“No wonder the world hates us. Most of the time we’re persecuted not because we love Jesus, but because we’re prideful, arrogant jerks who don’t love the real Jesus. We’re often judgmental, hypocritical, and legalistic while claiming to follow a Jesus who is forgiving, authentic, and loving.”
If you’re looking for something good to read, something refreshing, something theologically sound, and something beyond the status quo of religion, then you should read this book. I would recommend it to every pastor, every Christian, and especially every people who considers themselves to be anti Christian. Written by a young man by the name of Jefferson Bethke who had enough of legalism and misunderstanding of the Bible.
“I started to see an enormous difference in the Christianity I thought I knew and the Christianity proclaimed in the New Testament. I finally started to see: The Bible isn’t a rule book. It’s a love letter. I’m not an employee. I’m a child. It’s not about my performance. It’s about Jesus’ performance for me.”
You may recognize the name of this young man because of a YouTube video that went viral not too long ago. I have included the video at the end of this blog post. Jefferson may be overlooked by many because of several reasons. Number one he is young and number two, he has never been to seminary. Please don’t let this stop you from being blessed by this work of art, based on the Bible.
Jefferson writes about the fact that he was broken and because of the brokenness he felt like he wasn’t good enough to really be a child of God. Then he read the scriptures and found that brokenness is what made him eligible for the Grace of God. He discovered that the church is a place for broken people to come and help each other, not a place for good people to gather and gloat in their goodness.
“I didn’t know it then, but God broke me to fix me because he loved me.”
The church is known more for what it is against than it is for what we are for.
‘Jesus is so much greater than “don’t smoke, don’t drink, and don’t have sex.” As Christians, we need to stop forcing the Bible into our own judgments and instead humbly and prayerfully open our minds in hopes that God might reveal himself deeply.”
This is a great book to create a series of messages from to enrich a church like the one that I pastor. The church I pastor is made up of about one third Christian, one third non Christian, and about one third angry at the church. I hope you will give it a read and I would love to hear your thoughts while you are reading it.
“The process of writing this book has been crazy. It has easily been the biggest project I’ve ever undertaken. Some days I blazed through the writing, but other days I just stared at my thirteen-inch Macbook Pro’s screen not ever pressing one button. All in all the process has been rewarding as I have fleshed out what I believe, written it in a way that articulates my heart, and hopefully helped at least one reader.”
Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus