I do some book reviews for BookSneeze. They send you books for free, you review them. You are NOT required to be positive, you just need to read them and then offer up your opinion on them.
My Review
I have to admit, I STRUGGLED to read this book.
I had high hopes for it based on the reviews I read from it, but it just wasn't the book for me. Now that said...LOTS of people loved it. AND it's not a bad book. It really isn't. It just didn't... work for me.
There was one part of the book that made an impact on me though, and that made it worth reading.
You know how Jesus was tempted? He went to the desert to be alone early in his ministry. After 40 days he was tempted in various ways by Satan. Jesus resisted that temptation.
Well...the book makes it VERY clear how very human was. And this time of temptation was a TRUE time of temptation. Meaning it was a struggle and a need to Jesus. Now do I think that as God he would give into temptation? No! Then he wouldn't have been fully divine. But the human part of Jesus... temptation was indeed real.
As the author states:
I had high hopes for it based on the reviews I read from it, but it just wasn't the book for me. Now that said...LOTS of people loved it. AND it's not a bad book. It really isn't. It just didn't... work for me.
There was one part of the book that made an impact on me though, and that made it worth reading.
You know how Jesus was tempted? He went to the desert to be alone early in his ministry. After 40 days he was tempted in various ways by Satan. Jesus resisted that temptation.
Well...the book makes it VERY clear how very human was. And this time of temptation was a TRUE time of temptation. Meaning it was a struggle and a need to Jesus. Now do I think that as God he would give into temptation? No! Then he wouldn't have been fully divine. But the human part of Jesus... temptation was indeed real.
As the author states:
If the eternal Word's taking of our humanity made him vulnerable to emotional pain, it also rendered him susceptible to temptation. When, after fasting for forty days, he grew hungry, it is hardly surprising that an early first temptation was related to food.
This makes Jesus' understanding of us and how difficult temptations can be to deal so much more understandable.
the book had a variety of insights like this, but overall, the authors style and my ability to follow it well did not mesh. I think overall it was because I felt the author was limiting who Jesus the Christ really was, and that uneasiness made me hold back from truly wanting to read this book.
the book had a variety of insights like this, but overall, the authors style and my ability to follow it well did not mesh. I think overall it was because I felt the author was limiting who Jesus the Christ really was, and that uneasiness made me hold back from truly wanting to read this book.