Heaven’s
Muscle by Bren Hughes
The road from faith to doubt and back again is paved
with many potholes and divots. Bren
Hughes, former pastor and lawyer, writes about his journey in his new book
entitled Heaven’s Muscle. Feeling the
overwhelming effects of legalism from his youth, Bren had to grapple with a
faith that was not bound by rules and requirements but looked at grace instead.
In the beginning of the book, Bren outlines when he
sees as Good Religion and Bad Religion.
Bad religion is the type of system is predicated upon obligation, shame,
and guilt, hierarchies, and boundaries, infighting and doctrinal
allegiance. Good religion on the other
hand is characterized by a spirit of love, integrity, character, and doctrinal
fidelity (19-25). Bren recounts how his
upbringing squashed any notion that the Spirit could be a work in a mighty way
in a person’s life. Bren makes the point
to admit that he was beginning to become a biblioater, someone who worshipped
the book instead of the giver of the Word.
He challenges readers to not worship the Book and yet he fails to mention
how a high view of Scripture leads us to see God bringing salvation to the
nations. Overall,
I think his main
emphasis was to see the work of the Spirit and how often a narrow view of the
Bible leads to infighting and bickering among Christians about secondary or
tertiary matters.
The best part of the book was Bren’s clear
presentation of the good news. He
writes, “But in addition to bringing atonement for sin, defeating the devil,
and exposing the worldly powers in his death, Christ also demonstrated the
unfathomable depths of God’s love for lowly human beings. God loved us so much he was willing to empty
himself in the incarnation, to live a life of lowly service, and then to die a
dolorous death. Surely the only
appropriate response to a gesture of such painful beauty is to fall in love
with the Being who did it (118).” By
combining various aspects of Christ’s atonement (Christus victor, ransom,
substitution), Christ’s ministry, and his death, we get a full picture of the
depths of God’s amazing love. Even more,
Bren focuses our only appropriate response, to love the one who loved us first.
Bren espouses
that Christ emptied himself of his divine attributes (46) in looking at
Philippians 2, a view that I thought needed a bit more explanation. Also, I hoped that he could add some more
parameters or concerns about prophecy and spiritual gifts, so that those
struggling with these issues might have a good idea about the proper use and
abuse of such practices.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and Bren’s story and
hope it will be an encouragement to many.
Thanks to SpeakEasy and Beating Heart for the review
copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
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