Lies We Believe About God

By: Wm. Paul Young, C. Baxter Kruger - foreword

Narrated by: Wm. Paul Young, C. Baxter Kruger - foreword

Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

From the author of the 20 million-plus-copy best-selling novel The Shack and the New York Times best sellers Cross Roads and Eve comes a compelling, conversational exploration of the wrongheaded ideas we sometimes have and share about God.

Wm. Paul Young has been called a heretic for the ways he vividly portrays God's love through his novels. Here he shares 33 commonly uttered and sometimes seemingly innocuous things we say about God. Paul exposes these as lies that keep us from having full, loving relationships with our creator.

With personal anecdotes, and sharing the compassion felt from the "Papa" portrayed in The Shack - soon to be a major film starring Sam Worthington and Octavia Spencer - Paul encourages listeners to think anew about important issues including sin, religion, hell, politics, identity, creation, and human rights and helps us discover God's deep and abiding love.

©2017 William Paul Young (P)2017 S&S Audio

Opened my eyes and my heart

Listening to this book opened my eyes and my heart to the truth that relationships and love really is what matters. I didn't agree with all of Paul's perceptions and it did help me to stop and think about what I do truly believe and desire in my relationship with God. After listening to the audio book I did buy the paperback -I still like holding great books and being able to read and reread passages. It's a great listen, read and reread book.

I want to believe...

... I want to believe the right things about God. Isn't that why any of us listened to this work by Wm. Paul Young? The second half of chapter titles had me gasping: "You need to be saved", "Sin separates us from God", etc. It's as if he was saying that the bedrock of my Christian upbringing was itself a Lie (with a capital "L").

I appreciated very much how Young dedicated a section at the end to showcase the passages of Scripture that seem to point to a God who is restoring all things, which includes every human soul. In addition to wanting to believe the right things about God, because I believe that all other beliefs stem from what we believe about God, I want to believe that God is merciful enough to save everyone, because heaven knows that He is powerful enough to do so.

I just finished reading Revelation, however, and it seems to smack in the face of this hope that all will be saved. A very violent book, Revelation, especially if you take it literally. 1/3 of Israel will be killed?? Blood up to the horse's bridle? All in the Lamb's Book of Life (which was decided before the foundations of the world) will be saved and all others will be thrown into the "lake of fire"??

But is it all literal, Revelation? When we die, will Peter be standing there behind a literal podium with a literal, GIGANTIC (hopefully) book of the "saved"? Will Jesus show up when your name isn't in there and say "depart from me, I never knew you"?

I want to believe the right things about God.

Thoughtful and mind provoking

It was amazing how many of the ideas I grew up with which made me not even want to think about God. I feel as though a light switch has been flipped and see God in a completely different light. Really makes one think about their own relationship with God.

Exactly what I needed precisely when I needed it.

I intuitively knew that the God I knew theologically was not The God Jesus shows Himself to be when I found myself depressed, anxious and suffering from the trauma induced by believing God was going to punish me and my family and all of the atrocities that flow out of living out that belief (spanking, submissive marriage, etc.). 3 years ago I pulled the plug on all of it and deconstructed my faith Marie Kondo style- if it didn't look like Jesus and didn't bring my life joy and create greater health and Wholeness, it had to go. If I read something about God that didn't look like Jesus, I would assume that it was ancient Man's misunderstanding of God or religion's attempt to control people-it wasn't really who God is. I am very right brained by nature and I have had to basically invent another language/way of understanding and interpreting God based on what I knew and was learning about my brain and body and my design through neuroscience and neuroplasticity (I was pursuing healing from my childhood and religious trauma). My premise was that If I was following my Divine Designer's true intentions for how to live, learn by making mistakes, parenting through non violence and unconditional love and mutual respect it would complement my Design, cultivate trust & get us all out of fight or flight so we could heal. It's been working through the past 3 years and I am really seeing miraculous progress. The problem was that I was unable to communicate with my left brained husband in a way that satisfied his questions about what to do with the seemingly wrathful nature of God he sees in the Bible. At some point I wanted to be able to read the Bible again without being retriggered, too. This book helped me understand and simply break down all the niggling inconsistencies between what I've learned about God from a Penal Substitutionary Atonement view and the God I've come to know and trust by looking at Jesus. I wept as I read and listened to this book- tears of relief and JOY! God really IS GOOD and His love swallowed up all the retributive violence- not an appeased blood lust. I hope my husband finds this book as healing as I have. I respect his journey and his process of finding answers. This book is exactly what I needed precisely when I needed it most.

Outstanding

The Father would say well done!!!! Please read with a open mind and please don't judge it.

Thought-provoking

This author always incites me to think deeper, better things about God and my relationship with Him. Very good book!

I love this book!

I have listened to this book several times since purchasing it. Paul's interpretation of Jesus and God is the closest anyone has come in my personal opinion. I am 57 years old and I have never been able to find a religion that fit my beliefs and feelings about the trinity. I have investigated many religions searching for one that I could join but nit one felt true to my soul. I decided that I am not a religious person but a spiritual one instead. Then I saw " The Shack". Finally something that portrays the trinity in a way that felt true to my heart!! I made all of my grown children watch it with me. My husband loved it too even though it doesn't fit into the beleifs of his religion. I then listened to the audio version of "The Shack" and loved it even more. I have since listened to all the books I could find by this author. I have loved them all but especially this one. "The lies we believe about God". I can totally relate to the teachings of this book. It feels like truth to my heart and soul. GOD IS GOOD! and GOD is especially fond of me! I know that poppa loves me. He has walked beside me all the way. If he hadn't been there with me I know that I wouldn't have survived. Thank you Paul for your books. My children will each be getting a copy of this one.♡

Wonderful read for spiritual healing

Raw, personal, and so full of sincere honesty. This book was referred to me by my yoga instructor and it has helped ease my conscious. I was involved in a spiritual abusive community, some even say it was a cult, and Mr. Young helped me in a way I didn’t think was possible. I recommend this book to anyone that puts God in a box and feels the need to gain perspective on His undying love for mankind.

Bravo!

Paul Young shares his insights into the character and heart of God, revealing the lies we so often find easier to believe than the truth. Rich and powerful stories paint a beautiful picture throughout the book raising important questions and inviting the reader to deeper conversations. All is written in the name of Love and relationship.

Opens ones mind but is stongly opinionated

While I enjoyed the authors suggestions to broaden ones view of God, by providing an opposing opinion Paul makes the same mistake as all those he who told the "lies". Thanks none the less for the questions raised.

Yes!

Yes! Found this conformation and encouraging in my walk in biblical faith… a must listen to/read along with The Shack……Thank you Wm. Paul Young…

Wow... how could we have been so blind?!

I always love to hear the author read their own book. You get so much more from the read when you hear it in their own words.

Having been an evangelical Christian for 40 plus years I'm surprised at how blinded I have been by the absolute obvious that we find in scripture, all because of the dogma and doctrine of fear that is unfortunately alive and well in western evangelical church today. WAKE UP people and see the truth in this book for a fuller life in Jesus!

interesting opinion but not based on the Bible

interesting opinion and some wishful thinking. I wish some of his opinions were true but the author ignores the parts of the Bible that disagree with him and he quotes scripture out of context.

Insightful! I need to listen again.

The section about the cross was out of this world. I need to listen again.

Enjoyable and accessible

This was a very enjoyable and accessible listen. Although I might not agree with everything Young said, I found it very interesting all the same.

Amazing truth.

Most of the chapters of this book have been confirming what I already knew, but never heard from anyone else. The few chapters, that posed new things, challenge me to think and pray over the concerned matter.

So good

This book is great!!! Challenging and I must read it again. Thank you so much for writing this book. I really needed help processing some of these questions. I highly recommend this book!!!

Exceptional

The very best narrator i have ever heard... From God's heart to mine shalom in graceful gratitude