A Place for Books?- are they still relevant?

I found a great quote – “As the world continues to trust less and less in reason’s ability to know truth, to be objective and to escape the snares of relativism and nihilism, the church has become the staunch defender of reason.”

I wish that I believed that this is universally true for the church – I would love to believe that the church is this wise, we certainly should be. I do believe that as Christians we should be able to be the voice of reason – we have the Bible, history, an understanding of life, love, compassion, mercy, a greater sense of purpose, love of neighbour and love of God, hence humility and selflessness. Our faith should help us to hold the bigger picture in tension and to be wise.

But sadly we do have to learn all of God’s lessons for ourselves, individually, we don’t get to inherit this knowledge.

Hence a bookshop.

Ok, so it is no secret that I love books and that I love reading. I love ideas that I don’t agree with, interpretations I struggle with, I love reading of peoples’ personal journeys, I love the insight it gives me, I love the empathy it engenders in me …. it is the spice of life.

Books are about challenging our thinking, giving us a bigger picture, enabling us to travel in ways that hopping on a plane doesn’t give us.

In Fact …. I found some reasons why reading books is GOOD!

10 benefits of reading that illustrate the importance of reading books.

When you read every day you:

1. Gain valuable knowledge

2. Exercise your brain

3. Improve your focus

4. Improve your memory

5. Enjoy entertainment

6. Improve your ability to empathize

7. Improve your communication skills

8. Reduce stress

9. Improve your mental health

10. Live longer

All of these have some science behind them ……. and there is also plenty of science that says reading hard copy is more beneficial to us than reading from a screen. And that doesn’t include that books smell good, feel good and are easy to flick back and forward in….. you can lend them, borrow them and they sequester carbon...... and you can buy them from GCBC.

In a bookshop you get the opportunity to browse - to see things you wouldn't normally see. We know the internet is designed to respond to your desires, your interests and will continue to recommend items along the lines of your established thinking. Helpful in terms of your interests and orthodox thinking (maybe) but not as helpful with challenging your ideas, broadening your horizons and most importantly, deepening your faith.

I like to think of a bookshop as being similar to shopping at the op shop for clothes. I go to my size in the op shop and end up trying on a whole lot of styles that I wouldn't look at in a clothing store because when I go to the clothing store I tend to look at the style and then try them on.

I hope you will come down and see us soon and be pleasantly surprised - hey - have a cup of coffee while you are here!

Christine