God is Disappointed in You
Mark Russell and Shannon Wheeler
When I opened a beautifully wrapped Christmas present to find this book on CD, I was shocked by the title. While I know God wants us to do better, I do not like the language of disappointed. I believe God loves us more than we can fathom. So, I might have argued with my husband about this present he got me. Once I started listening to the first CD, I realized it was a perfect gift for me. The author shortens each book of the Bible down to a manageable length about 2 to 3 pages. He selects what he thinks is most important (something we all do anyway). I will warn you that there is some foul language in this book, and yet I thought it added an authenticity to the story. The author uses a lot of masculine language to describe God. Not surprising but a place he could have changed things up for the better.
Since I was listening to this while driving, I didn’t have the opportunity to write down a bunch of quotes. My favorite line that sticks with me comes from the book of John. The disciples keep not understanding Jesus and finally at the end Peter gets that the stories that Jesus has told were metaphors. Peter ends John’s gospel by saying, “It’s a metaphor.” One disappointment (see what I did there?) of listening to the book on CD is that I didn’t get to enjoy the cartoons that are drawn to go with each book of the Bible. I hope to see a copy of the book in the future and enjoy the cartoons too.
I recommend this for someone who has always wanted to read the Bible and has never made it all the way through! I recommend this book for someone who has read the Bible from cover to cover and still wonders what was in there. I’d recommend this book for a lively Bible study with a Bible nearby to see what he skipped and changed. I recommend this to anyone who takes his/her faith seriously but not too seriously.