The Book Depository The Skeletons in God's Closet by Joshua Ryan Butler

Author: Amazon Customer

Rating: 5

Review: Not sure I currently agree with everything in (or not in) the book, but it is an excellently written, passionate and thoroughly thought through meditation on the goodness of God versus the shallow caricatures you find in the West.

Author: Brad Restoule

Rating: 2

Review: A couple friends and I read this as part of a book club, so I'll use some of my comments about it that I sent to them as my review. But I'll just sum it up by saying I think this book hurts the church, and hides the truth. As I said in my review to my friends, one good thing about it is it has made me want to read the scriptures more thoroughly. And this, I think, would please Josh. My friend wrote me his thoughts on the book, and I thought this also summed up my thoughts well: "Overall, I feel that the author takes the approach that he does to justify his concern for social issues, and to do PR for God. Too often the care of fellow believers is overlooked when the church focuses on 'serving the world.' This, in my mind, is backwards." There are many things that are hard to understand for me in the Bible, and killing family members for idolatry, or killing children while invading Canaan is not easy to deal with. But at the same time, I need mercy to see with better eyes than my own. I can't imagine being in those times, and I have wondered if I could do some of those things. But if God was leading them to do it (and this is the very argument against religion from all my atheist friends here), shouldn't it be done? There are terrifying implications to obedience to God and they are very contrary to our ways of thinking. We might think we are more merciful than God but will we even really forgive someone for sinning against us without God causing that grace to take shape within us? We are murderers for anger. I don't know if the armies were angry when they invaded Canaan, or scared. "Yep, God's definitely got some skeletons in his closet - or at least we think so...Opening the door can be intimidating. If we pull these bones out of the closet and take a cold, hard look, the God we have come to love and serve might not be found worth loving and serving. And deep down we know our faith couldn't handle the betrayal." (Skeletons) The problem with this way of writing is that it makes it sound as if we are to judge whether God is good or loving according to notions we have about good and evil. When even Christians are evil, and we misjudge things all the time, what basis is he using to decide whether God would be evil or good apart from the Bible? I would add that the word "faith" he uses here would not be faith in God if by the teachings of the Scriptures we were betrayed. One thing that bothered me was his constant mistreatment of those who preached a simple soul-salvation gospel as opposed to a social-justice focused gospel. "Were all my Buddhist friends (whose generosity, courage, and sacrifice put me to shame) really bound for judgment predominantly because of the time and place into which they were born, while this Thai pastor and visiting missionary (who both came across to me a bit closed-minded, arrogant, and self-righteous) were destined for salvation simply because of the "which religion are you?" box they would check on a questionnaire?" To be sure this reflects the culture accurately. The issue is that a Christian is reflecting the culture of bitterness against the issue of soul verses quality of life, and proclaiming that the call to minister in terms of soul salvation as opposed to social injustice is self-righteous and arrogant. If the two men here classified as arrogant and self-righteous are true Christians, they would know that there is nothing righteous about them other than Christ's righteousness, and that they are saved by Christ crucified, not checks in boxes. But Josh here attributes to them what no true Christian would attribute to themselves. If there is any reason to classify them the way he did, it was not given in this text. And I think it hurts the church to mimic the culture's thoughts on God's people when the culture is ultimately bound to hate God and his ways, and his people, until Christ opens their eyes. Josh purposely uses the word torture throughout the book instead of judgment or punishment (which he explains somewhat in Loose Ends) and it seems disingenuous to do so. While the idea of hell is horrible and true, I have not thought of God as torturing people, though the scriptures indicate some force of wrath, and that it is forever. In the Bible, not in this book, it is presented as just and right. Josh's method here makes this idea odious. The main reason I wanted to write this review now is that Josh's new book is coming out. And watching the video for it reminded me that the effort to reach the lost is never to be at the cost of losing the truth, or harming the church. Paul suffered what he suffered for the elect (which includes the regenerate church as well as those yet to be born again), not the world. Jesus prayed for his own, not the world. Yet we are sent out to the world, to make disciples. The world is to recognize Christ's disciples by their love for one another, not their love for the world. I don't know Josh that well, but from what I know I'd agree with what Pastor Rick says about him in the Foreword, "He has the mind of a theologian, the heart of a poet, and the hands of a missionary." And I mainly know him for those last two. Only I would add the words, "potentially liberal or emergent" before the word "theologian." "Scripture doesn't hide the challenging parts; it proclaims them boldly." (Skeletons) This sentence is strengthening. But I think it is the opposite of what this book does.