Non-Fiction Review: The Glasses We Wear: Reflections on Christian Worldview

The Glasses We Wear: Reflections on Christian Worldview by Michael G. Garland is a book about Christian apologetics. This is what the author says in his introduction: “My purpose here is not to provide a comprehensive investigation that lays out “proofs” for the Christian faith but rather to encourage a reflective engagement with the Christian worldview. So, essentially, this is a ‘worldview devotional.’” That sums it up well.

This book is a delightful book in that it’s an honest look at God and at ourselves. “Any discussion about God must begin with humility, in realizing that we don’t have all the answers, that we don’t need all the answers, and that we cannot comprehend all the answers.”

I really liked The Glasses We Wear, because it’s broken up into short, digestible chapters, each with a profound thought, and each with great teaching for Christians in their daily lives.

He starts with a discussion of worldview. “The atheist/naturalist has no ground whatsoever to value human life above any other life. . . . In the Christian worldview what makes us humans valuable is the fact that we are created in the image of God.” Later, he says, “The atheist can indeed live by a set of morals, and most do; those morals however, cannot be judged as better or superior to any other morals because there is no ultimate standard against which to judge them. . . . The Christians wears an entirely different set of glasses. When your worldview starts with God (all worldviews start either with the absence of God or with the presence of God) you have a foundation to build upon. There are absolutes. There is right and wrong. There is good and evil.”

The chapters often include an original poem. (Personally, I think he should have left out all the poetry and stuck to his excellent prose.)

I thoroughly enjoyed this very fresh book about Christian worldview. Chapters such as Where is God?, Believing is Seeing, and Perception is Reality . . . Except When It Is Not cause you to think about your faith, about what God really teaches in the Bible, and about the wonderful foundation we have in our Bible.

I went on the author's blog, and he has links to organizations all over the "Christian" spectrum. My review is about the book alone. I didn't pick up on any ecumenical thoughts expressed in it or any doctrinal problems. It's about God and worldview and how to reach the lost.

I believe this is a very good devotional-type book that any Christian will enjoy. I know I did!