daddy4ms

I recently finished Getting Jesus Wrong by Matt Johnson.  I would recommend this book to discover if you have accepted a false view of Jesus.  Johnson has a great understanding of law and gospel and how a focus on Christ not the Christian is most important.  Here are quotes that resonated with me: While we still live in a messed-up world, hope is not something we can activate through spiritual activity or church associations. No, the core of the Christian faith is about objective hope that lives outside of our personal experiences and hearts. Objective hope is found in the miracle of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Here’s the good news: the mountaintop experiences of life aren’t normative. If everything in our lives of faith were a mountaintop, then nothing would be a mountaintop. Jesus does not require that we ascend up to him; he descends to us But on each step of the way faith must be grounded in who Jesus is and what he’s done...Not hope in what is i...

Getting Jesus Wrong by Matt Johnson is a great book about how the author's understanding of Jesus changed over the years.  What Johnson discovered was that he had created several false messiahs rather than seeing Jesus as He really is. The first part of the book looks at these false messiahs: Life Coach Jesus, Checklist Jesus, Movement Leader Jesus and Visionary Jesus.  Each one ultimately leads to pride (if you are accomplishing what Jesus requires) or despair (if you are failing what is asked of you). Through humor and real life stories, Johnson helps the reader understand how even though you attend church on a regular basis, you can still have an inaccurate understanding of Jesus.  The book does not come across as judgmental or pointing fingers because the author's honesty and vulnerability shows how he personally experienced each of these false messiahs in his own life.  The second part of the book looks to the antidote of pride and despair and these fa...