My purpose in creating the DCL is to make religious literature freely available to any one who will take the time to read it. I personally believe that we should strive to always be growing spiritually and continue to stretch ourselves in new ways. It is in this mind frame I bring you these works.
However, although many books found here are edifying, there are books that some people may not get anything out of and still others that can be disturbing to some people. As a Christian, remember that the the utmost authority for the believer is the Holy Bible. Everything should be weighed against it. Although I have separated Orthodox Christian writers from the outright heretic and the non-Christians, most of the Christian writers have just been lumped together. As always when reading any book, you should check everything against scripture. Chew the meat and spit out the bone. If you are uncomfortable doing this, now is a good time to developed the skill. Unless you want to be spiritually spoon feed by others for the rest of your life. I do not recommend that though because you owe it to God and others around you to be equipped with the word. You can also protect yourself from falling into doctrinal error. To begin with you need to become familiar with the Bible. So get your Bible and read, read, read, read. . . . .
There is a disturbing trend in American Churches. This trend is a trend of anti-education. It has been going on for sometime now but we are seeing the symptoms worse than ever currently. I would argue that the trend started when Christianity handed the education system over to the secular world. Along with the education system went the arts and the natural sciences.
Take for example Michelangelo Buonarroti, Michelangelo created some of the most beautiful paintings for the glory of God. Among his most famous work is the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. It is a stunning work of art that covers a wide variety of Biblical topics, everything from creation, the lives of Moses and Jesus, to the last judgment and new creation. Now compare it to the post-modernistic art that we have today. It is said that an artist paints from his or her perspective on life, it is easy to see that with most art that is being created today that the artist was not a Christian. Their art is abstract and void, a meaningless jumble of shapes that a child could put together. Yet the world loves it because it expresses their frustration and the "what-is-true-for-me" attitude that is so prevalent in our age.
Moving on to another form of the arts: music. We see that Christianity is in no better shape. If you look at the lives of J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel, you find not only great musicians, but you see men who have wholly devoted their lives to God. Most composers of classical styles of music were either Christians themselves or heavily influenced by Christianity. Christians were taking the lead in music and the secular world was following. Today the situation is much different. Instead, the world is setting the trends and we Christians are following it. Now I'm not one of those ignorant fools who speaks of the silly notions that Rock 'n Roll is bad and inherently evil (another sad effect of the Church failing to educate people), but I am saddened to see the world setting the pace in musical arenas. Have you ever noticed how contemporary Christian music is about 10 years be hind the times. Turn on your local Christian radio station, if you were to transport back in time a decade you would hear similar sounding musical ideas on secular stations. I'm not saying that there are no Christian musicians who are not being innovative, I'm just saying that in our present situation it is the exception rather than the norm.
If you look at the history of the education system (in the Western world), you will see that Christianity is pretty much the sole historic creator of this institution. The reason being? People of the Book needed to know what the book said. This meant teaching people to read and write, how to properly interpret text, etc. This is not to say that Christianity has not had its bad moments in history. Christianity is perfect, it members are not, just forgiven.
All of this has changed since Christianity stepped aside and let the secular world take over. The Christianity of today is failing to meet the challenges that the world is placing before it. Challenges such as the theory of evolution, post-modern philosophy, the rewriting of history and a whole host of other issues that the skeptics are putting on our plate. Instead of meeting these issues head on, we have simple walked away and sulked. Fascinated with individualism and corrupted by post-modern thought, we have deceived ourselves into thinking that these are not our problems. But when unfit men lead, who else will reveal them as being unfit but the Church? The world will not do it, or more appropriately, it can not do it. The reason being is they under the spell that these men have cast, like the rats and the Pied Piper they follow on, unaware of their own destruction, yet desperately needing a true light to follow. Yet the Church stands by.
The Church of today is more fascinated with experience than it is with gaining knowledge of God and the wisdom that He freely gives to all. We have people who claim they are of the faith, but can not even defend that faith on fundamental levels because they do not know what it is. A simple test that never fails to shock me is this: when ever you go to a Church, ask how many people have read through their entire Bible. I am saddened by the number of people who never have that are filling our pews. We are supposed to save the world, yet the body is injured itself. I think we need to spend some time patching up things on the inside, so we can patch up things on the outside.
I believe that God has given each on of us certain passions and interests. Some of us have passions to be in the ministry, these are probably the most obvious that we can always identify. But God has give others a whole host of interests that seemingly have nothing to do with the Church: fishing, painting, programming, reading, etc. It is our job to take this passion that we have and mold it into something to further the Kingdom. Because when we are looking for ways to serve God, we often do it in ways we would have never dreamed. If someone can give a glass of water the name of Christ, surely someone can use their interests to help further the kingdom, also.
It is time to set aside this bastardized form of pop-culture Christianity that so many Churches in America promote today. It is also time to remove foolish and un-educated men and women who have usurped the ministry and promote irrational doctrines such as King James Onlyism, isolationism, and unintelligent theories on various forms of music. Both polarized forms that masquerade as Christianity need to realize that they are part of the problem, and are only furthering the idea that Christianity has really become irrelevant.