"Is God to Blame?"

"Is God to Blame?" by Gregory A. Boyd.

All my friends are probably sick of me going on and on about this book. I really enjoyed it, and it was very encouraging to me.

For me it was helpful to see how bad theology can cause some people to abandon the faith. I love how this author takes us from viewing God as this figure who's out there somewhere to Jesus being the "exact imprint" of God. There's actually a lot of deep theology going on, and quite a bit of discussion on Romans 9 toward the end, but the best thing about this book is that it helps when you're hurting. I didn't realize until reading this book, that we can read verses from a philosophical slant. The author refers to it as "the blueprint worldview", and I love how he substitutes it for a "warfare worldview". Take a look around, does life look like a picnic to you? Something terrible has happened to creation. There's a cosmic spiritual battle going on that we know even less about, then we do the complexity of creation. What's worse is how God gets the blame, while Satan gets off scott free. God's will is always good, not evil. He hates wickedness, that's why He sent His Son. No, God is not to blame. Sometimes, it's the enemy, and/or other people.

This book has brought back a small spark of passion that I thought was gone forever. After all, how can I love God, if He's the One who has given me all these problems? How can I trust Him, if he is the orchestrator of all the pain in my life? Those are real questions, and they deserve real answers. This book points to Jesus, and helps clarify difficult passages, and break down ridiculous worldviews.

Although, to the best of my knowledge, this book seems to nudge the opposite direction of Calvinism (Arminianism), I still believe that Scripture supports both. I just needed a reminder of Jesus, in a way that wasn't superficial, as the man who suffers with me, not the great cosmic architect who has nothing to do with me.

In short, it's a good read, lots of Scripture, and wets my appetite for theology. If that's what taking theology courses is like, sign me up.