Customer Reviews

A Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God: Spirituality for the Rest of Us

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A wise, articulate book that points us to serving God with gladness!

Larry Osborne is back with fresh insight about how all of us--not just the scholarly, introverted, monastic personalities among us--can move forward in our spiritual journeys. As always, Osborne is readable, engaging, and right on the mark.

It's no surprise that survey after survey identifies Dr. Larry Osborne as one of the "most influential pastors" in North America. Osborne has been at the forefront of the church's most successful recent adaptations to contemporary culture--and he's still out in front, leading the way, this time about personal spiritual formation.

A seeming counterpoint to contemporary classics such as "Celebration of Discipline" (Richard Foster) and "The Spirit of the Disciplines" (Dallas Willard), this book explores how anyone with a heart for God can develop and grow spiritually, without having to take on an exhaustive regimen of structured habits and practices.

Here is Osborne's take on the role that faith plays in our daily lives: "It's not how much or how little (faith) we have that matters. It's whether we're willing to act upon the mustard seed (i.e., tiny amount) that we've got." Osborne applies this same practical, clear-minded thinking to nearly two dozen topics, writing succinctly in essay style.

Well-written, well-organized and easy to read, this book provides fertile ground for pastors and teachers, for everyone interested in spiritual growth and for anyone who wants to discover God's ideas about who we are as His children.

(Together with wife Lisa, Dr. David Frisbie serves as executive director of The Center for Marriage & Family Studies in Del Mar, California. David and Lisa have authored eight books and numerous articles about family life.)

Armchair Interviews says: Very enlightening.

I recently completed Larry Osborne's book, A Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God. I first heard about Osborne about a year ago. He pastors North Coast Church in Southern California. I like the way he thinks and I would highly recommend this new book.


For years, I've often wondered how Christians grew spiritually without access to a Bible, study course, Sunday School class, or small group. We place so much emphasis on reading. In fact, to the Christian in the Western hemisphere, spiritual growth is not possible without books. But the Gutenberg press wasn't invented until the 1500's. Only in the past couple of centuries have Bibles and Christian books been available. How did Christ-followers grow in their faith without their own personal copy of the Bible? How did they survive without Christian publishers?


Osborne talks about this briefly to make the case that the Church has designed conventional paths to spiritual growth for certain types of people, i.e., people who like to read and study. Now, you have to understand that this is descriptive of me. I love books. I have three stacks of books that I'm wading through now! So this is not an indictment on readers. Instead, it is a concern that we have made the path to spiritual growth too narrow.


Like new cars on the showroom floor, we've developed two types of Christians: the basic model including only the necessities and the super-deluxe package with all the extras. The basic model Christian attends Sunday services and might sit in on a Bible study once a week but he doesn't read all of the latest books on the Christian best seller list or study the Bible with a highlighter in his hand. In addition, the basic model Christian doesn't show up for Sunday or weeknight classes or services, serve on any important committees, or otherwise take full advantage of all of the "features" that the Church offers. The super-deluxe Christian, of course, does all of these things.


Is this right? Does the basic model Christian suffer from a lack of commitment or have we created a faulty paradigm of what makes for a "committed" Christian? We too often debate over sound doctrine and nitpick over what a Christian should or should not do (legalism). But Jesus spoke of the kingdom of heaven belonging to those who are like little children (Matthew 18). Jesus is pleased by a simple childlike faith. Why isn't that good enough for the rest of us?


A contrarian is a person who asks, "Is this really true?" Larry Osborne is brave enough to ask questions about many things that we assume are true, Biblical, and right. But you'll find that we (the Church) have made up some things that aren't necessarily accurate according to the Bible. It's an interesting and eye-opening book. In case you're skeptical of this contrarian, Osborne is a solid Bible teacher who uses the Bible as the foundation to question some of our methods and models that the Church has created.

[...]

Lead pastor of North Coast Church in northern San Diego County Larry Osborne presents Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God: Spirituality for the Rest of Us, an examination of spirituality and The Big Questions for anyone jaded by or distrustful of the dogma of established religions. Chapters explore such themes as "What does it mean to know God?", "How does spiritual growth happen?" or "What does God want?". Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God does not purport to have all the answers, but makes an extraordinarily strong case for the answers it does provide. "Great relationships don't just happen. They take hard work and significant mid-course corrections to stay healthy over the long haul. A relationship with God is no different. While God never needs to grow, makes a mistake, never misunderstands, and never chooses the selfish route, we do. And whenever we get off course, it usually takes some significant changes on our part to get the relationship back on track." An inspirational testimony of "common-sense" Christian spirituality drawing from real-world wisdom as well as the study of scripture.

After spending years feeling like an imposter in my own faith, I finally feel a little peace about the way I relate to God. Thanks, Larry.

This book was recommended to me by a speaker who visited our church for a seminar. Dr. David Frisbie spoke here at a single parenting seminar; after one of the sessions a whole conversation broke out about the "emerging church" and what that term meant.

Dr. Frisbie recommended that all of us read "Contrarian's Guide" as a helpful way of seeing spiritual development and spiritual growth with new eyes. Many of us decided to buy the book that day; I went home and ordered it on-line immediately.

Want to know God better? Worn out by trying? Convinced you'll never be one of those "spiritual people" in the world? WOW, this is a great book. I am so glad that someone recommended it to me; now I am also recommending it to you.

How to grow up --- written in an entirely fresh, new way.

Lauren Hodge
Apple Valley, California
I also highly recommend: Raising Great Kids on Your Own: A Guide and Companion for Every Single Parent

This fabulous book let's us all know we are not failures! I have been a Chritian for many years and grew up in the church - at times feeling like I was a faliure as a Christian because I just could not master all of the spiritual disciplines all of the time...Pastor Larry reminds us that we are all different and we relate differently to God - and He relates differently to each of us. If you ever feel like you are not measuring up but know you are doing your best - this book is for you!

I am reading this book for a new church plant team, and it's a great way to look at getting to know God from a different point of view. It takes Acts and the beginnings of the church and breaks them down into simple steps and ways for you to thrive as a church, as a part of the body of Christ. It's a must read for Christians or non-Christians alike!

A lot of the commonly accepted advice on spirituality is wrong, according to this entertaining book. People are often made to feel like spiritual failures not because they are far from God, but because they don't live up to generally accepted measures of spirituality, although there is often no biblical justification for those measures.

The ideas in the book include: Faith: it's not how much or little we have that matters; it's whether we're willing to act upon the mustard seed we've got. Zeal: rabid zeal doesn't impress God; what he wants is simple obedience lived out in the framework of agape love. Extra Rules: the extra-biblical rules which we follow to keep ourselves pure are more likely to produce pride and self-sufficiency. Balance: God is interested in whether we fulfil our calling, not in whether we lead balanced lives.

Whilst I wouldn't regard the book as essential reading, it does provide a useful counterpoint to the numerous Christian books which assert or imply that particular spiritual practices are essential to an authentic Christian lifestyle. I'm not sure I agree with everything that Larry says, but I do agree that authentic Christianity is supposed to be much simpler than generally accepted wisdom would lead us to believe.

I loved this book, but I also love attending this church. Anyone who has attended North Coast Church (where Larry Osborne and Chris Brown are pastors) are familiar with the nuggets contained in these pages. It's like having a year's worth of sermon notes without having to organize all those little yellow sheets.
For those who don't attend North Coast... what are you waiting for! Seriously though, Larry's writing style is like his preaching style: He really makes an effort to meet people where they are at while keeping a firm grasp on letting them know who God is and how His Word reveals who He is. Great stuff.

This is an excellent book. I highly recommend it. It's best read and studied in a study group with strong Christian Biblical discipline, values and leadership. It makes for provocative discussion and personal growth as Christians today.