- can it really be that simple? is an amazing book that has dissed a number of illusions for us.
We first met Andrew Farley when we read his wonderful book called The Naked Gospel. In that book Andrew communicated the gospel in such a simple way that even a child could understanding it, or should I say only a child could understand it.
Dr Andrew Farley is the lead teaching pastor of Ecclesia , serves as the Faculty Adviser for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and is an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at Texas Tech University.
His initial experience as a Christian was characterised by self-effort as he tried to please God at any cost. His ruthless religion resulted in spiritual fatigue and disillusionment with the church. Only then did he discover what relaxing in Jesus means and how enjoying God's intimate presence can transform everyday life.Through tales of robbery and extortion, laps around the Indy 500 track, tapped phone calls to a psychic, and a grandma's late arrival at her own funeral Andrew invites his readers on a story-filled adventure to discover the beauty of God's grace.
These are some of the illusions that Andrew has helped us to identify; to see the Gospel message from a hopeful perspective as opposed to one that divides and separates. To see the true meaning of walking in the spirit. Clarifying the facts around the judgement, rewards and God's discipline, and highlighting the problems around the popular challenge to Christians to die to self.
Although Andrew is is an incredibly well educated man, he communicates the Gospel message with such clarity that you come away from listening to him or reading his books saying, why haven't I seen it like that before.
Darin Hufford, author of the best selling book, The Misunderstood God says of God without Religion. "This is a book that every Christian simply must read before going one more step in their walk with Christ. Don't waste another day living under religious bondage. Stop everything you're doing and read this book now".
And Leonard Sweet, best selling author, professor, Drew University and George Fox University say's "Andrew Farley is one of the best young writers yet most mature thinkers in the church today. Read God without Religion to hear the voice of a 21st-century Bonhoeffer who shows how to ring in the good times when Jesus (not religion) is the cantus firmus, the enduring melody, of our lives"