Talk the Walk

First sentence (from the introduction): The modern world says that it is impossible for a thinking person to have a metanarrative—an interpretation that accounts for all reality... At the risk of sounding arrogant and offensive, let me say here that there is, in fact, a true metanarrative. It is called the Christian faith. It is a stable, clear, and profound metanarrative.

It is near impossible to read Steve Brown without hearing Steve Brown's voice in your head. Now that the obvious has been said, I'll skip to the review.

Talk The Walk is an engaging, challenging read. I found myself strongly agreeing and strongly disagreeing with the text--sometimes within the same paragraph. (Is Steve Brown just playing devil's advocate or does he really believe this outrageously?) At the very least it is a thought-provoking read. Do I agree? disagree? why is he right? why is he wrong? does the Bible really mean this? and say that? am I guilty of what he's describing?
has my mind been changed about this or that?

The premise of Talk the Walk is startling and a bit outrageous. He asserts that Christians are dangerous when they're right. The more Biblically sound and doctrinally correct we are, the more likely we are to value TRUTH and devalue love and compassion. In other words, if we know we are right and others are wrong, we are less likely to be kind, compassionate, and gracious. Christians who know they are right may perhaps talk about love, mercy, and grace. But they display it infrequently--if at all. Correct orthodoxy can fail to lead to correct orthopraxy. Brown believes that orthopraxy is just as important if not more important than orthodoxy. Orothopraxy is about how we put into practice our beliefs, how we live out the faith in the day to day.

Brown does not seem to be advocating throwing out the truth. "As someone has said, once you see truth you cannot simply unsee it." He is not one of those that redefines the virtue of humility as introducing doubt, embracing uncertainty, and throwing assurance out the window. Where the Bible is clear, plain, obvious, assertive, believers should have confidence and certainty. To not trust in God's promises is not a virtue.

What Brown does seem to be advocating is selectively sharing the truths we believe. Brown seems to be saying that just because you know something to be true or something to be false does not mean you have to share that. You can remain silent and perhaps should remain silent in many situations. Sometimes speaking up or standing up for the truth you hold so dear makes the situation worse not better. You may feel satisfied that you defended God's truth, but the person on the other end, the other side, now has even more reason to distrust or despise Christians.

"What if we remained silent by not defending ourselves? What if we remained silent when others are condemning those whose lifestyle, politics, or religious views are deemed unacceptable? What if we remained silent and refused to be the social, political, and religious critic of every opinion that wasn’t our own? What if we remained silent in the face of rejection? What if we refused to share the secrets we’ve been told or tell the stories we’ve overheard? What if we remained silent and overlooked the foibles of others? What if we looked at the pain of our neighbor and just loved him or her, instead trying to fix the unfixable? What if our response to confusion, fear, and guilt was simply, “I know”? There is a powerful witness in that kind of silence."



He discusses this in-depthly in chapter three, "The Sound of Silence." He opens it with this sentence, "Christian truth is about as welcome in today’s culture as a wet shaggy dog shaking himself at the Miss America Pageant. Truth does not matter, but intolerance does. If the subject is salvation, Christian truth suggests that there are those who are saved and those who are not. If the truth is about sin, then some things are right and others are wrong. If it is about hell and heaven, it means that one place is hot and the other is not. If it is about forgiveness, then some are forgiven and others are not." While we are called to speak gospel truths in love and rely on God's power, he says, "The truth we have is precious, dangerous, and explosively powerful in the way it can heal or hurt. There are times when silence really is golden."

Brown is most concerned with the ATTITUDE of Christians who are doctrinally right or correct. These are people who believe rightly about God and hold to the truths of the Christian faith. You can have a correct faith but hold a wrong attitude.

"If you continue to remind yourself about who you are—and allow God’s Spirit and your Christian family to remind you—much of this book will be irrelevant. You are the son or daughter of the King. You are loved, accepted, and forgiven, without reservation or exception. Your Father, the King, will never let you go, never leave you alone in the dark, and never ask you to go anywhere or do anything where he will not stand with you. Actually, he always thinks that a party without you is not even a party."

I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley. The description intrigued me as I knew it would be dealing a lot with Christian attitudes and the way we present the Gospel to unbelievers. With each page I was challenged and it gave me greater perspective on how to navigate conversations that are based on Christian truth but to balance that with grace and understanding. I really enjoyed the author’s personal stories and his transparency with how he has failed and learned through many years of conversations. I think this book is a great asset to any believer and it will enlighten, encourage and challenge all on how to align the talk with our walk with Jesus.

I am so impressed with this book. I feel like I've been waiting twenty years for some of this advice. To me, the author is essentially saying 'be human, let Christ shine through you' and stop being so weird. He also refreshingly repeats that Truth is true, Christians are right (when they are right because some of the time we are not) and in this relatavistic society we shouldn't back down or be ashamed because in the end - the truth will out. I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to reccomend this to friends - it's difficult to summarise but the author is an on-the-battlefield pastor who has obviously seen a lot - and has worked through how best to deal with it. Highly recommended.

Steve Brown has reached the age where he feels comfortable sharing his thoughts no matter what others think. (1450/2386) That's exactly what he does here.

Brown is convinced Christian faith is true but he is also convinced Christians do not have to be insufferable about it. Many Christians push truth and end up waving a red flag in front of a raging bull. Christians know how to be self-righteous, he says. Brown reminds us about the more important characteristics of humility, love, and forgiveness.

I found many welcome surprises in this book. Brown writes that Christians are not called to be fixers. (364/2386) We're not here to fix others, fix our culture, fix our nation. We do bring our witness to the world but the results are up to God. Brown is strong on God's sovereignty. God's in charge and we need not worry so much. We can love our neighbor well while not constantly worrying about how to share the gospel with them. God's got it.

Brown identifies the presupposition of his book: Christians are called to speak truth, often to people who do not want to hear it. (381/2386) One's heart attitude in communicating and living truth is so important. Be honest in life, Brown encourages. “When Christians hide their pain, they do not have a message to give.” (1865/2386) Be real to neighbors and let them see and inquire about the life and truth within.

I really like this book. He tells great stories on himself and others to illustrate how Christians can be more irritating to others rather than being salt and light. This book is a wake up call to Christians, challenging our honesty and effectiveness in being like Christ. Many self-righteous Christians may not like this book. It might undermine their drive to be the savior of the declining culture or the declining nation. It might make them think again about what they really believe about God and what He is doing in the world.

I think this book needs to be read by every Christian. You'll be challenged. You might feel uncomfortable as Brown will encourage you to rethink how to live your witness in the world. Perhaps most interesting of all, you'll get to learn a little Latin too.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

Talk the Walk
How to Be Right Without Being Insufferable

by Steve Brown

New Growth Press

Christian , Religion & Spirituality

Pub Date 03 Jun 2019

I am reviewing a copy of Talk the Walk through New Growth Press and Netgalley:

This book points out that to often Christians see non Christians as the enemy. We are reminded too that we as Christians are not required to be fixers.

We are reminded too that real truth is practical.

In this book Steve Brown reminds us that though Christianity is true on the aspects of Salvation and Theology that we may in-fact miss the less articulated truths of humility, love, and forgiveness.

We are reminded too that we live in a society that is getting increasingly hostile towards Christians and there beliefs, and Steve Brown gives us some of the tools that may help to in some ways to bridge that gap.

I give Talk the Walk five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

When I saw the subtitle of this book, I knew I wanted to read it. Effectively sharing the truth of the Gospel, without watering down the message, seems to be more challenging than it was 30 years ago. This book is at times admonishing, encouraging, and convicting. It’s also at times a little confusing, because I’m going to be thinking through a couple of his conclusions along the way. As the author walks us through times when he believes we should speak up and when we should be silent, he never lets us forget that we should speak (and live) the Truth in love. Even though Christians are right, our attitude as we share the love of Christ with an unbelieving world will shout louder than our words. Steve Brown gives us great examples of standing firm and speaking the Truth in love, yet doing it for the right reason and with the right motives.

This book will definitely make you think as you read. I’m glad for the challenge this pastor gives us through this book.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

This is a book for Christians who want to grow in faith and share the Gospel without being obnoxious in our brash culture. It’s wry, funny and wise.

I laughed out loud at many of his observations from decades of serving as a pastor. He is self-deprecating, sharing his own embarrassing stories of getting it wrong, which puts you at ease.

I enjoyed his tips on when silence is a good idea, balanced by reasons that we can’t stay silent. This book will challenge you, causing you to wince at your own foibles. But that’s healthy, because we all need to weed out the Pharisee inside that threatens to take over our words and actions.

Talk the Walk is refreshingly honest, and that’s what I appreciate most about it. You may be surprised at how much it will help your spiritual growth.

I received a preview copy of Talk the Walk from Netgalley.

"Christians are different because of the way they love the unlovely, forgive the unforgivable, and care for those about whom nobody else cares." (location 1068). The topic of this book is one that must be discussed in Christian circles. Steve's heart to love others while maintaining convictions is becoming more and more of a volatile subject in American culture. Many of us aren't doing it well at all.

"Christians faked love for so long that, most of the time, they do not even know what it is anymore." (location 1120). Seriously! Steve calls us out on our stuff. At the heart of this book is that we stop pretending to be good Christians and just let Jesus live through us - that we get real instead of trying so hard. This is (IMHO) the very first step in following Jesus.

I won't say that I agreed with everything Steve says - he comes from his own background and speaks from his experience - but I will say that every Christian needs to confront the duplicity of his or her own relationship with Jesus and how that is lived out in the world. I suspect that many of us are trying to "look right" so that we protect God's reputation. The God of the Universe who holds the sun and moon in place can protect His own reputation. If we are trying to protect Him then we aren't letting Him shine...we are trying to do it for Him. As Bob Newhart says, Stop it! God loves those around us much more than we can imagine - and He knows how to deal with all the difficult moral issues we face today - He isn't surprised. He loves people - and He sees our sin of trying to do it ourselves as equal to those who have more "material" sins...you know the list. Once we start from this point of real love (which is horribly hard to get to, let's face it) then we can share faith with those who don't know Jesus without fear of "doing it wrong."

"Never take advice from anyone about anything that is hard - unless the one giving that advice knows just how hard it is. . . . I have been wise sometimes and insufferable sometimes." (location 1925-31) - this is perhaps the best part - Steve has the humility to share his experience without thinking he knows it all - anyway he doesn't come across as someone who thinks they know it all. Instead, he comes across as someone who has a heart for people who don't know Jesus and wants the rest of us to do a better job of relating in such a way that our love is genuine and the Truth is not compromised (which is tricky to say the least).

The only reason this got a 4 instead of a 5 is actually a picky reason - the formatting was not smooth and there were some sections that could have used more work with an editor. The content is something we all need to contemplate and have conversations around.