Six Dangerous Questions
One of the books that I am reading for the Arrow Leadership Program is Paul Borthwick’s Six Dangerous Questions. Paul Borthwick is minister of missions at Grace Chapel in Lexington, Massachusetts.
Description:
How do you see the world? As lots of great vacation spots? As millions of people with problems too big to imagine? Missionary Paul Borthwick just might expand your view-or even explode it. He ask six dynamite questions that challenge you to look more closely at other countries, other cultures, other ethnic groups and other ways of acting on your faith. Dangerous Question #1. Who is Jesus? #2, Do I believe in Heaven? #3, Do I believe in Hell? #4, Does Christianity matter? #5, Do I believe that God wants to use my life? #6, Whose agenda will I live by? Don’t be fooled. Borthwick’s questions may seem obvious. But have you really thought about your answers to them before? Have you thought through how your answers are connected to work, family, money, friends, or education? Don’t panic. Answering the questions won’t result in your immediate departure for the jungle or the desert-probably. But answering will very likely cause you to reorder your priorities, refocus your interests and even change your everyday choices. That’s why reading this book is dangerous. But then, Jesus never promised that following him would be risk free. Only that there would be joy.
This book was disturbing, but in a good way. It is easy to move through Christian life and ministry and feel as if you are doing fine. But Borthwick reminds us of issues that we already know are important but have somehow put on the back-burner. You probably will not learn anything new in this book but you will be shocked out of your complacency. This book is a challenge to become a world-class Christian, concerned about every aspect of God’s Kingdom. One of the helpful aspects of this book is that it includes little practical assignments to assist the reader in putting these ideas into practice. I recommend this book for all Christian leaders to read for themselves and to use to challenge the people they work with. I plan to use it as the basis of a sermon series next year.
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