At the core of author and teacher Brad Jersak’s faith is the belief that God looks like Jesus. Simple enough, right? But what about the violent ‘God of the Old Testament’? What about the parable’s of Jesus that liken God to an angry king? And what about all the suffering in the world that God seems to simply stand by and watch. How do these look like Jesus? We caught up with Brad and asked him to explain.

Image provided by Brad Jersak. Used with permission.

BOOKS

A More Christlike God: A More Beautiful Gospel

Her Gates Will Never Be Shut: Hell, Hope, and the New Jerusalem

QUOTES

“You see competing images of God right within the Bible. And that’s not because the Bible is muddled. It’s that it’s a conversation, it’s polyphonic. There’s voices in conversation trying to work out who is God, what is He like and different perspectives are being revealed both in the characters and even the narrators. And it raises this tension about what this God is like to the point where you have to have God come in person and finally clear it up. Here’s what God is like: He’s love and if you want to know what love looks like, you look at Jesus.”

“Jesus died in our place, He took a bullet for us. But God’s not holding the smoking gun. We are. And so who killed Jesus? Well, we did…The point of the cross is to give us this revelation that in the face of human violence, God does not respond in vengeance. He reveals Himself as self-giving, radically forgiving, co-suffering love.”