, 2009 |
I love this book. ( )
  alissamarie | Oct 25, 2009 |
I love this book. ( )
  alissamarie | Oct 25, 2009 |
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Dedication
For David Gentiles
First words
I once listened to an Indian on television say that God was in the wind and the water, and I wondered at how beautiful that was because it meant you could swim in Him or have Him brush your face in a breeze.
Quotations
"It was as if we were broken, I thought, as if we were never supposed to feel these sticky emotions. It was as if we were cracked, couldn't love right, couldn't feel good things for very long without screwing it all up. We were like gasoline engines running on diesel."
"The genius of the American system is not freedom; the genius of the American system is checks and balances. Nobody gets all the power. Everybody is watching everybody else. It is as if the founding fathers knew, intrinsically, that the soul of man, unwatched, is perverse."
"I can't get there. I can't just say it without meaning it. I can't do it. It would be like, say, trying to fall in love with somebody, or trying to convince yourself that your favorite food is pancakes. You don't decided those things, they just happen to you. If God is real, He needs to happen to me."
"I will love you like God, because of God, mighted by the power of God. I will stop expecting your love, demanding your love, trading for your love, gaming for your love. I will simply love. I am giving myself to you, and tomorrow I will do it again. I suppose the clock itself will wear thin its time before I am ended at this altar of dying and dying again.
God risked Himself on me. I will risk myself on you. And together we will learn to love, and perhaps then, and only then, understand the gravity that drew Him, unto us."
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Blue Like Jazz

Book description

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0785263705, Paperback)

"I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. . . . I used to not like God because God didn't resolve. But that was before any of this happened." In Donald Miller's early years, he was vaguely familiar with a distant God. But when he came to know Jesus Christ, he pursued the Christian life with great zeal. Within a few years he had a successful ministry that ultimately left him feeling empty, burned out, and, once again, far away from God. In this intimate, soul-searching account, Miller describes his remarkable journey back to a culturally relevant, infinitely loving God.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:04 -0400)

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