some thoughts on "blue like jazz"

seriously, just some.

As a whole I enjoyed this book. There are so many things that Donald Miller points out that helped me to see and understand things in a new or different way. I gravitated between being disgusted with the book and crying over parts that show God's transforming love and power.

My main problem with the book is how Miller seems to believe that “Christian spirituality” is the same as being a Christian. He says he “think[s] loving Jesus is something you feel,” and I don't disagree, and it is “very difficult to get on paper,” more likely impossible, but to Miller, it is all inward. It is about the inward emotions that he has and what happens to him. Chapter 18 bothered me. Miller talked about love and how the non-Christian hippies that he lived with in the woods were better at loving people and he wanted to love more like them. I would hope that he would want to love more like Jesus, instead of always finding worldly things that he wants to be like. It is so sad to me that Miller did not feel loved in his community, but the only way to really know love is to know Jesus. Miller tries to partner righteousness with wickedness and find harmony between Christ and the devil (2 Cor. 6:14-15). Throughout the book I was wondering, why is Don a Christian? I could tell that he loves Jesus, but I feel like Don doesn't think other people should love Jesus; I felt that Miller probably thinks that this is his way and it's cool but it's not the only way.

Page 114: “He saw evangelism as reaching a felt need. I thought this was beautiful and frightening.” I am disturbed that Donald Miller gets caught up in what people do wrong. Yes, some people evangelize just to get a notch on their belt or feel like they are doing something good. But that is not what evangelism is, evangelism is presenting the gospel and letting God do the rest (that's the definition of evangelism that I like right now; I'll write about some more in a different post). Although servant evangelism is so important and helpful, it is definitely not the only way that people should evangelize. We have been reconciled to God. We have hope in Jesus Christ, we are alive in Him. That is awesome and beautiful and amazing and if you think about the beauty of the gospel everyday, I pray that the overflow of love and joy and peace that you experience flows to other people, people who are lost and are going to be condemned to eternal separation from God. I don't want that for other people. I want them to have the same free gift that I received from God and that is the gift of mercy, grace, salvation, love...

Another part that talks about evangelism is on page 119 when Miller's professor asked him if he was a “Christian evangelist”. I'm sorry Miller didn't say yes – how many of you were saved by someone that would be considered a “professional evangelist,” like someone that preaches on the Oval or a street corner? A former boyfriend shared the gospel with me. I have shared the gospel with friends and seen them come to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. What about you? We all need to be evangelists. The Lord God commands us to: “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth .There fore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:18-19). Anyhow, surrendering my life to Jesus is the coolest, most awesome thing that has ever happened to me. So I want to talk about Him!

Page 115: This is my least favorite part of the book – when Miller refuses to defend the term “Christianity” on a radio show and say that he would rather “talk about Jesus and how [he] came to believe that Jesus exists and that he likes [him]”. I know and I understand that many people associate terrible, ungodly things with the term “Christianity” or “Christian”. But to be a Christian means to be a Christ-follower. I hope that as Christ-followers we can try to change what people see a Christian as. I know people that have parents that confess to be Christians, but when they see the change in their children those same parents that said they were Christian say, “oh, I see that I'm not Christian. I didn't realize it was like that”. I apologize that Christians do terrible things and that people that claim to be Christians do terrible things. But I will not apologize for being a Christian.

Miller also talks about when he set up a confession booth on his college campus. One student said to him, “I forgive you”. What I see in this is Miller letting these people become his “functional savior” - Miller needs to feel okay about himself so he seeks someone created by our Creator God to tell him it's okay and to forgive him. But Miller can't have forgiveness from his friend, forgiveness is a gift from God.

I also liked some things about the book. I liked the like “some people believe that if they have a cross around their neck or tattooed on them or something, it has some sort of mystical power” (pg. 125). This is funny because I have a cross tattoo. But I don't believe it has any mystical power. :)

I also liked how honest he was. I feel like I can call him Don. But, I wish Don would stop being disillusioned and do something about it.