THINKING NAUGHTY THOUGHTS BY JOHAN VAN DER MERWE

If you are an intelligent man in the Church, you have definitely had naughty thoughts. Naughty thoughts are those thoughts you have about the weird and strange practices that you know do not really fit with the teaching of Jesus or are just counterproductive; the sacred Cows that are not supposed to be touched. The Church is filled with so many ideas and practices we have been conditioned to just accept, we are told that things are the way they are because that’s the way they’ve been. When people begin to poke holes and question these concepts, Scriptures are twisted and misconstrued to sustain them. The person questioning is branded a heretic and sometimes excommunicated from the fold

Johan Van Der Merwe is one of such people, he refused to just accept the status quo and started thinking deeply about the way we practice Church life. These thoughts have led him out of the institutional Church and into developing and living a more authentic, relational and communal life with fellow believers. In “Thinking Naughty Thoughts” he shares these thoughts with us and gives a few conclusions of his own. With chapters like “Do I really need to belong to a local Church?” “Why all the fuss about leadership when Jesus hardly ever spoke about it?” “Why does the pastor insist on 10% of my income when he drives a luxury car and I can hardly make it through each month?”   And my favourite; “Do you really expect me to believe that God lives there?”  You know that it’s an interesting read

However, Johan didn’t write this book to give you answers about the things that have been bothering you concerning the traditional way things are done. He writes this book to spark the discussions and the thought processes that will lead us to a more balanced and wholesome way of being the Church. He does lend his opinion about some topics and I don’t always agree with him. I think he can handle that. Johan doesn’t strike me as someone who will be have a good opinion of someone who swallows ideas hook, line and sinker. We are individuals whose lives have been shaped and conditioned in unique ways. It’s only right for us to not be on the same page on every single detail and that’s alright. And that should be especially alright in the church. As a matter of fact, here’s a quote from the book

“Why can’t we sit around the same fire or build meaningful and intimate relationships with people whom we generally like and get along with quite well but disagree with on some points of belief and doctrine? Why is belonging to the group you belong to with your set of beliefs a prerequisite for our friendship and fellowship?”

On this point, I agree with Johan 100%.  One of the points I disagree with him most strongly about is the attempt at trying to determine whether or not a Church is spending too much on its facilities instead of using it for charity. This is something common among people from the emergent and organic church “movement”. The argument that churches are wasting money because the amount that is being spent on equipment and managing the building could be spent on the poor and the needy. Now hold on, before you start yelling “Yes!!! The Church is being wasteful and you should know that too!!!”  Please hear me out. Who are we to determine how a person should spend his money. What is the prescribed ratio of spending on oneself to spending on the poor? Should I buy clothes for the poor and fund a homeless shelter rather than build a house for myself and my family? An honest answer to this will be “It depends on what God tells you” These are not things we can determine for individuals neither can we determine them for Churches. They are solely dependent on our relationship with the Holy Spirit. We cannot judge people on such issues, otherwise we become legalistic and whatever is being done by the Church for the downtrodden is never enough and whatever she does for herself to have a more conducive and fun meeting is too much.

In conclusion, the book is not about someone who has got it all figured out and is now teaching us how to do it. At best it is about someone who is still on the journey and is sharing some of the insight he has gathered along the way. The book is not too long (only about a hundred and ninety pages) and it’s an easy read. So if you have been thinking naughty thoughts, this book will encourage you and clarify some issues. If you haven’t been thinking naughty thoughts, open your eyes and smell the coffee. This book will also be helpful in that regard

You can purchase the book on amazon by clicking the link below