Rating: 
Summary: Fresh air for religion damaged souls.
Review: Fundamentalist right-wing conservative Christians will hate this book because it does not serve their agenda. That agenda being control, it should surprise no one that this book will appeal to those who have been held hostage by primitive Christianity which seeks to hijack the soul. Fundamentalists have for years sought to hijack Jesus and twist his teachings to suit their own programs. They believe that everyone is entitled to their interpretation of the Bible and they believe that those who don't subscribe to their simpletons view of grace and salvation will someday lose their soul. Hogwash. There are as many ways to interpret the Bible's message as their are ways to read it. (If the Bible is God's inspired Word, then why are there no fewer than a hundred translations and paraphrases in publication at any given time?) The Bible is like the game telephone that children play in a circle. One child starts the phrase by whispering the phrase in another child's ear. The message is passed around the circle until it gets back to its originator. The phrase never sounds as it originally did after being whispered through the ears of twenty innocent children.
Gulley and Mulholland should be praised for taking back Jesus and lending his wisdom and love out to the rest of the world that has been cheated of his grace. I personally am tired of pompous so-called Christians who think they alone are entitled to a Jesus they believe caters to rich white heterosexual idiots.
If there is a hell, its fires are reserved for the Jerry Falwells, the Pat Robertsons and all of the hateful ministers sandwiched in between them who have stolen the message of Jesus and used it to judge races of people.
Well, here's good news. Gulley and Mulholland are here and they are stealing Jesus back. Amen.
Rating: 
Summary: OK, but not great at actual proof
Review: "If Grace Is True" is mostly anecdotal and emotional, and that is where it is weak. They should have explained more about the Greek word "Aion" and the REAL meanings of the words "Sheol", "Gehenna", "Tartarus", and "Hades". A far better source of biblical proof for Universal Salvation is L. Ray Smith's website, www.bible-truths.com.
Rating:
Summary: Spiritual Fulfillment
Review: A wonderful spiritual adventure that wipes away the ages of hypocrisy and man-made rules for seeking God's salvation. Mssrs. Gulley and Mulholland have given the Christian traveler a simple approach to the endless Grace which God gives everyone! This book has helped focus and reflect upon my faith and has given me a new understanding of God and my relationship with Him. A healthy faith should always be in the process of becoming. . .This book helps the believer to move that process forward in a spiritual and religious manner.
Rating: 
Summary: disappointing
Review: As a Universalist myself, I was intitially delighted to encounter a widely distributed book that defended universal salvation. However, the problem with this book is that most Christians will likely dismiss it because of the authors' liberal theology. Gulley and Mulholland go beyond what is essential to universalism and espouse beliefs that are unacceptable to the majority of Christians. If they could have just stuck to the basics of Universalism, this book would be much more valuable. You don't have to be as liberal as Gulley and Mulholland to be a Universalist. I respect the authors' opinions, but I think this book will not be accepted by most of the Christian community.A better book on the subject is Thomas Talbott's "The Inescapable Love of God." Talbott sticks to the subject much better, and evangelical Christians could read his book without being too offended.
Rating:
Summary: Great stuff to make you think.......
Review: As someone who was raised in a very conservative theological environment but who has always questioned the "hard-line" interpretation of scripture when compared with Jesus' ministry and my own experience of grace, this book really challenged me and made me think. While I still struggle with some of things things the authors a willing to just let go of, I find it refreshing to think about a point of view that, in my mind, doesn't limit God's grace to a legalized formula.
I noticed in many of the reviews that others have written that many reject the authors' use of "experience" over scripture. Well, what is scripture if it is not the author of that particular section of the Bible's experience of how they viewed God? Should we limit God to only speaking to those select folks? Did God stop speaking to people nearly 2,000 years ago?In the book, the authors' clearly state that if one accepts the Bible as God's exact words and that it is not subject to deliberation and interpretation, then they can never agree with the book's conclusions. However, if you are willing to think beyond the bounds of tradition and have your beliefs challenged, then you'll enjoy this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Philip Gulley: Good Writing about Bad Theology.
Review: Comments by Ken Pierpont on "If Grace is True" and "If God is Love" by Phillip Gulley and James Mulholland.
I think Phillip Gulley has a kind heart and a clouded mind.
My friend Philip Gulley has written some wonderful books but he stopped. He didn't stop writing well and he didn't stop getting books published. While the quality of his writing as continued, perhaps even improved, his theology had become corrupted in dangerous ways.
He has become of victim of his own affable spirit. Apparently he has been unable to reconcile in his mind and in his theological construct the clear statements of the Bible about eternal judgment. He still quotes the Bible and has a degree of reverence and respect for it but he has openly denied its factual reliability. He denies the reality of hell though he still cherishes hopes of heaven for all). He doubts the deity of Jesus and the effect of his death though he still has regard for the ethic that Jesus embodies to him.
This is a simple denial of sound, orthodox understanding of the Bible message. It is a departure or denial of historic Christianity. He has embraced universalism. His theology is expressed in a readable and anecdotal style but it is a serious and subtle attack on sound thinking about the message of salvation. If Philip Gulley is wrong, there is a great deal to be lost in embracing his views, as warm and compelling as they are. They are a restatement of some of the basic ideas of classical theological liberalism. This is interesting because classical liberalism is now a bit anachronistic as it has been displaced by post-modernism and syncretism and, they tell me that even as I am just beginning to get a grip on post-modernism it is going out of fashion.
Trusted people who know about these things are saying that on the buffet of ideas post-modernism is being whisked away and it is being replaced by other entrees for our metaphysical taste buds. Food poisoning is still deadly, even when it when it disguises itself with fancy intellectual-sounding names.
Ideas are even more deadly when they disguise themselves in the homespuns of warm middle-American virtue. That's what Philip Gulley has done. I am encouraged to see that Multhomah requires their Christian books to advance historic Christianity. They are a publisher that is willing to do what the Christian music peddlers will not do, that is insist that Christian media is authentically and historically Christian or force them to change their label.
There are two big problems with Mr. Gulley's lastest writings you can see one by looking back and the other by looking forward. If you look back you will see this is not the historic Christian faith. If you dare to look forward you will see that the fruit of this belief will not produce holy-living or genuine love Mr. Gulley wants to foster.
Denying depravity will not insulate us from its effects. Classical liberalism has lowered the standards of holiness and morality and ethics but it is powerless to produce the miracle of a new heart and a new life in people. And it is powerless to deliver people from judgment of which Jesus frequently warned people. How can we justify taking from the pages of the Bible only the things that warm our hearts and rejection things that warn us of danger. How can we revere only a part of the Bible and reject another part? How can we be devout cynics?
Rating:
Summary: Thought Provoking Premise for Non-judgemental types
Review: Here Mullholland and Gulley explain an interesting alternative to thinking of God in terms of a cruel judge that either can't or won't save everyone he supposedly loves. Their views on Universalism aren't as radically new as some might think. (There is a brief history on Universalism in the book's appendix along with supporting scriptures.) But the authors don't emphasize scripture as much as personal experience, drawing from real situations that made them question the church's stance on salvation. If Universalism is an idea that speaks to you, this is a worthy read. If you are a staunch fundamentalist, you probably will not be impressed. But I found it very compelling and I think that Christians looking for a way to co-exist with other religious groups in respect for their truths without condemning them to hell will find great affirmation in these pages.
Rating:
Summary: How can we deny grace and salvation to God's children?
Review: I grew up in a Southern Christian tradition where those who did not believe in Jesus and beg for forgiveness were to be banished to the fires of Hell for all eternity. Somehow this bothered me. What about all the souls born in the BC years? What about all those who never knew about Jesus? Moslems? Jews? So many other belief systems? What about the mentally handicapped who are not even aware that they need to ask for salvation? Are all those people not God's children too? In fact, one of my ministers told me, people were unworthy in God's eyes until they "come to Christ", "repent of their sins" and are "saved". I failed to see the logic, but still went to church. Then as I travelled around the world in my 30s and 40s, and discovered that most of the human race was not Christian, and were decent and kind nonetheless, I slowly drifted away from the church. Years later I found a church that accepted the possibility of universal grace. It was, of all things, Methodist, the same denomination I had drifted away from. One of the Ministers there recommended "If Grace is True". It finally gave voice to what I have felt in my heart for so many years - we are all "saved" by God's perfect love. To those who would deny this as truth I would ask you to look into your own heart and ask why you think as you do. How do you, a mere human, set the boundaries between heaven and hell? Are you not bothered by the fact that there seem to be so many different lines drawn in the sand by so many different Christian and non-Christian belief systems? I am, and that's why I have come to think that the authors are right. God is perfect. God is love. Perfect, unconditional, love draws no line in the sand. Tom Elam
Rating:
Summary: Loving God with your Mind
Review: I like to be challenged and to think. This book successfully did that. While I don't agree with everything in the book (and cannot name a book that I do agree with everything), I find the stimulation and ideas inspiring. Don't prejudge the book by the title. It sums up the supposition, but does not flesh out the reasoning. The intelligence, graciousness and faith of the writers resonates with this book. Highly recommend!
Rating:
Summary: Grace is true, but salvation of all is not
Review: I picked this book up and read some excerpts from it to see if it was biblically sound. One of the authors, I believe it's Phillip Gulley is a Quaker minister. It appeared throughout the book that he viewed salvation as a matter of good works/deeds.
The Bible states very clearly and emphatically that unless you believe that Jesus Christ is your risen savior, you will perish and not have everlasting life. Read John 3:16
Romans chapter 1:1 makes it very clear who our creator is and that if anyone just looks at the sky, earth, sun, moon, etc. it is obvious that God is the creator of all things.
We don't need to be wonderful, nice people in order to go to heaven. We need to believe that Christ saved us from death brought on by our sinful nature. Once we believe that, we strive to be more like Christ, which in turn, helps us become wonderful, nice people.
If you still think we are all going to heaven without believing that, read the book of Revelations. Last I knew, the Bible is the inspired word of God. God is all knowing and all truth.
|
