Lies We Believe About God Paperback – March 27, 2018

Below I will share my overall thoughts on WM. Paul Young's book Lies We Believe About God in summary format. I will utilize a green light, yellow light, red light format in my critique.Green Light (Stuff I really liked....GO!)1. The Tone- I liked the humble tone of the introduction (and carried through to the rest of the book). Young is not being dogmatic. He is sharing his thoughts. He is creating questions which are, of course, healthy to discuss.2. The Jesus Centered Approach- In theory, this is the right approach. I think Young attempted to keep Jesus at the center. But that's not as easy as one might think. At times it seemed that Young might be leaning more on a certain interpretation of Paul or even certain statements of Jesus (while ignoring others). But overall, I appreciate the Jesus centered approach.3. Emphasis on Genesis 1- I like that Young talked about the inherent goodness of humanity. We need more voices that take Genesis 1 and the anthropological predecessor to Genesis 3.4. A Non-Controlling God- Young is right, it seems to me, to move away from meticulous sovereignty and toward a God who is purposefully non-controlling. Surprisingly, it seemed that Young departed from this a bit in the chapter about coincidences, but overall I thought he was solid on this point. I'd be interested to know what Young would think of the work of Thomas Jay Oord.5. Caution Toward Religion- Young stated that Jesus came to end religion in a very real sense. I agree.6. God and Gender- I never had a problem with Young's portrayal of the Trinity in The Shack so far as it concerns gender. In this book, he does a good job of stating his view. I concur.7. Magic Christianity- I think Young did a very good job of describing how some Christians have a magical view of faith and performance. This is something I come across in local church ministry quite often.8. Sex- I think was on point in the chapter on God's relationship to sexuality.9. Politics- With the exception of not fleshing out (or even mentioning) Romans 13, I think Young did a great job of discussing the Christian relationship to the state (especially considering how short a space he devoted to this).10. Hell- As someone who wrote a thesis paper on hell, I felt Young's treatment of the subject was fair. I don't agree with his view (Christian Universalism), but I don't consider it heretical either.11. Atonement- I think Young did a good job of critiquing some forms of penal substitution theory that pit God the Father against the Son.12. Trinity- I appreciated and share Young's thoughts on the Trinity. I do believe that 'God is love' is a true statement because God is a plurality of unified persons. It's wonderful to know that love is at the very core of reality.Yellow Light (Stuff I'd be cautious about... SLOW DOWN!)1. View of the Fall- I was not thoroughly convinced that Young had a thoroughgoing view of the depth of human depravity. His best statement of it was in chapter 22, but overall he seemed to view the human condition as one where our goodness is just buried deep inside us rather than that it is actually distorted.2. Christian Universalism- I consider General Universalism to be heresy, but I wouldn't say this about Christian Universalism. In the latter, I would distinguish between dogmatic universalism and hopeful universalism. Young seems basically certain that all will be saved. I would be more open to hopeful universalism. I actually think Young's certainty on this point goes against some of his basic operating principles.3. Unclear Writing and/or Thinking- On a number of points, Young's position is either unclear or doesn't make sense to me. For instance, he says that our salvation is secure, but that participation in it is necessary. I'm not sure how those statements could both be true. He seems sure that all will be saved, but emphasizes the importance and eternal nature of the gift of free will. Again, those statements seem to exist in some degree of tension. On the problem of pain, Young says God is able to intervene miraculously, but doesn't usually do this. Nevertheless, Young says he would if he were able. He leans on mystery here, I guess. The coincidence chapter didn't seem to fit with some of his other thinking. You can't really say God doesn't control stuff (when talking about bad stuff especially) and then say He's behind every detail (when talking about the good stuff).Red Light (Stuff I didn't like... STOP!)1. We're Already Saved- I don't think Young is right about this. I think he has focused on a possible interpretation of some verses at the expense of both better interpretations of said passages AND the context of those passages AND a multitude of other verses that suggest otherwise. I don't think this is just semantics. There is truth in telling fellow Christians that they need to keep their new reality (they are a new creation!) in mind, but it's inappropriate, in my view, to say the same to non-Christians (for they are not yet a New Creation). What needs to happen in the life of a non-follower of Jesus isn't simply to stop believing lies. They need to come to The Truth (Jesus).2.We're All God's Children- Much the same here. I think Young was wrong to ignore the necessary nuance on this point. He literally dismissed the opportunity to add good nuance (top of 205). It is true that we are all children of God in the sense that we are all God's creation. It is also true that we are all loved by God. But it is not true in every sense that everyone is a child of God. And some of those senses are important (life and death stuff).Overall, I thought the book had (much) much more true teaching than false teaching (from my perspective). Specifically, I think Young is wrong to label the following statements as lies:Chapter 13 "You need to get saved"Chapter 24 "Not everyone is a child of God"That's not to say that everything Young says in those chapters is wrong. It's just to say that I think there is actually more truth in the supposed 'lie' than there is in his rebuttal.

It's been mentioned in a previous review that few other books for sale on Amazon.com are so clearly divided between 5-star reviews and 1-star reviews. I give this book the highest rating because of what it has done for me - given me well-reasoned arguments that may finally supplant my life-long unrelenting anxiety in my understanding of who God is and what He wants in a relationship with me.I can easily understand the fear/irritation/disbelief/discomfort with much of the reasoning in this book. I have been taught that as Christians, we must *continually* defend the "correct" beliefs about God and Christ. Otherwise, we may accidentally and inadvertently be *responsible* for the loss of salvation for ourselves and/or others. (Dear Lord in heaven, please spare me from that absolute horror.)Constant vigilance is the watchword and keep 1 Peter ever before us. ("But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.")Many times, I have put forth my "answer" to people who are either upset or curious about why I believe what I believe, and I did it because I believed and felt it was the truth.(But honestly, it was also because I did *NOT* want God to be *unhappy* and *disappointed* with me for missing any and every opportunity to proclaim Him. (Oh, and of course, to save others from Hell. Ahem. <rolls eyes>))This book helped me to - once again - realize that often my motivation for "defending" the Word and my belief in the Christian God was (and still can be) consciously and unconsciously powered by more by fear of God's anger and disappointment in me than any other reason.But we are supposed to "fear the Lord", right? As I've aged (and hopefully matured <grin>), I have begun to believe that "fear" in that context should be more clearly translated as "trust" - not the terrified (albeit mainly unconscious and muted) core feeling of myself screaming, "I'll be good, I'll be good, I'll be good!!!" (This scenario from the book really hit home for me.)I know in my heart of hearts that I am a sinner - a "saved" sinner and whitewashed with Christ's blood to be "acceptable" to God, but still always and forever a sinner in my "true" nature. God hates sin with a white hot passion. Therefore, logically, how could He ever truly like *me*, want to spend time with *me*, *enjoy* my company and relationship with Him?(What I've been taught is that God loves me because *He* *is* Love - but as the first chapter in this book says, "Yes, I know you love me, but do you know me and do you like me? You love because that is the way you are, but is there anything about me that is worth loving? Do you ‘see’ me, and do you like what you ‘see’?” )I'm still occasionally afraid that God may love me but there's no way He likes me (because of my human - therefore sinful - nature). And I know it will never permanently disappear since I always will have that human fear in me of "never being enough".However, this book reminds me again and again, that it's not all dependent on *me*.And now - because of the logical and loving views - albeit unorthodox to my life's Christian learning - put forth in these essays, I finally have a lens (or paradigm) through which to truly see God (for the first time in my life) as a loving God - more than an angry God.And that new understanding may actually, truly *save* my belief and trust as a Christian - not just in Christ who is the only one I really thought of as loving me - but in God the Father too.

It took me a year to read this after it was first published. Most of the reviews made it sound like it was full of heresy. I am not saying that Paul Young sticks to some accepted religious script, but I am pretty sure Jesus Christ didn't either. I am not comparing Paul to Jesus, but I believe what Paul is doing is showing some optional ways of looking at some pre-conceived ideas that have already been settled by the Pharisees and Sadduccees of our day. If you read with an open mind and heart, you should be pleasantly surprised at the possibility of seeing God's relentless love for His creation. After all, He is especially fond of all of us. If you look up the word all in the Greek, it means all!

I am not an active Christian, but have been looking for something for some time. I have looked at Buddhism and aspects of Spiritualism, trying to make sense of things. Very recently I watched The Shack, as the blurb billed it as a man's spiritual journey. If I had thought it was Christian, I probably wouldn't have watched it, as I find it hard to relate to stuffy Sunday services and have never seen Christianity as meaningful ....... but no one has ever explained Christianity to me in the way The Shack did. It was the most beautiful film and I thought it was amazing. It was as though someone had lifted the veil and I understood. That film led me to this book and I love the authors views on God. I am now trying to get the courage to speak to someone in the Church as I feel I want to know more.

This is such a good thought provoking and heart and spirit expanding book which I would highly recommend. I allowed it to dig again to the foundations of my beliefs; rock the religious absolutes which sneakily still try to entangle me and joyously let me know my relationship with Father, the Lord Jesus and Holy Spirit keeps me in truth and freedom....

For re affirming the truths I first came to know 25year's ago when I gave my life to Jesus. Nobody told me, I just knew!. Over the years, church politics (and teaching), broken relationships and my own wrong choices, I increasingly found myself knowing these truths but unable to live in the joy of them. You cannot get outside of God!!! May I, (and many others,I fear) never let them be suppressed !!

Challenging and inspiring book - there are so many apparently plausible things that christians have picked up which just are not true.

The book was clear and honest. I found it challenging regarding my view of God and loved the way Paul honestly helped me to rethink how I perceived God.