by Bradley Jersak
As I started reading this book, I felt like it had some beautiful elements. For example, there is this quote by Bradley that I want to remember: “God is love and so defines love. All other claims to love either relate to God’s love or fail to be love at all.” What a wonderful reminder in this society obsessed by love, sexuality and romance. Proceeding deeper into the book, I started to feel warning bells going off. I realized where this book was going (which, the title should have given away). Suddenly, I felt like I was in the mix of someone that wants to love God and straddle social acceptance. The concept is that God is fully portrayed in Jesus. Love others, forgive everything and God is not big enough to prevent evil?
First of all, God is not small enough to box into the life of Jesus and the very limited revelations we have about His life here. God is a God of the entire Bible. He is also very clear about acceptance of people claiming to be Christians and blatantly sinning. People like to recognize Jesus’ acceptance, but not His righteous anger.
For me, I don’t recommend the book. I think it is OK for someone that is strong in their faith and wants to read about atonement theology. I think there is some great stuff here. However, to a weaker brother or sister, I think this book could be setting them on a path that is only seeing and believing a small portion of who God is. In doing so, that becomes exactly what Bradley is against: a god of our own making. Ironic, isn’t it?
Thank you, Litfuse, for this read. As always, this is my honest opinion. Here’s to many more!
Charity Andrews 