You Are Not Your Own

Belonging to God in an Inhuman World

By: Alan Noble

Narrated by: Adam Verner

"You are your own, and you belong to yourself."

This is the fundamental assumption of modern life. And if we are our own, then it's up to us to forge our own identities and to make our lives significant. But while that may sound empowering, it turns out to be a crushing responsibility - one that never actually delivers on its promise of a free and fulfilled life, but instead leaves us burned out, depressed, anxious, and alone. This phenomenon is mapped out onto the very structures of our society, and helps explain our society's underlying disorder.

But the Christian gospel offers a strikingly different vision. As the Heidelberg Catechism puts it, "I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ." In You Are Not Your Own, Alan Noble explores how this simple truth reframes the way we understand ourselves, our families, our society, and God. Contrasting these two visions of life, he invites us past the sickness of contemporary life into a better understanding of who we are and to whom we belong.

©2021 Alan Noble (P)2021 eChristian

Highly relevant, thoughtful book

Noble asks hard questions and avoids easy answers. I made so many connections with other ideas while reading this, and the book is definitely talking to books like Abolition of Man and the works of Charlotte Mason. This connects with so many seemingly disparate ideas, while avoiding any unnecessary tangents and being laser focused on the subtitle - belonging to God on an inhuman world.

Deep but necessary

Noble’s book is dense and deep and requires astute attention as he lays the formidable groundwork for his thesis. At times I wondered at the direction in which he seemed to be going, but the last chapters revealed his thoughts and intentions. I am still thinking about those chapters and wondering how to apply their work to my own life. This book is not for the faint-hearted reader, but it is rewarding in its completion.

Great book - audiobook reader is ok

A great meditation on how we navigate our sense of who we are in the cultural moment and clear message delivery of the hope Christians have in Jesus Christ.

Insights about Humane Living

Noble helps us wisely consider the unhealthy individualism that has captivated our hearts, minds, and societal relationships. Likewise, he shows the deep and wide goodness of the gospel for engaging in truly humane living.

Thought provoking

This book really made me look inward. Lots of things to think about. It was well written and the narrator did a really good job keeping my attention.

Not the book we want, but the one we need right now

My goodness.

This book is is like chemotherapy. Devastating, painful, all encompassing… bringing death to the cancer of the self and bringing hope that new life after this death is possible.

Alan is careful in his descriptions and diagnosis of the modern self. No one is safe. But he has the heart of one who has lived as though he was his own and has given himself to Jesus. He wants what is best for his readers. He paints a picture of a new way, a gospel way of union with the one who can calm restless hearts and offer humility, or belonging to God, as a gift not a burden. It’s such a rich read. I highly recommend.

Godsend from the Godsent

The impossible becomes possible when you live in Christ. Thank you to the godsent group of women I met on June 25th at Coolidge Park in Chattanooga, TN while you were worshiping Jesus that afternoon. You recommended this book to me and it was the exact thing God had planned for me to hear in the greatness of his story. Thank you to the writer, narrator and team. I will chew on this many more times in print as well as audio. For the Kingdom 🙏🏼

A lot like the little book, Ecclesiastes

A lot like the little book, Ecclesiastes, in the Old Testament - Alan Noble explores the futility of living as if we are our own. He concludes, as did Solomon, we must live for God. We are His, not our own.

Boring, redundant, verbose, long-winded, repetitive, unnecessary. . . . .

You Are Not Your Own by Dr. Alan Noble is an exposition of the answer to the first question of The Heidelberg Catechism .

The Heidelberg Catechism
Q. 1:
What is your only comfort 
in life and in death?

A. :
That I am not my own,
but belong—
body and soul,
in life and in death-
to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ…

A most wonderful & applicable, confessional statement of truth.
Dr. Noble makes every attempt to encourage his reader to apply it .
Unlike The Catechism, (translated into English 400 years ago) he writes in ‘modern’ language; using the perverted, twisted terminology & philosophy of 21st Century America.
Language & choice of words effects our thought. The simplicity & veracity of the biblical reality is weakened by trying to state it in modern language; & the truth gets lost in the excessive verbiage.

Boring, verbose, redundant, long winded, too much projecting of his personal weaknesses, repetitively telling the reader what the author has failed to see; he goes on & on, detailing every insight that he has missed;

The first four chapters are boring; hoping the he will get to the point; he doesn’t, but he does admit that he might seem repetitive…

The Heidelberg Catechism , in simple language, clearly states biblical truth.
Read it; read the scripture references; read the scriptures.

The Heidelberg Catechism
Q & A 1
Q. What is your only comfort
in life and in death?
A. That I am not my own,1
but belong—
body and soul,
in life and in death—2
to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.3
He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,4
and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.5
He also watches over me in such a way6
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven;7
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.8
Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
assures me of eternal life9
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him.10
1 1 Cor. 6:19-20

2 Rom. 14:7-9

3 1 Cor. 3:23; Titus 2:14

4 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7-9; 2:2

5 John 8:34-36; Heb. 2:14-15; 1 John 3:1-11

6 John 6:39-40; 10:27-30; 2 Thess. 3:3; 1 Pet. 1:5

7 Matt. 10:29-31; Luke 21:16-18

8 Rom. 8:28

9 Rom. 8:15-16; 2 Cor. 1:21-22; 5:5; Eph. 1:13-14

10 Rom. 8:1-17