Free How Jesus Saves The World From Us: 12 Antidotes To Toxic Christianity Ebooks Online
Christianity has always been about being saved. But today what Christians need saving from most is the toxic understanding of salvation we've received through bad theology. The loudest voices in Christianity today sound exactly like the religious authorities who crucified Jesus.This is a book for Christians who are troubled by what we've become and who want Jesus to save us from the toxic behaviors and attitudes we've embraced. Each of the 12 chapters proposes an antidote for the toxicity that has infiltrated Christian culture, such as "Worship not Performance, "Temple not Program," and "Solidarity not Sanctimony." Each chapter includes thought-provoking discussion questions, perfect for individual or group study.There are many reasons to lose hope about the state of our world and our church, but Guyton offers one piece of good news: Jesus is saving the world from us, one Christian at a time.
Paperback: 166 pages
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press (April 18, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0664262236
ISBN-13: 978-0664262235
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.4 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #33,811 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #63 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Ministry & Evangelism > Evangelism #79 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Christian Living > Social Issues #302 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Christian Living > Personal Growth
Christianity does not have a good reputation among non-Christians in contemporary America and Western Europe. For that reason, a large number of Christians find it hard to describe themselves as Christians without disclaimers: "I'm not one of those Christians"--those people for whom a "Christian worldview" is identical with right-wing Republican politics, for whom Christian morality primarily means disapproving of other people's sex lives, and for whom "salvation" means a private legal transaction with Jesus which enables one to escape hell. These disclaimers sometimes take the form of books explaining how to rescue "true" Christianity from its corruptions. This project, of course, goes back far beyond the problems of contemporary Western Christianity. Indeed, ever since the Reformation the genre of "finally getting it right" has become central to Protestantism. Books claiming to straighten Christianity out, when written by people of a "progressive" way of thinking, tend to cover certain predictable bases, attacking penal substitution, Biblical inerrancy, and the conservative Christian condemnation of homosexuality, among others. Morgan Guyton's How Jesus Saves the World from Us obviously falls into the progressive sub-genre of the "fixing Christianity" genre, as the subtitle indicates: Twelve Antidotes for Toxic Christianity. But at the same time, this book manages to transcend its genre. If you read one "progressive Christianity" book, read this one. If you hate "progressive Christianity" books, read this one. If you've read a bunch of them and are tired of them, read this one.
I have been a long time reader of Morgan Guyton’s blog, Mercy Not Sacrifice. I grew up in the Southern US in an evangelical setting (though I find it difficult to find a foothold in the current evangelical culture or belief system) and I always find his viewpoints interesting and refreshing. So when he said he was publishing a book, I was eager to read and review it. From the very beginning of the book, I knew I was not going to be disappointed.Guyton begins with an anecdote about G.K. Chesterton. When a newspaper asked its readers to share what they thought was wrong with the world, Chesterton replied, “I am.” Guyton then goes on to explain the premise of the book.This is a book for Christians who are troubled by what we’ve become and want Jesus to save the world from us. It’s also a book for anyone else who wants to eavesdrop and see whether Jesus might have something better to say than what you’ve heard from Christians before.The book is both an indictment of all of us who have called ourselves Christians who have been part of the “salvation industrial complex” as he so astutely calls it and a call to return to what Christianity could and should be – becoming like Jesus.The book covers quite a few different topics from how to love people (hint: it’s not by hitting them over the head with a Bible either metaphorically or literally - as I once did to a little boy at church camp, lucky for him it was only a small leatherbound King James, by the next year I had a hardbound Oxford annotated) – to conflict resolution and reading the Bible as poetry.
How Jesus Saves the World from Us: 12 Antidotes to Toxic Christianity Toxic Workplace!: Managing Toxic Personalities and Their Systems of Power The Beginner's Bible Jesus Saves the World (I Can Read! / The Beginner's Bible) The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (Future of Christianity Trilogy) How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind: Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity (Early African Christianity Set) Christianity and Western Thought: Journey to Postmodernity in the Twentieth Century: 3 (Christianity & Western Thought) The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries Jesus Freaks: Stories of Those Who Stood for Jesus, the Ultimate Jesus Freaks Jesus Freaks: Martyrs: Stories of Those Who Stood for Jesus: The Ultimate Jesus Freaks Judy Moody Saves the World! Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their Significance For Understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity James, the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls Jesus in the Lotus: The Mystical Doorway Between Christianity and Yogic Spirituality Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity The Brother of Jesus and the Lost Teachings of Christianity James, Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus Study Guide: A Former Muslim Shares the Evidence that Led Him from Islam to Christianity Paul and Jesus: How the Apostle Transformed Christianity
