For several years this provocatively titled book has sat on my shelf…daring me to open it and wrestle with the words inside.  For several years I have put it off…choosing to sit in the comfort of my belief system.  Well, enough guilt took over (and I told myself I would not order any more books from Amazon until I made a dent in my to-read pile!) so I finally did read The Heretic’s Guide to Eternity.  Here are my thoughts.

The basic premise of this book is that God’s grace to us is an “opt out” deal rather than one we “opt-in” to.  In other words, folks are saved by the grace of God offered though Jesus unless they choose to reject it.  (Later in the book they joke that a working title was, “I am a universalist who believes in hell.”)

I am grateful for folks like the authors, Spencer Burke (founder of TheOoze.com) and Barry Taylor, who push us in our theology and make us uncomfortable.  They made me think and I sure appreciate that.

This book makes a number of points I agree with.  These include….

  • That our formulas about grace and salvation can only take us so far in our understanding of God.
  • That grace is bigger and more compelling than a set of ideas about God.
  • That much of our theology, such as the idea of an age of accountability, is not found clearly in Scripture but is based on an understanding of God’s goodness to people.

But ultimately there are a few parts of this book, most of the book really, that just don’t sit right with me.

One, Burke and Taylor did not clearly lay out how one might opt out of grace.  In some ways that is consistent with rejecting formulas about salvation, but I needed more development of that thought to wrestle with it more.

Two, I think the authors are a little to quick to change their faith to match the culture. While I wholeheartedly agree with the idea of being contextual to the culture we find ourselves in, it seems that only goes so far.  Jesus did not accommodate to the culture, he turned it upside down.  It seems to me that the God of the Bible is quite comfortable having his people be the minority.

Three, I can’t help but wonder what if what some of the emerging church folks are misdirecting their frustrations with church and pointing it towards theology.  I have tried the water in the emerging church and not been fully pleased, but when I think of the missional church I am stoked.  While I can not read the author’s minds, I know I am not the only one that misdirected their frustration.

Again, I really appreciated this book. It made me think quite a bit. I admire the authors and their willingness to put their ideas out for consideration.  I am glad I read it.  I would encourage you to read a few books like this one or some of the works of Brian Brian McLaren to become familiar with the ideas. I think the authors of this book write with a humble attitude that is not as prevalent in some emerging church/theology writings.  I just did not feel great about the conclusions of this book.

With respect to the missional church, check out this video of Michael Frost from a YouTube Friday last May. Now I am excited about changing!