A Different Angle of Living Like Jesus for a Year

Let me preface this review by stating first of all that Ed Dobson was my pastor for the 3 years I spent in Grand Rapids pursuing my Seminary degree.  I worked at his church as an intern in the youth ministry for those years.  His church did a lot to help prepare me for ministry as I was able to instantly apply what I was learning in class directly into ministry.  I enjoyed growing under his ministry during those years.  

With that said, I also want to give a nod to A. J. Jacobs who first ran with this idea of trying to live "biblically" for a year.  Reading "The Year of Living Biblically" was a great book from my viewpoint because it was very enjoyable to look at the Bible (and Christian culture) through the eyes of a person whom was investigating all of this for the first time.  Ed, on the other hand, had a very different background than Jacobs.  He grew up fully entrenched in the conservative fundamentalist movement within America, getting his education from Bob Jones University and working several years for Jerry Falwell before taking his own church in Grand Rapids.  So it is with this type of background, growing up within Christianity, that he took on this challenge to live as close as he could to the way Jesus lived.  The journey that Ed takes the reader on is much more contemplative, spiritual, and challenging as many times Ed is having to evaluate long entrenched "conservative values" in light of who Jesus actually was according to Scripture.  In fact, in Scripture it was often the religious conservatives that Jesus tended to anger to the point of murder on a cross. So Ed takes on the challenges that push him to be more like Jesus despite what the conservative establishment might think of him.  I love that kind of courage and thinking! 

One of the main things that really challenged me in this book was Ed's thoughts and practices in the art of prayer.  He describes the physicality of having a prayer guide in your hands (rosary, prayer rope) and how it helps to involve more senses within the act of prayer.  He also talks about specific prayers in the Bible which he prays over and over again.  This challenged me to consider how I might improve my prayer life.  It was also deeply challenging to see how he processed his struggle with ALS through this year.  I was in awe of his ability to continue learning lessons through his disease as he tried to be more like Jesus.  I have grown up in church long enough to see some of those in the older generation who have become rigid and "set in their ways" within the church. But then there are those who have matured in such a Christ-like way that you just want to be around them because they are still growing and learning and open to the Spirit of God to use them to their fullest at every stage of life.  Ed is most certainly one of the later. 

 Apparently the thing that seems to be ruffling the feathers of most of the right-wingers is Ed's journey to try and figure out who to vote for in the past election. I deeply appreciated his journey that he wrestled through to make the decision that he needed to make in the voting booth. And I was equally disturbed by the apparent fall-out Ed took within the conservative evangelical movement for admitting his decision to vote for Obama. This election for me was also one of the most difficult political decisions I have ever wrestled with even while I was walking into the voting area. It was awesome to read Ed's thought process of trying to think which candidate most represented the ideals of Jesus Christ.


Favorite Quotes:

Dobson on Ministry:
. . . when I started in ministry I thought I had all the answers. As I enter more deeply into the lives of real people, however, I realize how few answers I really have.  In life's most difficult circumstances, the best I can do is to be present to represent Jesus and the community that we call the church. I am there to love, pray, and encourage. I'm not there to answer all the questions. (p. 23)

I've been experiencing the same thing at the stage of ministry that I am in.  I thought I had all the answers but the older I get the more I realize I don't have all the answers and what answers I think I have I need to approach with humility and sensitivity when talking with others.  My attitude of love and compassion is greater than the things I think I know. 

Dobson on Matthew 13:47-50:
. . . deciding who is 'in' and who is 'out' is entirely up to God and the angels. Not us. And for that I am deeply grateful. (p. 119-120)

Amen to this. 

Dobson on Our Jewish Roots:
Some Christians divide the Old Testament from the New, as though the word old implies that it's no longer relevant. But Paul reminds us Christians that we are deeply indebted to our Jewish friends. We are simply a wild olive shoot grafter into the tree. (p. 126)

It is amazing what we learn about Jesus when we study the context of Israel's history instead of reading the Bible into our culture. 

Dobson on Exiting a Church:
I asked the congregation for their forgiveness for ways in which I had offended them by what I had said or done. I assured them that as I left, I had forgiven them for ways in which they had offended me in what they had said or done. (p. 131)

What a way to leave with humility and integrity.

Dobson on Impact:
If we could just focus on these two commandments it would profoundly impact our lives. Love God and love your neighbor. That's it.  (p. 134)

Yes, yes, yes!

Dobson on End Times:
Nearly every generation of Christians has believed that they were living in the last days. And so far, all of them have been wrong. I still believe the same thing I've always believed about the coming of the Lord, but I'm more hesitant now than ever before to be emphatic about it.  I like the words of Abraham Heschel, a famous Jewish writer who passed away a few years ago: 'I will not trouble myself with things too difficult for me to understand'. (p. 139)

Eliminating the apocalyptic hysteria within evangelical Christianity would wipe out so much amusement.  Jesus will return. Enough said. Say good bye to the goofy charts. For a great book on this read "A Pocket Guide to the Apocalypse" by Jason Boyett.

Dobson on Alcohol:
Some of my best experiences in living like Jesus have come because of alcohol! Jesus was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard, and you can't be accused of that unless you eat food and drink wine. . . . Jesus often attended parties with people who were offensive to the religious establishment. So if I am to follow Jesus, I have to do the same! (p. 163)

Dobson on Alcohol: 
I discovered that most people at the bar were interested in Jesus, but they were not interested in the church or religion. Even though I'm a pastor, that didn't seem to matter. What mattered was my personal journey in trying to follow Jesus' teachings. . . I've discovered that having a beer in my hand disarms people. They're much more likely to listen to what I have to say about the Bible if I'm sipping beer while I'm talking. (p. 166)

This is so true.  Of course let me preface this by stating that I am only talking about drinking with my adult friends! 

Dobson on Reaching Out:
What God wants more than anything else is that we show mercy to those who desperately need it. Throughout this year, as I've tried to eat and drink with those who were outside the church, something interesting has happened. I'm beginning to feel more comfortable with those who don't know the Lord than I am with those who do know the Lord. Those who don't know the Lord are much less judgmental. They are open to new ideas. I'm also learning that I don't need to be the spokesperson for God. Truth is truth. God is truth. And he really doesn't need me to defend his reputation. (p. 174)

The truth behind this is so sad.  Christians should be the most loving and accepting people.  There are so many who think they represent Jesus but are so far from the mark.  Instead they have become more like the Pharisees. 

Dobson on Pro-Life:
But here's an important point: being pro-life not only means I'm interested in protecting the unborn. It also means I'm interested in protecting those who have already been born.

Being pro-life means being concerned about those who are dying of HIV/AIDS.

Being pro-life means being concerned about those who are living in poverty.

Being pro-life means being concerned about those who lack adequate health care - especially children.

Being pro-life means being concerned about those in our communities who are into gangs and drugs and will ultimately end up in prison.

Being pro-life means being concerned about those innocent civilians who are being killed in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Gaza Strip, Israel, and places all over the world.

Being pro-life means being concerned about those who are experiencing genocide in countries around the world.

Being pro-life means being concerned about these and a whole lot more. I am concerned about those within the conservative movement whose only concern is with the unborn. I agree with them. I stand with them. I support them. But I want to know why in the world they seem not to care about those who are already born. (p. 243-244)

There is a wealth of truth here.  Let me add that pro-life would also need to be anti-war. 

Dobson on Dying:
Given the disease I have, I'm not afraid of being dead. But I am afraid of getting dead. The process leading up to death is filled with fear. I am afraid of letting go of my own life. But as I stood before this cross and realized all that Jesus had done for me, it gave me great hope that the Jesus who suffered on the cross identifies with my own suffering. And the Jesus who identifies with my suffering is with me every step of the way - even leading up to death! (p. 261-262)

I hate that a guy like Ed who has dedicated his life to God is dying with ALS going out this way.  I just doesn't seem right.  We will all suffer in some form or other in our lifetime.  May our sufferings bring us closer to Christ in identifying with his suffering. 

Dobson on Voting for Obama:
I created a huge controversy. And that controversy was with "religious" people, not secular people. Not those outside the Church. Not those who deny the Bible. But "Christian" people. My oldest son reminded me, "Remember that the people who were most disturbed by Jesus' teaching were the religious leaders. The religious establishment opposed him. If you're going to follow Jesus, can you expect anything less?" What concerns me most was that these religious people completely ignored everything else I had to say. They were upset that I'd voted for Obama . . .(p. 278)

In one way this is odd to me because I know a lot of Christians who voted for Obama (and a lot who voted for McCain).  I guess it all depends on what part of the country you live in.  On the other hand, I did go to Liberty for 2 years so I got to live within the conservative (at times bordering on militant) evangelical movement that dove head in to the conservative Republican Party.  Newt Gingrich spoke at my graduation who replaced George Bush Sr. since he got involved with the first Gulf War.  Politicians! Go figure.  I scratched my head often, recognizing how strangely different Christianity was down in Virginia in contrast to my North East Ohio roots.

Dobson on Truth:
I also realize that no church, no denomination, and no theological system has the inside track on truth. I grew up in a fundamentalist environment where we believed we were right and everybody else was wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth. . . . But none of the above groups . . . has the inside track on truth. We can all learn from each other. (p. 281)  

If every Christian, church and denomination were honest with themselves, we all pick and choose what we want to hear from the Bible and what we don't want to hear.  It is time for the church to stop dividing based on trying to define itself by what it is NOT and begin the process of learning from each other.

Dobson on Heaven:
The idea that Jesus is "the way" doesn't mean "the way to heaven" so much as it means "how we live in the here and now." Heaven is only a side benefit. (p. 284)

Amen! We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to do God's work in the present!  We are kingdom builders NOW!  There is so much to live for (and die for). It would be a crime for Christians just to sit around waiting for Christ to return and "rescue" us from this world.  We have been entrusted with God's creation.  We have been commissioned.  Time to get our hands and feet dirty for Christ.

Conclusion

This was a great book.  It was simply amazing to get inside the mind of a ministry legend who is now suffering with ALS and NOW decides to try and live like Jesus for a year.  I don't know that I could be in the right state of mind to take on a project like this while suffer with a unforgiving disease. 

I also loved, loved, loved to see how Dobson transformed in his thinking from growing up in a rigid fundamentalist evangelical environment, which often defines itself by stating what it is NOT while pointing the finger at those they do not agree with, to a mind that was more open to look for God in other expressions of Christianity.  Through this journey Dobson became aware of so many other pockets of Christianity that he could learn from.

Dobson continues to be a man marked by grace and wisdom as he explored what it meant to try and live as close as you possibly can to the life of Jesus.  It was an amazing journey.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who wonders how a man who has dedicated his whole life to ministry, now in his later stages of life comes down with ALS, can continue to seek out God will for his life. 

Colson Takes on the Faith

Over the past few years there has been a rise in the number of books that have fallen under the category of the "New Atheists". As these intellectuals attempt to dispel Christianity there is another disturbing trend going on within Christianity itself - people who are becoming more and more biblically illiterate. Here is where Charles Colson steps into the gap. Colson has written an amazing book that helps to explain what it is that Christians historically have believed, why they believe it, and why it matters. Colson has been a profound thinker in Christianity, helping to get people to think through a worldview that reflects the faith and evaluates the culture through that grid instead of the other way around. He points out in the beginning of his book that: "the faith is a complete view of the world and humankind's place in it. Christianity is a worldview that speaks to every area of life, and its foundational doctrines define its content. If we don't know what we believe - even what Christianity is - how can we live it and defend it? Our ignorance is crippling us." (p. 28).

With that as a foundation Colson then begins to explain in detail the foundational truths of the Christian faith: God the Father, sin, the importance of the Bible, knowing truth, reconciliation through Jesus Christ, the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, the transformational purpose of the Church. Colson does a great job in explaining the pillars of our faith in a way that is easy to understand. He not only is excellent at explaining the core truths of Scripture but he is also an excellent story teller. He tells some of the most fascinating stories of history to go along with his arguments of the faith.

Favorite Quotes:

Colson on the Bible: "Simply put, the Bible is the rock on which the Church stands or falls. It is the ultimate authority for all Christians - Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox alike. It is revealed propositional truth. The texts were written by men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and thus are REVEALED to us. It is PROPOSITIONAL because it makes a series of claims. It is TRUTH because it is from God, and thus must certainly be true; God could not have spoken something that is not true because that would be contrary to His nature. This is why all true Christians take the Bible as their ultimate authority - and why no Christian should ever be intimidated in defending it." (p. 56).

Colson on Truth: When the God of the Bible is rejected, people choose a new god. The postmodern age has anointed secular tolerance as its god. Tolerance once meant listening respectfully to all points of view, freely discussed in our common search for the truth. But the creed for the new god of tolerance is that knowing truth is impossible. So everyone is free to think and act as he likes, with one exception: those who have the audacity to believe that they know the truth, particularly if they think God has revealed it to them, are not tolerated. . . The task of this generation - as it will be in every generation - is to understand Christianity as a complete view of the world and humankind's place in it, that is, as the truth. If Christianity is not the truth, it is NOTHING, and our faith mere sentimentality. (p. 68-70).

Colson on the Incarnation: The revolutionary nature of God's invasion of our world is far more significant than all the other invasions of history taken together. This one establishes the possibility of the rule of God in every human heart and began the reclamation of our world as God's own. (p. 87).

Colson on the Cross: . . . the cross is the symbol of Christianity. It marks the dividing line between man's futile efforts to achieve God's righteousness and God's gracious act in sending Christ to redeem all who will follow. It represents the most decisive moment in history, when God answered the great human dilemma that we have all sinned and yearn for forgiveness: God took upon Himself our sins to set us free. It is where justice and mercy meet. It is scandalous. (p. 90)

Colson on the Trinity: The Trinity enables us to better understand the scriptural teaching that God is love. Love cannot exist without someone to love, which is why Allah and any unitary understanding leads to a cold, impersonal god. The essence of the God of the Bible is His intertwined triune nature of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The three continuously pour out love to one another and receive love in return. The Trinity exists as a perfect community of self-giving. In this life, Christians enjoy participation in this community through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and in the world to come we will be united with the Godhead in perfect love. The Trinity sums up our final hope. What could be more central to our faith? (p. 105).

Colson on a Christian Worldview: . . . Christianity is a way of seeing all of life, every aspect of reality; it is a worldview. This means that we have two divinely authorized commissions. The first is well known, the Great Commission, to make disciples and baptize them (Matthew 28:19). But the second is equally important. It is to bring the righteousness of God to bear on all of life, to take dominion, to carry our the tasks we are given in the first chapters of Genesis, to bring a redeeming influence into a fallen culture. I call this the Cultural Commission. (p. 107).

Colson on Salvation: It was an exchange of identities. Christ comes to the cross to die, giving His righteous life for us; we in turn come to the cross to die, surrendering our old sinful life for Him. Thereafter Christ lives in us (Galatians 2:20). This is the heart of the Christian conversion. . . . Our past sins are not only forgiven, but we are transformed to live a new life with God's power and grace. (p. 113).

Colson on Holiness: When you look at the history of these Christian awakenings and movements, you find one common denominator running through all of them. . . . They acted because they believed, as God's holy people, that they were called both to end systemic evil AND reform cultural attitudes. (p. 170)

Colson on the Origin of Life: I believe the Intelligent Design movement has provided good reason for evolutionary theory to be reconsidered; what we have learned about DNA tells us that all of life is governed by intelligent information. But however we regard evolution, all serious Christians take issue with the secular view and affirm that God created humanity with a specific purpose in mind: that creation is intentional and cannot be random. The argument for design is clear in Scripture. which records that the 'heavens declare the glory of God' (Psalm 19:1) - in other words, God has left his imprint on creation. Created by God and with His purpose for us clear, human life is sacred. (p. 175).

Colson on the Influence of Christianity: Christianity does not seek to impose, it proposes. The Gospel is the great proposal: Come to the wedding feast, one and all - black, white, rich, poor, East, West, Muslim, Jew, Christian - all are welcome, and it's never too late. God turns no man or woman away, not one. Through His Son, Jesus Christ, the Father brings us into His Kingdom. This is the promise He holds out to individuals and nations alike, a Kingdom not of eating and drinking or of marching armies and clashing swords, but a Kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy forever in the Holy Spirit. (p. 225)

In conclusion, this is an excellent book that not only helps to respond to the New Atheists, but it is a great book for all Christians to be reminded, maybe even for the first time, what it is that historic Christianity has believed and how that has transformed peoples lives and impacted the world in which they lived. This is a book to be read and re-read. We constantly need to be reminded of what we believe, why we believe it and why our beliefs matter in the world that we currently live in. And finally, if you want to dive into more of Colson's concept of the Cultural Commission read his book "How Now Shall We Live?". His argument for the Cultural Commission profoundly changed my views on how I look at culture how Christianity should approach it.