Blue Like Jazz

I have decided, after reading one of the greatest books ever, to put down some quotes straight from Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz, non-religious thoughts on Christianity. I have never identified so well with a book more than this one. It strikes a chord in me, and since reading it in January, I have felt compelled to get copies for great friends that I love--they deserve to read the same.

Anyway, I'm just gonna stop rambling on and put out some quotes. this may take a few blogs but bare with me...

BLUE LIKE JAZZ quotes:

In light of the earthly representation of the role, why would God want to call himself father? Seems a marketing mistake. Why would anyone want to call Himself Father when so many fathers abandon their children? (4)

If something nice happened to me, I thought it was God, and if something nice didn't, I went back to the slot machine, knelt down in prayer, and pulled the lever a few more times. (9)

I believe that the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil but rather have us wasting time. This is why the devil tries hard to get Christians to be religious. If he can sink a man's mind into habit, he will prevent his heart from engaging God. (13)

I didn't love God because I didn't know God. (14)

It was as if we were broken, I thought, as if we were supposed to feel those sticky emotions. As if we were cracked, couldn't love right, couldn't feel good things for very long time without screwing it all up. (14)

He said that when we are watching television our minds are working no harder than when we are sleeping. I thought that sounded heavenly. I bought one that afternoon. (15)

I think every conscious person, every person who is awake enough to the functioning principles within his reality, has a moment where he stops blaming the problems on group think, an humanity, and starts to face himself. (20)

Six billion people live in this world, and I can only muster thoughts for one. Me. (22)

I think Jesus feels strongly about communicating the idea of our brokenness, and I think it is worth reflection. Nothing is going to change in the Congo until you and I figure out what is wrong with the person in the mirror. (23)

It is a pretty good idea to make noises when you are at a play. (27)

Everybody wants to be fancy and new. Nobody wants to be themselves. (29)

If there was a guy who just liked being himself and didn't want to be anybody else, that guy would be the most different guy in the world and everybody would want to be him. (29)

I pictured my pastor as a salesman or a magician, trying to trick the congregation into believing Jesus could make us new. And, honestly, I felt as though he was trying to convince himself as though he only half believed what he was saying. (29)

I felt as if Christianity, as a religious system, was a product that kept falling apart, and whoever was selling it would hold the broken parts behind his back trying to divert everybody's attention. (30)

The rebellion against God explained why humans experienced conflict in their lives, and nobody knows of any other explanation than this. (32)

Christianity offered a decision, a climax. It also offered a good and a bad resolution. In part, our decisions were instrumental to the way our story turned out. (33)

And perhaps, I was judging the idea (making a decision to follow Jesus), not by its merit but by the fashionable or unfashionable delivery of the message. (33)

I never liked it when the preachers said we had to follow Jesus. Sometimes they would make him sound angry... I liked the idea of Jesus becoming a man, so that we would be able to trust Him, and I like that he healed people and loved them and cared deeply about how people were feeling. (34)