Original Jesus

Original Jesus

There is much to commend. Perhaps the most helpful feature of Original Jesus is that it focuses on the glory and worth of Jesus. Gospel tracts often focus on the mechanics of how to trust in Jesus (including which words to pray), but they don’t usually focus sustained attention on the beauty of Jesus. They’re usually too short to do so in any substantial way. Consequently, becoming a Christian can seem mainly to be about escaping from hell and gaining access to heaven, rather than entering into a relationship with a Savior and King. By focusing on Jesus, Original Jesus makes clear that becoming a Christian has everything to do with entering into a personal relationship with Christ. In that vein, it would be helpful to have an additional, concluding chapter on how we relate to the original Jesus once we’re saved; what it means to obey him and live for his glory, to fit into his grand story rather than trying to squeeze him down into all our small ones.... continue reading

“Five stars”

Original Jesus is an excellent, short evangelistic book by Carl Laferton that can be read at one sitting. Like Carl's earlier book, Christmas Uncut, of which we, at church, sold or gave away over 100 copies when it first came out, it is doesn't beat about the bush. It is clear, accessible, punchy, humorous and squarely Bible-based.

Each chapter, like Christmas Uncut, follows the same format: a humorous incident or illustration, followed by 'What he (Jesus) really did' and 'Why this really matters'. The words of 'What he really did' are taken straight from Scripture (mainly from Luke's Gospel) and are in bold text, and Carl's brief, interspersed explanatory comments are in normal text. This reads really well, and gets the reader straight into the Bible, almost without realizing it! (The full passage reference is given, so that those interested can read it in full).

Carl looks in turn at popular misunderstandings or distortions of who Jesus really is: Good Teacher, Distant God, Freedom Fighter, Intolerant Judge, Religious Rule-Keeper, Tragic Failure and Children's Story, and then deftly contrasts them with Original Jesus, the authentic Jesus of Scripture. Having established what Jesus really did and said, in each chapter, Carl then explains 'Why this really matters'. His illustrations are extremely well-chosen, getting the reader to think that 'to act or think like that would be illogical, inconsistent or crazy', and then, like Nathan the prophet to King David, applying this directly to the reader, and uncovering their own illogical thinking and incomplete understanding of the real Jesus! This constantly challenges the reader to get back to the truth of Scripture and how it applies to them. On the way through, Carl concisely weaves in, from the texts considered, the realities of sin, judgement, death, hell, Christ's death and resurrection, and the need to respond to what God has done for us in Christ, Original Jesus.

All this is sure-footed and done in short compass, by turns witty, convicting and provocative. This is a great book to give or lend to interested non-Christians, to 'gently startle' them (if that's not a contradiction in terms!) into seriously re-thinking their preconceptions about who Jesus really is and why it really matters. And, on both counts, it really does matter.