Barry's Reviews > Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better

Hansen writes in a light and humorous style but he delivers an important and serious message. He argues here that Christ calls us to radical forgiveness. Forgiveness that is so total that we should be unoffendable. Like Jesus is. In the gospels, Jesus is never shocked or disgusted by the sinners he encounters—which is everyone. He always accepts them and forgives them. After the resurrection, when he encounters the disciples who had so recently abandoned him, he doesn’t chew them out or make them feel guilty. Instead, he makes them breakfast.

Perhaps controversially, Hansen contends that we need to let go of our anger. Some have taught that it’s appropriate for Christians to harbor a “righteous anger” against sin, pointing to scripture describing God’s anger, or Jesus casting the moneychangers out of the temple. Hansen claims that there are zero verses that tell us we should be angry, but many that list anger amongst other sins to be avoided. Of course it is appropriate for God to feel righteous anger because He is actually righteous. He has never been wrong. And only God is a perfect judge of the motives of others, while we are in no position to judge others. Thus we should not be angry when others sin against us because we are also sinners who have been forgiven. And we are therefore called to forgive, just as we have been forgiven.

Naturally, Hansen’s presentation is much more pithy and entertaining than my dry and serious encapsulation.
Overall, highly recommended.