8 Thoughts on Christian Imagination

For the first ten years of my life, I was an only child, and during that time, my dad worked nights and my mom worked days, and I spent a lot of time alone.  During that alone time, I read a lot of books, watched a lot of movies, and created a lot of imaginary worlds.  (I also set the house on fire twice, but let’s not talk about that right now.)

All that time spent imagining led me to be a fairly creative person, but it also led to an exaltation of my thoughts and desires above the real world.  Any time things got too real, I’d go watch a movie or start daydreaming about the life I wished I had. And worst of all, any time God tried to intrude in my life, I’d use my imagination to pretend He wasn’t and rationalize how God didn’t exist.

When I came to Christ, I gave up everything that used my imagination: all the movies, books, writing, drawing, painting, everything that I worried might engage my pride or divert my eyes from God.  But recently God has been telling me to reengage with those things for His glory, so I’ve been trying to figure out exactly how the imagination fits in our relationship with God.

Read today's Proverbs and Wisdom article for 8 things I've been thinking about when it comes to Christian Imagination.

My Imaginary Jesus

St. Peter walks into a communist vegan restaurant in San Francisco and orders smoked salmon.  The hippie at the counter rolls her eyes and says, “we’re vegan.  No salmon.” Of course St. Peter is incensed and ready to start brawling: “isn’t this the Pacific northwest?  How do you not have salmon?”  And just before he lets fly his fists of fury, he looks over and spots Jesus sitting next to Matt Mikalatos. St. Peter’s brow darkens a little farther, and he strides over to confront them.

Yep that’s the opening scenario of Matt Mikalatos’ My Imaginary Jesus.  It turns out that Matt’s Jesus was an imaginary Jesus, and with the help of St. Peter, a talking donkey, an ex-prostitute, some Mormon missionaries, and an atheist, Matt goes on a quest to confront his imaginary Jesuses (yes there are many), so he can find the real one.

The book was a lot of fun, though I don’t think I’ve been around or cared about church culture enough to get all the jokes.  However the point of the book, namely that a lot of the general ideas about Jesus you hear in Sunday School or are taught in seminaries these days are imaginations and interpretations of a real person, is spot on.

It’s the real Jesus that we should be seeking relationship with, not the myths we’ve made up over the years.  He’s alive and speaking, and we can know Him personally.

I highly recommend this book.  It will entertain you certainly, but more importantly it will leave you hungry to know the real Jesus and maybe even help you start rooting out the imaginary Jesuses in your life.

Buy the book for $13.78

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review.  All opinions are my own.