The Unjust Shall Live By Lack Of Faith

“The Year Of Living Biblically (One man’s humble quest to follow the Bible as literally as possible)”
By A.J. Jacobs

Great News! According to A.J. Jacobs, now even atheists and agnostics have a place in Heaven! Pearly Gates-WIDE OPEN! You don’t even have to have faith-intellectual acceptance is enough.
I have a friend who lent me this book by A.J. Jacobs, and I have found it quite interesting. I believe Jacobs is a sincere, honest writer who came up with an intriguing idea. According to Wiki:
“Jacobs' new book, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, chronicles his attempts to live for one year according to all the moral codes expressed in the Bible, including stoning adulterers, blowing a trumpet at the beginning of every month, and refraining from trimming his facial hair.”
Jacobs had a few obstacles in his path: he is/was a secular agnostic Jew who didn’t believe that Jesus is the Messiah. So the Old Testament was more palatable to him than the New. I’m reading the chapters now dealing with Jacobs attempts to follow the New Testament ‘rules’ while ignoring the references of Jesus Christ being equated to God.
Another obstacle for Jacobs: not just Christ, but Christians. He visits Jerry Falwell’s church, finds the Christians there to be warm and sincere…but they are also straightforward about considering Homosexuality sin. That doesn’t jibe with Jacobs beliefs; he makes up for it by finding and interviewing “Evangelical Gay Christians” who claim that every Biblical reference to homosexuality being an abomination are… misinterpreted. Silly old Patriarchs. Jacobs finds the “EG Christians” to be more acceptable. Comfortable.
Think about this: “One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible”…humble? Before Whom? With respect to Whom? Is he humble before God, or did he put ‘humble’ in the title to sell books?
Jacobs may be sincere, but attempting to follow the Biblical Laws while ignoring the Lawgiver (God, Not Moses) is ridiculous. This isn’t a full review-there is much more to the book, which is…verbose. The man knows how to write. And he loves to use a lot of words.
Heaven is the refuge of sinners. Jesus Christ is Our Savior because we need saving. Living biblically for a year to write a book is an intellectual enterprise, not a faithful one. As I told my friend who lent me the book, “I’ve been trying to live biblically for 30 years.” And it is humbling. And I am grateful to God every day FOR every day.