Who Wants an Extra Copy of It's Really All About God by Samir Selmanovic? (There's a catch though)

The first serious book I read about ecumenicalism and interfaith was Peter Kreeft’s  Ecumenical Jihad.  In the late 90’s and early 2000’s, I was reading just about anything from  Dr. Kreeft.  I loved telling my fellow students at my baptist seminary that my favorite living  author was Catholic.  Ecumenical Jihad was the call to people from different religions to join  together to reclaim morality in our society.  Though it was not the first time I thought good  of Muslims, it was the deepest most convincing dialogue I’ve read.  Unfortunately the  aftermath of September 11th ended a lot of the discussion that Kreeft’s book encouraged.    It may be time to re-read it.  But before you do, I’d like to encourage you to go get Samir Selmanovic’s new book – It’s Really All About God. I was fortunate enough to read his manuscript a couple months ago and was thrilled by it.  With no exaggeration, it’s one of the best books I’ve read all year.

I have met Samir a few times and have found him to truly be a good man.  He’s very welcoming and gracious with whomever he meets and I have yet to hear a negative word about the man.  So who better to write a book on interfaith than Samir?

Call it the gift of prophecy, call it growing up as a conservative evangelical (which I consider myself), call it a hunch, but I know what some of you are thinking:

“Interfaith what is that – a new ecumenicalism?”

“I bet he says he’s a Christian but that all roads go to heaven.”

“He’s probably one of those soft Christians that says he really loves Jesus but loves everybody like Mohammed, Buddha, and Oprah.  And we all know THAT is not Christianity.”

He doesn’t say any of that. Among the many beautiful and powerful things he says is God is bigger than we can realize.  You probably know that but may not have heard it written as well.

You may want to assume that Samir was born into some privileged religiously liberal family and after years of higher education, drinking wine with the spiritual hipsters, and with nothing to lose, he decide to ruffle a few feathers and write this.  You could assume that but you would be wrong.  His work is born out of a lot of pain and agony and like many, it seems he’s wrestled with an angel as well.

Samir was born into a Muslim family in Croatia.  In early chapters he tells of how warm and wonderful his family life was.  That is until he converted to Christianity during while serving in the military and all that changed.   He and his family live in the post 9-11, New York City.  He has endured a lot of criticism from many various and different religious sources and has not compromised his Christian faith. In fact, throughout this book on interfaith, Samir repeatedly affirms his Christianity and love for Christ.

This book is great for people like myself who are certain of their Christian faith but are open to the goodness of other religions.  This does not mean that I affirm all the beliefs of other religions.  Nor does Samir.  This does not mean that I even believe we are worshipping the same God, nor does it mean that we will share the same after-life.  Again, I stand by my Christian understandings but for me, the posture of the true follower of Christ should be more open to spending time AND appreciating the beliefs of others.  I was convicted and found so much value in it and I really want to recommend it to you.

The book was released a few weeks ago and I bought two.  (For those who don’t know, Barnes and Noble will automatically reorder a title when you do that. The second time it sells out that quantity, it automatically orders more). Anyway, if this is not a threatening idea to you but you are interested in reading the book, I encourage you to purchase a copy or even consider doing something similar as me.  I bought the other book because I really want to share this book with a fellow conservative evangelical who may be a bit skeptical of this.  I’d like to read it together and discuss it together over coffee or a beer.  My goal is not to convince you that other religious are just as true as Christianity; I don’t believe that.  But God is bigger than we have realized and there’s a lot to gain from those who think and live differently from us and it’s a conversation worth having.  So, who’s in?  Is there a fellow open-minded conservative Christian evangelical in the house? I have an extra copy.

Comments

  1. i am one of those, Liberty people

  2. David Swenson says:

    Pastor Tim,

    I’ll take you up on it. You buying the coffee?

    Dave

  3. Awesome.

    If I could be serious for a moment, I really was praying about who would agree to this and I am thrilled that you are interested.

    I’ll give you the book on Sunday and we’ll set up a time soon. I really do think you’ll like the book and I believe we will have a great series of discussions. Thanks Dave.

  4. the slothful one says:

    Well said! I’ll have to borrow your copy one ;-)

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