Bonhoeffer Book Review

I finished reading the biography on Bonhoeffer which was published this year. There are 2 things which I gleaned from the life of Bonhoeffer which can be applied to the church in USA.

The first is he was a man of the word. He firmly believed in the preaching which exposited the word of God to the congregation. We are missing this too much in the Church today. There are more than a few things which we over look or don't preach on especially if we don't teach verse by verse. If we do happen to preach on those subjects we are viewed as radical by our society and culture and dismissed. This is what I liked about Bonhoeffer he saw years ahead in his culture to see where the church was headed and what would happen to it. The Church is not meant to be an organ of the state to justify the existence of either party in control. The Church should not be used as a justification of the parties policies whether they be left or right. To be in the camp of either party is to be sold out. There are views of issues on both sides which the Church should support.

The second part I learned from Bonhoeffer is total belief and acceptance of the presence of the Lord. When the book wrote about his prayer, Bonhoeffer was a man who when he prayed he actually prayed as if Jesus was right there in front of him listening and conversing with him. Sometimes, it seems as if the "belief" in Jesus is broken down to what He did for us rather than actually believing in Him. Jesus has called us to follow Him. He still calls us to follow Him not a belief about Him. There becomes a distinction between do you actually know Him or do you know about Him? Do you see his footprints in the sand or are you actually there walking with Him? Is He real to you?

After finishing this book, I would highly recommend this book, especially to learn from the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and how real Jesus was in his life.