From time to time, some controversy will arise over something an author publishes with which some faction of Christianity disagrees. We’ll get emails from users requesting that we drop that author’s work from our product line. Often they point out that this author has previously been associated with some other Christian leader, whose work we also publish, and that we should drop that person’s work, too. Our response has always been the same.
We are a book store, not your pastor or spiritual mentor. We stock a wide variety of doctrinal perspectives. We base our publishing decisions a lot on what our customers request. We don’t want to waste our time creating a book nobody wants.
We trust you to choose material based on your own research. We don’t select books for you; we merely provide them for you to select from. If you don’t like the doctrinal positions of a particular author, don’t buy their books. There are plenty of others.
No author is perfect. No reader is perfect. We’re not perfect. If we refused to distribute books from authors with whom we disagreed on a minor point of interpretation, and if we refused to sell to people who have ever sinned, we would have to shut down and go live in the woods. We’re not going to do that. We’re not going to compel everyone around us to comply with our standard of belief and behavior; we have trouble enough following it ourselves.
So thanks for thinking of us, but we don’t participate in this type of debate and character assassination. Never have.
Photo by Fred Kearney on Unsplash
Brilliant reply! We are called to be wise and harmless, slow to speak, quick to listen and slow to anger. We are not called to be Pharisaical and insist everyone believe exactly the same, as you well pointed out. Thank You for your honesty and conviction.
Thank you, Craig. There’s a feeding frenzy among “Christians” today to Cancel some previously important Christian speakers and writers because of the current societal pronouncement of “the worst sin.” My first pastor as a Christian used to say that ‘anyone is capable of any sin at any time.’ Thank God for eternal forgiveness through Christ. And thank God we have His word and His Holy Spirit to help us discern spirits.