Real Christians Don't Dance! [Paperback]

John Fischer (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Bethany House Pub (June 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556614969
• ISBN-13: 978-1556614965
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,917,560 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Fischer is senior writer for PurposeDrivenLife.com, specializing in a daily devotional that reaches an audience of over 230,000 people five times a week. John's career spans over 30 years, first as a singer/songwriter, recording artist, and pioneer of Jesus Music, then as a best-selling author, and currently as a nationally popular speaker at conferences, retreats, churches, and colleges/universities. John's body of work includes 12 albums, 15 books, and numerous articles for a variety of publications. His early songs, such as "Love Him in the Morning" ("All Day Song") and "Have You Seen Jesus My Lord?" have become standard youth and camp favorites. His books include the best-selling "Real Christians Don't[crossed out] Dance" and his popular novel "Saint Ben." For over 23 years, he was a clarion call for the growing Christian music industry from his regular award-winning monthly column in "CCM" (Contemporary Christian Music) magazine. In addition to his writing with PurposeDrivenLife.com, John also writes for Chuck Colson's Breakpoint.org and is a regular columnist in "Relevant" magazine. "Confessions of a Caffeinated Christian" is John's first book with Tyndale House Publishers. John graduated from Wheaton College, Illinois, in 1969. He studied the ministry under the leadership of the late Ray C. Stedman at Peninsula Bible Church, Palo Alto, California, during the 1970s, and has served as artist in residence at Gordon College, Seattle Pacific University, and Baylor University. He now resides with his wife, Marti, and their son, Chandler, in Laguna Beach, California. They also have two adult children, Christopher and Anne. For more information, visit John's Web site at www.fischtank.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorites, December 6, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Real Christians Don't Dance (Hardcover)

First of all, do not be mislead by the title. On the book cover, the word "don't" is crossed out in red ink, and an exclamation point is added after the word "dance". This book is written by John Fischer, veteran songwriter of Christian Music long before anyone was ever talking about something called "Contemporary Christian Music". (Chances are if you've been to a church retreat or camp, you may well have sung one of his around the campfire.) He is also a popular speaker and talented writer of fiction and non-fiction (a longtime columnist for "CCM" magazine). He writes as one who has grown up in within the Evangelical Christian sub-culture and has had to sort out just what in his life was really his and truly Christian, and what is simply traditions handed down to him. In the book, he likens the process to peeling the skin off an orange; he has to sort out the juicy part from the white stuff surrounding it, deciding what to keep and what to discard. _Real Christians Don't Dance_ is a collection of personal essays and reflections centered more or less on the theme of sorting out what in the Christian life is real. As one who has been through the same sorting out process, I heartily recommend this book. A quote might be illustrative here: "Which is easier to follow: 'real Christians don't envy' or 'real Christians don't dance'? Which one gets noticed first: 'real Christians don't lust' or 'real Christians don't smoke'? Which is harder to comply with: 'real Christians love their enemies' or 'real Christians go to church on Sundays?'" (page 16). I've in particular directed many people to this book because of the essay "Cutting In" (pp. 116-117). John Fischer is one of only a few authors I've ever encountered who is willing to talk about the pain that a _father_ feels over the miscarriage of his unborn son or daughter. Thanks, John; it helped. His personal reflections are continued in _True Believers Don't Ask Why_ and _Making Real What I Already Believe_. Many of these themes also appear in his novel _Saint Ben_.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When Jesus plays the flute, get up and dance!, March 6, 2006

By 

Douglas Gwinn (Pasadena) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Real Christians Don't Dance (Hardcover)

From the back cover of the book:
Probing and questioning, John Fischer challenges believers to evaluate their Christian experience and assumptions. For many, traditions and trappings have become a protective and restrictive cocoon, inhibiting the growth of their faith. Discovering the essence of faith restores the vitality of freedom in Christ and cuts away those issues that distract from the important ones.

"In it not of it," the statement was made
When Christian One faced the world much afraid.
"In it not of it," the call was made clear,
But Christian One got something stuck in his ear.
"Not in it or of it" was the thing that he heard.
And knowing the world was painfully absurd.
He welcomed the safety of pious retreat
And went to the potluck for something to eat.
(Excerpt from "The Ins and Outs of It" p.132)

Available now is the online edition of Real Christians Don't Dance (with the "don't" crossed out) which you will find by entering the title in a Google, Yahoo, or MSN search. Read the whole book online before you buy it.

Author John Fischer grew up in a mainline evangelical denomination and has travelled the contemporaray Christian music circuit for many years. As an expert "insider," he has thought long and hard about what is essential Christianity and what are simply cultural appendages that have become attached over a period of time.

Free from sarcasm and ridicule, Real Christians Don't Dance challenges the evangelical Church to identify true Christianity from the sub-culture that has developed around it, to discover what is real obedience and love. Readers may discover in their lives more tradition than truth, more Christianity than Christ, more fundamentalism than faith, more law than love.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finding what's real, July 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Real Christians Don't Dance! (Paperback)

A hard look at the traditional, and often not-Biblically based, cultural practices of the church. However, this book is much more than a nit-pickers fest as Fischer leads the reader into seeking a deeper relationship with Christ by weeding through unbiblical traditions. Also check out "True Believers Don't Ask Why"