The Gospel of Yes

Mike Glenn seems as though he is trying to justify himself in this book, hence the abundant use of the word "I" and "me". He is an all-too familiar, mega-church pastor, who has built his congregation by his entertainment value, story-telling, and award-winning performances. Glenn's problem is compounded by the fact that he pastor's in one of the wealthiest counties in our land. A major topic throughout the book centers on doing what you want to do, so that you can enjoy life. Glenn has made that his reality because he can afford to pay people to do what he doesn't want to do. Life is just not that easy for most folks. Few can go into work and rework their job descriptions (as Glenn did) to enable them to do just the things they perceive themselves to be good at and eliminate all the tough stuff. Must be nice! Unfortunately, most of us have to do what we do, not because we like it or don't like it, but because it is our responsibility. Responsibility drives us, not enjoyment. How irresponsible of a pastor to make us all feel like we have missed the most important thing about God, because we have acted responsibly. Moses was not gifted in speech nor did he enjoy standing before Pharaoh; but he had a responsibility placed on him by God. Noah did not enjoy the ridicule of building an ark; but he had a responsibility to do it. Joseph did not enjoy being sold into slavery; but that was God's plan. Sounds to me like the author has succeeded in the world's standard and now is sitting on his perch trying to tell us how much better he is than everyone else because he has discovered the most important thing about God. "Die to self" would be a good starting place for Glenn to develop some Biblical theology.

I would have expected more from a graduate of Southern but then again, he graduated before conservative theology was revived at the school. Much like his church, this book is a lot of words, but no depth. What is more disturbing than his shallow thinking is how often he contradicts the Word of God. Like most liberal theologians, he follows no consistent rules of interpretation and his proof-texting is shameful. His positions on certain Scriptures are completely void of context and virtually no other Biblical scholar shares these views. They are used to support a Glenn point, not a truth point from God. One example is how he distorts Matt. 5:37, "Let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no' be 'no'". Clearly, scholars agree that the context of this verse commands one to give their honest word and not to make one's speech a legal commitment as they were doing at the time." Glenn somehow extracts this to mean that God gifted you for certain things and when you answer His "Yes" to your life then you have found your "destiny". The truth is, it is not about you finding your unique destiny. You are designed to empty yourself, and be found in Christ. It is hermeneutically impossible to connect what Glenn is saying to what the text actually says. Oh, and what about the "'No' be 'No'"? Is the "Gospel of No" the second most important thing we have missed???

The book, from the first chapter when Glenn demands an answer from God until the end, presents an egotistical and narcissistic author. Unfortunately, this arrogance abuses the trust that good Christians automatically give him because of his clerical position. This book leads people astray from the truth of the gospel and fits all to well in the emerging movement of the day. The "Gospel of Yes" is "another gospel" and the Bible is clear to warn us that, "there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ, but even if we or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed."

The church is really good at telling you NO and working the guilt angle. I believe it completely fosters the "judgmental" reputation of Christians - everybody feels so bad about themselves that the only way they think they can feel better is to look for someone who is worse than them. Lots of PLANKEYEs walking around giving Christianity a bad name. What if we focused on the YES? To stop focusing on the bad and truly LEAVE IT AT THE CROSS? To live in the glow of God's grace, love and mercy and to work on bringing more people into a wonderful relationship with Christ - where you can be loved and supported and truly live life to the fullest? To embrace the fullness of the GOOD news? What a wonderful book. Thank you Mike!

I felt like it was more of a motivational success story than explaining how the heart-wrenching truth of The Gospel of Jesus Christ causes me to abandon myself and say yes to Jesus OR make the name of Jesus famous! On the contrary, this book comes across somewhat prideful to be honest.

I felt like Jesus was a footnote simply used as a tool to how I can make all my dreams come true. I don't think the book is terrible per say because there are a couple reasonable take-aways, but I think overall it misrepresents our condition before God and what the Christian life should be defined by, with or without knowing our identity or place in this world, its Christ and Christ alone. This book seems to flip that to how Jesus can be used for me. The author's interpretation of "...your yes be yes and no..." verse is very shaky at best. He's a positive writer and a positive thinker, but I think his aim is way off target to the same Gospel that Jesus proclaimed.

For me, I will quietly slide this book onto the pragmatic shelf and let it get dusty.