Crazy for God

Crazy for God, subtitled How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back, is the title of a recent book by Frank Schaeffer. Frank is the son of Francis & Edith Schaeffer. The Schaeffers founded L'Abri, an intellectual and spiritual community in Switzerland and were bestselling authors and worldwide speakers and lecturers. Sadly, Frank has completely rejected his faith and soundly criticizes his parent's work and legacy. In the prologue to the book he writes, "My life has been one of all-consuming faith-not my faith, but the faith of others that I seem to have caught like a disease and been almost obliterated by. What does God want? I am still trying to find out. And having once been a 'professional Christian,' my vision is muddied by the baggage I carry."

During my college days and beyond, I read everything that Francis Schaeffer wrote. I still have most of his books on my bookshelf. His 35 page booklet, "The Mark of the Christian", had a tremendous impact on my life and some of that teaching is forever embedded in the way I am trying to live my life. Reading Frank's book shows another side of people that I respected because I saw them at the very top of the evangelical leadership group. I must admit disappointment with some of the things I have read that were allowed to happen in and around the Schaeffer's lives. It reminded me of the harsh realities that I discovered during our time as employees of the PTL Television Network. I met and got to know Christian television personalities that had a "television life" and an "off camera life". Disappointing, but real.

The bottom line for me... I will not judge anyone else, I can't. I, alone, am responsible to God for my relationship with Him. I can't blame anyone else or any one's hypocrisy for not taking full responsibility for my life in Christ. I must continue to accept God's forgiveness and consistently live in my relationship with God. I'll write more on this later when I've had time to absorb more of Frank Schaeffer's writing.