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Compassionate Truth	Customer Rating:
Donald Miller speaks with a heart that has a relationship with Jesus. His criticisim with making faith a formula spoke to me and I agree with his emphasis that it is all about relationship...not a perfected theology. This is a book for Christians who don't recognize what the American church has become.

Faith and You to Know and Understnd

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We, all of us chrsitians, are always or seemingly always searching for something. Faith is knowing and trusting with His love, God's Word. Almost everyone has his or her definition of faith and we are always searching. So who am I to really review and comment on this well-written heart-felt touch of the writer as he leads those who need this touch of writing in a faithful way. Grab it and read it!

Eye opening!

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What a refreshing view of Christianity! I love Miller's offbeat way of sharing the truth through stories and observations. (He doesn't speak "Christianese".) This book showed me and reminded me of whom Jesus is and was, not the version that was taught in Sunday School. Today's Christianity has missed the boat on some things and Miller reminds us of this. A timely, modern reminder not to be the Pharasees we read about in scripture. Please read this as a poignant reminder of how we need to show the real Jesus to the world. My 19 year old son is now reading it. Pass these truths around and watch the climate change.

Excellent for growing in your walk

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I thoroughly enjoyed this book after reading Miller's "Blue Lke Jazz." Coming to faith almost two years ago I've discovered that there's a Christian culture that gets you sucked in, allowing you to miss Jesus. The sad part is that, you can stay and just be a "friend" of Jesus. But to be fully mature and to experience His fullness Jesus MUST be the center of our walk and not judgment fear or religion. It is the relationship that brings us close to Christ and knowing Him in a more intimate fashion. These books have helped along with a study in revival in taking another step higher rather than walking the same line. This is an excellent read and I recommend it!!

Life Changing Search

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The basic thesis of Miller's book is that Christianity should not be reduced to a set of principles, regardless of how true, necessary or helpful they might be, as to do so detracts from the relationship with God that is central in the Scriptures and thus by far more important. He examines the relational aspect to Christianity from various angles using real life examples that drive the point home all the more because they are situations most readers today would have experienced either first-hand or second-hand at some or other point in their lives. Miller answers the question, What Do we Really Want?, in the light of his own rejection of the small god of his fundamentalist background...he uncovers the passionate and personal Person of God by looking at the Fall of Man in a very real and heart-wrenching manner by comparing God's reaction to Adam and Eve's sin to the reaction of his friend who overheard his wife tell another man how much she loved him. Miller's disarming manner brings new meaning to old truths and challenges the reader to re-examine his own relationship with a God Who is real and not the boxed-in god our formulas have made him to be. His discussion on the five-fold stress on "nakedness" in Genesis 1-3 is an excellent example of this. He suggests that the reason we all have various forms of insecurities and a need for external affirmation is because of the Fall. Man was made to gain security from God and once that relationship is marred, Man begins to look elsewhere to fill the vacuum created by the absence. This is perhaps the most valuable part of the entire book as it addresses a major need in today's society...that the hole we keep trying to fill with stuff can only be truly filled by God. Only in Him can we find true fulfillment and contentment and security and cease to feel ashamed due to the realization of our "nakedness". This relationship, Miller argues, can only be begun and continued once the reader falls in love with Jesus, rather than trying to relate to Him via some form of recipe. Loving God and knowing that we are loved by Him, and that we gain our value and self-worth by this relationship of love, will set us free to be able to love as God loves without feeling the need for barriers to protect and defend us from attack caused by rendering ourselves vulnerable. Miller also tackles the thorny issue of the overly politicized Church...and argues that if we left the fight for the political future of the country and rather concentrated on the battle for the hearts and souls of the lost, the Church would flourish and the Kingdom of God would grow...this is something I feel needs to be said over and over again. Change will not come by means of political power - it never has. This was the same mistake the 1st Century Jews made in their thoughts regarding the Messiah...they wanted a political figure coming in power and might. No, change must come through relationships as one heart is won for Jesus at a time. In the final chapter, he uses the balcony and death scenes from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to demonstrate his thesis that to follow Jesus is more like falling in love rather than baking cookies. This is a book that is potentially life-changing and should be read by all Christians who are serious about living out their Christianity before a world that has become weary and suspicious of neatly pre-packaged reasons and recipes for following Jesus. I have highly recommended this book to my parishioners and others because it challenges the way in which we relate to a God we have all too often confined to a box of our own making. Miller exhorts us to look beyond our formulas to truly meet the God Who is there and here and Who desires to be known for Who He is and not what He is.