The Gospel of Yes by Mike Glenn

The title of new book, The Gospel of Yes by Mike Glenn, almost sounds like an overused cliche.  Nevertheless this book brings to like an obvious but often overlooked point: that God wants us live an abundant life, and that God invites us into an eternal relationship- and all the goodness and fruits that go with a relationship with God.  The subtitle: We Have Missed the Most Important Thing About God.  Finding It Changes Everything. - serves to draw in the interest of the reader.  Using a number of personal anecdotes taken from his own life, the author has written this book for either the new believer or secular reader.  This is an outreach attempt to bring in those readers who ordinarily percieve God as a distant and uninvolved entity. This book serves to refute the emphasis of traditional religious teachings about the ideas of merit, works, suffering and other similar doctrines. Yet at times, I believe that the author is a bbit too permissive in excusing sin, when he concludes that "some people wrongly concludetheir lives are over, and they give in to a self destructive lifestyle."  Essentially he seems to exonerate those in a lifestyle of sin as simply feeling discourages and defeated rather than actually accepting God's grace.  Yes, that is true in part, but nothing negates our personal responsability.  Ignorance is not an excuse whatsoever for a lifestyle that in in direct opposition to God.  I believe that it is important that the author does denounce the prevelant problem of guilt and self hatred.  In today's modern society this is the message that people need to hear- that we do not need to live under the shackles of gult.  Nevertheless, often as mentioned in the bible, guilt does in fact lead to repentance and change- so at times guilt is very important to motivate us to reach for God's will. 

In the end, I think many readers: secular and new believers alike, will appreciate this message.  Those readers so caught up in false, traditioonal religions may also appreciate the freedom of this message.  Yes, God is on our side and does not want us to fail.  But then again, as the bible tells us, God sometimes disciplines those he loves as a parent corrects a child.  Suffering does not mean God has reected us and it may be for God's greater glory.  Hopefully the reader will not confude this message as validating the "prosperity gospel" movement. 

AQs a blogger for WaterBrook I recieved this book from the publisher for the purpose of writing this review.  My opinions expressed are my own.