True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing in

by James Choung

Book Overview

"Christianity seems like just another screwed-up religion!" Anna said. "Seriously, what has Christianity done for us--or for the world, for that matter? They're just a bunch of hypocrites, that's what I think! Are they good for anything?" "I don't know, Anna," Caleb said. "I just don't know." Caleb has been a Christian for a long time. But he realizes that he can't bring himself to share his faith with anyone because it doesn't sound like good...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0830836098
• ISBN13: 9780830836093
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: IVP
• Length: 233 Pages
• Weight: 0.71 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

A Gospel big enough for Jesus!

Working in college ministry, I have felt the difficulty in telling the true Gospel (God's story, and not a watered down, me-centered one) and also in contextualizing it in a way that increasingly skeptical students can connect to. I loved True Story for what is at the heart of the book: an excellent Gospel diagram to help us share our faith Biblically. For more than 2 years, my students and I have been using this diagram with skeptics, seekers, and Christians. Here are a few reasons why Choung's diagram is excellent, and True Story is a great read for anyone: It starts where they start. Fewer and fewer people these days begin with a concrete idea of God or truth. But most have a deep sense that all is not right in the world. Choung's diagram begins with our discontentment. Because it begins with the world as we experience it, it is easy to bring up naturally in a variety of contexts. I've been able to share it while discussing the AIDS crisis in Africa, watching the evening news, and even after a student simply had a hard week of school. Choung's diagram shows that indeed things are not what God designed them to be, and connects the large-scale problems in the world and our lives to the sin problem in each of us. It involves whole-life transformation. Choung's diagram invites personal change through redemption in Christ, but also makes clear that "getting saved" is the beginning of a life of grateful participation in God's mission. Too often in our desire to protect sola fide, sola gratia, we shortchange our message. Our Gospel explanations leave out Paul's words in Eph. 2:10 (that we are saved by grace alone in order to overflow in good works) and Jesus' in Matt. 5:14-16 (that our good works will lead others to glorify God). The result is Christians whose lives look nothing like Christ's. Of course works are not salvific, but the Bible makes clear that they are to be a part of the life of a believer! As my students and I have used the diagram, we've found it useful not just with unbelievers but Christians, too. Many lifelong Christians recognize that they are living in "Circle 3" (forgiven, but not actively joining God's mission), and are encouraged to live out their faith. And unbelievers recognize that if this is God's message for the world, it truly is Good News. It's larger than me! Choung repeatedly focuses on three levels of restoration that Christ's atonement brings: personal, interpersonal, and systemic. Other Gospel diagrams I've used begin and end with the personal--Jesus can forgive and heal me, period. True Story points out that Christ's work certainly begins with my own issues, but that he is also concerned with right relationships between people and with restoring His creation (Eph. 2, Col. 1:20). Thus it leads us to racial reconciliation, environmental stewardship, and other Biblical mandates. The Gospel will not be palatable to everyone (I Cor. 1:23). But at times in the past, I've had the feeling that seek

Great book for people asking questions about God.

This book really helped me rethink what it means to follow Jesus. For many people I know, "the good news" about Jesus has stopped feeling "good." They see a disconnect between Christianity and the biggest problems facing our world. Actually, that's probably too generous. They more often see Christianity as part of the problem. James helps us take a fresh look at what Jesus meant when he said that the kingdom of God is at hand by taking us into a crisis of faith as experienced by a young Korean American musician. He's in love. Maybe. And his girlfriend, maybe, is really angry at God. Their conversations are sad, heated, authentic, full of questions . . . I think they are conversations I've had myself. True Story is a great book for people with questions about God.

Telling the True Story with the Big Picture

Choung starts out with a simple goal - to describe a new way to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ. What makes his book so good is that he recognizes the complex questions people have about the gospel. He retains the central truths that we are separated by sin from the God we were created to be in perfect fellowship with and that the finished work of Christ is the only way to restore that fellowship. He adds on to those truths some others that were previously seen as "Christian history" (what was God like before Creation was created? how did sin enter the world?) and some others that were seen as "Christian Living" (if I'm saved by grace, why should I go to the trouble of doing good? what should I/the church do about Sudan, the environment, or human trafficking?). He sees that individual sin leads to corrupted relationships and communities, and he communicates a gospel of salvation for individuals and healing for relationships and communities. Other writers in this genre (McLaren and Claiborne come to mind) go too far promoting the corporate aspects of sin and salvation to the detriment of the individual responsibility for sin and need for salvation. As I read Choung's book, I didn't feel like the gospel I love was being changed, diminished, or diluted - I felt like it was being strengthened by showing the big picture of why the gospel is truly good news for individual humans and the whole world.

A Must Have For Any Christian Who Wants to Share Their Faith!

A question that most Christians wrestle with is the best way to share their faith. In "True Story," Choung submits an approach that has worked with uneducated third world residents to postmodern college students and many in between. The approach has a salvation component, but does not neglect Jesus' commands to take part in the Kingdom of God. Choung uses scripture to assert: Creation was designed for good, but damaged by evil. Jesus came to restore us for the better, and sends us out to do good. The steps are illustrated first in a fictional story of a disaffected Christian wrestling with his faith, and then revisited in the author's own words at the end. The first part may seem rough toward some conservative evangelicals, but hold tight. It's a godsend to those who love Jesus' teachings, yet can't stand the hypocrisy of many of His most vocal followers. Alongside Comfort's "Best Kept Secret" and Bright's "4 Spiritual Laws," Choung's "True Story" will be an indispensable tool of any Christian's witnessing toolkit. For all of us who are willing to "become all things, to all people, that we may win some," Choung has created a very important work.

A fan

Especially engaging and effective for Christians who've grown up with Christianity being nothing more than a religious system or a culture. Completely shocking and enlightening for those who don't follow Jesus and are in fact jaded by Him and His church. It paints a fuller and truer picture of the relationship between God, us, and the world. Makes what has become abstract in our generation into a plain and accessible gospel.