Book Review: "The Pilgrim's Progress"

Since Blogger has evidently lost my blog posting from last night (and I know it was on here because I found four mistakes and changed them one at a time), I will attempt to duplicate what I wrote, for I don't want to waste that hour.

So I spent the weekend with my in-laws. The company was pleasant, and the food was outstanding as usual. Sometime on Saturday, in between sneaking bites of chocolate-covered cashews, I was able to get away and finish up The Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan. Like I mentioned last week, I had started an Old English version of the book while in college, got about half way through, and never finished it. This past year in our Monday night Bible study, we studied the first part of the book, but this time I bought a version written in modern English (pictured). A little easier to read it was.

For those who might not know, the book is basically a story of two pilgrimages, the first by a man named Christian, who left all to follow Christ. The second part of the book is about the pilgrimage of Christian's wife, Christiana, as she later decided to follow the same Christ. I don't really want to give a summary of the book, mainly because it took me so long to read through it all, and summaries are generally boring, something you can find on the back of a book. So what I wanted to do was to post the top 10 things I'm taking with me from this book (not necessarily in order, but I'll try). Here it goes.

10.) A Christian's Life Directly Impacts Others - This wasn't a main theme of the book but seemed to surface here and there, mainly in the second part. There are several examples of how the later pilgrims recalled what Christian had done, and I loved when they recalled what Faithful had done at the Vanity Fair. Also, the pilgrims were consistently impacted by each other as they went along on their journey.

9.) Christians Should Live as Though Earth is Not Their Home - Of course, this book was somewhat figurative, but I enjoyed the picture of how a pilgrim would have to leave it all to follow Christ - his town, his job, and sometimes even his family. The reason this was done was that nothing could hold them back on the way to the Celestial City where the King resided - their true home.

8.) Christians Need Help along the Way - Help from God, help from fellow believers, and even help from nonbelievers, it comes in a variety of ways, and help is completely necessary for we cannot do it alone. Of course, the help from God is the most common and perhaps the most powerful, but no pilgrim in this book would have made it to the Celestial City without help from a fellow believer. Christiana had a much easier time of things in her pilgrimmage than Christian did, mainly because of her stud guide, Mr. Great Heart.

7.) Be Careful when Listening to Others - There are liars everywhere. There are those who are ignorant of the truth everywhere. And they all want to give us advice and tell us how things are. You could also call this point Know Your Bible because it's sometimes very difficult to distinguish between a sheep and a wolf in sheep's clothing without knowing what the Scriptures say. The book was full of people who were either deceived themselves or just plain deceivers -- all in a way trying to throw the piglrim off his path.

6.) Christians Should Give God the Glory - This is related some to #8, but I believe the point is made clear in this book -- give God the glory for not only your salvation but your perseverence as well. I dare say that no pilgrim got to the very end and thought that he had gotten there by himself. No sir. God made the whole thing possible to begin with and will prove to be the chief sustainer in any pilgrimage.

5.) Deliverance is Sweet - One of my favorite parts of the book is when Christian realizes that his burden has been lifted and that he has been delievered from the sin that plagues him -- through the blood of him who was slain. The way he handles it all truly displays a sweetness that I wish I could experience every day -- and I should.

4.) Christians Will Suffer - We all won't suffer the same amount or in the same ways, but I think the Bible and the book makes this quite clear - all Christians must suffer. There are going to be valleys, times of despair, times of darkness, and perhaps times of backsliding (or getting off the path). But God is faithful and ordains these times for our good and even calls us to have joy while facing trials. The book does a fantastic job of not painting Christianity as a fluffy-everything-is-beautiful religion that it's not -- it relays the truth that there are going to be times of suffering.

3.) Each Christian Pilgrimage is Different - Christian and Faithful were a great pair while they voyaged together. They were tempted in different ways, struggled in different ways, suffered in different ways, even rejoiced in different ways. But what I loved the most was how they helped one another when a brother was struggling. We should remember their example before judging others who might have different experiences than us.

2.) Spiritual Warfare is Real - This has to be a main theme in the book. Satan's demons and demon-like manifestations are everywhere along the path and certainly off the path. I'm not sure I fully realize all the spiritual warfare that my soul endures each and every day. There are certainly demons trying to destroy me or even knock me off my path just a little bit -- every day and every hour. We should be aware. From personal experience, I can say that the war gets tougher and tougher the closer we get with God --- for if we are already acting like a devil, why should they bother us?

1.) CHRISTIANS MUST PERSEVERE TO THE END - I would fancy that Bunyan himself would call this the main theme of the book. If he doesn't agree, let him speak from the grave! Anyway, it's the number one thing I'm taking with me and will always remember the book for -- and what better thing to always remember? Throughout the book, there were pilgrims who would start a pilgrimage and quickly give up or go about half way and get discouraged and turn around or get about half way and try to take a short cut (by avoiding the Gate) or would even get close to the end and get scared and turn around or even be at the doorstep of the Celestial City and get distracted. We can't assume any of them made it to the Celestial City, for they didn't persevere. The Pilgrim's Progress as well as the book of Hebrews makes it painfully clear -- if you don't persevere to the end, then you will not get through the heavenly gates. I'm glad we don't have to do it alone -- as God himself aids us in persevering, but it should be on our minds every day that people turn away. Christianity is a fight -- a daily fight for life and death, and we should treat it that way.