For Honest Heretics

You have probably noticed something. When people talk to you about Christianity, they often describe a version of it with surprisingly little to do with the man it is named after: certainty without humility, judgment without mercy, wealth treated as a blessing, power treated as a calling. Maybe you grew up in church and left. Maybe you just grew up around it. Either way, you are not imagining the gap.

This book shows where it came from. Every lesson prints what Jesus actually said, tells the real history of how something else took its place, and then measures the teaching against him. Many will not survive the comparison.

It will not try to convert you. You don't need to believe anything about who Jesus was to hold Christians to the center they already claim. You only need to know his words better than the people quoting something else, and to say so calmly. Each lesson ends with a way to do exactly that.

Three ground rules

• Respect the person. Most people hold these beliefs sincerely, because a pastor or a parent taught them. The belief may be wrong; the person usually isn't acting in bad faith.
• Let history make the point. Ask "Where did this idea come from?" and let the dates answer. Keep "whose purpose does this serve?" for your own thinking.
• Don't shy away from the verdict. Give ground where a teaching really does come from Jesus. Where it contradicts him, say so, kindly and clearly.