Customer Reviews

The Lost Message of Jesus

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

This book contains much that is thought-provoking and challenging. Chalke rails against the way Christians (and the church) can be judgmental rather than gracious - assenting in principle to what Christ says but failing to put it into practice. And yes, we do need to keep asking ourselves where in our church and society we would be likely to find Jesus if he walked this earth again today. And we need to keep repenting.

However, Chalke pushes the pendulum so far back that he loses the crucial balance of what Jesus actually did say! (It's also significant, I think, that he quotes very little from the book of Acts and the Epistles, which tell us what the first eye-witnesses of Jesus thought his message was, and how they put it into practice.)

Some of the book comes across at first glance merely as slightly wacky: for example he asserts that the reason God tells Moses, "no one may see my face and live" is not because of God's overwhelming majesty and holiness (cf Isaiah 6), but because God's face is riven which so much pain that the sight of it would be too much for Moses to bear. But the book, along with the challenges and insights, and the things that raise an eyebrow or a question mark, has a dangerous undertone.

Someone once said that most heresy comes about simply because we emphasise one truth at the expense of another! Christ's humanity rather than his divinity (or vice versa); God's sovereignty rather than man's free will (or vice versa). And, in his attempt to emphasise God's love and grace, Steve Chalke has subtly downplayed talk of sin and judgment.

This started to alarm me long before I got to the pages which proved the most controversial: Chalke's attack on the principle that one of the awful things happening at Calvary was that Christ was being punished, by his and our loving Father, for our sins.

It is encouraging that Chalke recognises early in the book that "although God is love, this doesn't exclude the possibility of him eventually acting in judgment". However, when it comes to examining the Cross of Christ, Chalke seems to be unable to hold those two ideas - love and justice - together.

His view of the Cross is predominantly that is was God's final and total identification with the lost, the outcast and the marginalised. This is true. But the bible also teaches (and no, we shouldn't find this easy to stomach!) that:

"God presented [Christ] as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." (Romans 3:25-26).

Compare that with Steve Chalke:

"The fact is that the cross isn't a form of cosmic child abuse - a vengeful Father, punishing his Son for an offence he has not even committed. Understandably, both people inside and outside of the Church have found this twisted version of events morally dubious and a huge barrier to faith. Deeper than that, however, is that such a concept stands in total contradiction to the statement "God is love". If the cross is a personal act of violence perpetrated by God towards humankind but borne by his Son, then it makes a mockery of Jesus' own teaching to love your enemies and to refuse to repay evil with evil. The truth is, the cross is a symbol of love. It is a demonstration of just how far God as Father and Jesus as his Son are prepared to go to prove that love..."

Very sadly, this starts to remind me of Richard Niebuhr's famous description of the essence of theological liberalism: `A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.'

The book really fired me up as a Christian. Steve Chalke talks of God as the God of love and it was incredible to be reminded that God loves me just as I am.

More important, that God loves all those people I have been critical of. Who was I to be intolerant of anyone when God loves them? The book is threaded through with the concept of grace. One consequence is that it has made my discussions about Jesus much easier.

The book is highly accessible and full of anecdotes. Some people say it shows weak theology. I think it shows readable theology. It is a good starting point for anyone who wants to read about Jesus.

And it challenges Christians to go out and get involved in the world, to make a difference - and that was the LAST message of Jesus!

This positive but thought-provoking book looks at how our culture has misrepresented the Good News of Christ. It explores the historical and cultural context that Jesus Christ lived in and how his message was that the Kingdom of God had arrived.

I like the authors' explanation of repentance and how the Church has tried to scare people into becoming Christians in contrast to Christ's all accepting invitation to be part of the Kingdom.
Chalke & Mann write in a very readable way using stories and examples from history including Martin Luther King and Gandhi to show how the message of Christ should have practical implications to the world in which we live. Apparently this is has been the most controversial book Steve Chalke has written but I couldn't find any heresy in it. It will probably upset 'hellfire' preachers but they should still read it.

As I am sure you have picked up from the mixed reviews, "the Lost Message of Jesus" is a book which has caused people to have a large spread of opinions.
This is an apparently contraversial book which will succeed in either changing some of your preconceptions about Christ or cause people to put up a defensive barrier and refuse to even consider it.
When looked upon with an open-mind, this book will cause you to think more deeply about what Christianity is about and will give you some helpful life stories which you can be encouraged by.
I really enjoyed this book and didn't find anything really outrageous about it. Infact, I think it highlighted issues concerning our dogma and religious routines clouding the true message of Jesus.
Overall, it is worth a read. You may agree with it and adopt it into a new way of thinking or you may reject it, but it is worth broadening your horizons with such a unique read.

Steve Chalke must be one of the biggest names in the church in Britain. Through events such as Spring Harvest and slots presenting various programs for the BBC, he has achieved widespread recognition. How sad then that this latest publication attacks (and in some places mocks) the very heart of the Christian message.

The aim to strip chrstianity down to its very core, the 'Lost Message' is laudible. But one is left wondering just where Chalke found this particular 'gospel'. Certainly not in the Bible, nor indeed in the historic confessions of faith. There is hardly an orthodox doctrine that doesn't get twisted. Sin is minimalised, God's wrath virtually dismissed, therefore leaving God with a huge stain on his character. Chalke's God is unjust: sin has no penalty. The idea of penal substitution, of Christ standing in fallen man's place and bearing the wrath of His Father is flatly denied, though Chalke admits he 'used to preach' it. The dismssal is not through any reasoned argument, but by classic liberal stereotyping. How, Chalke says, can we believe that a God who calls us to turn the other cheek would not do likewise and forgive us, without demanding a price be paid. He further ridicules this understanding of the cross as 'cosmic child abuse', demonstrating a complete failure to understand the Trinity, perhaps even the divinity of Christ.

Reading The Lost Message of Jesus was at heart deeply upsetting. It is difficult even to recognise the God of the Bible. The God of the Lost Message seems to have no hatred of sin, and is therefore of course ultimately unloving and untrustworthy. Biblical understandings of God's character, man after the fall, sin, the trinity, the person of Christ and the atonement all are swept away, not to mention the work of the Holy Spirit in convicting of sin and bringing to faith and repentence. That a respected and popular church leader should come out and write this book is little short of criminal. It is perhaps worth remembering that the greatest threat to the church comes from within its visible community.

A well written book with some ideas that some Christians manage to forget. Such as God being loving, the gospel being good news, and that God's Kingdom is also established on earth.

Worth four stars perhaps with a few corrections.

Firstly the title: Needlessly provocative and false. Most Christians know the 'hidden message' of God being loving, and there being the kingdom of God on earth in the hearts of believers. `The Sub-Message' of Jesus, would be more appropriate.

The downplaying of sin: Makes it out to seem like we are all right and don't need forgiveness. Stuff like this is why some can be heavy handed on talking about sin and hell.

Denial of Atonement: The whole `cosmic child abuse' analogy, and basically forgetting God and Jesus divinity when it suits. Denies that our sins are forgiven by God (the impression is we don't have any), rather that was God sharing our suffering.

Appalling use of context. E.g.: John 3:16 quoted twice with out the end "...that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life". This is done so Chalke can focus on this life being more important than the next one.

Use of Straw men arguments: The alternate positions are examples that clearly show no love in them, so the reader will side with Chalke. Doesn't mean he is right unfortunately.

As a Christian you get left praying for Steve Chalke and Alan Mann, and any people misled by the book.

Don't think that just because he makes some good points, that everything he says is right, the use of the Bible is appalling in this book. Which makes the back slapping reviews by N.T. Wright (who Chalke quotes often) in particular, all the more galling.

Steve Chalke and Alan Mann's book provides a useful starting point for evangelical Christians wanting to explore beyond the usual stereotypes. The book is not theologically deep, but does not set out to be such. Instead it sheds some introductory light on the cultural settings without which Jesus's teachings cannot properly be understood as well as showing where standard evangelical beliefs step outside the original setting and understanding.

If you believe that you have all the answers already, then this book isn't for you. If you have an open mind and spirit and are willing to engage with your own doubts and questions, the book will help with this process.

This book should be viewed as a conversation primer: between the author and the evangelical church and between the reader and God.

To his credit, Steve Chalke comes across a man who deeply loves people. He seems to be the type of guy you would want in your corner if you are being mistreated. His concern for justice is admirable.

Sadly, he seems to misrepresent the God of the Bible in numerous passages throughout his book. He seems to be working from a definition of love that is different then the Bible's. He seems to imply that because God (or Jesus) is love therefore he cannot be vengeful of sin and sinners. This is untrue. Some of the other things he says like, "God is never defined in the Bible as being anything other than love" is either untrue or misleading depending on what he means.

I think the book was a well intentioned shot at reform, try to help us as Christians be more gracious, but I feel he went about it the wrong way.

If you enjoy Keith Ward, Tom Wright, or Rob Bell you will enjoy this book.

The book is pointing the church back to the subversive message of Jesus. It also challenges the apathetic attitude of the church. The church in many places has become little more than a religious club with a thin veil of religiosity.

It is written in a fresh exciting way. It is not as scholarly as some writers but it is very readable.

I have struggled to see what the objections to the book are. Like many areas of church life the challenge is doing the simple but hard stuff that we do understand - Loving each other. Rather than fighting over theological terms which really don't matter.

This is one of the most enlightening books I have read on Jesus and His message. Steve Chalk and his co-author have written this book in a clear and understandable manner and reveal truths about Jesus' teachings seldom if ever explained in churches. This book is a must to read if you have ever puzzled about what appears to be contradictory meanings behind His words.