Beyond an Angry God: You Can’t Imagine How Much He Loves You

by Steve McVey

How would your life change if you really believed and could even feel that God is absolutely crazy about you? Steve McVey’s penetrating new look at the transforming power of God’s grace leads you to that change. Steve unpacks the biblical revelation of the Trinity as a loving relationship, and he highlights the goal of God intends to include us in that circle of love! Steve answers troubling questions that can keep you from fully sensing God’s love, acceptance, and forgiveness, such as… Theologians have described the Trinity as perichoresis ―a dance. Are you ready to be swept into the Father’s embrace?

Genres: Theology, Christian, Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2014

About the author

Steve McVey is the President of Grace Walk Ministries, a discipleship training ministry located in the Tampa Bay area. He is the author of the books Grace Walk, (Harvest House, 1995) Grace Rules, (Harvest House, 1998), Grace Amazing (Harvest House, January, 2001), A Divine Invitation (Harvest House, July, 2002), The Godward Gaze (Harvest House, 2003), The Grace Walk Experience (Harvest House Publishers 2009), Walking in The Will of God (Harvest House , 2009), Journey Into Intimacy (Grace Walk Resources, LLC 2008) and 52 Lies Heard in Church Every Sunday (Harvest House 2011). Over 550,000 copies of Steve's books have been published in fifteen languages. Steve is the host of the daily Grace Walk radio program, airing across the U.S. He and his wife, Melanie live in the Tampa Bay area. They have four adult children and three grandchildren.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perception is everything, from how you view the world and whether you believe in an eternal being. Being raised as a Christian, I was raised in a very traditional household. Stay away from sin, obey compulsively, shun the appearance of evil, only listen to Gospel music, refuse to watch a R rated movie, etc. Warned of the damnation to come if I choose to do things outside the book of the Bible. There are lot of things that I abandoned now that I am older and my view of God has changed drastically.

Steve Mcvey in his recent book, challenged the beliefs about God. When if God was not as angry as you thought he was? When if he wanted nothing more than to have an intimate relationship with you? When if the 10 commandments were never for you to begin with? These are controversial questions that he ask in his previous books but he most importantly man's understanding on who God is. As mentioned, Mcvey was not trying to convince people to believe what He did, but to actually study scriptures on your own. Taking only his words for it would be unwise, but to search in the inner voice that lies inside of you. Comparing and contrasting scriptures in the light of the content of his book, his understanding of the Love of God has sparked my curiosity of this god I have been taught to believe.

I have always been a fan of Mcvey, he is one of my inspirations on believing the good news of God's grace. Prior to reading this, I knew that I was going to agree with most things that was contained, but I did not know that there were some things that made me doubt. Doubt in a sense that could my beliefs actually be wrong, can my ideas be shaped by someone's else realization? Doubt in a good way, it really opened my eyes and I love how humble the message of this book came across.

Dear reader, God is alot nicer than you think!

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has been on my shelf for several years and I finally got around to reading it. While some of the ways he explained things caused a little confusion, I think he had a lot of good points. There was also a lot of good evidence for his points.

The chapter about hell was easily the best and most important to me. I’ve struggled with the idea of “How can a God of love create hell and still be considered love?” as I know many other have. I think the way Steve describes the church’s initial understanding, as well as his understanding, of hell help ease a lot of that tension and remind me of how good our God is.

I would recommend this book to any Christian, and even some non-Christians struggling with the concept of an all-loving God. I’d feel obligated to warn them the author talks in circles sometimes and makes things more difficult than they need to be. Other than that, fantastic book for spiritual growth!

[Debby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely thought provoking, especially re: God's dealing with our sin and Christ's position as our substitute and our redeemmer at the Cross. Though, I'm not sure I see or agree with his point on everything set forth in the book or will jump to believe it simply b/c McVey adamantly declares this is the way it is. I think I'll be a Berean on this one; especially with regard to McVey's claims regarding reconciliation, adoption and unbelievers and also his claims re: hell.
Food for thought, individual study & prayer is the best i can say about this Beyond an Angry God.

[Michael Donahoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book throughout points to the truth that God truly loves us, each and every one of us. He has already provided for us what we need to live a life free of the guilt and condemnation of sin, and to enjoy His amazing love for us. This book also points out that it is not wrong to question what we have been taught and what we believe. We need to be open to the Spirit to continually learn truth from Him. This book was very enjoyable and easy to read.

[SusieQ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy Steve McVey's style of writing. He poses questions we might ask if we were sitting at the table with him and then answers with examples and word pictures. He had many quotes throughout the book which sometimes leads you to another great book on the astounding grace of God!.

[Melody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Timely and Profound. This is like the cliff note version of Malcolm Smith's Bible School Modules. It just pulls everything together for me.

[Felicia Murrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I so appreciate this book. Chapter 8 is worth the cost of the book alone.

[Ryan George · Rating 5 out of 5]

A mentor of mine gifted me this book, and it took me most of the year to read. It’s thick in parts. I had to re-read paragraphs often, but 42% of the pages in my paper copy have highlighter marks on them. No book I’ve ever read has made me reconsider what I believe and how I came to believe it. Steve McVey also reconciled the (seemingly) mutually-exclusive concepts of hell and God’s love in a more satisfactory way than I’ve heard before. He gave me a whole new category for describing the horror of hell. He also challenged false narratives I’ve heard in church my entire life.

[Jim Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book throughout points to the truth that God truly loves us, each and every one of us. He has already provided for us what we need to live a life free of the guilt and condemnation of sin, and to enjoy His amazing love for us. This book also points out that it is not wrong to question what we have been taught and what we believe. We need to be open to the Spirit to continually learn truth from Him. This book was very enjoyable and easy to read.

[Corporate Clone · Rating 2 out of 5]

What use is self-selection as a Heaven Hippie rather than Brimstone Bumpkin when you're still dedicating your life, wittingly or not, to the long, putrid tradition of religiously infused western imperialism? No fundamental change in doctrine or interpretation is offered, rather, simply a coping mechanism for those too sensitive to stand on the evil tradition to which they deliberately belong.

[Novhita Paembonan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. I got new perspective and encouragement on how God loves this world. I recommend this book to those who wants to know how's God sees them.

[Jamie Cummings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing-full of truths I hadn’t heard - eye opening for me. I’ve recommended it to multiple friends.

[Lisa Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, this book has made me more confused than ever. It just goes to show that you can pretty much prove or disprove anything using the Bible if you pick and choose enough. I have no problem with the idea that salvation is for ALL, and was accomplished and complete before we believed. But a few things in this book troubled me. First of all, the whole animal sacrifice thing bothers me. There doesn't seem to be a logical reason for it other than "God wants blood". McVey's explanation of this was pretty weak. Also, McVey makes a big deal over whether the Bible is saying we are justified by our faith IN Jesus, or by the faith OF Jesus. Depends on the translation. It is a fair question, but in my mind, it can only mean our faith IN Jesus. How can Jesus have faith? "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen", according to Hebrews. Since Jesus is God, he knows how it all ends, right? He doesn't have to have faith, and indeed he CAN'T have faith. That is what Jesus is referring to when he tells the disciples that they will perform greater miracles than him. Why? Because they are doing them by faith. They don't know what the outcome will be. Anyway, that is my take on this book. It has good intentions, but I think he is reaching a lot. He is really trying to hammer his point home through repetition instead of a well reasoned explanation. Just my thoughts.

[Manuela · Rating 1 out of 5]

Beware!
The author makes some excellent biblical points, but do not be deceived, the best kind of lies are comforting half-truths: do not let this 'love' which does not rejoice in the truth, and your agreement with various points be the sugarcoating around the poisonous philosophy of universalism which are subtly given to you to swallow.
Strong biblical knowledge (or help from a mature Christian friend) and sober-mindedness will be very important as you read, especially with regard to the holy and just side of God, sin, judgement and hell.
"You want answers? You can't handle the truth!" summarizes my answer to those who fell pray to this, dare I say, demonic heresy.

[Nathanael Ricardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steve challenges the idea about looking something from other perspective, especially when he tries to communicate about the wrath of God and Hell. Steve tries to putting the truth that has been twisted by the church world for a decade, or maybe even longer. I really enjoyed how Steve is really able to see things beyond. I believe this is a must book read for those who're ready to mature in the love of God even more.

[Kindra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book pretty soundly challenged most of the teachings I've been brought up with in 'the church', and there are scarcely any books I can say that about. It left me with questions, and wishing I could talk to the author, again which I hardly ever feel. It seems a perfect book at a perfect time in my life's journey with God, and I definitely plan on reading it again.

[Clare]

This book has some thought provoking ideas on how we think of God in most Christian groups today, and his explanations of parts of scripture were very helpful but there could have been more scripture and less repetition of his conclusions.