My Most Controversial Book Review
I post my book reviews on the individual product pages on Amazon. The review that has gotten by far the most attention has been my review of Bono’s printed speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, in book form entitled On the Move. I’ve gotten three responses to my opinion, which in a nutshell, is that Bono has a rich social message but a very poor gospel. He speaks from a religious position and says that “God in the slums” is the most important spiritual message there is. I disagree – “Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners, of whom I am the very worst” is the most explosive message of all. In spite of the fact that I love what Bono is doing with the poor, I disagree with his shallow gospel.
As you can imagine, this perspective is highly unpopular. I wasn’t expecting the responses I got, though. One said, “You are a total moron if you missed the point of Bono’s speech. You’re getting hung up on the ‘pluralistic Gods of this age?’ Let me tell you, Jesus himself would convert to Buddhism or Islam if he thought it would save children from poverty and disease. Burn your bible, because I don’t think you understand what God is saying. Preaching ‘God in the slums’ is EXACTLY what Jesus would want (and did). That is the way sinners are saved.”
Another: “You are missing who Bono is and is not. He is not preaching Christ crucified, because he is not a preacher. Go to church to hear preaching. But I do think Bono is doing a pretty good job being a living scripture among the most influential people in the world. They will know we are Christians by our love, and Bono’s love and passion is a hallmark.”
My purpose in posting these responses is not to get some sort of reaction to the way the comments were expressed. I think the content is enlightening in getting a little more of an understanding of how our culture in general views Jesus. He is a symbol of good, and whatever is the cause that to us as humans seems the best, He would definitely be devoted to it – right? And Jesus dying on the cross is something that needs to be left in the church… Bono can express whatever religious opinions he wants, but they are not preaching because he is not in a church. These ideas involve intricate preconceptions, and I haven’t really sorted through my thoughts on all of this.
One of my biggest fears is being a Pharisee. They had their specific conceptions of religion and what the Messiah would look like and how they as spiritual people should live… and then Jesus came and messed them all up, all their neat little ideas and formulas and rule books. They were so wrong. I don’t want to be that person; I don’t want to have that heart. I want to know Jesus as He really is. I don’t want to be so bent on dogma that I don’t recognize the value of what someone like Bono is doing.
But I also don’t want to sacrifice truth at the altar of tolerance. Should I ignore Bono’s pluralistic gospel? Should I dismiss the fact that he tries to fit the Jesus way in neatly along with the panorama of other religions? When I look at the New Testament and the way the disciples and the early church were so passionate for truth, and willing to die for it, I can’t think that that is the right answer either.
I’m not going to wrap up my thoughts on this is a neat little summary. They’re are a little too open-ended for me to be able to coalesce everything I’m thinking like that. I’d like to hear what you think, though.
Good writing. Have you read “Christ on the Indian Road”….if you have, I’d love to hear your heart on it…if not, it’s a life changing experience – reading the book, I mean.
Bless you as you continue to pursue Jesus and be a woman who lives for Him.
I admire the way you reacted to the replys to your review. It would be so easy to just get upset or lable them ignorant.
I agree that our society views Jesus as a ‘good guy’ without looking at all the things he did, including things that could be viewed as ‘unpopular’. They want religion without the reality of our own sinfulness.
In a way our world has become too tolerant. If we say that whatever anyone believes is right, but if what I belive says someone else’s belief is wrong – how can that make sense? It is important that we stand up for what we believe and not be ashamed of any part of it.
I don’t think hanging on tightly to the truth of Christ crucified makes you a pharisee, it means you are not willing to forsake the truth to make others feel better. While we don’t need to go around yelling at everyone that they are wrong, we should never forget the reason that God sent Jesus to earth, to die so that we can be holy and sinless before God. It was not to feed the poor, it was not to heal the sick (though Jesus showed his love by doing these things)
Without the message of salveation what is the use of helping the poor? We can feed their bodies but what message do we have to feed their soul?
Hi Anna, firstly, I commend you for your levelled response to what for many would be hurtful replies to receive to a book review. That said, I was wondering if you could unpack your summary of what you believe the gospel to be “Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners, of whom I am the very worst”.
Some of the many questions i have include – why are you the very worst? And does it matter that you don’t really believe it? Do you just need to confess it?
I mean, fair enough, i don’t know what you have done in your life or what you consider to be the worst sins but i doubt that you cannot think of someone who has committed worse sins than you? Even if you were a mass murderer there is probably someone who has murdered more. Maybe that wasn’t the best example and i hope what i am saying doesn’t offend you (that is not my intention) but despite my awareness that whatever i have received from God is unmerited (grace), no more deserved than anyone else, i would be a liar if i said that i couldn’t think of people who have committed worse sins than i have yet. I mean, possibly God could look upon my sins as being worse than anyone else, but the point is even if that is true, i can’t see it myself and thus could never truthfully confess to being the worse of all sinners except as hyperbole, exaggeration to make a point about the greatness of God’s mercy and grace – maybe that is what you mean by it? Anyway, sorry for rambling on so much.
Oh, and why did Jesus mention the kingdom (in your opinion) whenever he talked about the gospel?
How did Jesus save sinners? What does it mean to be saved?
Feel free to ignore this comment or email me a reply as i am aware that it sort of strays away from the subject matter of your post a little bit 
Rob
Preaching “God in the slums” is fine–but I think Bono’s missing the mark. He’s dumbed down the entire message of salvation, and that’s where I see a problem.
Yes, we (as Americans, as Christians, and especially as American Christians with enough collective money to make a true difference) need to bring God to the darkest places we know. And God DOES go there–but we need to understand WHY God is brought into these places, and it is because Jesus died for all sinners.
The Christian message can be so simple. We were sinners–Christ was sacrificed on our behalf–we are now new creations, born of the Spirit. And being a new creation leads us to the slums to bring this seemingly simple message and the social reform that goes along with it to those who so desperately need both. Yet narrowing it down to only social justice because Christians are inherently “good people” is missing the mark–and is what I think Bono (the social-justice-because-we’re-Christian spokesperson) is most guilty of.
I think it is commendable that he is advocating social justice and bringing God into it. But watering down the Christian message (and drowing Jesus out of it?) is wrong–when he includes that vital point, when he goes that one step further, then he will have had something truly of worth to say to his masses.