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173 of 198 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rob Bell challenges us to see our world through the eyes of Jesus, September 22, 2008
In his latest work, Jesus Wants To Save Christians, Rob Bell along with friend Don Golden reflects on the growing differences between the message of the Gospel as found in the Bible, and the message of the gospel as preached in many Western churches each Sunday.
No doubt the criticisms will come that this book is anti-American, or un-Patriotic as Bell portrays America's growing global empire by way of comparison with other global empires of their time. The comparison is chilling and leaves the reader thinking, "what the heck are we doing?? Is this what Jesus wants for our nation??".
Rob Bell is in essence calling for Reformation in the Church. It is a timely and indeed Prophetic book that calls out the mischief of the war-makers and calls the Bride back to its roots and a message of grace and redemption. Something that will no doubt grate painfully with many right-wing pseudo-Conservative "christians" that see foreign enemies as the real cause of our problems, rather that those domestic enemies Thomas Jefferson warned us of.
Calling things as they really are and shining the light of Kingdom truth on where we are headed as a nation is something few men are brave enough to do. This book will challenge you to reflect on your own faith and ask yourself hard questions about your day to day opinions of war and terrorism and what our response as Followers of Christ should be.
A Manifesto For the Church In Exile. The sub title is extremely fitting. This book should go hand in hand with another Manifesto written by a Christian, that of Congressman Dr. Ron Paul; The Revolution: A Manifesto. Both books are in agreement with each other but present the argument from two very different but very solid positions. I recommend both of these books together.
Ending the book, Bell calls the reader to consider their place in the world. To stop waiting for something big to happen and to simply live the example of Christ for the rest of the world, and everything that entails. Buy this book, it will challenge and provoke you to see the world through the eyes of Jesus and not of the "Western Christian faith". And that, can only be a good thing.
I give this book 5 out 5. If this review was helpful to you, please click yes below.
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38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Jesus wants to save paper, February 25, 2009
To be honest, I have tried to like Rob Bell's work many times without much luck. That's probably a bad way to start a review.
I'm not a Bell-basher, but I'm not a fan either; I understand his appeal, but it doesn't appeal to me; I have been to his church, I know some people there, and I like them and have enjoyed worshiping at Mars Hill.
Many who haven't read Rob Bell's books are at least familiar with the phenomenally successful series of short films called Nooma (which are quite good). Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile is the third of his provocatively titled books - the previous two being Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith (my review) and Sex God: Exploring the Endless Connections between Sexuality and Spirituality.
If you've ever heard Bell speak, it's easy to hear his voice when you read his books - his pacing, pauses, and emphases are communicated well by the format of the text. The size and outside cover designs are clever and appealing, making them nice books to be seen with.
In Jesus Wants to Save Christians Bell uses the motif of exile to illustrate the condition of God's people at present and in times past, drawing parallels between the two. Exile, by Bell's definition, is "when you fail to convert your blessings into blessings for others... [and] when you find yourself a stranger to the purposes of God."
Bell wisely recommends that, "a Christian should get very nervous when the flag and the Bible start holding hands. This is not a romance we want to encourage." And adds: "For a growing number of people in our world, it appears that many Christians support some of the very things Jesus came to set people free from."
He does excel at delivering a concise synopsis of Old Testament Biblical events, but beyond that and into his interpretation of the events, I found little of value. The book does not deliver on it's promise.
In describing the new covenant Bell says: "No more fear, no more terror, no more thunder. That was the old way, the former thing, the first covenant." In this new covenant, "the truth will be so deeply etched into people's consciousness that they will naturally do the right thing." There is a common thread in Bell's work, one that is the cause of some accusations that he favors Universalism. There are certainly overtones of that soteriological view and it would be nice to hear Bell explain his thinking on the matter a bit more.
By challenging Bell's allusions to Universalism, one is put into the position of having to answer questions like "Are you saying you DON'T want everyone to be saved?" That is not the point here. Of course everyone (except the most extreme hyper-Calvinist) DOES hope that all will be saved, but likelihood of this goes against numerous passages of scripture. Some will spend eternity separated from God; Bell would do well to mention this more often in his teaching - not as a gleeful condemnation, but as a plea for repentance.
The text on the back cover says the following:
"There is a church in our area that recently added an addition to their building which cost more than $20 million. Our local newspaper ran a front-page story not too long ago revealing that one in five people in our city lives in poverty. This is a book about those two numbers."
That claim is not substantiated in the pages of JWTSC; it would have been a much better book if it had.
The tone and scope of JWTSC reminds me of two other titles I read. Neither one sold me completely on its thesis and both are secular in orientation, but they challenged my preconceptions more effectively. So if a vibrant screed against the culture of excessive consumption and affluence is what you're after, you're more likely to be inspired by reading Naomi Klein's No Logo. or Kalle Lasn's Culture Jam: How to Reverse America's Suicidal Consumer Binge--And Why We Must.
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37 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Theology Aside, October 24, 2008
I finished this book last night, and I continue to hold to my stance that even if you do not totally agree with Rob Bell's theology he always brings up some very good points that are worth think about and discussing. This book is a collaborative work of Rob Bell Teaching Pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids and the former Lead Pastor of said church Dan Golden on the current exile of the Church in America.
The point and ideas that Rob and Dan make in this book are clear and simple enough that I do not want to ruin it with a shoddy summary but I do encourage you to read this book. Bell is known to sometimes make links and correlations between New and Old Testament that are sometimes thin at best. And there are a few of those, also in one biblical reference he confuses Philip the Evangelist with the Apostle Philip, but small little things like this do not take away from the fact that Rob Bell & Dan Golden bring forth some very interesting ideas that can really make you reevaluate what you think your position in the world is.
There are people who love everything Rob Bell writes or speaks about, they will enjoy this book. There are people who hate everything thing Rob Bell writes or speaks about, they will dislike the book and probably find hundred's of things wrong with it. Then, there are those of us to listen to Bell, and agree with him on some things and disagree with him on others. I get the feeling that is the kind of reader or listener he enjoys the most. Bell & Golden don't ever claim to have everything right, but they do want to ask questions and encourage people to think and do. If you read this book with an open and without preconceived notions this book should deliver that for you.
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