What's Wrong With Religion

Absolutely loved this book! Skye uses brilliant writing and creative illustrations throughout the book to make his point. It is one of the most creative books I have read in a long time. It is a simple, yet deeply profound read that will lead you into a deeper relationship with God. Skye cuts through all the religious nonsense and brings us back to what is most important - Jesus. Skye reminds us of a simple, glorious truth: God loves to be WITH us, He longs for us to be in His presence where he is. Understanding and believing that truth in our hearts changes everything. Don't get caught up in all the crazy chatter that bombards us about what it means to be religious. Allow the simple message in this book to transform your heart and lead you to your creator. Knowing Jesus and living life WITH him changes everything. If you are struggling with faith or you have been in the faith for a long time and find yourself a little disillusioned or bored, this book may be perfect for you. Read it and share it with someone. It's actually a pretty cool coffee table book. Thanks for your heart, Skye. Thanks for sharing the message God has given to you. I look forward to reading more from you in the near future. I love your WITH God daily devotional too.

A short, beautifully illustrated book, What's Wrong with Religion? is a book that quotes atheist Christopher Hitchens alongside Dutch theologian Henri Nouwen - with equal weight and merit. It's a sharped, barbed, and creative jab at the heart of consumeristic culture and intellectual dishonesty that has infested the modern institutionalize church.Author Skye Jethani is an ordained pastor, but there's no evangelizing going on here. He's uses his "insider" knowledge to explain the rhetorical tricks that religions (specifically Americanized Christianity) use to manipulate and overburden their congregations.Jethani is a Christian, but he's not here to "sell" Jesus to his audience. Rather, he shows how Jesus was far more controversial in his teachings than we are led to believe. And what was once controversial 2,000 years ago, is just as provocative and powerful today.What's Wrong with Religion? is filled with Jethani's own pen-and-ink sketches that are used to masterful effect. You can read this little book in a couple of hours, and it's already one I've loaned out to several friends (who are passing it along to other friends). I may not get it back.

I read Skye Jethani's latest book, "What's Wrong with Religion? 9 Things No One Told You About Faith" immediately upon receiving it. As anyone familiar with his previous works would notice, Skye is obsessed with debunking religion as a means of controlling a fickle deity and rather aims at living WITH God as the solution. This book is no exception. He helpfully begins by asking his readers to, along with him, "stop playing the game of religion and [start] following Jesus" (10). Amen! The journey was easy to follow and Skye provides a wealth of illustrations which mostly help more than hinder the expedition.The illustration on page 104 and its explanation was spot-on-helpful! Others, I am sure, will have their own favorites. A seriously great book to easily walk friends through the false gospel of control to trust and obedience in simply being with God. It would likely make a good small group study.There were two areas of disappointment: the first somewhat minor, the second more weighty. On the nit-picky side, there were a couple of grammatical errors that interrupted my flow-of-thought as I read. Some readers might not catch them, but for those that do it can be distracting.More weighty is concerning the "Next Steps" section. There the reader finds a list of bullet points on what the reader could do next in living this way of following Jesus. The list was overall solid, except to find the author's own daily devotional included. While I have appreciated Skye's insights in various formats (though not as a subscriber to his devotional), finding it here in some way trivialized the rest of the list and ended what was otherwise a great performance on a sour note (which was not the impression I wanted to walk away with...it just hit me when I turned the page and saw the list).Overall, sour notes aside, Skye navigates his readers well out of the harbor of control and into the deep where are faith and hope and love. I still recommend the read--completely worth it.

Skye's writing is sharp and incisive and at the same time written with an eye-roll or tongue-in-cheek at the same time. While this starts out as a rebuke against religion and the religious life in our modern world, it evolves into a call to intimacy with God in a rather unique way. Similar to the concepts he hammered home in his other brilliant book, With, Skye is simply reminding all of us what Jesus really said. He asks to be with us. Reading Skye's books and his devotions is often like a peeling away of the scales from my eyes, and while I often think I am pretty self-aware, I am amazed that I continue to have these "a-ha" moments while reading his words. Do yourself a favor - read this book. Pass it onto your friends, especially those burned out with organized religion.

With his this latest book, Mr. Jethani has demonstrated that, in his case, the old idiom “The Skye’s the Limit” is really true; because the themes addressed in “What’s Wrong with Religion” continue to push the limits of conventional religious thought that were initially addressed in his books “With” and the “Divine Commodity”.I think that John Ortberg said it best when he observed that “Skye Jethani has written a clear, lucid, accessible guide to barriers that obstruct people’s faith. Whatever your convictions about religion might be, if you are interested in ultimate questions, these words will be a welcome help.” Do yourself a favor - get this book and read it!

This book puts into words what is so true and so captivating about Jesus, and those of us who want to represent him well ought to understand "what's wrong with religion" and why the way of Jesus is so much better. Thank you, Skye Jethani, for the challenge, the encouragement and the call to a truly better way of life.

Love this book! Great for any reader