My Review of "Lord, Change my Attitude (Before it's too late)"

In Lord, Change My Attitude (Before it’s too Late), James MacDonald admonishes his readers to change their attitudes, because attitudes are the basis for the way you live and experience life. He spends the book presenting each unacceptable attitude which will then lead to a dry and unfulfilling life, followed by the corresponding replacement attitude. His thesis is this, based upon the narrative of Numbers 11-14: Those who choose attitudes of murmuring will spend their lifetimes in the wilderness.

The first mistake I believe MacDonald makes in his philosophy of change is that the Holy Spirit and God’s work are completely absent. Nowhere in the book is the solution to any attitude problem to go to God. It is always a condemnatory exhortation followed by a guilt-trip replacement. The formula of the book is frequently this: 1) Stop having your terrible attitude. 2) God is Holy and Righteous and judges terrible attitudes. 3) Try harder so you can stop being miserable and start being happy. That formula accomplishes nothing but godless self-obtained righteousness and is the foundation of thinking that we can change ourselves apart from God’s work, which is wrong.

I believe change only comes when we look upon the glory of God (found in the Gospel and the very person of Jesus- II Cor. 3:18, John 15:1-17, Romans 12:1-2, I Cor. 3:7). The only way we change is by our relationship to Jesus. We don’t change because of threatened doom, suffering and unhappiness, we change because we know Him and love Him. I affirm the qualities that he is recommending we put on, that they are good and important. But MacDonald’s flaws reside in his rational for our pursuit of them. It’s so we can be happy and stop having terrible lives. That is not the objective at all.

I think many of the attitudes that MacDonald mentioned are a part of human emotion and the process of healing and growth. That’s not to excuse them wholesale, but when they happen, they need to be taken to God. As we speak candidly to our Father about our doubts, criticisms, complaints, etc., He can actually deal with our attitude problems and change our hearts. Then we can please Him. Then we can change.

The crux of my sharp disagreement with the fundamental premise of the book, the examples therein, and MacDonald’s method for change revolve around the notion that living a fulfilled life comes when we obey God’s commands. If we don’t, he will judge us like the wrathful, angry, vengeful God who has become so well known in Christian circles. No, a fulfilled life flows out of a love relationship with Jesus, God Himself, and will manifest itself in change, but placing change as the means for accomplishing the end of happiness is skewing the whole system.

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So that was what I wrote. The thing that's still travelling through my head is the notion that maybe it was too harsh. It was exactly what I thought but how can I express this without coming off as arrogant? My solution thus far has just been to shut up. It seems to be working well. A couple of the conversations I've been in these last few days have been far more me learning about them than anything else. I think I'm headed in the right direction.

Breathing deeply and wiping sweat from my brow as I continue trekking,
-Storyteller