by Andy Braner
No Fear in Love is taken from one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.” – 1 John 4:18
As I read through this book, I had a couple of thoughts. First of all, I thought it was really interesting and I agreed with almost everything he had to say. The idea is that we love others instead of being scared of them. Everyone is in the same boat, no matter their religion, lifestyle, or ethnicity. We, as Christians, should love on others to show Christ to them. With that, I am 100% on board. I completely agree. When I am faced with someone that doesn’t believe in God, I absolutely believe that religion and lifestyle are non-issues. Showing them Jesus is way more important than trying to change anything about them.
Where I feel it got a little cloudy is when dealing with Christians. It is not our job to referee for God. I get that. But, at the same time, the Bible does outline how to deal with Christians that aren’t living the way that God wants them to. I would never suggest cruelty or judgement, but I would suggest that the Bible is clear. We are to help each other when we stumble.
Now, I will say that I don’t know exactly what his intention with the believer is. It wasn’t exactly clear. He also says in the book, “We are not embracing a soft message of the gospel as so many of my evangelical friends fear, but rather we’re going on a spiritual expedition of sorts.” There are numerous times he states that he doesn’t budge on where he stands with God. Of course, there were also a couple of places where I felt like maybe he had.
Overall, if you read this as a book saying to love on others instead of it being your mission to convert them, it’s a wonderful read. For someone that is already questioning the Bible and whether or not society has better rules, I would say it would be taken the wrong way.
Thank you, netgalley, for this great read! As always, this is my honest opinion. Here’s to many more!
If you would like to check out my face-off with Andy Braner, just head on over here!! Oh yeah, don’t forget he’s giving away a copy of his book!!!
Charity Andrews 