I hesitate to tell you that this book tackles with verve the theological ideas of original sin and union with Christ. I can hear the groans–another theology tome. Please reroute your thinking as this volume is so much more than academic exercise. In Bound Together by Chris Brauns and published by Zondervan we have so much more!

There’s real life questions here. In discussing how we are tied to others in both good and horrifying ways, we find the questions tough. We all know on some level, and are actually glad about it, that blessings have come our way over the choices of some. But when someone’s choice rips our family down the middle, or the choice of a leader lands the whole nation in peril, well, that is another matter. The deeper question is why the Lord designed our world so. Like it our not, He did.

Mr. Brauns uses the analogy of the rope. We are tied together. In some ways if one goes over the cliff, we all will. While that is not true on some levels (personal accountability), it definitely is on others. He shows that what happened to us when Adam fell demonstrates this very thing. Before we sink in despair, we should see the upside of the rope. CHRIST!

We are now tied to Him and as he triumphs over sin He literally pulls us up out of or own sin. You see, the rope rescued us. If you could remove the rope from God’s Universe, you would do yourself far more harm than good. So we praise Him for the rope even if on occasion it appears unfair. He also explains that the new rope in Christ is far stronger than our old rope tied to Adam.

No, he explains, this doesn’t extinguish personal responsibility. I can’t just blame the rope, but I can trace how my choices have the potential to pull up or down. In his one chapter on marriage you see how the home might be the greatest length of the rope. Any idea that I am just my own person and can do as I please is absurd. There are too many hurting children in our world, for example, for this to be true.

He offers hope to hurting families too. He uses Rahab as an illustration. The rope can be used by me for good. She made a daring decision and her entire family was spared. This may not always work out so, but at least it is a shot.

In the latter parts of the book he explains how something so valued in our culture, and truly good on some levels, could be the very thing that is destroying us. That thing is individualism.

He pulls off the theology too. By the book’s end you will add to your obvious knowledge that your personal sin affects you and others as well as the truth that original sin affects you too. That affect is only overcome through Jesus Christ. This is a great book.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.