When he was ten years old, James converted to Christianity in a Southern California Baptist church. After graduating from high school in 1987, James enrolled in Texas Baptist College. Seven harrowing years later, James escaped that cult-like environment with his spirituality and sanity intact. This is his story--a story of struggle, courage, faith, and perseverance. It will make you laugh and cry, make you angry, make you cheer. The Texas Baptist Crucible illustrates the ugly side of legalism, misguided zeal, and misplaced priorities. But it is also a story of grace, and how God often takes us through difficult paths so that we will learn to appreciate what real grace is all about.
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18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hilarious, dismaying, hopeful, honest, and forthright,
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This review is from: The Texas Baptist Crucible: Tales from the Temple (Paperback)
I read James' chronicles several times from the week he first introduced them on the old Fighting Fundamentalist Forum. The very first chapter had me in tears of laughter, and I e-mailed copies of it to many friends. What a great day to see James Spurgeon's memoirs of life at Longview Baptist Temple and Texas Baptist College in print!
If you have suffered church abuse, this is the book that will teach you to laugh again. Without ever losing sight of what is sacred---indeed, James uses the Rabadash-like characters around him to emphasize what is truly sacred and what is false--young Pastor Spurgeon brings the reader into the world of Independent Baptist Fundamentalism Gone Bad. It is a nightmare of comedies (or comedy of nightmares), as truth is turned on its head, manipulation and pressure are masqueraded as God's love, and hours of hard labor building membership of the church by suckering children into "decisions" is passed off as grace. Ridiculous Bible lessons, impossible competitions to "win souls," a culture of deceit and boasting, harsh and illogical rules, and one young man's ever more ingenius ways to beat the system by playing the system against itself make this collection a mixture of PILGRIM's PROGRESS and McHALE'S NAVY. It's a delight from beginning to end. But the comedy and the tragedy of James' story is housed in excellent, but never labored, reasoning from the Scripture about the abuses and excesses that he experienced. Kudos to James Spurgeon for such a thought-provoking story for Christians. He takes a hard look at a manipulative church and a ridiculous, unaccredited Bible College that propagates ignorance rather than knowledge, and he manages to keep the story upbeat and focused on the great truths that awaited him once he got out. I hope that Christians, especially Fundamentalists and former Fundamentalists will read this book and carefully consider what has been allowed to happen in Fundamentalism. If this book appeals to you or has helped you, you may also want to consider Schizophrenic Christianity: How Christian Fundamentalism Attracts and Protects Sociopaths, Abusive Pastors, and Child Molesters, which is an analysis of how and why so much has gone wrong in Christian Fundamentalism. Also, if you have been harmed in a harsh and legalistic church (or molested in such a church), this book is designed to help you heal your faith in Christ: The Lambs Workbook: Recovering from Church Abuse, Clergy Abuse, Spiritual Abuse, and the Legalism of Christian Fundamentalism
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I Laughed Along With Him,
By
This review is from: The Texas Baptist Crucible: Tales from the Temple (Paperback)
As somebody who deeply values laughing in the face of adversity, I found James Spurgeon a delight. The more I read the more I felt proud of the way he handled this unfortunate chain of events. No feeling sorry for the "victim" here. He uncovers the hipocracy without crucifying the offenders (no pun intended)
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Book That Can't Be Put Down,
By
This review is from: The Texas Baptist Crucible: Tales from the Temple (Paperback)
I didn't intend to read this marvelous book in one sitting, but that is what I ended up doing. The stories are so outrageous as to be unbelievable. Unfortunately, those who have had similar experiences can tell you that this book is all too believable. Spurgeon is able to take what is really a horrifing and sad experience (I would compare it to being raped over a period of many years) and present it in such a humourous fashion. Praise God that the author has turned out to be such a nice, fully-functioning person. I recommend this book to anybody, but especially to those who may be or have been in similar extreme fundamentalist circumstances, so that they, too, may end up fully-functioning. Reading this book is like watching the first half of Full Metal Jacket for the first time. Only instead of being set at Paris Island, it's a church and its (unacredited) college. Very sad, indeed. Read this book to the end (which you won't help being able to do if you start it) and you will end up with hope that something good can come from such sadness.
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