Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A
Manifesto for the Church in Exile by
Don Golden
Rob Bell's Ideas On The American Church
There is a church not too far from us that recently added a $25 million
addition to their building.
Our local newspaper ran a front-page story not too long ago about a study
revealing that one in five people in our city lives in poverty.
This is a book about those two numbers.
Personal Review: Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto
for the Church in Exile by Don Golden
I have been a fan of Rob Bell for a while, so I was excited to read his latest
book, Jesus Wants to Save Christians. I have some friends who have

become skeptical about Bell's theology lately, so I decided to read this
book with a careful eye for any 'red flags' in his theology or ideas.
In this book, Bell tries to explain what God's overall purpose is for
Christians and the church, as revealed through the story of Israel in the
Bible. Bell breaks down the Old Testament history of Israel into four parts:
Egypt - Israel cries out to God for help from the Egyptian empire.
Sinai - God makes a covenant to bless all nations through Israel if they
obey him.
Jerusalem - Israel forgets God and becomes an oppressive empire.
Babylon - Israel goes into exile and cries out to God for help.
So what's the connection to the church today?
Bell describes the United States as an empire: the most powerful,
wealthiest empire in the history of the world. The people of Israel had
difficulty obeying God, because they were too concerned with maintaining
their own wealth and power to listen to the cry of help coming from the
weak and marginalized members of society. In a similar way, Bell argues
that Americans must not neglect the weak members of society, because
God is always listening to the cry of the poor and oppressed.
This book is in some ways controversial. For example, in the introduction,
Bell says "A Christian should get very nervous when the flag and the Bible
start holding hands. This is not a romance we want to encourage."
However, I think Bell makes some good points about the church and our
society, and I believe his theology is compatible with mainstream
Christianity. Additionally, throughout the book Bell does a great job of
explaining many easily-missed cultural connections between the Old and
New Testaments.
Overall, I was impressed with Jesus Wants to Save Christians. Even if you
are not a Rob Bell fan, this book is still worth reading.
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