The Original Jesus: Trading the Myths We Create for the Savior Who Is

by Daniel Darling

Publisher:

Baker

, 2015

Overview

From hit songs to bumper stickers to football eye-black, Jesus is trending high wherever you look. But at the end of the day, many “try Jesus” and come away disappointed in the experience. That’s because the Jesus of popular culture looks much more like us than the God-man who appeared in the flesh two thousand years ago. We’ve developed plenty of imposter Jesuses that feed into our selfish desires—Guru Jesus, Braveheart Jesus, Dr. Phil Jesus, Free-Range Jesus. The problem is, they don’t have the power to save us or transform us into new creations.

The Original Jesus calls us back to the Jesus who demands our worship—the potter who molds us, the clay. Seekers, skeptics, and sojourners in the way of faith will see Jesus for who he really is: God in the flesh, calling us to surrender our very lives that we may truly live.

Key Features

• Examines conceptions of Jesus popular in American church culture
• Tears down our idols and exposes the biblical Jesus
• Demonstrates that to know the true Christ is to experience life at its fullest

Contents

• Guru Jesus
• Red-Letter Jesus
• Braveheart Jesus
• American Jesus
• Left-Wing Jesus
• Dr. Phil Jesus
• Prosperity Jesus
• Post-Church Jesus
• BFF Jesus
• Legalist Jesus

Top Highlights

“Reason #3: If the gospel story is true, it means we can experience personal renewal” (Page 27)

“Reason #5: If the gospel story is true, we can actually know God” (Page 31)

“I’m afraid much of our preaching and teaching in the church is like this: merely good, practical, helpful messages by godly men but that could easily be preached at a corporate business seminar. I’m afraid many of our pulpits lack the kind of Christocentric, gospel-saturated, bloody-cross-infused preaching that reminds us daily that Jesus didn’t come primarily to slightly improve us but to breathe new life into the walking dead.” (Page 96)

“Jesus came to offer his people a life much better than the one we envision for ourselves. He came to rescue us from selfishness and despair, to call us to a new and different way. Following Jesus demands that we worship him for who he is, that we step off the cardboard throne we’ve erected and surrender to his kingship over our lives. He is the potter, we are the clay. It is his creative hand that molds us, re-creating and restoring what sin has destroyed, renewing us into a life of glory.” (Page 15)

“I don’t want to sound alarmist, but the coming years will force us to make difficult choices. The unbroken social contract between the church and the culture, rare in human history, is fraying, and I’m afraid we’re not ready for what comes next. We will have to choose between cultural acceptance and the way of Jesus.” (Page 63)

Endorsements

If you have questions, or even frustrations, about the person of Jesus Christ—this book is for you. It cuts through our society’s confusing and contradictory opinions about Jesus to find the glorious, wonderful reality of him spread throughout the pages of Scripture.

—Jim Daly, president, Focus on the Family

This book will make some of you mad. Good! Hopefully God will use that to expose some areas of your life that need to be transformed and changed by his penetrating Word.

—Daniel L. Akin, president, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

In a world of cheap imitations of the gospel and false portraits of the Savior, Dan Darling’s work makes me yearn to know better the biblical Jesus—the Savior who demands we worship him for who he is, not what we want him to be.

—Trevin Wax, managing editor, The Gospel Project

Product Details

• Title: The Original Jesus: Trading the Myths We Create for the Savior Who Is
• Author: Daniel Darling
• Publisher: Baker
• Print Publication Date: 2015
• Logos Release Date: 2015
• Pages: 160
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Jesus Christ › Person and offices; Christianity › United States
• ISBNs: 9781493403745, 9780801006494, 1493403745, 080100649X
• Resource ID: LLS:RGNLJSSTRDNGWHS
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T02:43:11Z

About Daniel Darling

Daniel Darling served as the senior pastor of Gages Lake Bible Church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. Daniel received a bachelor’s degree in pastoral ministry from Dayspring Bible College. For nine years, he was a writer and editor with Victory in Grace, the international outreach of Dr. James A. Scudder. Daniel also served as the managing editor of the monthly devotional magazine Victory in Grace and the Web content manager for victoryingrace.org. He also wrote for their radio and television broadcasts. Daniel is the author of Crash Course: Forming a Faith Foundation for Life and Teen People of the Bible: Celebrity Profiles of Real Faith and Tragic Failure, nominated for a Gold Medallion Award by New Hope Publishers. He has also been published in Focus on the Family, Marriage Partnership, Pray!, In Touch magazine, and many other Christian publications. He writes a weekly teen column for Crosswalk.com and is a regular contributor to Stand Firm and Enrichment Journal. Daniel has been interviewed on Christian radio and television, including The Sandy Rios Show, Harvest TV, Steve Brown Etc, and many others. Daniel has also traveled extensively to India and the Middle East. Daniel and his wife, Angela, have three children.