‘Hater’ hopes new book on faith will open eyes

Jason T. Berggren says he has learned something some Christians never do.

“I learned to come to terms with the realization that faith in Jesus didn’t mean all my problems would go away or be fixed,” he said.

Along those lines, Berggren, a married father of three in Alpharetta, Ga. has written a book, “10 Things I Hate About Christianity:  Working Through the Frustrations of Faith.” Even though he has a degree in theology, Berggren admits he has more questions than answers about his Christian faith.

Yes, Berggren, 36, has a lot of questions and self-doubt. He took all his inner and spiritual turmoil and turned it into 10 chapters that wrestle with faith, the Bible, rules, sin, hell and more.

“I’m just trying to take an open and honest look at what it takes to make my faith work in everyday life,” Berggren said.

He insists he doesn’t hate Christians. What his book attacks is the questions he and other believers have had and continue to have in trying to figure out how to follow Christ in the 21st century. Among those questions is the relevance of the Bible, a book written by so many different people, so many centuries ago. He wonders whether he still has to follow a biblical rule that prevents him from mixing wool and linen, and getting a tattoo.

“Drinking or smoking are not necessarily a sin but (they) may not be good for that person,” he said.

In that same vein, Berggren’s blog has a recent entry called “10 Things I Hate About the Holidays.” For starters, he hates shopping and decorating.

“I love when things are decorated, I just hate decorating,” he said.

But he also has a dislike for political correctness, holiday blues, spender’s remorse and Santa Claus.

Uh oh.

It’s not that he hates the Christmas character, he said; it’s the debates he gets drawn into with atheists and agnostics who put God and Jesus in the same category with mythical childhood characters such as the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.

“These people have had no problem telling their kids about a fat guy sliding down the chimney with a sack full of gifts and eating  the cookies and milk, his elves, flying reindeer, and somehow doing this at midnight in every home all around the world … (yet) they want to wait to introduce ideas of faith and religion when their kids are old enough to decide for themselves,” he said in his blog.

In the Berggren house, there is no plate of cookies or glass of milk left out on Christmas Eve.

“We’re not Grinches,” he said. “We tell our kids the story of the real Saint Nicholas. But we’ve decided that’s where it stops.”

Berggren thinks his book and his blog make good discussion starters in any situation with people of various levels of faith.

“This is for the new follower, the disillusioned. It’s really going to help someone searching spiritually, who is looking for the message of Jesus,” he said.

And he hopes it will pique the curiosity of those who are well grounded in their faith and make them bold.

“I’m hoping people would take risks to get people to talk about Jesus,” he said.

Berggren’s book also challenges the faithful to go into the world without getting lost in it.

“Yes we’re going to be different but let’s not make it any worse than it already is,” he said.

Berggren looks more like a roadie than a pastor. The former member of several Christian rock bands, he said “10 Things I Hate About Christianity” is the first thing he has written aside from lyrics. He hopes the book will teach the reader that there is no cookie-cutter model for being a Christian, but keeping Christ at the center is the key.

“Focus on the messenger,” he said. “Treat your relationship with God like any relationship you want to work.”

“Christians mess up, too. Just because someone is a jerk to you doesn’t mean they are not a Christian,” he said.