Honestly: Really Living What We Say We Believe

Johnnie Moore’s thoughtful and challenging book Honestly takes a close look at how to actually live by what you believe, not in theory, but in reality. In a time when the true reality of what it means to be a follower of Christ seems to be quickly dwindling, this book is a seriously important and vital work. Drawing from how the early church followed Jesus, Moore asks questions about how our own twenty-first century lives don’t measure up to the kind of dedication and commitment the early Christians displayed. I found myself challenged and disturbed by some of Moore’s honesty, in a way I haven’t been with other books of a similar nature. Using his own painful experiences of a broken home and a glib pretence of Christianity as a cover for what was really going on, Moore takes a look at how Christianity often becomes a veneer that hides great pain, loss of faith, or simply a lack of belief that it can actually transform life. He expresses his disappointment with this type of Christianity, and it is this honesty, this willingness to speak the hard truth about our modern Christianity, that gives this book its value and its quality of disturbance. Above all, it perhaps questions our desire to live life undisturbed by our Christianity, to live Christianity on our terms rather than Christ’s. The basis of the book is that it really is possible to live a vibrant, passionate life in Christ that changes your relation to the world and the people around you. Moore addresses my own questions about how faith in modern life seems to lack any relevance, vitality or ability to illuminate and guide one’s life. He looks at how suffering, doubt, evil, the frenetic pace and distractions of the digital life, our work, our boredoms, our rebellions and our crises can all be transformed into a real life in Christ that is exciting, alive, and above all, honest. If you find anywhere within yourself a desire to know how to live a genuine life in Christ outside of all the pretense, of all the loss of belief in its ability to transform, and in a manner that strips away everything about Christianity that is false, boring, and irrelevant, I would highly recommend this book as a starting point.