Faith, Doubt, and Other Lines I've Crossed
Walking with the Unknown God
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Innovative pastor Jay Bakker thought he knew God: the God who rigorously patrolled every aspect of his life, the God who chose sides, the God who was always disappointed in him. But through the transformative power of grace, he discovered the God who loved and accepted unconditionally, freeing him to ask the hard questions and delve into one of Christianity's greatest taboos: doubt.
In Faith, Doubt, and Other Lines I've Crossed, Jay voices the questions that Christians are thinking but won't ask as he chronicles his doubt about God, the Bible, heaven and hell, church, society, relationships, grace, and love. In the process he encourages all of us to welcome "the other", to read the Bible differently but better, to draw together in community, and to seek an unknown God of limitless grace.
Brutally honest but full of grace, Jay invites everyone to cross the line, to dig deeper, and to discover a faith that is beyond belief.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bakker (Son of a Preacher Man) calls his latest book "a chronicle of my doubt." The son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, televangelists tainted by scandal in the 1980s, Bakker outlines his struggles with his childhood faith and offers a vision of Christianity based on unconditional love, radical forgiveness, and full embrace of the Other. The pastor of a church that meets in a bar, Bakker has a special place in his heart for the GLBTQ community and offers a spirited biblical defense for the acceptance of sexual difference. He expresses a faith that encourages questions and emphasizes relationships rather than rules. Bakker writes in a simple, down-to-earth style as he counters the focus on exceptionalism, exclusion, sin, and guilt that dominate some forms of evangelical Christianity. Like fellow evangelical Rob Bell, Bakker doesn't believe in a God who would consign people to hell for all eternity. Love trumps justice; participating in community trumps official church membership; compassion trumps dogma. His book should appeal to seekers, youth, and all who are searching for a loving and forgiving Christianity.
Customer Reviews
Must-read !!!
No book has ever presented grace in a way that I had been trying to voice for so long! Thank you for writing & publishing this beautiful book. I will continue to search & live for grace & love the way Jesus did
Jay's best work yet.
More so than either of Jay’s previous books, Faith, Doubt, And Other Lines I’ve Crossed powerfully lays out the case that the Bible has been misinterpreted and misrepresented, causing untold suffering for both Christians and non-Christians.
Without forcing any one particular set of doctrine on the reader, Jay shows what the message of Christ truly was in the New Testament: that we should love one another unconditionally and care for the least of those among us. This is a love that is challenging, if not impossible. But the radical grace that Christ exemplified is our blueprint; he showed us what the church should look like, which is nothing like what we have today. Legalism and separation are the easy way out. People naturally want rules and codes that can organize belief but unfortunately, the grace that Christ embodied does not work within that context.
Jay doesn’t hide from his views on topics like the afterlife and homosexuality, but he also makes it clear that complete agreement on these isn’t necessary to understand the message of the gospel. We may have our differences but there is nothing stopping us from uniting behind the principles of compassion, peace, patience, love and understanding.
This is a must-read for both Christians and non-Christians alike; the position that Jay advocates is a crystal-clear call for what believers need to do to bring the church into the future. Those outside the church have already made their decision, and more are making the decision to leave every year. The Christian church will not survive by keeping down the path it is currently on. Only by refocusing on Christ and his core message of love will the church survive.