Bestsellers

The other day I spent my lunch break walking around the local bookstore. I'm not sure why, but I love bookstores. I always feel so inspired to be a better, more organized, more well-read person when I'm in a bookstore.

While browsing, I usually like to take a look at the bestseller section. I like to see what's hot and new and what the majority of people are really into. Although, usually I don't like to be grouped with the majority.

I thought a lot can be revealed about our culture by the top 5 best sellers. They were:

5. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

"Gilbert grafts the structure of romantic fiction upon the inquiries of reporting in this sprawling yet methodical travelogue of soul-searching and self-discovery...." (From Publishers Weekly)

"...seeking communion with the divine at a sacred ashram in India, Gilbert emulates the ways of yogis in grueling hours of meditation, struggling to still her churning mind." (From Publishers Weekly)

4. The Quickie by James Patterson

"When Lauren Stillwell discovers her husband leaving a hotel room with another woman, she decides to beat him at his own game. But while she's sneaking around, her husband is hatching a plan of his own. After a torrid quickie with a co-worker, Lauren hears a struggle outside her window and looks out just in time to see her husband loading her lover's limp body into the trunk of a car.... A gripping story of secrets and infidelities." (From Amazon.com)

3. 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper

"As he is driving home from a minister's conference, Baptist minister Don Piper collides with a semi-truck that crosses into his lane. He is pronounced dead at the scene. For the next 90 minutes, Piper experiences heaven where he is greeted by those who had influenced him spiritually. He hears beautiful music and feels true peace. Back on earth, a passing minister who had also been at the conference is led to pray for Don even though he knows the man is dead. Piper miraculously comes back to life and the bliss of heaven is replaced by a long and painful recovery." (From Amazon.com)

2. A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

"Tolle expands on these powerful ideas to show how transcending our ego-based state of consciousness is not only essential to personal happiness, but also the key to ending conflict and suffering throughout the world. Tolle describes how our attachment to the ego creates the dysfunction that leads to anger, jealousy, and unhappiness, and shows readers how to awaken to a new state of consciousness and follow the path to a truly fulfilling existence."
(From Amazon.com)

"ECKHART TOLLE is a contemporary spiritual teacher who is not aligned with any particular religion or tradition." (From Amazon.com)

1. The Shack by William Young

"A guy-meets-God Novel that has literary integrity and spiritual daring. "The Shack" cuts through the cliches of both religion and bad writing to reveal something compelling and beautiful about life's integral dance with the Divine. This story reads like a prayer--like the best kind of prayer, filled with sweat and wonder and transparency and surprise. "
(Mike Morrell, Zoecarnate.com)

What does this list say? Well, 4 out of 5 deal with spiritual issues while the other book is about sex, adultery, lies, secrets....sin.

I think this illuminates the greater message of our society. We are all, each of us, struggling to find a meaningful existence and a connection with something greater than ourselves. Some try to do this through experimenting with sin - exemplified by The Quickie - others go on trips and try out different religions, like in Eat, Pray, Live. Tolle would have us believe in A New Earth that we don't even need a connection with anything outside of ourselves, that we can be the answer to our own problems if only we truly discover ourselves. In The Shack, we see communication between man and God.

Now, I have not read any of these books myself, so I cannot really fairly speak to the relevancy, validity, or quality of any of them. And really, that's not what this post is about. I'm not trying to trash or recommend any of these books. For me, just seeing this list should be a wake up call to Christians. Our culture is searching. Are we doing our job? What is our job? Well, what comes to mind is the mission statement of my parent's church: "To live the new life we have in Christ and help others find it!"