This Is, After All, God's World

Stephen Nichols continues:

The second teaching moment of apostasy lit concerns the Christian environment. Thankfully, correcting the stifling environment is far less challenging than responding to the sternness problem. This is, after all, God's world. His kingdom does not stop at the gated entrance to the Christian camp or the security detectors at the doors of the Christian bookstore. Can the rest of the radio dial also be tuned in from time to time? Christians, despite there being some good ones out there, aren't always the best writers, painters, and musicians. Beauty, justice, even truth may live in those seemingly dark corners untraversed by the Christian family. Even non-Christian friends may turn out to be not sired by the devil after all. Finding one's way here could, admittedly, be tricky at times. But it's not as treacherous as we think. Even Christian parents may learn a thing or two by getting "out there" from time to time. We might even learn something, even though our hackles may be raised in the process, as we reach to the secular shelf of the secular bookstore and purchase a secular book in the new genre of apostasy lit. We may wince at parts. We may curse, Christian curse of course, at parts. We may cry at parts. And, we may even be led to prayer at parts: Lord, have mercy upon us; Lord, be gracious to us.

From Apostasy Lit: Why Do They Leave? by Stephen Nichols