A More Christlike God

A More Beautiful Gospel

By: Bradley Jersak

Narrated by: Tim Welch

Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

What is God like? A punishing judge? A doting grandfather? A deadbeat dad? A vengeful warrior? "Believers" and atheists alike typically carry and finally reject the toxic images of God in their own hearts and minds. Even the Christian Gospel has repeatedly lapsed into a vision of God where the wrathful king must be appeased by his victim son. How do such "good cop/bad cop" distortions of the divine arise and come to dominate churches and cultures?

Whether our notions of "God" are personal projections or inherited traditions, author and theologian Brad Jersak proposes a radical reassessment, arguing for a more Christlike God and a more beautiful Gospel. 

If Christ is "the image of the invisible God, the radiance of God's glory and exact representation of God's likeness", what if we conceived of God as completely Christlike - the perfect incarnation of self-giving, radically forgiving, co-suffering love? What if God has always been and forever will be "cruciform" (cross-shaped) in his character and actions? 

A More Christlike God suggests that such a God would be very good news indeed - a God who Jesus "unwrathed" from dead religion, a love that is always toward us, and a grace that pours into this suffering world through willing, human partners.

©2015 Plain Truth Ministries (P)2019 Plain Truth Ministries

Audible chose the wrong narrator!

I cannot continue to listen to this book, as the narrator gets in the way of me hearing the writing. He seems to have no connection to or understanding of the subject, He comes across as a 1950's actor, emphasizing random words for drama, rather than context. If you have ever heard the author interviewed, you will be very disappointed how poorly matched the narrator is. Brad Jersak is a deep, thoughtful theologian, with a gentle pastor's heart. His tone and intent are completely missing from the reading of this important book. I will be returning it for credit, and buy the print copy to read myself. Audible, just because it is a "religious" book, you don't need to find a stodgy actor to read it.

A Theological "Must Read"

This is perhaps the most theologically challenging book I've read, but well deserving to be read. It tackles important theology in a way very well communicated - simply but deeply. Perhaps I may agree to 90%, yet I give this book 5 stars because Jersak deserves it! Too well done to be ignored. I have read the word since my childhood, digging into it for many many hours of personal study. At many points, I felt the truth he was communicating was truth I have seen so vital to understanding the nature of the kindness of the heart of God revealed through scripture. I highly recommend this book to theologans and to those who find problems in Christianity. Great narration and great thinking!

The narrator is HORRIBLE

The narrator has an obnoxious voice, I could handle this, but his saying "quote" and "close quote" is enough to drive one out of ones bloody mind.

Major overhaul

challenges the age-old God-as-monster theory that has been prevalent in the church for at least 150 years

What if God is more like Christ than we're taught?

This is a good introduction to the more Eastern understanding of soteriology and atonement theory. Christ provided many differing analogies of the deep mystery of our salvation but never provided formulas. The West (Rome and her Protestant Children who came after her) continue to concentrate on only the Juridical analogy. Some like Calvin and Edwards have further pushed that into an atonement theory which is completely that of a vengeful and wrathful god seeking retribution, where we are in Edwards words "sinners in the hands of an angry god." This is the perversion which occurs when we take one metaphor out of context and make it into a methodology we force on a god of our own design.

What if God were less like John Calvin and more like Jesus Christ? What if the True God can also be understood as a healer and restorer? What if instead of purposefully creating some for destruction, God so loves the world that he desires that all would be saved? What if rather than punishing the disease of sinfulness in our lives, the Great Physician came to heal us of our malady, cure us from our physical/mental/spiritual illness of fallenness and separation from God, and create in us a clean heart, renew a right spirit in us, and heal and restore us prodigals to a loving relationship with a Father who both gives us the freedom of will to reject Him and yet runs towards us with rejoicing when we return?

What if we are not sinners in the hands of some petty and angry god, but rather prodigals in the arms of a Father rejoicing in our return?

solid

A must listen/read for any church attending christian who has been indoctrinated in the western traditions.

Finally! A view of God who looks just like His Son.

Brilliant, fun, depth, and freeing, Brad's interpretations of our Father look just like Jesus. I've seen and heard Him for years. Now, I know Him in a deeply loving and freeing new way; a way discovered by many others, many centuries before. Who would have thunk?!

Horrible narrator

Brad Jersak is an excellent author whose publisher chooses the worst possible narrators. I’m getting my credit back. It is impossible to listen to this any longer

Great teaching!

Thank you Brad for helping us understand God!
I love this book!
Janet from Colorado

Just buy the paperback

The content is great, but the reading is absolutely dreadful. The reader is like that one highschool teacher or college professor you had that seemed to believe that enthusiasm and inflection are of the devil. I do most of my audiobook "reading" during my commute, and I had to stop listening because this book nearly put me to sleep more than once. I've bought the paperback instead, and am returning the audiobook. Save yourself the trouble and pass on the audiobook version. The life you save could be your own.

A thoughtful book with an unsuitable narrator.

A really thoughtful & helpful book by Brad Jersak on why & how our image of the true God may be damaged, & how to restore it. He covers a lot of ground in this book, which I have on Kindle, but I found it very hard to listen to the accompanying Audible as the narrator is just wrong for the tone & content. They are personal, thoughtful & profound but the narrator comes across as pushy, sarcastic & very preachy, which contradicts the heart of what he is reading.