Free Downloads Saving Jesus From The Church: How To Stop Worshiping Christ And Start Following Jesus
From One of America's Leading Pastors, a Bold Call to Restore Christianity's True Mission: Following JesusThe marriage of bad theology and hypocritical behavior by the church has eroded our spiritual lives. Taking the best of biblical scholarship, Meyers recasts core Christian concepts in an effort to save Christianity from its obsession with personal salvation. Not a plea to try something brand new, but rather the recovery of something very old, Saving Jesus from the Church shows us what it means to follow Jesus's teachings today.
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: HarperOne; Reprint edition (March 9, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061568228
ISBN-13: 978-0061568220
Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.6 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (159 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #41,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #11 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Churches & Church Leadership > Ecclesiology #148 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Churches & Church Leadership > Church History #197 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > History
Does it matter if Jesus was born to a virgin or not? Does it matter if Jesus was born in a manger or a field, to a virgin or a wife with several children? Does it change anything if Jesus wasn't really, physically raised from the dead? Is He somehow less influential, less important, less moral? Are His words or His actions any less significant or inspirational if he had a girlfriend or a companion? Then why, Meyers asks, is that all we talk about anymore?The title and its accompanying cover say much of what needs to be said about the new book from Oklahoma City resident, author, professor, scholar, syndicated columnist, and controversial reverend Robin Meyers. The bluest man in the reddest state has put his new book to the masses for what he hopes will be a uniting, not dividing, result. With such a title, you'd think it a stretch, but Meyers' approach and respect for the subject is convincing for anyone who makes it past the Prologue.This book attempts to dissect, as the previous sentence begins to describe, the human side of Jesus and the deity which was created in his remembrance. Jesus the human was about peace, unconditional love, inclusiveness, aiding the sick and the poor, forgiving, and fellowship. The deity, on the other hand, is much more about commandments and rules, practices and rituals, do's and don'ts. Dr. Meyers points out that merely believing in Jesus has no impact on our daily lives. Following Jesus, though, can change everything.Dr. Meyers seeks to find the common ground in all the divisiveness and debate about religion.
Every so often, a book comes into my life and acts like the hand that shakes a snow globe, disturbing all of the molecules of my existence and rearranging my internal landscape. My college Intro to New Testament class textbook, Henri Nouwen's Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life, Parker Palmer's To Know as We Are Known: Education as a Spiritual Journey, and a handful of others have gone beyond being engaging or thought-provoking to being truly transformational forces in my life. To that short list, I'll now add a new one: Saving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus by Robin R. Meyers. It's a book that really should come with a warning label on it, like, "This book will either change your life, your ministry, your faith, your friendships, and just about everything else...or, you'll be too afraid to let it do so!"Meyers, the pastor of Mayflower Congregational Church in Oklahoma City and the author of four books, surveys the state of the church and of contemporary Christianity--conservative and liberal--and doesn't think much of it is in sync with the message of Jesus. The bottom line for Meyers is that the church has overemphasized belief rather than actions that indicate one is following Jesus, and each chapter points us in the right direction.
I really loved this book. Robin Meyers liberates Jesus from the stiffling straightjacket of being a god to being a man who believed in God and saw life in God as something to be lived. Meyers makes the point over and over again that not only is a literal view of the bible untenible, it reduces humans to only being interested in what it takes for their own personal "rescue", not to mention what it says about a god if there is one. Biblical scholarship makes it plain that the ideas of Jesus as god were added later, and I agree with Meyers and others like him that this was a litergy meant to explain, in the understanding of people at that time, their feeling of what Jesus was. Anyone who wants to believe in a god that kills for the price of his favor is welcome to their tribal and evil god. Anyone raised in the church was given the belief that Jesus is god, that he came here on a rescue mission, and the only thing that counts is that you say the right things so god gives you a ticket to the good side of the park when you die. What if Meyers and others are right and that view was wrong? Christianity started as an offshoot of judaism. Perhaps it is time to consider the background Jesus came from when looking at what he represented.Although most religious people will see Meyers views as stripping the mystery out of God, I believe it restores it. Remember, people, Jesus was not a christian!!! It is shocking how many christians believe that Jesus was not jewish. He was a jewish man raised in the jewish vision of god, and he took that understanding to a higher level by insisting that living through the prisim of, not a merciful god but a loving god, should inform decisions about how to live.
Saving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus Change Your Habits Change Your Life: Break Your Bad Habits, Break Your Addictions And Live A Better Life (Change Your Life, Stop Smoking, Stop Drinking, Stop Gambling, Stop Overeating) Stop Smoking: Now!! Stop Smoking the Easy Way!: Bonus Chapter on the electronic cigarette! (Quit Smoking, Stop Smoking, Blood Pressure, Heart Disease, Lung Cancer, Smoking, Stop) The Ministry of Motherhood: Following Christ's Example in Reaching the Hearts of Our Children What Jesus Said: Words of Jesus Christ from the Urantia Papers From Jesus to Christ: The Origins of the New Testament Images of Jesus What Would Jesus Deconstruct?: The Good News of Postmodernism for the Church (The Church and Postmodern Culture) How To Stop Worrying and Start Living - What Other People Think Of Me Is None Of My Business: Learn Stress Management and How To Overcome Relationship Jealousy, Social Anxiety and Stop Being Insecure Stop Drinking Now: The Easy Way To Stop Drinking (I Need To Stop Drinking) Stop Smoking: Stop Smoking Fast: 15 Steps to Stop Smoking: A Proven Step-by-Step Guide to Naturally Quit Smoking Cigarettes for Life (Quit Smoking Method) Seven Last Words of Christ from the Cross: A Devotional Bible Study and Meditation on the Passion of Christ for Holy Week, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday Services (JesusWalk Bible Study Series) Boundless: What Global Expressions of Faith Teach Us about Following Jesus Saving My Rotting Cactus (an illustrated, step-by-step guide to saving your rotten cactus) Spiritual Disciplines within the Church: Participating Fully in the Body of Christ The parish register of Christ Church, Middlesex County, Va., from 1653 to 1812 The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ;: The philosophic and practical basis of the religion of the Aquarian age of the world Jesus Christ, Sun of God: Ancient Cosmology and Early Christian Symbolism The Case for Christ Study Guide Revised Edition: Investigating the Evidence for Jesus Foundations of Catholic Social Teaching: Living as a Disciple of Christ (Encountering Jesus) Jesus Christ Superstar Easy Piano
