God Has a Name

John Mark Comer continues to earn his spurs in the Christian life. Having read his book “Practicing the way of Jesus”, I was looking forward to reading this book on vacation and it did not disappoint. He writes in one of the opening chapters “We become what we worship.” In the book “God Has a Name”, Comer Biblically and thoughtfully builds a vision of not only who Yahweh is from the “John 3:16” of the Old Testament (Compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭34‬:‭6‬-‭7‬”) but also the impact He makes on our life. He makes a great point that understanding God in this way can start TODAY. Dont wait! For a long time, I won’t forget the final day of vacation when he quoted Joel chapter 2 11-14 as one of the places that quotes the famous text in Exodus. Talk about a final pep talk before returning to work! I highly recommend getting this book and slowly reading and taking it all in. Your life and faith will be better for it.

If you are not familiar with John Mark Comer, get familiar. His books are not just fun reads, they resonate with you for long after. This is the 4th book of his I just cannot put down. Highly recommend.

I would recommend this book to everyone looking for a closer relationship with God. It is written in an easy format and John Mark has an ability to bring difficult topics into easily understood perspectives.

Wonderful read

I come to this conservative polemic written by a young Conservative pastor as a Progressive or Liberal Christian. Meaning of course that I'm Liberal not the author. So, fair warning his idea of a Christian while traditional isn't exactly my idea of who God or Christ is. So, if you are a fundamentalist I think you will like the book. However, if not or if you feel like I do about it then it's not likely to be your cup of tea. Still I wanted to be honest and I did read the book on my Kindle Fire and took notes. However, I can't get my dang notes to come up so I had to wing this review. 4 stars for writing not for agreement. I come to this book as someone who was born and raised in the church as we say in the South. I'm now sixty three years old and no longer a biblical literalist. This author is writing to a generation of younger seekers and he does a good job of stating his case. The only problem is his case is not the profound mic drop that he thinks it is. It's that old time religion and I've been there and have the T-Shirt. The major themes of the book are: God is compassionate and gracious God is slow to anger God is abounding in love and faithfulness Yet God does not let the guilty go unpunished He also goes to great length (The author, not God.) to tell us that God has an exact name and then goes through mental and text gymnastics to say it's Yahweh. Now I'm not a biblical scholar so I'm not attacking or refuting his conclusion. I'm just not sure it's quite as cut and dried as he says it is. But, I do think he's right in that the Hebrews considered Yahweh to be the God that brought them out of the desert. He goes to much trouble to let you know that It's Yahweh The Compassionate Lord, Yahweh the Gracious, Yahweh slow to anger, Yahweh Abounding in love and faithfulness, Yahweh who punishes (ever notice how the loving religious folks love the punishing?) Just saying. But, Yahweh who punishes the children for the sins of the father to the third and fourth generation. Address him by his name. Yahweh. Now if the above sounds as if I'm being blasphemous I assure you I'm not. I'm not trying to mock or disparage faith. My own faith has brought me through and still see's me through this life. It's just that I've seen people manipulate others politically, emotionally and even sexually using Jesus and I'm kind of tired of it. But, I promise I am not an enemy of faith or of religion for that matter. God is compassionate and gracious. I can understand that. But then the author tells of how God is jealous and doesn't let sin go unpunished. Then the writer starts talking about all the idols and false god's and how they are demonic or fake but Yahweh is the only true God. Then somehow he manages to bring the Hebrew Deity of Ancient Israel back to the Christians of the West and of course Jesus. He then glosses over the times when God is angry and commands genocide in his name and say's "we want God to punish us" our sense of justice demands it. Really? I don't think so. Then of course he does the "God is like a father and your father punishes you if he loves you." Well, if you mean beating my ass if I tried to backtalk him then yeah. If you mean a parent grounding you for sneaking out of the house then yeah. But, if you mean allowing you to be obliterated or cast into a burning pit forever and ever then no. No I don't think that is what a loving parent would do. I worked for a while finishing up my Social Work BSW by working at a fast food place on an Army base. I worked at Popeye's. I used to work over the fryer. We would batter the chicken and then carefully drop it into the hot grease. If you got a drop of that hot grease on you from the splatter you were in pain so we were really careful. I remember thinking as I worked over this hot and dangerous vat of grease. I wouldn't take the tip of the little finger of my most hated enemy and touch it into that grease. I mean it. I couldn't do it. Yet some Christians want me to believe that a God of love could allow a living soul or being to be tormented for eternity in a hell fire or to be obliterated. I have to tell you that I don't consider that a God with a big G. I would consider that a god with a little g. Finally, I thought long and hard about my faith in my youth. I finally came to a place where the atheistic idea of a meatbot in a meaningless universe seemed to me to be the insane ramblings of deluded people. I really don't think the universe is insane or meaningless. But, also the idea of a almighty being who creates a naked ape and then takes a powerful Angel with all power and knowledge and sends him down to earth. Then takes his own child in his anger and demands his murder and torture and by the way if this powerful fallen Angel called Satan can fool the puny little naked ape then the All mighty in his "love" will burn him for forever and ever. But, if the naked ape even after he's raped and murdered and hurt people will just say the sinners prayer before he dies then he gets a get out of jail card free. I somehow don't think God or Christ would be that random in wisdom. I'm sorry to say the writer of this book while he's a very intelligent young man, Still didn't make religious dogma anymore sane or sensible by his mental gymnastics in this book. So, bottom line if you are an evangelical then you will love this book. It will not challenge you at all. But, if you are seeking spiritual nourishment then this is a very light snack indeed.

This is a re release that has a wonderful new hard cover and a new practice added at the end on contemplation. This book helped me more deeply understand God (Yahweh) and how He is relational and responds to me, us. I grew up with misinformation about God and reading this book has helped me connect with God differently who is leading me through transformation through knowing Him. It's an easy read and for me, one that I return to. When you buy one, get one for a friend too, it's a great small group book to read together.

I first purchased this book on Audible and it was surprisingly really thought provoking. I ended up buying the hard copy as well because there were so many things I wanted to underline AB’s contemplate further.

Comer has once again written a thought-provoking and insightful book! I listened to this book on Audible on my daily 40-minute walks, and it was such a great week of contemplation with John Mark. Each chapter challenged my presuppositions and subconscious ideas about God and gave me a greater sense of awe for the wonderful character of Yahweh. I hope to bear the Name well.

Love how he pulls a part and explains every bit of the text without leaving out the tricky bits. So good.

This book is so so good - highly recommend.

Booked arrived quickly and was in perfect, new condition. Highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone (Christian or not). Enjoy the writing as it’s like he’s having a conversation with you, and it’s very self reflective.

Love it, educational . God is wonderful , patience , loving , He is the greatest father. Thanks Pastor John Mark Comer

Love this book. I have read it twice.