Log Off of YouTube and Read Something:  Jesus Manifesto

On the introduction page to the blog The Road Less Traveled, blogger and author Aaron Saufly says the following of himself:

(This) is my story, and I’m thankful for it.

I grew up in church.  I ate, slept, and breathed church.  I was there every Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, and involved in everything else.  I was the superstar Sunday School kid.  My father was a church leader and my mom was deeply involved.  My churchiness helped keep me away from weed, beer, tobacco, rock-n-roll, and premarital sex.

It also kept me far away from Jesus.

He says that he was proud, self-righteous, and cocky when he was preparing to be a pastor and that “It took some beat downs from God to get me to appreciate how much I needed His grace through Jesus as much (or even more) as anybody else did.”

Of the Jesus Manifesto, Saufly says,

The premise of the book is simple:  Jesus.  The authors contend, and rightly so, that Jesus must return to the center of our lives and our churches.  Every page of this work spills over with Jesus.  The authors contend that American Christianity has settled for a “lite” version of Jesus, and has bought into the false notion that Christianity is about morals and “trying harder” to imitate Jesus.  The bottom line is this:  we’re not to imitate Jesus’ life–He wants to live His life through us.

Saufly’s blog is full of thought-provoking reviews of books and other elements of popular culture.  (Love the Swagger Wagon post in which he says, “Consumerism stands opposed to the biblical mandate of finding sufficiency in Christ over what the world has to offer us.“)

Definitely worth your time to read through The Road Less Traveled.

In today’s Twitter, Facebook, and Starbucks filled days it is hard to remember why we are here and who we are here for. The authors of this book truly allowed God to use them to bring it all back. If you are looking for a book to restore your relationship with Jesus, put your focus back on Jesus, remind you what He did for you, or illuminate the truths in your life—this is the book for you.  (Cary Plunkett, on her blog)

What happened in you when you read the Jesus Manifesto?  Was it a smooth ride?  Did it refocus you?  Were there places in the book where you were confused?  Where you disagreed?  Where you had to set the book down and untangle your feelings?

Share your thoughts, smooth or not, here and join the conversation.

Last week, on his blog, Frank Viola offered a free copy of the Jesus Manifesto to people who commented on his blog by naming their five favorite CDs.  Everyone from Prince to Michael W. Smith to Donny Osmond (and many, many more) got a mention.

An  interesting conversation was generated by this light-hearted exercise.

Below, see how Frank Viola responded to a reader who said: “I’m shocked at all the ungodly music that is being listed. Frank even posted Lynyrd Skynyrd. How is this keeping Jesus central and preeminent? It reminds me of years ago when I went to Abilene Christian College to visit a friend and they were so pious about no instrumental music in their churches but on campus you heard the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead etc. No wonder we can’t reach the world. The world has reached us and we promote it.”

(One might ask why Lynyrd Skynyrd most offended the reader, and not, say, David Hasselhoff.)

Frank Viola responded:

“John B., perhaps you don’t intend this, but you sound quite condemning of every follower of Jesus who has posted a list of nonChristian bands because they don’t fit your musical preferences. I’ve yet to meet a person who condemns all “secular” music as being “ungodly” who doesn’t watch “secular” movies or television programs made by nonChristian film makers and TV producers. You can throw in visiting Disney World for that matter.  Many of us were taught the legalistic gospel that says that unless it’s “Christian” it’s bad, and we just don’t buy it. I’ve never met a person who consistently follows that “gospel” in their entire life. In fact, it’s our observation that such self-righteous separatist attitudes have turned many people *away* from Christ (see the chapter on Pharisiasm in “Jesus Manifesto.”)

As we argue in “Jesus Manifesto”, Christ is True Beauty. Therefore, any art that holds beauty — even if created by someone who doesn’t know God (all are created in His image) — is reflecting some aspect of Christ. Therefore, I can watch a film or hear a song by someone who is lost and doesn’t know my Lord, and with eyes not physical appreciate the creativity and art in it, realizing that Christ is real beauty. All good art points to Him in some way, even if crafted by someone who doesn’t know Him yet. (On that note, it’s interesting to meet artists who became Christians. Their testimony is often, “Now I fully realize what I’ve been creating all this time.”)

There is of course “bad art” that distorts the image of God, lyrics that forthrightly glorify God’s enemy for instance. (I haven’t seen “Runnin’ with the Devil” or “I’m on the Highway to Hell” listed as a favorite yet  ) But to say that all music and all bands that are not Christian are incapable of creating good, edifying art is simply not true. And to judge someone’s allegiance to Jesus Christ on that basis is, well, even worse I believe.

In short: if listening to a piece of music performed by a non believer is offensive to you, then by all means don’t listen to it. But be careful not to judge your sisters and brothers in Christ who can do so and glorify God in the process. Paul deals with this very principle in Romans 14.”

What do you think?

In the “Jesus Manifesto,” Viola and Sweet posit that,

“The question is not What would Jesus do? but What does Jesus want to do now through me and through us?

Those WWJD bracelets…do they inspire you to look with love at those around you?

Make moral choices?

Try to figure out the right response to a contemporary ethical problem?

Love others more fully?

Do you think that WWJD is an effective question to ask?

Tell us more…

This course correction for a modern church that is more interested in having a dialog about justice or going green than in the worship and exaltation of Christ is straightforward and long overdue. This book can reach into emergent, missional, moderate, conservative and even liberal churches in a way that some authors with great books about Christ might not reach.

Read the entire review.

Two (very different) explorations of narcissism.

1.  A definition.

From Wikipedia:

The name “narcissism” is derived from Greek mythology. Narcissus was a handsome Greek youth who had never seen his reflection, but because of a prediction by an Oracle, looked in a pool of water and saw his reflection for the first time. The nymph Echo–who had been punished by Hera for gossiping and cursed to forever have the last word—had seen Narcissus walking through the forest and wanted to talk to him, but, because of her curse, she wasn’t able to speak first. As Narcissus was walking along, he got thirsty and stopped to take a drink; it was then he saw his reflection for the first time, and, not knowing any better, started talking to it. Echo, who had been following him, then started repeating the last thing he said back. Not knowing about reflections, Narcissus thought his reflection was speaking to him. Unable to consummate his love, Narcissus pined away at the pool and changed into the flower that bears his name, the narcissus.

2.  An iconic song.

If you’re less into Greek mythology and more into…well…Carly Simon, this one’s for you.

Now…this is all by way of introduction to this powerful review of the Jesus Manifesto.  It invokes Narcissus as well.  Here’s an excerpt:

“Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola write in chapter six, “Our problem is this: we have even created a narcissistic form of Christianity, in which ‘conversion’ is less a turning toward Christ than a turning toward success or fame or fortune…Of the top 100 [CBA best-selling] books, just 6 were about the Bible, 4 were about Jesus, and 3 were about evangelism.”

If what the authors presume here is correct, and I agree that it is, then the Jesus Manifesto is Cipro for rank bowels of religious publishing. Jesus Manifesto is penicillin for the self-adulating, one with my inner Jesus, navel gazing virus that has taken over the Christian imagination. This aptly titled book is an explosive collection of thoughts and ideas designed to rock the heart of the reader from the cold, steely complacency of religion. Anchored in Paul’s letter to the Colossians, Sweet and Viola sweep us into a journey of faith, where Christ is the north star, Christ is the ship and Christ is the sea.”

So…what do you think?

I have never read a book more enthralled with the Supremacy of Christ than I have here.With a broad stroke and great theological precision, these authors have enlarge my image of Christ and challenged me at times, and on many other occasions I found myself cheering, “Union with Christ! Union with Christ!”

As enthusiastic as is this review, the reviewer admits that his expectations were very low when he began reading “Jesus Manifesto.” People had warned him that Leonard Sweet was “emergent” or “liberal.”  (For more on Christians labeling other Christians, see Christian Century editor and blogger Steve Thorngate’s discussion in this post.)

Labels hurt, divide and limit us from the time we’re in elementary school throughout our work lives.  (Did you ever see this public service announcement about labels in the workplace?)

If labels don’t belong in school or at work, how much more should we not use them as members of the body of Christ?

Receiving Christ also means receiving all who belong to Him.

On several occasions, Jesus made it clear that in receiving those He loves, we are receiving Him.

Those who reject His loved ones are, in fact, rejecting Him.

(Jesus Manifesto)

Posted on Facebook, 11:19 p.m. on Friday, June 11:

Hoping “Jesus Manifesto” kick starts my heart… no other book seems to have in a while…

What a great post.  Would love to hear whether it did. So, the rest of us, let’s talk about what kick starts our hearts?

For some it’s music — whether it’s Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” or KISS’ “New York Groove.”

For others, it’s a quiet walk in the woods; for others it’s surfing.

What about church?  Does it make you feel more alive, closer to the living Christ?  Does going to church, praying, or talking to others about God energize you?

The gospel that’s so often preached today lacks a revelation of Jesus Christ. The contemporary gospel boils down to a fire-insurance policy, a Santa Claus God, or a performance-based religion. As long as we stay on that plane, we’ll never see or comprehend the staggering enormity of our Lord.

(from the Jesus Manifesto)

The “staggering enormity” of Christ?

Catching a glimpse of that should get our hearts pumping fast.

Tags: Facebook, KISS, Mozart, performance-based religion, Santa Claus god, staggering enormity of Christ

So what is Christianity? It is Christ. Nothing more. Nothing less. Christianity is not an ideology or a philosophy. Neither is it a new type of morality, social ethic, or worldview. Christianity is the “good news” that beauty, truth, and goodness are found in a person. And true humanity and community are founded on and experienced by connection to that person.

(from the Jesus Manifesto)

Since its official release on June 1, 2010, responses to the Jesus Manifesto by Frank Viola and Leonard Sweet have reverberated across the Internet. On the first of June, it climbed to #6 in all books on Amazon.com.  (Yep – right up there with Twilight author Stephanie Meyer’s new book. )  People have been busily tweeting about the book, getting together to discuss it on Facebook, and posting impassioned book reviews online.  One reader has even recorded himself reading the text, chapter after chapter, from the “awesome place of my basement.”

In other words, it’s striking a nerve.

What do you think? Is the book puzzling?  Presumptuous?  Redemptive?  Just what the church needs at this moment in its history?

This is a gathering place for you.  It’s where you can not only scan the kinds of responses to the book that have flown scattershot across the Internet since its release, but also to take the conversation further as you explore what ideas, quotes, and definitions most affect, snag, and inspire you.

Tags: reverberations