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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
For those who sense that something is amiss with American Christianity, May 5, 2009
Our culture loves experts. Turn on any morning news show and you will find a cadre of experts to advise you on everything from investing to child rearing. We eagerly lap up their nuggets of wisdom hoping to gain 5 easy steps for each area of our lives so we don't have to go through any struggles ourselves. However, what we often find is that while experts can give us information, nothing replaces a firsthand experience.
As Packiam makes quite clear in his timely and refreshing book, "Secondhand Jesus," we have made a grave mistake in taking this impersonal approach to our walk with God, relying on successful pastors, evangelists and "God-experts" to do the work for us rather than wading into the deep end of His presence ourselves.
Packiam explains, "Far too often, rumors about God originate in church. We hear a preacher say something about God with confident certainty, and we take it to be truth. What we don't know is that he heard another preacher say it, and that preacher heard another preacher say it...and so on.
We could blame them. But we would do better to blame ourselves for turning down God's invitation, for closing our ears and our eyes when he has tried to show himself to us. No technological advancement, no access to information, no invention of convenience has been able to change the strange human impulse to shun God, to cover up and hide, the way the first man and woman did."
With each chapter laying out rumor after rumor bare and exposed before the reader, Packiam's almost uncomfortably honest writing is set to the background of several Old Testament narratives from the story of Job to the battles for the Ark of the Covenant. His ability to weave in biblical text with personal stories makes his writing smooth, but provoking.
Of all the rumors of God Packiam tackles, I found his chapters addressing the prosperity gospel mentality the most necessary reading for the American church today.
Concerning the idea that God is one big blessing genie, ready to give us whatever we want if we say the right words or do the right things he responds,
"God is not a Coke machine. He resists formulas and equations, even the ones he apparently gave. To fully get this picture of a wildly personal, living God, you cannot just read Deuteronomy 28; you have to also wrestle with the Psalmists, lament with Jeremiah, protest with Jonah, and weep with the Son of God himself. To string together our favorite list of verses containing "God's promises for the blessed life" is like living in voluntary ignorance, a Dark Ages by choice. It is simply immature and foolish."
In the end, what this book is all about is a call to experience God for yourself. To put aside the safe arms-length relationship we all are prone to accept and engage with an incredibly good God. Not safe, but good.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"When God Doesn't Follow the Plan", April 30, 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Glenn Packiam is Associate Worship Pastor at New Life Church. This church had the misfortune of being in the news for scandal (having to do with the widely-known, now former, head pastor) and, later, for a gunman's rampage. Such shattering events could cause anyone to reconsider the foundations of their faith, and Packiam does so disarmingly and boldly in Secondhand Jesus: Trading Rumors of God for a Firsthand Faith.
Packiam uses a refrain of, "What the heck is going on?" often to anchor readers to various points of possible Christian misunderstanding. We all, he notes, experience times of crisis in our lives. The death of a loved one, the loss of a home or a job or investments, the betrayal by a friend -- these and many other happenings can trigger confusion or anger at God. Often, these reactions can be traced to misconceptions about Him. Some churches teach that if we are obedient to God's commandments and the gospel messages, we should be showered with favors, financial and emotional. Packiam admits he got lost in that mind-set for a while. But being shaken up and personally affected by the aforementioned events, he thought, "Something is wrong. There is a discrepancy between our view of God and our experience of life. Our God-concept is so thin it can't handle the weight of unexpected trouble."
Having diagnosed the fundamental problem, Packiam identifies a number of "rumors" about God that need dispelling. Rumor #1: God Will Give Me What I Want. #2: God Can Be Added to My List of Loyalties. #3: God is Pleased with My Goodness. #4: God Prefers Specialists.
Then, the author refers to the Old Testament stories of Job and, more lengthily, of the capture of the Ark of the Covenant by the Philistines to discuss these rumors. He illustrates the Israelites' more complex relationship with God. They, Packiam emphasizes, didn't hold a view of the world or God that blithely assumed God could be button-holed or controlled. They wrestled with God; they challenged Him; they doubted and disobeyed and angered Him. But they knew His place over them.
Packiam's message is not that modern Christians assume an Old Testament view of God. New Testament events irrevocably impede such retrogression. But he is encouraging active, deeper engagement with the Trinity than the superficial one many Christians have been taught. Using simple language and contemporary cultural references too that should appeal to all ages, he urges us to grow up and realize that God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and His Universe are not at our beck and call. We have to orient ourselves to God and his Mysteries as best we can. We are not going to understand everything that happens. Job confessed this, without expectation of any recompense. We should too.
This accessible, conversational short book offers valuable counseling for Christians -- or those who just want some insight about why the world is "perfect" in a way we human beings (most of us, anyway?) don't judge just and right.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Implications for youth ministry, May 12, 2009
I appreciate Glenn Packiam's perspective as a pastor, musician, father, and worship leader. He currently lives in the context of western Christianity, and recently weathered one of the biggest church scandals to ever come along, with perhaps the exception of PTL in the late 1980's. He also has a unique perspective of Jesus from outside the Mid-Western church box since he is from Malaysia. In the tradition of Searching for God Knows What and Flashbang: How I Got Over Myself he writes in a memoir story style that is perceptive and easy for the reader to digest.
As a youth pastor in a mega church in the Southwest, I ask questions along the line of Packiam's thinking. I'm grateful for the way he articulated his questions. It wasn't bitter or snobby. I can tell he genuinely loves the Church (with a big C). At our church, we have great volunteers, a supportive pastor, more than adequate meeting space, and a genuine desire to help youth in our community. However we as a youth ministry, feel like we are missing something. Glenn puts his finger on many areas youth ministries need to work on.
Specifically, Glenn highlights Jesus teachings about the "good life" dismissing the rumor that God just wants people to have "easy" lives. Glenn Packiam also observed the propensity for many churches to become a "one-stop spiritual shopping" church. We have groups for everything that you can think of and if we are not careful churches can point people to themselves instead of Jesus.
I'm thankful that Glenn Packiam didn't attempt to wrap everything up in a nice little bow with trite formulas and cheesy slogans. He doesn't set himself up to have all the answers. Instead, he leaves these rumors open for dialog. This is a great book for conversation and to read in community. I look forward to adding this book and its ideas into the curriculum of our ministry to teenagers and young adults and recommend it without reservation.
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~ Glenn Packiam
by Brian Doerksen
