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Customer Reviews for WaterBrook Press Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess
WaterBrook Press Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess
Raised in a strict but loving Christian home, Turner was "churched" at an early age---but that didn't stop him from being mischievous and curious. Offering a hilarious look at growing up in the '80s, he affectionately remembers his firm-but-caring parents, passionate pastor, and sometimes misguided friends. A compelling coming-of-age story---with a new chapter! 256 pages, softcover from Waterbrook.
Average Customer Rating:
(8 Reviews) 8
Rating Snapshot (8 reviews)
5 stars
1
4 stars
3
3 stars
4
2 stars
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4 out of 757%customers would recommend this product to a friend.
Customer Reviews for Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess
Review 1 for Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess
Overall Rating:
Fundamentalism Made Me Weird
Date:November 23, 2011
Quality:
4
out of
5
Value:
4
out of
5
Meets Expectations:
2
out of
5
Churched is a book I just finished by Matthew Paul Turner. It’s a humorous book about growing up in a Baptist Fundamentalist home/church. I think Matthew’s weirdness climaxed with him having to use his middle name. I mean, other than Southerners with the MaryJo kind of names, who uses middle names anymore? It's weird, but that's not all...
The Good:
Best line in the book: Fundamentalism made me weird. So true. Me too. At least, that’s what I blame it on.
Best line in the book: Fundamentalism made me weird. So true. Me too. At least, that’s what I blame it on.
Turner somehow makes his upbringing in a fundamentalist Baptist church the closest thing to hell on earth, but does so without making a devil out of anybody. Well, maybe anybody but his pastor and a wacko Barbie-burning Sunday-school teacher. But hey, they had it coming. The counting souls, scaring folks into Heaven - I could relate to most of it. That was fun. And, some parts of the book were really funny. Turner is funny. But…
The Bad:
Enough already! For the first ¾ of the book I was looking for some redemption, some reason to continue reading. Was there really nothing of value in that church? Some smart comments are funny, but the continual avalanche of them made me want to put the book down to come up for air. You can smack even a fundamentalist just so many times. It’s an easy target, but I was looking for something more…
Enough already! For the first ¾ of the book I was looking for some redemption, some reason to continue reading. Was there really nothing of value in that church? Some smart comments are funny, but the continual avalanche of them made me want to put the book down to come up for air. You can smack even a fundamentalist just so many times. It’s an easy target, but I was looking for something more…
The Ugly:
There was little more. I was hoping for some direction, instruction, some help in a humorous way. Instead Churched just poked fun at fundamentalism with a bit of introspection at the end.
There was little more. I was hoping for some direction, instruction, some help in a humorous way. Instead Churched just poked fun at fundamentalism with a bit of introspection at the end.
The last section had a bit of hope and help, but by now I was tired of it all. It left me feeling like I’d been forced to eat too many chocolate covered cherries. It was fun at the beginning, but at the end I wasn’t laughing anymore and didn’t want to eat much of anything Turner had left to offer. Sorry, anything Michael Paul Turner had left to offer.
I received this book free from Multnomah Books for review. I was (obviously) not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. danielcooley.com
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Review 2 for Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess
Overall Rating:
a bit disappointing.
Date:May 15, 2011
jojo30598
Gender:female
Quality:
4
out of
5
Value:
4
out of
5
Meets Expectations:
3
out of
5
Churched by Matthew Paul Turner is an autobiographical account of Turner's childhood growing up in an Independent Fundamental Baptist Church. This denomination is known for its legalistic restrictions and emphasis on being "separate" from the world, and Turner offers up humorous stories of the rigid and often ridiculous limitations and exercises to which he was subjected growing up in the church. He goes on to explain, briefly at the end, how he broke free from the fear and guilt that drives much of their theology, and how the experiences of his upbringing now affect his churchgoing life at present. For me, much of this book as interesting as I attended an Independent Baptist school for 5 years. I certainly could relate to much of it and enjoyed reminiscing back on how the similar circumstances affected me as a child. I thought Turner's humor was a little bit over the top at some points - like a dessert with wayyy to much sugar added. He goes off on rabbit trails of being funny and it's hard to stay focused on the actual story many times, and sometimes I wish he'd just take a break from making a joke in literally every sentence and just let the story speak. The humor is funny and works well for this book - I just think he overdoes it in points. I also wish he'd taken a little more time to talk about how he'd gotten from there to where he now is with Jesus. He spends maybe the last half of the last chapter talking about where he is now - but at the end I felt the overall message was, "nobody can be too sure of anything when it comes to God." And while I understand that he is trying to counteract the pointlessness of fundamental rules and restrictions that have little to do with Christ and much to do with self-righteousness, I wasn't sure that questioning the inerrancy of Scripture and simply talking about how church makes him uncomfortable really was the best way to wrap that up. I appreciate the effort on Turner's part and enjoyed the humorous look at a denomination that has taken some things out of hand...but overall I was disappointed with the taste that this book left in my mouth.
I received this book free from Waterbrook/Multnomah as part of their Blogging for Books program.
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Review 3 for Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess
Overall Rating:
Date:April 5, 2011
Joshbaker51
Location:Hendersonville, NC
Age:18-24
Gender:male
Quality:
4
out of
5
Value:
3
out of
5
Meets Expectations:
5
out of
5
This book startes out with a story about matthew and another man in a sauna who has a tatoo of jesus breathing fire out of his mouth. As the two me get to talking the man with the tattoo acknowledged that he is an associate pastor at the biggest pentecostal church in town. Their conversation consists of the pastor telling Mr. Turner that he came to Nashville to be closer to God, he though it would be eaier to be a christian if he lived in the bible belt. But now the man is doubting that.
This book is chok full of similar stories and full of laughter along the way. But over all as i read this book, yes i did laugh but then after my laughter subsided I realised that I should actually be crying at the obsurdity of the Christian church.
This book has brought many things up in my life that i now look back a have to question. Do we as christians really think that people will take us seriously if we keep acting obsurdly? I think not
I would recomend this book for the fact that It really is a easy and quick read and it is very funny, but it still makes you think. so go ahead and go get you a copy!
(I recieved this book for review as a part of the blogging for books program)
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Review 4 for Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess
Overall Rating:
learn to laugh at yourself
Date:February 21, 2011
Quality:
4
out of
5
Value:
5
out of
5
Meets Expectations:
4
out of
5
Matthew Paul turner takes us on a wonderful joyous and poignant trip through the aisles and behind the pulpit of the church that so many of us remember from our childhood. The church that tried so hard to do everything right, and according to its own set of standards probably did a great job. Every ‘T’ was crossed, every ‘I’ was dotted, but somehow they didn’t quite realize the goal of bringing people closer to the God they claimed had pre-eminence.
The rules were all in place to celebrate the Living God, everyone knew the rules, but as so often happens people caught up in the religiosity of the moment and forgot why they were really there. When we worry about all the rules we forget that Jesus told us to not worry, but instead to take a lesson from the birds of the air, and the lilies of the fields.
We try so hard to do it right, and so often it turns out wrong, but God overlooks our ignorance and showers us with grace, grace to keep on trying, grace to finally realize that when God asks us to obey, He’s asking us to follow where he leads, not show up on Sunday morning and evening, and again on Wednesday night, wearing the right clothes, having the right haircut, quoting the right translation of the bible, and staying the appropriate distance from members of the opposite sex.
And as Turner shows us in this book, God even gives us enough grace to laugh at ourselves. Sometimes He even gives us enough grace to uncross a ‘T’ or un-dot an ‘I’.
Regardless of the church you grew up in, or are currently attending, sometimes it’s important to get past the religiosity in order to appreciate the fact that Jesus is sitting next to you, trying to get your attention.
The rules were all in place to celebrate the Living God, everyone knew the rules, but as so often happens people caught up in the religiosity of the moment and forgot why they were really there. When we worry about all the rules we forget that Jesus told us to not worry, but instead to take a lesson from the birds of the air, and the lilies of the fields.
We try so hard to do it right, and so often it turns out wrong, but God overlooks our ignorance and showers us with grace, grace to keep on trying, grace to finally realize that when God asks us to obey, He’s asking us to follow where he leads, not show up on Sunday morning and evening, and again on Wednesday night, wearing the right clothes, having the right haircut, quoting the right translation of the bible, and staying the appropriate distance from members of the opposite sex.
And as Turner shows us in this book, God even gives us enough grace to laugh at ourselves. Sometimes He even gives us enough grace to uncross a ‘T’ or un-dot an ‘I’.
Regardless of the church you grew up in, or are currently attending, sometimes it’s important to get past the religiosity in order to appreciate the fact that Jesus is sitting next to you, trying to get your attention.
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Review 5 for Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess
Overall Rating:
churched review
Date:February 18, 2011
i am awsome
Age:Under 18
Gender:male
Quality:
5
out of
5
Value:
4
out of
5
Meets Expectations:
4
out of
5
I just recently read a book called “Churched” it is a good book about a young man’s travel through the church and finding his way to God, he tells a lot of stories about his youth and how strange some people he met were. According to him his preacher would at least say that he didn’t smoke or chew, or hang with girls that do once a month. He talked about how he disliked and still does dislike being alone with a pastor.
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Review 6 for Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess
Overall Rating:
Perfectly written!
Date:February 10, 2011
Mdj1213
Quality:
5
out of
5
Value:
5
out of
5
Meets Expectations:
5
out of
5
This is the childhood I shared with my sister! Matthew Paul Turner captures the comic overtones of being raised in a church along with the toll coming of age in the faith takes on your adult beliefs. A must read for everyone:)
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Review 7 for Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess
Overall Rating:
Date:January 15, 2011
lexi
Age:18-24
Gender:female
Quality:
3
out of
5
Value:
2
out of
5
Meets Expectations:
2
out of
5
"Churched" by Matthew Paul Turner is a memoir about the author's experience in a fundamental baptist church growing up. The book tells humorous stories starting when he was young through high school.
Negatives: Personally, I thought the book seemed over exaggerated especially when he was young. Can someone really remember events that clearly and distinctly when someone is 5 years old?
I thought he was hard to follow because he seemed to go off on tangents in the middle of a story.
Positives: I thought the book got better as he grew-up. The events didn't seem as exaggerated.
It was an easy read except for the fact mentioned before.
I didn't grow up in a baptist church, so maybe someone who grew up in a church like that would find it more humorous, but overall I wouldn't waste your time reading it.
Negatives: Personally, I thought the book seemed over exaggerated especially when he was young. Can someone really remember events that clearly and distinctly when someone is 5 years old?
I thought he was hard to follow because he seemed to go off on tangents in the middle of a story.
Positives: I thought the book got better as he grew-up. The events didn't seem as exaggerated.
It was an easy read except for the fact mentioned before.
I didn't grow up in a baptist church, so maybe someone who grew up in a church like that would find it more humorous, but overall I wouldn't waste your time reading it.
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Review 8 for Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess
Overall Rating:
Date:September 12, 2010
Delia Latham
First, let me just say that Im not a person who normally reads memoirs. So I was a little hesitant when I was asked to read and review Matthew Paul Turners Churched. I agreed because I, too, grew up in a fundamentalist church, and no one comes away from that experience unchanged. It defines a person, for the good or bad. I was curious about what Turner had to say. Turns out, his family joined a fundamentalist Baptist church when the author was five. They had no idea what they were getting into. What they did have was a genuine desire to serve God to the best of their ability.Welcome to the world of hellfire and brimstone.The authors often humorous, sometimes touching accounts of various situations define that lifestyle to perfection. From his first real haircut to baptism to CD burningshe portrays a life made of dos and donts, where religion threatened to trump salvation. But also a life where one inquisitive, hyperactive little boy learned to love Jesus. An easy-to-read writing style, a warm wit, and obvious sincerity make Churched a great read. With my background, and given my continuing high regard for many fundamentalist Christians, I was concerned that the book would be offensive, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was not. Turner handled the extremist beliefs with humor but also with respect. An enjoyable look at a way of life that has to be lived to be believed.
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