Vintage Jesus

I recently finished reading Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington. I loved this read. It's basically a theological treatise on the doctrine of Christ put in layman's terms with the humor of Dane Cook, minus the vulgarity. It's a brilliant read. For anyone struggling with what a Bible-believing church really believes about Christ and what the New Testament teaches about Him, especially in the midst of the cultural and ecclesiological (church-related) milieu of our world, this is a fantastic resource. Here's a few tidbits that I loved. Many of them humorous!

• "Because Jesus worked in a day when there were no power tools, he likely had calluses on his hands and muscles on his frame, and did not look like so many of the drag-queen Jesus images that portray him with long, flowing, feathered hair, perfect teeth, and soft skin, draped in a comfortable dress accessorized by matching open-toed sandals and handbag. Jesus did not have Elton John or the Spice Girls on his iPod, The View on his TiVo, or a lemon-yellow Volkswagen Beetle in his garage." (p. 31, Chapter Two, "How Human Was Jesus?")
• Jesus' priestly intercession makes both our prayer and worship possible. We pray to and worship the Father through Jesus our priest by the indwelling power of God the Holy Spirit, who has made our bodies the new temples in which he lives on the earth." (p. 76, Chapter Four, "Why Did Jesus Come to Earth?")
• "Some early church fathers (e.g., Origen), some Catholic and Protestant theologians (such as Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and Wesley), along with the Second Helvetic Confession and the Geneva Bible say that Mary was 'ever virgin,' or semper virgo. I am assuming that her husband, Joseph, was semper bummo, or 'ever bummed.'" (p. 94, Chapter Five, "Why Did Jesus' Mom Need to Be a Virgin?")
  
• "On the Internet, the top word searched for is 'sex,' with 'porn,' 'nude,' 'Playboy,' and 'erotic stories' also in the top twenty. Furthermore, 70 percent of porn traffic occurs between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. while people are sitting at work unable to focus on their job because the god of Eros continually beckons." (p. 170, Chapter Nine, "Why Should We Worship Jesus?")

And here's one of the best quotables to finish off:

• "Jesus' legacy is truly without peer. Jesus never wrote a book, but the Library of Congress holds more books about Jesus (17,000) than about any other historical figure, roughly twice as many as Shakespeare, the runner-up. One University of Chicago scholar has estimated that more has been written about Jesus in the last twenty years than in the previous nineteen centuries combined. Jesus never ran for a political office, but more people have chosen him to be their leader than anyone else who has ever lived. Jesus was not formally educated nor did he lecture in a classroom, but he has more students than anyone else ever has or will have. Jesus was not a therapist, but he has helped more people than all the counselors, therapists, and psychologists combined. Jesus was not an artist, but more artwork has been commissioned of him than of anyone else who has ever lived." (p. 211, Chapter Eleven, "What Difference Has Jesus Made in History?")

In summary, you should get this book.