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Salvation
What if everything you've been told about salvation is wrong? For nearly a thousand years Christians have been hearing and repeating a story about why Jesus died on the cross. It’s the only story of salvation most of them have ever heard. And it’s wrong. The Bible doesn't have that story and the early Christians never heard that story - they never believed it.
In Salvation (and how we got it wrong), Kenneth Myers revisits the story of our salvation, retelling it like the early Christians told it. No longer a tale of an angry God punishing his Son in payment for crimes against his honor, it becomes a tale of a loving God doing all in his power to bring healing to a humanity he desperately cares for.
In Salvation (and how we got it wrong), Kenneth Myers revisits the story of our salvation, retelling it like the early Christians told it. No longer a tale of an angry God punishing his Son in payment for crimes against his honor, it becomes a tale of a loving God doing all in his power to bring healing to a humanity he desperately cares for.
- GenresTheologyNonfiction
122 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 21, 2013
12 people are currently reading
16 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 20, 2013
I remember as a kid being scared to death about the end of the world, as some said the Bible presented it. As I understood it, God created everything, got really mad at Adam and Eve for what they did with the apple, cursed all the whole world and things got bad. Then Jesus, the only Son of God, came and He died for everyone’s sins. And then I was told, the prophecies of the Old and New Testament say that things will get so bad that God will let the devil and all the demons out of hell and everyone who is not ‘raptured’ will be tortured and made to suffer for their faith. And then I was instructed God was going to destroy what He made and start all over again and make it right this time.
In the end to a kid of 10 years old, it seemed like this painted a very angry God who got so angry about the whole ‘original sin’ situation that He was going to just let things go from bad to really bad and them punish a lot of folks who didn’t become Christian in the correct timeframe, prior to a rapture event. It didn’t make sense. That didn’t sound like a God of Love. I understood the idea of discipline, but it seemed to run against the understanding I had about why Jesus came to earth.
I got told other stuff too. I had also been told that all those extra books of the Bible had snuck in there and that we finally got rid of them in our modern editions. Except that almost all Bibles printed a hundred years ago had all those books in them, and that even the King James version of 1611 had those extra books.
I finally figured out that not everything I had been taught by ministers on TV and in some churches is what had always been taught by the Church. Some of them had got the facts wrong. Not about Jesus per se, but about a bunch of things that made God look mean, angry and almost silly.
That was how I was originally taught about the subject of salvation. I was taught our sins had a price that had to be paid. I never asked to whom that price had to be paid or what that person would do with the payment. After all, the Hebrews sacrificed stuff in the Old Testament in payment for sins. That is what I was taught and that is what I read.
Somehow much of what I was taught missed the who central issue of God being love. Even in His justice, God was showing love. I was missing some context that didn’t allow His word, and the way it was being presented to me, to make sense. But then I read a small book on salvation and many of my understanding matured.
The book is called, “Salvation – And how we got it wrong” by Bp. Kenneth N. Myers. This short book is in part an answer to another short book written by St. Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury called, “Why God Became Man.” The idea is that for the last 1000 years, due to reasoning called out in St. Anselm and the early writings of St. Augustine, we Christians have been misunderstood and misreported the reason Jesus Christ died on the cross. Yes, it was for our salvation. But the idea of salvation is what we have been misconstruing, and it sets us up for an ANGRY GOD of the Old Testament and a COOL SON OF GOD in the New Testament, who makes this huge payment in blood to His un-cool Father or the Devil or someone.
Bishop Myers takes a ‘conversation’ between himself and another believer and they discuss the foundations of our salvation from the Bible with excellent scholarship augmented by a well presented and researched understanding of ancient Christian writings.
In the end God is not an angry God, hating creation and punishing His only begotten Son for the payment of crimes against heaven and God’s honor. We see the Jesus of the New Testament in harmony with His Father who is a loving God sending His Son to heal us from the sickness of sin and to restore humanity to its rightful state. True to our teachings the wages of sin is death. Like the wages of cancer or any sickness is death. And the better meaning of propitiation is not a legal payment, but that part of the Ark that Moses is instructed to make in Exodus 25:17-22, the mercy seat, which is set between the Law and God between the cherubim. But you should really read the book for all of that discussion.
The book is a thoughtful, enlightening, educational and entertaining walk through a doctrine that we may have all taken for granted. This look at sources and reasons helped give me a more complete perspective of God loving work of salvation for all of creation, especially us. If I have left you with the idea that this book sounds like it is a pamphlet full to the brim with theology you would be wrong. It is well presented, straight forward and the conclusions are clear.
In the end I would recommend this to any Christian if for no other reason, to get their thoughts right with regard to the saving work our savior did, why it needed to be done and what we have left to do, by His grace and Holy Spirit. Check it out, be challenged and share God’s love.
In the end to a kid of 10 years old, it seemed like this painted a very angry God who got so angry about the whole ‘original sin’ situation that He was going to just let things go from bad to really bad and them punish a lot of folks who didn’t become Christian in the correct timeframe, prior to a rapture event. It didn’t make sense. That didn’t sound like a God of Love. I understood the idea of discipline, but it seemed to run against the understanding I had about why Jesus came to earth.
I got told other stuff too. I had also been told that all those extra books of the Bible had snuck in there and that we finally got rid of them in our modern editions. Except that almost all Bibles printed a hundred years ago had all those books in them, and that even the King James version of 1611 had those extra books.
I finally figured out that not everything I had been taught by ministers on TV and in some churches is what had always been taught by the Church. Some of them had got the facts wrong. Not about Jesus per se, but about a bunch of things that made God look mean, angry and almost silly.
That was how I was originally taught about the subject of salvation. I was taught our sins had a price that had to be paid. I never asked to whom that price had to be paid or what that person would do with the payment. After all, the Hebrews sacrificed stuff in the Old Testament in payment for sins. That is what I was taught and that is what I read.
Somehow much of what I was taught missed the who central issue of God being love. Even in His justice, God was showing love. I was missing some context that didn’t allow His word, and the way it was being presented to me, to make sense. But then I read a small book on salvation and many of my understanding matured.
The book is called, “Salvation – And how we got it wrong” by Bp. Kenneth N. Myers. This short book is in part an answer to another short book written by St. Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury called, “Why God Became Man.” The idea is that for the last 1000 years, due to reasoning called out in St. Anselm and the early writings of St. Augustine, we Christians have been misunderstood and misreported the reason Jesus Christ died on the cross. Yes, it was for our salvation. But the idea of salvation is what we have been misconstruing, and it sets us up for an ANGRY GOD of the Old Testament and a COOL SON OF GOD in the New Testament, who makes this huge payment in blood to His un-cool Father or the Devil or someone.
Bishop Myers takes a ‘conversation’ between himself and another believer and they discuss the foundations of our salvation from the Bible with excellent scholarship augmented by a well presented and researched understanding of ancient Christian writings.
In the end God is not an angry God, hating creation and punishing His only begotten Son for the payment of crimes against heaven and God’s honor. We see the Jesus of the New Testament in harmony with His Father who is a loving God sending His Son to heal us from the sickness of sin and to restore humanity to its rightful state. True to our teachings the wages of sin is death. Like the wages of cancer or any sickness is death. And the better meaning of propitiation is not a legal payment, but that part of the Ark that Moses is instructed to make in Exodus 25:17-22, the mercy seat, which is set between the Law and God between the cherubim. But you should really read the book for all of that discussion.
The book is a thoughtful, enlightening, educational and entertaining walk through a doctrine that we may have all taken for granted. This look at sources and reasons helped give me a more complete perspective of God loving work of salvation for all of creation, especially us. If I have left you with the idea that this book sounds like it is a pamphlet full to the brim with theology you would be wrong. It is well presented, straight forward and the conclusions are clear.
In the end I would recommend this to any Christian if for no other reason, to get their thoughts right with regard to the saving work our savior did, why it needed to be done and what we have left to do, by His grace and Holy Spirit. Check it out, be challenged and share God’s love.
March 22, 2013
Get ready to have your preconceived notions blown away. Short, easy read but dense with thought provoking material. You can't just read it once!
January 29, 2025
The audio quality was impressive for AI, except for the pauses during the extended quote from Isaiah. I assume it's because it's indented in the original.
The format of dialectical correspondence was interesting and engaging. I think it's safe to assume this was a real correspondence, but the student was such a novice, it felt like a strawman. God does have anger with sinners. And based on the words of Jesus and 1 John, God is not our Father if we haven't been redeemed.
What does God's love consist in? For those outside of Christ, it's generosity, kindness, patience, and the sincere free offer of the gospel. God's favor is defined by its exclusivity.
I do need a different kind of Christianity, a living one, but this is not it. And this helps me to see that I too am running the risk of committing to a false understanding of Scripture. I need to be careful. Many will be deceived, and few will be saved.
The format of dialectical correspondence was interesting and engaging. I think it's safe to assume this was a real correspondence, but the student was such a novice, it felt like a strawman. God does have anger with sinners. And based on the words of Jesus and 1 John, God is not our Father if we haven't been redeemed.
What does God's love consist in? For those outside of Christ, it's generosity, kindness, patience, and the sincere free offer of the gospel. God's favor is defined by its exclusivity.
I do need a different kind of Christianity, a living one, but this is not it. And this helps me to see that I too am running the risk of committing to a false understanding of Scripture. I need to be careful. Many will be deceived, and few will be saved.
September 17, 2017
Absolutely mind-blowing! I'm going to be digesting this read for many weeks to come. If you've read it, I'd really like to dialogue with you about it.
Did Jesus die as a penalty for our sin, or to rescue us from the "disease" of sin which affects us all? Is our salvation just a guaranteed ticket to heaven, or is it also so that God can work in us to make us more like Jesus.
Did Jesus die as a penalty for our sin, or to rescue us from the "disease" of sin which affects us all? Is our salvation just a guaranteed ticket to heaven, or is it also so that God can work in us to make us more like Jesus.
July 9, 2021
Beautifully clear and profoundly important
This book managed to not only summarize years of reading thinking on my journey but also to present a beautiful whole that is the gospel that is indeed ‘a pearl of great price’.
This book managed to not only summarize years of reading thinking on my journey but also to present a beautiful whole that is the gospel that is indeed ‘a pearl of great price’.
June 22, 2014
Our view of the atonement influences how we see the character of God, and therefore influences every aspect of our lives and religion. In this book, Myers argues that the atonement theory known as penal substitutionary atonement, which has risen to be the most prominent or in some cases the only view of the atonement in Protestantism, is not supported by the church fathers or scripture, and unfairly makes God out to be a wrathful, pagan deity. Thus, it is crucial that all believers understand what atonement means and think about their view of PSA and other atonement theories. This book, Salvation, is a very quick and easy read, written in the style of a series of letters, that just sets the foundation for a deeper discussion on the atonement. Considering the goal and scope of the book, and that there are very few books out there that treat atonement in an accessible way, I highly recommend this book.
May 14, 2013
This is a light, but excellent read. It opens the door to show how what we've determined as the only Biblical view to salvation is not only irreconcilable to the Biblical text but to historical Christianity as well. I challenge Christians who read this book to pray and come to God with an open heart, then read the Bible with new eyes. From Genesis to Revelation, God had a plan for his creation built on love for us.
September 17, 2014
If you're struggling with the thought of "why did Jesus have to die" or any of the many other reasonable thoughts that come to the surface when you think about atonement this little book is a great place for you to begin your study. An easy to read conversation between Kenneth Myers and a friend.
July 23, 2014
Fantastic, quick read
The Pope of Sidehugs hits the nail on the head. Deep discussion in a conversational tone makes for a book that I will be recommending to my friends.
The Pope of Sidehugs hits the nail on the head. Deep discussion in a conversational tone makes for a book that I will be recommending to my friends.
November 28, 2018
5 stars for theology discussed, 3 stars for writing style; just couldn't get on with the latter.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews