Customer Reviews

Modeling God

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Of all of the books I have ever seen on Amazon.com this one is by far the most dangerous. Posing as orthodox Christianity, the author lays out his system of understanding scripture using definitions that he himself has carefully replaced. The meanings of words foundational to Christianity like grace, sin and even salvation are exchanged to satisfy the authors desire to construct what he calls "the only non-contradictory model for God". Through his re-casting of scriptures core definitions, the author makes the case that readers should reject orthodox definitions and accept the ones that fit his model. This all seems quite benign except when you realize that what is left after all of this redefining bears no likeness to the Biblical gospel. Whether he is aware of it or not, the author is actually asking readers to leave orthodoxy for his own bastardized version of pseudo-christianity - something more akin to first century Gnosticism. My experience with readers who practice the tenets of this book have often been destructive; Marriages broken up by one spouse claiming grounds for separation due to "profitability" (a term that the author lays out on his blog more than this book), conflict between followers of this book and church leadership, and the eventual severing of long established church family relationships. My advice to any Christian is to either stay away from this book, or read it knowing that the views contained in it have had many far reaching (and I would add - deleterious) consequences to people I know who follow it. Mr. Lenhart is now claiming to be carrying on the legacy of C.S. Lewis (without the endorsement of the late Mr. Lewis' estate or family I presume). He also reviews this (his own book) giving it 5 stars here on amazon.com - any reader should also know that He goes much further regarding his authorship of this book in other forums, claiming Holy Spirit inspiration! I would advise anyone considering reading this book to use the most extreme caution!

Over this past year, I have been teaching the principles from "Modeling God" in Bibles studies and one-on-one mentoring sessions. In the past, I have used many popular Christian Bible study materials. Most just emphasize the effects we as Christians "should have" evident in our lives. However, it seems none explain the "why" or "how" like "Modeling God"...well enough that people can make intentional progress. This book clearly explains a non-contradictory definition for God, faith, grace, salvation, life, truth, prayer, love, and the meaning of life. During the past year, I have seen tremendous growth in individuals that have applied these principles to their lives. This book showed them the causes and how to drive those causes and the effects we all desire followed naturally without effort. They are hearing more clearly from God, know what they believe and why, and are intentionally making progress towards God.

In CS Lewis' last book, "The Discarded Image", Lewis stated Christians need a Model for their belief system that can only be created by a scientist...not a theologian. Lewis gave two rules for modeling. The first rule is: The Model ought to cover all the observed effects without contradiction. The second rule is: If two Models satisfy the first rule, we must chose the simplest Model. From this, four God-given principles are identified: causality, non-contradiction, contrastive thinking, and growth.

"Modeling God" calls these four God-given principles, when used together, "Modeletics" in honor of CS Lewis. "Modeling God" uses these four God-given principles to begin determining the Model CS Lewis encouraged us to identify. If you are looking for a book that presents truth indirectly...that is, through a story, this book is NOT for you. This book is intended for teachers and serious thinkers because it presents truth directly...much like CS Lewis did with "Mere Christianity. For more information, check out this link: [...]

The church has gotten so far off course over the last forty years, they are unable to recognize a book that continues CS Lewis' legacy!

"Modeling God" presents the HOW and WHY behind the WHAT...it presents the reasons HOW and WHY for what Christians believe. Most Christians are not familiar with books that present the HOW and WHY, so they are unable to see that "Modeling God" presents the same beliefs as orthodox Christianity.

"Modeling God" presents definitions for the key words that make up Christian belief (faith, grace, God, Salvation, love, etc.) in terms of causes. If the definition of a word is presented in terms of causes, the effects can be non-contradictory and intentionally attainable.

If the definition of a word is presented in terms of effects, the effects of the definition will contradict and will not be able to be attained intentionally...which is the reason the church in America has been eroding over the last forty years.

In fact, one of the reviewers of this book was challenged to present his HOW and WHY for Jesus being fully man and fully God. His response, like all responses that attack "Modeling God" AND state a HOW and WHY end up heretical...and in this case, contradicting one of the most famous biblical prophecies concerning Jesus! (Notice how reviewers won't give a HOW and WHY in their explanation.)

For more information on how a reviewer ended up hypocritical, check out this link: [...]

(I realize this should have been in the product description, but I have been trying to change the product description for months but Amazon has not responded.)

This book has helped me understand who God is and how He operates in a way no other book has. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in growth.

Looking for the meaning of life, I found myself knocking on doors of different religions. I have to admit the road was incredibly bumpy because although at times I felt comfort, in the end I would always have more questions than answers. The tools and views in this book have helped me make wiser decisions in my life, but most importantly, to value the uniqueness and the deeper purposes of the circumstances that we encounter. After reading this material, I have developed a stronger, more intimate bond with God because I UNDERSTAND better his works.

I received this book as a gift from a dear friend, and oh, I cannot thank him enough!
If I would recommend this book? Definitely!!!! Without a doubt!

I don't like to read.I am glad that I have red this book and that it is out in the world. Please read the whole thing them make your comments opinings are nice judgement are not yours to give.

This book is like choosing the red pill or blue pill...be careful ;)

I was unplugged and I would never want to go back!

My life is continually becoming better and better. I already feel like I've lived the best romance story as well because of applying the principles I learned through this material.

Every person i've seen follow through with considering the philosophy in this book has grown and stepped into more of who they are and what they want to achieve


nw sky (moon)

"Modeling God" is a great book as it challenges us to look at God again and try to understand what God wants from us. I enjoyed it as it made me think and brought me to a deeper connection with God. I have read some of the other review and I am sure that Mr. Lenhart has come under fire from others in the "Christian Community". I fail to understand why? Why are people so afraid to openly discuss differing views on God. Well, I know why. They are not secure in their own believes and feel that pointing the finger and yelling is the way to keep people away from an opposing view. This is the human condition that dates all the way back to the way many treated Jesus in his day and beyond. People are always afraid to have their view on religion challenged. But in doing so, you only allow your relationship with God to become deeper, as it did with me. I recommend this book and recommend that if you have a different point of view that you don't attack it, but logically disprove it. But you will have your work cut out for you as Mr. Lenhart has really thought this through.

I read this book because it is causing division in the Christian community. Objectively, it's far outside of mainstream Christian theology, and often directly subversive of it. Subjectively, it's bogus: misleading, non-Biblical, and staggeringly pretentious.

Lenhart (the author) claims he has discovered spiritual principles that define God completely, and guarantee their followers lives of perfect spiritual harmony. (I'm not exaggerating.) But he reduces God to a depersonalized abstraction, governed by a ridiculously concrete notion of "justice." Basically, Lenhart considers justice a cosmic currency that can't be created or destroyed, only traded between God and man according to curious rules.

As a result, Lenhart claims that God cannot have free will, and that prayer is just a crude transaction of spiritual "value" that must be "justly" earned. Other preposterous claims: praying for someone's salvation is "witchcraft," and we all need to discover something called our "physical ARE."

Lenhart builds arguments upon invented maxims and definitions. Only the God Model, he claims, is not "contradictory." But contradictory to what? That's Lenhart's seductive but huge fallacy: he wants us to accept his model based only on his peculiar and self-serving terms. But internal consistency has no bearing on the truth without external validity, and he provides no credible Biblical or philosophical grounding for his theories.

Normally, I wouldn't go out of my way to criticize a book. But Modeling God's unbridled hubris deserves critique. "My principles can instantly find the flaw in every belief system," Lenhart proclaims. "Throughout history, every error could have been prevented if these principles were followed completely." Would you believe any book that makes such boasts, especially one that purports to overturn the wisdom of many theologians and doctrines throughout history? I certainly wouldn't recommend it.

"Modeling God" is a book that deals very little with scripture and a lot with John G. Lenhart. It is a very poorly written book...and ultimately not even "Christian" in terms of holding to what is broadly seen as "orthodox Christianity." Lenhart's theological construct is gnosticism reinvented, heretical to its very core.

Here is what Lenhart teaches: 1) Sin is relative. 2) Grace is something you pay for. 3) Jesus is not fully divine by nature. 4)There is no event where one accepts Christ and is saved. 5) There is no need to receive Christ. 6) The cross has little meaning in salvation. 7)That unless you have gained a "value" from God, prayer is worthless. 8) Marriages can be dissolved if they are "unprofitable" to one of the partners. Considering how much of the core of the Christian faith he rejects, the fact that he considers his work "evangelical" and "Christian" is amusing and troubling all at once.

My encouragement would be to save your money are buy a good C.S. Lewis book. You'll be far more blessed.