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Beneath the Graffiti: A De-churched Christian's Search for Christianity
Is the Christianity you’ve experienced authentic Christianity, or does it suffer from 2000 years of human influence?
Jesus Christ created a masterpiece when He lived and taught what came to be called Christianity. Then, over the centuries, men splattered graffiti on that masterpiece, graffiti in the form of manmade rules, doctrines, beliefs, and traditions. Today, the manmade sometimes obscures the God-made to the point where, in some Christian circles, Jesus’ masterpiece is barely visible.
Sensing that the Christianity he had been experiencing was influenced more by man than God, many years ago CJ Penn left church and stepped off on a journey in search of the masterpiece. This book is a record of what he found when he peered beneath the accumulated graffiti of the past 2000 years.
What CJ found confirmed his suspicions that, when we look on the surface of modern Christianity, we don’t always see what Jesus lived and taught—we don’t always see the truth of Christianity and what it means to be Christian.
____________________________
“A compelling read that challenges commonly held practices to uncover the true meaning of Christianity. It sounds a wake-up call for today’s church.”
- Peter DeHaan, author of Jesus’s Broken Church
"Beneath the Graffiti, a De-churched Christians Search For Christianity is for those who have been turned off, or wounded by modern Christianity. It thoughtfully and effectively highlights the flaws in too much Christian doctrine. CJ peels back the layers and uncovers what is hidden Jesus' version.”
- Rev. Dr. Sheri Pallas, author of We Have Ruined God, and host of live stream Fireside Creators.
Jesus Christ created a masterpiece when He lived and taught what came to be called Christianity. Then, over the centuries, men splattered graffiti on that masterpiece, graffiti in the form of manmade rules, doctrines, beliefs, and traditions. Today, the manmade sometimes obscures the God-made to the point where, in some Christian circles, Jesus’ masterpiece is barely visible.
Sensing that the Christianity he had been experiencing was influenced more by man than God, many years ago CJ Penn left church and stepped off on a journey in search of the masterpiece. This book is a record of what he found when he peered beneath the accumulated graffiti of the past 2000 years.
What CJ found confirmed his suspicions that, when we look on the surface of modern Christianity, we don’t always see what Jesus lived and taught—we don’t always see the truth of Christianity and what it means to be Christian.
____________________________
“A compelling read that challenges commonly held practices to uncover the true meaning of Christianity. It sounds a wake-up call for today’s church.”
- Peter DeHaan, author of Jesus’s Broken Church
"Beneath the Graffiti, a De-churched Christians Search For Christianity is for those who have been turned off, or wounded by modern Christianity. It thoughtfully and effectively highlights the flaws in too much Christian doctrine. CJ peels back the layers and uncovers what is hidden Jesus' version.”
- Rev. Dr. Sheri Pallas, author of We Have Ruined God, and host of live stream Fireside Creators.
259 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 17, 2024
42 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 16, 2024
Found this book interesting, making clear the difference between man-made religion and a people who want to follow the example of Jesus. The graffiti being the things that cloud the true goals and meaning of Christianity. Things like church doctrine, religious rules, political power and man-led systems rather than the true Christian goals of love, faith, humility and truth. To many within Christianity and the church system seek power from doing good works and using political power rather than to seek the love of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. Many seek the powerless Christianity of man-made religion with its rules and doctrines, all the while ignoring the true Christianity that is Jesus-led through love and the power of the Spirit living within us.
July 17, 2025
I wish to start by saying that I am reticent to critique the work of other Christian authors, but I feel I need to highlight a few issues with this book. I purchased it thinking it would align with some concerns I also have with the church, but as I moved through the book, I found I was less motivated to move further. When I did finally finish it, it finally felt like a bad movie had finally ended.
For starters, I feel the book's 30 chapters is a laborious read. There is an enormous amount of "waffle" with the author adding personal anecdotes, experiences, and opinion to the point where he wonders off topic. It reads more like a long conversation in a cafe rather than a concise theological discussion. To make it worse, he restates the same message in other parts of the book over and over, then diverts on a tangent with some of those. The final chapter does what no theological author should do - bring politics into a book which is supposed to be based on theology and religion. He is too America-centric as if only Americans are Christians. C.J. Penn has good intentions nonetheless as he regards himself as a "de-churched" Christian. With this, he makes a few good observations regarding what is behind this phenomena.
However, in terms of theology, he's made a number of glaring errors.
One prime example is in the 16th chapter, he categorizes some Christians as "CINO" (Christians in Name Only). His elaboration of this term is vague at best. He then cites the well-known verse, Matthew 7:21-23 often quoted by 'Lordship salvation' proponents and those who believe behavior is central to salvation to show those living less than a "Christian life" will be rejected at the last day. Penn states that some "believers" will be rejected by Christ on page 118 when in fact these people are actually unbelievers because they are rejecting Christ's Grace and replacing it with their own effort and self-righteousness. Penn contradicts himself in the very next chapter by saying that all believers are saved. This is really dropping the ball!!!! There are a number of other instances.
In all, I found this book would be a better read if it were a lot shorter. So much padding and waffle needs to come out along with spurious theology.
For starters, I feel the book's 30 chapters is a laborious read. There is an enormous amount of "waffle" with the author adding personal anecdotes, experiences, and opinion to the point where he wonders off topic. It reads more like a long conversation in a cafe rather than a concise theological discussion. To make it worse, he restates the same message in other parts of the book over and over, then diverts on a tangent with some of those. The final chapter does what no theological author should do - bring politics into a book which is supposed to be based on theology and religion. He is too America-centric as if only Americans are Christians. C.J. Penn has good intentions nonetheless as he regards himself as a "de-churched" Christian. With this, he makes a few good observations regarding what is behind this phenomena.
However, in terms of theology, he's made a number of glaring errors.
One prime example is in the 16th chapter, he categorizes some Christians as "CINO" (Christians in Name Only). His elaboration of this term is vague at best. He then cites the well-known verse, Matthew 7:21-23 often quoted by 'Lordship salvation' proponents and those who believe behavior is central to salvation to show those living less than a "Christian life" will be rejected at the last day. Penn states that some "believers" will be rejected by Christ on page 118 when in fact these people are actually unbelievers because they are rejecting Christ's Grace and replacing it with their own effort and self-righteousness. Penn contradicts himself in the very next chapter by saying that all believers are saved. This is really dropping the ball!!!! There are a number of other instances.
In all, I found this book would be a better read if it were a lot shorter. So much padding and waffle needs to come out along with spurious theology.
June 26, 2025
As a real unchurched, hopefully Christian (still dealing with doubts, unfortunately) I didn’t get what I had hoped for from this book.
To be quite honest I’m more confused now than I was before I started reading it.
I don’t get and have never gotten the support I have needed from a church that I have attended for over 30 years so I have quit going.
To be quite honest I’m more confused now than I was before I started reading it.
I don’t get and have never gotten the support I have needed from a church that I have attended for over 30 years so I have quit going.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews