My One Problem So Far with Philip Yancey

I may eventually write a book review on Philip Yancey's Prayer: Does It Make a Difference? Nothing for publication, of course. It would mainly be for this blog and perhaps Printnpost and Helium. But there was something I read last night that bugged me.

Let me give you some background. I like Philip Yancey because he is honest about his theological struggles. He really wrestles with the Christian faith, yet he is a firm believer. His books have given me a lot of solace over the years.

Well, I was really enjoying his book on prayer, until I got to page 225:

"I cannot say to my neighbor, 'I love you and enjoy spending time with you, but I hate your stupid dog and keep those bratty kids out of my yard, will you?' How I treat what belongs to my neighbor affects how he receives my love. The same applies to God: how I treat God's creation, God's children, will determine in part how God receives my prayers and my worship."

But I feel this way a lot of times. I try to love God, but I don't care for a lot of Christians. And I don't like everything in the world the way that it is.

Do I like being in that state of mind? No. I wish I were better at loving and accepting people. I wish that I had more peace, with myself and with others. I would certainly feel a lot better if that were the case!

Ordinarily, Philip Yancey advocates being honest with God. That's what I like about most of his book on prayer. He says that we should be transparent. We should tell God how we feel, even if our emotions are not particularly Christ-like. He talks about people who hated God but came to love him after wrestling with him in prayer. He criticizes fake piety--praying about things that we don't care deeply about, yet we feel that we should pray about them to make God happy (e.g., world peace). For Yancey, there are times when we should actually pray about the trivial things that distract us, since that can at least help us identify what's important to us at this stage of our spiritual development. Then, God can speak to us where we are.

In one part of his book, he says he often wonders if he is pure enough to pray. Then, he realizes that he will never become pure if he doesn't pray, and so he prays even though he is not pure. That's pretty much how I look at it.

Yancey also is not overly rigid about prayer. He doesn't say (at least not so far), "You should pray in this exact way, at this exact time." He realizes that people are different, and so approaches to prayer will vary from person to person.

And, in his other books, Yancey has expressed his problems with Christians, particularly the rigid fundamentalist ones he knew in his youth.

So why can't I tell God that I have problems with his kids and his dog? Can't I be honest? Of course I wouldn't say that to my next door neighbor, since my relationship with him or her is rather superficial. But, in a deep relationship--the type that we should be having with God--I should be able to tell him anything, whether or not it is religiously or morally correct. I should let God know where I am.