Breaking Out of Religious Christianity

By Duane Harlow

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 076842383X
• ISBN13: 9780768423839
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Destiny Image Incorporated
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Good, but lacking

While Reverend Harlow's book is good and contains much Scripture-backed truth with which I agree wholeheartedly, I found myself somewhat disappointed. Why? The title of the book is "Breaking Out of Religious Christianity" and it does a fine job of describing the process of doing just that. Unfortunately, I felt that Rev. Harlow failed to adequately define the term "religious Christianity". It was described in only the most general of terms, with few examples to illustrate the problem. The only specific example that really stands out in the book is a brief mention of the fact that drinking alcohol is not, in and of itself, a sin, despite what many churches teach. How, specifically, does "religious Christianity" manifest itself? Before I go any further, I'll confess up front that I purchased this book hoping to find confirmation of my own belief that much of what I was taught growing up in the church was man-made rules, not Scriptural commands. The fact is that all I remember from my childhood and teen years in church is a bunch of restrictions about what kind of music I listen to, what kind of books I read, sex, and drugs/alcohol. (For example, during one such "lesson" a Sunday School classmate raised his hand and asked, "But didn't Jesus drink wine?" and the teacher answered, with a straight face, "The wine in Jesus time wasn't alcoholic." Which left me wondering to myself, "Then why does the Bible say "Be ye not drunk ..."?. I remember learning practically *nothing* about serving God and the needy, or being like Jesus. The reason I bought this book for confirmation is related to my current situation. I'm in my 40s now, and for the last 10+ years I've been attending a church with a pastor whose preaching is very similar to what Rev. Harlow has written here. I share a house with another man who attends the same church. But this man is in his 60s - my father's age. Despite the fact that he has attended this same church and listened to this same pastor for 20+ years, he seems to be almost completely stuck in his Methodist upbringing (his own father was a Methodist minister). He has a major problem with my choice of reading material: I enjoy fantasy literature (Tolkien and similar authors), and I collect superhero comic books. He has gone so far as to "request" that I not read these things in his presence, and has even blamed recent flareups of his health problems on "demonic attacks" caused by my choice of reading material. He chooses to judge these things based on what he's been told in the past instead of investigating for himself, which I feel makes him a shining example of why so many non-Christians perceive us as willfully ignorant dupes who just go along with what we're told instead of learning for ourselves. When I countered by asking him how my reading material was any different from the WWII movies he loves to watch, he answered, "To let you know: I watch war movies because they do help me to remember the spiritual warfare that I (and y

Somebody Understands!

This is a great book, and says what my wife and I have been feeling, and hearing from many, many people in the body of Christ. When I first started feeling this way I felt as though I was betraying God! Many people over the lasy few years have spoke to me about this vary issue! As I sought the Lord and listened to these people, I realized that they were genuine concerns. The saints who fely like I did were the people I knew (or came to know) to be what I call, "The real thing"! I mean REAL Christians, not just church attenders, or followers of men! These were people who sought hard after God! After some time, God showed me that it was not betraying Him to question the Religious Church, and has freed us to serve Him instead of the idols of men.