So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore : An Unexpected Journey

This is one of the greatest books I have ever read. Many of the negative reviews reflects the very religious attitudes he speaks against. His book focuses on Love and many of the negative reviews talk about "theology", that's more then enough show where their hearts and minds are. As I am an avid bible researcher, an advanced student not only the bible, but the Talmud, and i have taken many Christian Theology courses and this book i back 100%. many are threatened by the book because it messes with the foundation of the very thing they get their power and spiritual stability from, "church", when we should get all we need from the cornerstone of faith, Yeshua/Jesus the messiah. I have been a victim of church abuse and in fact one ministry attempted to deny me of salvation because i dated a man they didn't approve of. this book has bought about a much need healing and closure to the many horrific abuses i have endured in numerous churches. the author is not insinuating that all church is bad and we shouldn't go, he is rather examining the characteristics that define the modern church that exist today against the guidelines laid out in the bible and when we look at what we have built against the divine instructions, we have failed greatly. we need to learn that its okay to not understand everything. Its so easy in our everyday life's and trials to say oh just "let go and let God" but when it comes to the bigger things, like ministry, purpose, church, and building a relationship with God, we resort to developing rituals and setting standards, essentially we resort to becoming religious instead of just living and letting God. It just goes to show that we are all still babies in Yeshua, we rather do it ourselves and in our own way and time rather then letting God have his way. I hope this book, despite the negative seeds attempting to be sown against it, grows . I Hope this book ignites a fire in Gods people to truly and sincerely walk with him, love him, and live without religious condemnation-Its not what you do but how you love ! that is the key to figuring out this struggle we call a relationship with God. Read the book it will change your life. Jake Colsen, an overworked and disillusioned pastor, happens into a stranger who bears an uncanny resemblance (in manner) to the apostle John. A number of encounters with John as well as a family crisis lead Jake to a new understanding of what his life should be like: one filled with faith bolstered by a steady, close relationship with the God of the universe. Facing his own disappointment with Christianity, Jake must forsake the habits that have made his faith rote and rediscover the love that captured his heart when he first believed.Compelling and intensely personal, So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anything relates a man's rebirth from performance-based Christianity to a loving friendship with Christ that affects all he does, thinks, and says. As John tells Jake,'There is nothing the Father desires for you more than that you fall squarely in the lap of his love and never move from that place for the rest of your life.' Jake Colsen, an overworked and disillusioned pastor, happens into a stranger who bears an uncanny resemblance (in manner) to the apostle John. A number of encounters with John as well as a family crisis lead Jake to a new understanding of what his life should be one filled with faith bolstered by a steady, close relationship with the God of the universe. Facing his own disappointment with Christianity, Jake must forsake the habits that have made his faith rote and rediscover the love that captured his heart when he first believed. Compelling and intensely personal, So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anything relates a man's rebirth from performance-based Christianity to a loving friendship with Christ that affects all he does, thinks, and says. As John tells Jake, "There is nothing the Father desires for you more than that you fall squarely in the lap of his love and never move from that place for the rest of your life." What would you do if you met someone you thought just might be one of Jesus' original disciples still living in the 21st century? That's Jake's dilemma as he meets a man who talks of Jesus as if he had known him, and whose way of living challenges everything Jake had previously known. This book is Jake's journal, chronicling thirteen conversations with his newfound friend over a four-year period and how those exchanges turn Jake's world upside-down. With his help, Jake faces his darkest fears, struggles through brutal circumstances and comes out on the other side in the joy and freedom he always dreamed was possible.