Where's Your Jesus Now?

Written by Karen Spears Zacharias

Narrated by Karen Spears Zacharias

“Where’s our confidence? Our hope? Is it possible that, in our hyper-vigilance against our enemies, real or perceived, we’ve taken our eyes off of Jesus, our protector and Redeemer?”With tremendous spiritual insight and a rapier wit, Karen Spears Zacharias weaves a compelling narrative of faith versus fear. How is it that those of us who claim to be so firmly founded can be so easily shaken? How do we believe that a God who loves us more than we can comprehend can be willed by us to harm those who do not share our beliefs? As wars rumble and personal conflicts tear at the fabric of our lives, where is our Jesus? Zacharias finds him in a Vietnamese war widow, in a young man decimated by HIV, in the burnt remains of a handmade maternity outfit, and in the strength of a mother with a gun held to her chest. Along the way she offers a profound meditation on the nature of faith, “the evidence of things not yet seen”. God is specific in his intentions toward us, Zacharias says. He came to give us hope. Where’s Your Jesus Now? puts readers back on the path to finding it again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Oct 14, 2008
• ISBN: 9780310302827

Karen Spears Zacharias

Karen Spears Zacharias had her first kiss in a trailer, smoked her first and last cigarette in a trailer, asked Jesus into her heart on bended knee in a trailer, fell madly in love in a trailer (a couple of different times), and gave birth to her firstborn child in a trailer. While writing this book, she became unemployed and bought a flat-screen plasma TV. She and her husband, Tim, plan to retire to a double-wide with a firm foundation and a sturdy pier at Point Clear, Alabama.

Reviews for Where's Your Jesus Now?

[tymfos · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have really mixed feelings about this one. I agree with most of her basic themes1) that fear is rampant in our world, and that this fear undermines faith. 2) That fear-mongering is a way of life in our society 3) that too much fear is peddled in the name of God (hellfire & brimstone, natural disasters as "God's punishment," etc.)4) that the prevailing fear among many Christians of those whom they percieve as being not like themselves -- an "us vs. them" mentality toward Muslims, homosexuals, "liberals" -- stands in the way of obedience to the command to love neighbor as self5) that God is a God of love and grace who is with us in our trials and troubles, not a "Gotcha!" God looking to trip us upThere's more, and a lot of it is good. Unfortunately, Zacharias falls into some of the very pitfalls she warns us about. Mind you, I'm pretty much a liberal, but I can see that she's guilty of judging conservatives in the same way that the conservatives she's bashing are judging the liberals. I've notice that this is a common failing on both sides of the political divide. (A pastor I know once admitted, "I judge the judgmental people; that's my own sin.) I'm not a Dick Cheney fan, but seeing him lumped with Hitler and Stalin in one sentence was eyebrow-raising, to say the least.I liked many of the examples she used. The title of the book is an over-arching example within the book -- the mother, held hostage at gunpoint by her religiously deranged son, who was asked by him, "Where's your Jesus now?" to which she replied, "He's right here." Some would be funny if they weren't so sad: the owner of ArmageddonBooks.com, who watches the news to gauge likely demand for his literature. "If things are bad for Israel, business is good. But if there is peace in the Middle East, I'm in trouble."In all, there was a lot that was worthwhile, but the author got in her own way with a bit too much of a judgmental attitude toward those with whom she disagreed.