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Is God a sadistic torturer? Coldhearted judge? Genocidal maniac?
Unfortunately, our popular caricatures often make him out to be. There are some questions no Christian wants to be asked. Many today believe hell, judgment and holy war are "skeletons in God's closet," tough topics that, if looked at closely, would reveal a cruel, vindictive tyrant rather than a good and loving God. And we aren't comfortable with the answers we've been given.
- "How can a loving God send people to Hell?"
- "Isn't it arrogant to believe Jesus is the only way to God?"
- "Why is there so much violence in the Old Testament?"
- Sales Rank: #51130 in Books
- Brand: HarperCollins Christian Pub.
- Published on: 2014-10-21
- Released on: 2014-10-21
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.39" h x 1.06" w x 5.47" l, .80 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 356 pages
Review
"New Author of the Year" 2015 finalist -Evangelical Christian Publisher's Association (ECPA).
"Best Popular Theological Book of 2014" -Andrew Wilson, Christianity Today contributor."Has the potential to be a game-changer for a lot of struggling Christians and skeptics. In a lot of ways, it's the book Love Wins tried to be, but fell short of due to doctrinal drift." -The Gospel Coalition."This, my friends, is a genuinely helpful book and I hope those who struggle with these tough topics will discover here what I have--relief and joy." -Scot McKnight, Professor of New Testament, Northern Seminary
"Mind-bending, approachable, and deeply pastoral, Skeletons is going to do huge things for the Church. One of my favorite books of the year and an absolute must-read. -Nish Weiseth, Editor-in-Chief at deeperstory.com
"Profound. Powerful. Paradigm shifting. This is simply the best book I've read from a young author in years." -Bob Roberts Jr, Pastor of Northwood Church, Author of Bold as Love
"Theologically trustworthy but stretches your thinking--truly causes you to worship God all the more." -Dan Kimball, Pastor of Vintage Faith Church
"Changed not only my mind, but also my heart." -Sarah Thebarge, Author of The Invisible Girls. "Undertakes the important work of reframing the questions and putting the emphasis on the right syllables." -Dr. Paul Metzger, Director of New Wine, New Wineskins: The Institute for the Theology of Culture
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"Intellectually satisfying and enlightening--as well as entertaining and life-changing--this is a gem!" -Ken Wytsma, Founder of The Justice Conference and Author of Pursuing Justice
"Bold and refreshing--Joshua has the courage to 'open the door' to God's skeleton closet and shine a light on what's there. He is a reliable guide." -John Sowers, President of The Mentoring Project and Author of The Heroic Path
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"I am deeply grateful for the faith strengthening effect this book has had on my life." -Sebastian Rogers, Peripheral Vision Studios
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"This book is courageous, intelligent, provocative, and sound. Read it." -John Mark Comer, Pastor for teaching and vision at Bridgetown: A Jesus Church
"Butler has the courage to explore in the lush idea-fields that exist beyond the deep-rutted wagon trails of much religious writing." -Tony Kriz, Author of Aloof
"A vital antidote to some of our most malicious misunderstandings of God's good news." -Michael Yankoski, Author of The Sacred Year
"I would never have anticipated my inability to put it down. I was challenged and inspired as I read through this book!" -Dr. Andrea Cook, President of Warner Pacific College
About the Author
Joshua Ryan Butler serves as pastor of local and global outreach at Imago Dei Community, a church in the heart of Portland, Oregon, where he enjoys helping people who wrestle with the some of the tough topics of the Christian faith. Joshua oversees the church's city ministries in areas like foster care, human trafficking and homelessness and develops international partnerships in areas like clean water, HIV-support and church planting. Joshua is also a worship leader who enjoys writing music for the life of the church. Joshua's wife Holly, daughter Aiden and son Jacob enjoy spending time with friends over great meals and being a foster family for vulnerable children.
Most helpful customer reviews
73 of 86 people found the following review helpful.
Discernment suggested
By Joan N.
God gets a lot of criticism. Many think that Hell, Judgment, and Holy War are dark doctrines rather kept in a closet.
Butler decided to get these skeletons out of God's closet. He is convinced those issues have been misrepresented today and are often not what the Bible teaches or what Christian theology has historically proclaimed. He centers his work around the biblical story of God's reconciliation, healing, and protection of the weak.
The first skeleton is hell. According to Butler, hell is a force for evil, not a place of punishment. "Hell gains entrance into God's good world through us." (24)
Hell is the destructive power of sin that is cast outside the city. "Hell is not a place God creates to torture sinners, but a power God exudes to protect the robust vitality of his kingdom." (62) In the Appendix, he does clarify that hell is a place and involves punishment. "God's containment is the punishment." (319) He does make it clear, however, "that it is not torture." (320)
Butler never mentions the devil in his discussion of hell. He writes, "Where then, does evil come from? As we have seen, we are the ones, not God, who unleash its destructive power in the world. We are the architects of autonomy, the engineers of evil..." (62) He does not mention spiritual warfare, temptation, resisting the devil, etc. "The power of hell resides in our hearts and makes its way into the world through us." (78)
The next skeleton is judgment. "God's judgment is good news," Butler writes, "because the injustices are not forgotten." (116) God judges the world "to heal creation," "to release the land from captivity." (117) There will be a healing of the nations, a reuniting of the nations. (130)
Butler emphasizes that judgment begins in the house of the Lord. If a priest rapes a boy, he will be judged (no mention of the possibility of repentance and God's forgiveness). He also seems to indicate that an abandoned wife in a third world country who worked hard to support her children, "might find herself surprised to encounter Jesus and hear his voice call her his beloved..." (153-4) There is no mention of what Christians would generally call "saving faith." Butler says Jesus knowing us is where our salvation is found. That is not the same thing as claiming to know Jesus. (154) He writes, "And it is also important to note: Jesus appears to know many who didn't know him." (156)
About other religions, Butler writes, "Jesus calls us to humble ourselves before followers of other religions as those created in the image of God." (165) Butler reminds us that "God's kingdom is for them and that Jesus' judgment will be a surprise..." (166) "God is all about reconciliation." (171) We must not think "that God's grace is not big enough to encompass the Muslim in the midst of a reduced perception of Jesus (the Christian must declare that God's grace has encompassed us as well in our reduced perceptions of Jesus)." (178)
Butler's third skeleton is Holy War. He argues that Israel's conquest of Canaan is a David and Goliath kind of story showing that God is for the weak. He also argues that the Old Testament makes clear it was using ancient trash talk, an exaggerated way of speaking. (228) Hyperbole is used to emphasize military victories. Joshua's armies were "clearly not fighting against civilians" but were "fighting against soldiers in their fortified military outposts in the battlefield." (231) He also argues that the Canaanites were "driven off" not"killed off." (232)
I am always amazed when someone develops an understanding of Scripture that is different from what is generally understood today. Butler develops much of is theology from the parables of Jesus. He generally ignores the rest of the New Testament. The impetus for developing his theology seems to be the injustice he has seen in the world. God's justice, then, becomes oriented toward the welfare of humans, not God's own holiness.
On the positive side, Butler's book is a good reminder of the skeletons in our own closet. Have we hidden evil behavior in the closet? How about judging others? What about ignoring the plight of the weak and poor? Reading this book did encourage me to think about the skeletons I might be hiding.
In the end, Butler's book left me dissatisfied. There were times when his unusual interpretations of Scripture really made me think. There were other times when I was sure he was skirting heresy, or perhaps actually treading on it. I would advise discernment when reading this book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of an independent and honest review.
26 of 30 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent Analysis of Some Tough Doctrinal Problems
By JR. Forasteros
What aspects of Christianity make it hard for you to really, fully follow Jesus? Maybe it’s how the Church treats LGBT people. Or a congregation’s attitude toward women in ministry. Maybe it’s Bible’s complicated, complex history of transmission, and the way texts are handled by some denominations.
Or maybe there are some foundational doctrines that just give you the willies. Doctrines that, if you look too closely at them, it’ll actually turn out that God isn’t very good at all, that God is a spiteful, tribal war god who only loves those that love him and punishes everyone else for eternity.
Josh Butler calls these doctrines the “Skeletons in God’s Closet”, and in his new book, he’s dragging them out into the light of day.
For this book, Josh focuses on three particular doctrines many Christians find troubling: Hell, the Last Judgment and Holy War. Are there more? Most certainly. Is three enough for one book? Unquestionably.
In The Skeletons in God’s Closet, Josh carefully works through each of these issues. He claims that each issue is a “skeleton” because it’s become caricatured in the larger cultural discussion. So, for instance, Hell is a counterpart of Heaven, one of two possible eternal destinations that awaits us after death – one reserved for those who weren’t good enough.
With each issue, Josh works carefully through Scripture, Church tradition, reason and his own experiences to reframe the conversation. He offers profound insights from across the Christian tradition, and establishes a more orthodox understanding of these issues.
As Josh claims in the introduction:
"God is good… In the chapters that follow, I will seek to demonstrate that God’s goodness is continuous with, not contradictory to, these tough topics of hell, judgment and holy war. Indeed, that it is precisely because of God’s goodness, not in spite of it, that these topics arise."
How well does Josh reframe these skeletons? Do they become avatars of hope?
To a large extent, Josh succeeds. His treatments of these issue elevates the discussion to a serious-but-accessible level Evangelicals need. I don’t know very many people who take their faith seriously who don’t honestly struggle with these very issue. Josh’s words will be a welcome guide (especially if you use the free discussion guide he offers to do this as a group study!).
You probably won’t agree with everything Josh offers. In particular, I wasn’t wholly convinced by his discussion of the Canaanite genocides (though his treatment is excellent, and immeasurably better than what comes from some pastors). Either way, The Skeletons in God’s Closet will help you to think more clearly about some very difficult topics. That alone is worth your time.
It’s also worth mentioning that The Skeletons in God’s Closet is not exactly an apologetics book. Josh doesn’t write to non-Christians to defend the faith. This book is written to Christians. Josh doesn’t defend the authority of Scripture; he assumes you’re already in the same neighborhood as he is.
That’s not to say those who don’t share Josh’s (and my) Evangelical outlook won’t find the book profitable. This is some of the clearest, most accessible writing I’m aware of that directly and purposefully deals with these challenging doctrines. Even if you’re not an Evangelical but you’d like to hear an excellent representation of Orthodox Christian engagement that doesn’t shy away from the potential ugliness of these issues, The Skeletons in God’s Closet is a book you need you be reading.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
I've been waiting for this book for a while. I just didn't know it.
By David M
First and foremost: this book is not perfect. I have yet to read one that is, yet according to the grading scale here, a five means "I love it," and I definitely loved the book.
In an attempt to stay short and concise, due to my tendency to belabor the point, this book does not present new ideas by any means, which is part of its appeal, but it does present them in fresh and, importantly, accessible ways. Many Christians, myself included, have shied away from topics such as judgment, hell, and warfare in the Bible because of the caricatures we have seen in the world. When you see people telling you that Hell is nothing more than a way for God to torture people for eternity, that God judges anyone and everyone who has not said the Sinner's Prayer (hint: that's me), and that God delights in the bloodshed of the wicked, then it makes sense to want to reject those ideas. All of them are, if I can be frank, horrid and abominable. However, as someone who is hesitant to swing from one extreme to the other, I've also recognized that this "shying away" needs to be temporary, because deep below the caricatures of modern-day evangelicalism are some important doctrines, and as a good friend of mine says, "abuse does not forbid proper use."
So with all of that being said, this book really helped put a lot of things into perspective for me when it comes to hell, judgment, and warfare. I didn't walk away changing my mind on everything. Butler argues that there is a time and a place for warfare in life (arguing from Augustine's just war theory), and while I appreciate his conviction, I am more convinced by the arguments espoused in light of non-violent resistance. I think Preston Sprinkle did a phenomenal job with "Fight" in showing that we don't have to re-write the Old Testament in order to find support for non-violent living. Walter Wink's "Jesus and Nonviolence" is also a necessary read when it comes to non-violent resistance; something I wish the author would have engaged more. (However, I refuse to fault him for this. Simply a personal opinion!)
However, as I stated above, a lot of things were put into perspective, and I find that to be more important than reading a book that simply reaffirms what I already believe. The way Butler argues for Hell, judgment, and warfare being a result of God's goodness and love may seem unsettling at first (it was for me), but his vocation as a pastor is evident on every page, and that, to me, is what made this book the best I've read on the subject. Butler is not some hot-shot Patheos blogger that decided he needed to tell the whole world what is right and wrong before he reaches the prime age of 27, and it shows.
All in all, I initially bought it on Kindle, and I enjoyed the first few chapters enough that I bought a paperback copy, as well. By the time I got it, I was almost done, but it's one of those books I know I'll be referring to in the future a lot. I know he's not alone, but I'm grateful for theologians and pastors who realize why these questions need to be asked, why these questions can be hard, yet don't try to take the easy way out. For some, they'll consider these things to be cop-outs; an attempt to make Christianity palatable. Alas, you cannot please everyone.
So much for being short and concise, right?
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