The Secret Message of Jesus

I recently read The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren. McLaren continues to challenge and inspire me, along with Donald Miller.

I have come to appreciate that I've bought into viewing the Bible in ways it was not written: as a systematic theology, as a how-to manual, as a guarantee, as a horoscope of what's to come. Much of the Bible is narrative, and if I'm not coming to it as narrative, I'm missing something.

In The Secret, McLaren points out how Jesus never really talked very obviously - he "hid" his message in parables, in strange sayings, in miraculous works. Most presentations of the gospel that I've heard make it very clear, matter of fact: repent, believe, be saved. Miller points out that all these points that we think are so important and all-consuming are never found in the same place in scripture. Maybe reducing things to a few key phrases takes out too much.

I also really, really appreciated his take on end times stuff. Revelation is full of metaphor and imagery - to take it and try to deduce exact events that are to come is probably missing the whole point of the book. If God wanted us to clearly know what was going to happen adn when it was going to happen, he could have influenced it's writing in that exact way. He didn't. McLaren talks about viewing it as, if I remember correctly, warnings and promises, and that makes so much more sense to me. We cannot possibly know what will happen - God hasn't told us. But he has revealed his character to us, and that is even better.