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THE THERAPIST PSYCHOLOGIST BOOK STORE
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Uprising: A Revolution of the Soul
Release Date: 2003-09-01
Average Customer Rating:
List Price: $19.99
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Product Description
We are all, as Erwin Raphael McManus states, broken pieces of the image of God. And as Christians, too often we talk about God's ability to change lives without fully understanding how to access that power. The reason is simple: we ourselves have never been radically transformed. McManus explains how many people unknowingly block God from changing us and teaches readers the texture of the heart required to unleash God's transforming power within us. He also demonstrates the passion and purpose that lie ahead when we undertake the journey that leads us to the true source, the very character of God. Fascinating stories from McManus's personal life and ministry, paired with fresh biblical teaching and profound insights, will astonish and challenge readers to break free from negative habits, destructive emotions, and other strongholds that hinder lasting transformation and to turn toward a life marked by enlightenment, nobility, and virtue.
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 Strecthing
Ok some like Erwin some do not. The things that I like about him, he seems to address my Inner soul in his writing. Things I am feeling but am to proud or arragant or something to actually talk about. This book so far has been great. He has talked a lot about being people of integrity, and passion. And not just to use that for our own benefit but to realize that it is to be used in-line with the will of God. I find myself stopping to ponder many of the thoughts that Erwin talks about in this book.
A very enjoyable read.
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 The Gauntlet: You should go this way.
A quote from Isaiah sums this book up the best. "If you go the wrong way - to the right or to the left - you will hear a voice behind you saying. 'This is the right way. You should go this way.'" Isaiah 30:21
Integrity and Character are two of the milestones you will pass as you follow McManus' journey through "The Gauntlet". In this age of immediate gratification, McManus reminds us that our faith takes time. One of the biggest takeaways I got from the book, was how we view poverty and sufferring. Character and Integrity are forged in the furnace of suffering and trial. Yet it is not our suffering and trials that define us, it is that which is forged from them.
I recommend this book highly.
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McManus makes all the pieces fit nicely together in the mind.
If you've attended church and read the Bible, you've heard all these ideas before. Uprising makes all the pieces fit nicely together to make all the religous concepts make sense as God intended, not as many churches have taught.
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 Unbiblical dead end to spirituality ( bobandjudy )
"In this daring book Erwin Raphael McManus points the way to a life overflowing with passion, freedom, destiny and human creativity-" (from the inside book cover).
So just what is this "way" that McManus points us to? And just how Biblical is his (and the publisher's) attempt to cash in on "The Purpose Driven Life" bonanza? After all, the book's inside flap begins with "...a life of passion and purpose is the cry of every human heart."
From my reading of the book (and from his own words), McManus' bottom line, in a sentence, is this: If we will seek to develop the qualities of honor, nobility and enlightenment (following the pattern set by Jesus), our lives will be changed from "imitation and mediocrity into [lives] of passion and character...that will forever change the world!"
Quite a tall order and quite a promised outcome!
In my opinion, Mr. McManus has simply given us another Christian self-help volume-in addition to the hundreds, if not thousands, already available on the Christian bookshelves of the world.
Please allow me to quote extensively from the book before commenting upon its shortcomings. I want to present an accurate picture of the author's thesis.
(From the book cover flap:) "...reach your fullest potential as a human being" "What would we look like if we became like Him?" "This is the ultimate destination to become the person God dreams of."
"God formed us in His image and then breathed life into us. His life in us is sustained by His character. When we lose the character of God, we lose the life of God in us. But to have His character, we must first die to ourselves, because to become like Him is what it means to really live." p 6
"...this book is a quest for life...a quest to regain what was lost in the fall." p 6
"Our quest is to have God's character formed in us..." p 9
"...course set before us offers the freedom that comes from a discipline of the soul." p 16
"...the pursuit of character." p 16
"...the cry of our own soul screaming, `I want to change!' " p 18
"What do you do when you can't stand the sight of yourself?...you can't escape who you are. ... But you can become someone else. ... One thing is certain-you need to change. ... Change into what? From who you are to who you can become only with Christ." p 19
"To want godly character is one thing; to know how to acquire it is quite another." ... This journey's course is set by none other than Jesus Christ. The path is unveiled by His footprints. To choose His way is to engage in three quests that will not leave us unchanged-a quest for honor, a quest for nobility, and a quest for enlightenment." p 20
"...you alone have to desire to change." p 29
"He (Jesus) promises that if you and I follow Him, we will become like Him at journey's end." p 34
"In the pages ahead we will walk a path marked by the footprints of Jesus." p 36
"You now stand before a gauntlet. The destination you seek requires that you pass through treacherous terrain...three quests: a quest for honor, a quest for nobility, and a quest for enlightenment." p 39
And so forty pages into his book, McManus sets about to convince us of the virtues of godly character development to attain our "fullest potential as a human being."
Is this truly what God wants for our lives? Is this God's solution to the sin problem-the sin of greed, self-centeredness, impatience, etc. Will this "quest" for honor, nobility and enlightenment change our lives from lives of "imitation and mediocrity into one of passion and character...that will forever change the world"??
Hogwash.
Let me be clear that this is not a personal attack on Mr. McManus. Instead it is an attack on a false and dead-end approach to the Christian life.
Let's start dissecting this unbiblical path to "the ultimate destination." From the book cover flap: "...reach your fullest potential as a human being" "What would we look like if we became like Him?"
This, dear reader, is the very same proclamation which was used in the garden of Eden to precipitate the fall of man!! "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God..." (Genesis 3:5). We are NOT to become "like God." We are to be expressers of the life of God through abiding as a branch in Him as the life of the Vine (John 15). This is a RESTING in Him rather than a "quest" for character traits which imitate His life.
On page six McManus says, "God formed us in His image and then breathed life into us. His life in us is sustained by His character. When we lose the character of God, we lose the life of God in us. But to have His character, we must first die to ourselves, because to become like Him is what it means to really live." "...this book is a quest for life...a quest to regain what was lost in the fall."
Hold on here. "His life is sustained by His character"?? I think not. Rather His character is sustained by His life!! His character is the outflowing of His life. There isn't something called "character" which is sustaining God's infinite, omnipresent, omnipotent life. McManus seems to imply that the presence of God's life in us is dependent upon godly character and godly behavior on our part. If we just "die to ourselves"-our ungodly character traits-we shall begin "to really live." McManus thinks that "what was lost in the fall" was godly character traits!! His quest for honor, nobility and enlightenment is a quest to regain what was lost in the fall.
Of course that is not what was fundamentally lost in the fall. It was "spiritual identity" which was lost in the fall. Adam and Eve accepted the belief of an independent selfhood and acted upon that lie. What is needed now is not a quest for godly character traits by fallen or even "saved" humanity, but a dying to the false sense of self (identification in Jesus' crucifixion) and a spiritual re-birth (identification in Jesus' resurrection). This exchanged life produces God's character in our lives-because it's HIS character-filled life rather than our false sense of life. Rather than a "getting" of godly character, it is a realization of the present fact of being "complete in Christ" already. There is a vast difference in these two approaches to true spirituality.
McManus reveals his lack of understanding of what is commonly known as "the exchanged life" in the following quote: "What do you do when you can't stand the sight of yourself?...you can't escape who you are. ... But you can become someone else. ... One thing is certain-you need to change. ... Change into what? From who you are to who you can become only with Christ." p 19
As I read this, McManus wants us to become godly with the help of Christ. But this approach to spirituality denies the new creation and Paul's revelation of "Christ Who is our life" and "I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Only Christ can live a godly life. The natural man cannot become godly. And "Christ Who is our life" need not go on a "quest" for honor, nobility and enlightenment-they are inherently a part of His life.
We are "complete in Christ" and the path to attaining "honor, nobility and enlightenment" is to be still and come into the realization of our oneness with God the Son and God the Father as the answer to Jesus' prayer recorded in John 17:21-23 "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one;...."
No mention in this prayer of any "quest" in order to "forever change the world." Until Christians understand and experience the difference between the external "quest" for godliness and the inner realization of the truth which sanctifies and makes free, publishers like Thomas Nelson will continue to make money on self-help books like this one.
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Transformation and transparency ( livanallen )
Erwin McManus is one of the most compelling Christian authors I've read in a long time. He shares his heart and is transparent about his strengths and weaknesses and how God is changing him. He has a vision for the church today, that we assess what it is we are doing, why, and what we could do to better serve Christ. But the church will only change as individual believers catch the vision and are transformed. Read this book if you are ready to grow!
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Addiction
