“Good people and the obstacles to an authentic faith examined in challenging new book”
Do good people make good Christians? The answer may surprise you. In “The Glass Cage and the Rock,” North Carolina author Dana Cashwell takes a liberating but reverent approach at examining strongholds that keep our faith from being genuine. Emphasizing that we can’t change our lives without Christ, she recounts how she became a Christian at age 4 but lived in a glass cage, meaning that no influences got in, and no results got out.
In a book full of statements that seem to defy logic – but only on the outset – she explains that “bad” people make good Christians because they are aware of the mistakes in their past and are trying to change, whereas good people tend to believe they don’t have much that needs to change.
“If you are a ‘bad’ person who is a Christian, you know that probably most of what you’ve done in your life…prior to becoming a Christian just sucks…You count yourself lucky to be a child of God,” Cashwell explains.
Through her unique brand of wit and well-reasoned logic, Cashwell approaches many of the modern misconceptions of faith, and discusses subjects such as fear and jealousy, even her dislike of snakes, relating why they are damaging to our lives. With a refreshing spirit of encouragement and a “been-there, done-that” perspective, she tackles the many things that prevent believers from having an effective and genuine faith.
Cashwell, a married mother of three, left institutional churches three years ago and is today enthusiastically involved with a house church. A writer since 2005, she helped to create a worship program for children and has published “Let Your Women Keep Silent” which is being re-released later this year.
“As to how I came up with the title (of ‘Cage’), well, God told me to write what I was,” she said. “I was a good person but a very bad Christian,” she continued, comparing herself to fool’s gold.
“I fooled a lot of people, and I was worthless as a Christian. God commanded all of us to truly love Him and each other. I did a lot of really good things for people, but I didn’t do it out of love for those people or even the love of God. I did it for my own vanity. Then one day it dawned on me why He gave us that directive.”
Cashwell’s first book is dedicated to “everybody, because everybody deserves freedom.”
“The Glass Cage and the Rock” releases this week at www.Amazon.com.