Customer Reviews:
 Crazy Love :: Not So Much... March 11, 2010
Matthew A. Rundio (Mesa, AZ United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
My initial reaction to Francis Chan's Crazy Love
First of all, "Crazy Love" is a terrible and misleading title for this book. It is not about love (until, maybe, chapter 10, but by that point it is too late; too much damage has already been done). It is certainly NOT about God's love for us mortals.
When a friend asked me about the book, this was my initial response:
"I was hoping for a good read, but all I've seen so far (a bit more than halfway through) is an angry God. It's as if the title [Crazy Love] means, "'You are so stupid and such a failure and so incredibly lame, it is crazy that God, who is disgusted by you and beat up Jesus because of it, would love such a low-life as yourself.'"
Here is another picture of my reaction to the book: The following are summary statements and reflections I made of each chapter. I wrote them down immediately after reading each- I was honestly summarizing and reflecting upon what I took from that part of the book:
Chapter 1:
Summary: "God is crazy awesome, stand in awe and fear of him."
Reflection: "MISSING: the words `God is love.' This should have been first in his list of God's attributes, but that idea was missing altogether - instead God seems a bit angry."
Chapter 2:
Summary: "You might die soon, is your life a waste?"
Reflection: "Didn't really like this chapter. It seems manipulative - wrong somehow. Excitement for life, not the imminence of death, should be our motivator. It seemed shallow to me."
Chapter 3:
Summary: "God loves you even though you're a stupid sinner."
Reflection: "Again, don't like this chapter. It's OK, but weak. Not compelling. Still with the angry punishing God. Still will the `I deserve death and hell' junk."
Chapter 4:
Summary: "You suck at really following Jesus."
Reflection: "He once more (again!) seems harsh. It occurred to me that Shane Claiborne frames the same kinds of things in a way I find compelling. Shane tells stories of living fully committed lives - this book just badgers me. This book makes me feel attacked; Shane [in Irresistible Revolution] makes me feel inspired and convicted and reflective of my life."
Chapter 5:
Summary: "You make God sick because you aren't good enough (you don't do good enough things)."
Reflection: "More of the same: I make God angry. I make God sick. I make God disgusted."
Chapter 6:
Summary: "You need God's help to stop making him so angry and to stop being a pathetic failure."
Reflection: "This is a small correction to the rest of the book so far. We do need the help of God in order to live fully committed lives."
Chapter 7:
Summary: "If you are not extremely generous, God will be extremely displeased with you (and you'll probably burn in Hell forever)."
Reflection: "Ok, two in a row that are less bad - but still guilt-filled and `angry God' stuff abounds along with a `this life doesn't much matter' problem" (That last point, by the way, is a problem with Gnosticism creeping into the Church - it shows up when we disparage this world, the earth, matter in general, and think only "heaven" is any good... but that's a longer and different topic.)
Chapter 8:
Summary: "Being obsessed with God will/should change everything about your life."
Reflection: "By far, the least bad chapter so far. Pages 132-3 are very good, in fact. But still contains the `angry God disgusting human' bit. Also, almost Gnostic in the way it focused on `heaven' rather than this earth/life."
Chapter 9:
Summary: "If they can do it, so can you; great stories of real people living for God."
Reflection: "Finally something compelling - not shame/anger/guilt based..."
Chapter 10:
Summary: "Figure out what God is asking of you and do it!"
Reflection: "This is more of what I expected from the book - but it is too little too late."
The book, in general, feels like old-school hell-fire and brimstone preaching: "Point 1: God is bigger than you, Point 2: You are a stupid sinner, you make God angry, and you deserve death, Point 3: luckily for you, God might forgive your sorry self, but you better live right because, like I said in point 2, you are really rotten and deserve to suffer and die." That, as it turns out, is the basic outline of Crazy Love. I suppose if I were used to Puritan preaching (with famous sermon titles like "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"), I might not have been so bothered. But I was (and I still am). Perhaps it is my visceral reaction against hell-fire and brimstone preaching that causes me to dislike the book so much.
Needless to say, I was unimpressed and disappointed with most of Crazy Love. It was NOT what I expected. I thought I'd be reading a book about God's wonderful, unfailing, increasable, CRAZY love for people. What I got was a book about how completely horrible I am and that God is very angry with me and it is crazy that he would love such a punk. But, despite my initial (and prevailing) thoughts, there was some good in the book, and to that good, I now turn.
The better parts of Crazy Love
The best part of the whole book is, without a doubt, chapter 9 and the second best part is chapter 10. Chapter 8 was also mostly good, and chapter 1 has some great things to say.
Chapter 9: This chapter contains a number of true stories, stories of people who lived (or are living) their lives in complete surrender to God. The stories inspire, they contain beauty, and they demonstrate the wonderful variety of ways people might give their lives fully to Christ.
Chapter 10: This is the second-best chapter. It does a descent job of communicating the fact that each of us will have our own story to live, our own calling to follow, our own choices to make. We should not try to live someone else's life, but our own. And that when one lives a life of love, it changes everything. Chapter 9 and 10 were more of what I expected. (Too bad they are only 20% of the book and come at the very end!)
Chapter 8 is where the book stopped being so horrible. Page 132 contains a quote from Frederick Buechner. The encouragement to love even your enemies and even when love doesn't seem safe were very well done. However, the chapter was still not great, overall. For example, the chapter contains this lovely phrase, "[God] knows what we are, that we are disgusting..." That, unfortunately, (as I read it) summarizes the major thrust of Chan's theology and anthropology (that is to say, the way he views God and the way he views people): God hates me, I disgust God.
Chapter 1: The best part of this chapter is the reminder to notice to whom we pray. God is wonderful, huge, creative. God has made an intricate, delicate, breathtaking world in which we live. We should remember this before we pray; stand in awe of the creator. But, again, there were some problems with this chapter. Chan overemphasizes fearing God, that God is about punishment, that Jesus was beat up and killed because God is so upset with me, etc.
So What?
I, personally, would never recommend this book to anyone. It seems that Chan is trying to shake up lazy Christians. That is a good thing. We need to be honest about our lives. Too many of us are caught up in materialism, safety, etc. Too many of us don't really listen to God, don't really follow Jesus, etc. Too many of us, to many churches, are asleep, and we need to wake up. But Chan's approach (and much of his underlying theology) I find offensive, shallow, antiquated, an not at all compelling.
Instead of this book, I'd suggest two in its place: Shane Claiborne'sThe Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical (which, ironically, is recommended by Chan himself in Chapter 9) and Mark Labberton's The Dangerous Act of Worship: Living God's Call to Justice. Both of these superior books aim at similar thing as Crazy Love: to wake up a sleeping church. But Claiborne and Labberton both do it in much better, much more compelling ways.
And for a book that communicates, in a powerful way, the crazy love that God has for us mortals, I highly recommend The Shack (Special Hardcover Edition) by William P. Young. It does a wonderful job of painting a picture of God as he truly is: Love.
Allow me to end with this, my own words to you: God is crazy in love with you. You make him happy, just because you are you. God sings wonderful songs because of and to you. He weeps with you when you cry, he laughs with you when you laugh, he enjoys watching you smile (even if your mouth is mis-formed or your teeth are missing). God thinks your eyes are beautiful (even if you're blind) and that your skin is one of the best things ever (even if you are horribly scarred). God desires you. He not only loves you, he really, deeply, truly, and with no strings attached, LIKES you! You see, God IS love - it is his very nature. And you, you are the Beloved of God. You are the object of his affection. Allow that crazy love that God has for you to fill you up and empower everything there is about you. May you, filled with the love of God, become more fully human, more fully you. May you, motivated by the mind-blowing love of God, love other people and all of God's creation in the same way. May you see other humans, not as objects of God's wrath, but as objects of Gods unfailing love. And see yourself in the same light: you, despite whatever shortcomings, failings, or horrific things there are in your life, you are loved by the creator of the universe - God likes you and wants you. You are loved.
 Good reminder of the important things in life March 8, 2010
L. Lucas (Cincinnati)
The chapter on lukewarm Christians is worth the cost of the book. Extremely convicting.
 Crazy Love March 7, 2010
Fiona Cowan (B.C. Canada)
Francis Chan tells it like it is in this book. He gets down to the nitty-gritty of the Crazy Love of the Father God for you & me, whether we know it, choose it or not.
I am reading this book with a small group of like-minded Christian friends. We ordered the accompanying study-DVD, however, that has not arrived and we're onto the third chapter. We are quite certain our experience with the Crazy Love book will be enhanced by its use, once it gets here.
To get anything from this book, you need to believe in God the Father, Jesus the Son & the Holy Spirit. You also need to believe that the Bible is the truth of God.
owners manual for Christian faith March 7, 2010
Robert D. Giesbers
This book gives so many good practical applications of faith.
Unlike so many books that talk in theories about how we should live, this book cuts to the heart and lays truth right at your feet.
Crazy awesome March 4, 2010
R. Stokes (LA, CA)
This is a book that every Christian should have on their shelf. It's inspiration at any and every point in life! LOVE it!
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