This is a daily devotional book that is bigger, better, longer, and superior to ALL other devotionals I've ever read before. Most devotionals are 365 devotions/pages long, but this one covers nearly 400 days/topics. Most devotionals give you one verse or a half a verse at the top of the page, but this book has gives you the first half of the page filled with verses! It is not just one bible verse like most devotionals - it is a large chunk of scripture - like an entire story or parable etc. It is 5-15 verses long! Most devotionals are a bit shallow and feel-good. This devotional has the interpretation but includes historical facts that even the smartest most knowledgable Christian will not know! I am so proud of this author for including more than just fluff in this book. There is something new for everyone! There is no way that you won't learn many new and interesting facts from "behind the scenes" or from the Jewish culture that you were not aware of before reading this book.
So I highly recommend this devotional - it beats all others, in my opinion!
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
Recommend: Job 38-42 (Word Biblical Commentary 18B) by Clines
Job 38-42 (Word Biblical Commentary 18B) by Clines is a hardcover SUPER in-depth commentary and analysis of Job 38-42. Job 38-42 is the kind of book that philosophy students, bible students, pastors and very serious Christians eat up. Most readers will probably be very bord by this book or the book will be WAY over their heads. If you do want to give it a shot, focus on the commentary on pages 1088-1140. I recommend this book for the very studious intellectual types.
On four pages, Clines gives readers his own personal English translation of the Hebrew scriptures for Job 38-42. His interpretation of these verses is similar to present day bibles, but more refinded/clearer in some areas than KJV, NASB and NIV translations.
The next section of the book is titled "Notes" and it is the SUPER detailed translation process of each section of each verse - Cline breaks each verse apart in high detail. Cline even tells us why he chose different words in his translation and why the word chosen by other Bible translations really is as accurate. I really enjoyed this analysis. Example: In Job 38:1, Cline explains that "whirlwind" in the KJV or RSV is more properly considered a tornado. So Cline chooses "tempest" or "storm" (NASB, NIV, GNB) and explains that this translation is more accurate based on context and the Hebrew words used.
The Comment part of the book was my favorite. It is the in-depth detailed bible commentary on Job 38-42. My favorite parts were when Cline goes into God's tone of voice - severe or courteous. And also when Cline explains his thoughts about God declaring the world is exactly as God wants it. Everything is in the proper order and nothing is outside of God's control. I think this part of the book is the most interesting, as the author does explore how God doesn't really answer Job's accusations but instead forces Job on the defensive. This definitely makes for an interesting read!
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
On four pages, Clines gives readers his own personal English translation of the Hebrew scriptures for Job 38-42. His interpretation of these verses is similar to present day bibles, but more refinded/clearer in some areas than KJV, NASB and NIV translations.
The next section of the book is titled "Notes" and it is the SUPER detailed translation process of each section of each verse - Cline breaks each verse apart in high detail. Cline even tells us why he chose different words in his translation and why the word chosen by other Bible translations really is as accurate. I really enjoyed this analysis. Example: In Job 38:1, Cline explains that "whirlwind" in the KJV or RSV is more properly considered a tornado. So Cline chooses "tempest" or "storm" (NASB, NIV, GNB) and explains that this translation is more accurate based on context and the Hebrew words used.
The Comment part of the book was my favorite. It is the in-depth detailed bible commentary on Job 38-42. My favorite parts were when Cline goes into God's tone of voice - severe or courteous. And also when Cline explains his thoughts about God declaring the world is exactly as God wants it. Everything is in the proper order and nothing is outside of God's control. I think this part of the book is the most interesting, as the author does explore how God doesn't really answer Job's accusations but instead forces Job on the defensive. This definitely makes for an interesting read!
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
Highly Recommend: Why Men Hate Going to Church by David Murrow
Why Men Hate Going to Church by David Murrow explains why church does not appeal to nearly all men. The main answer lies in the fact that church appeals and teaches feminine character trains over masculine traits. These feminine traits appeal to women, weak and meek men, less-macho men, and older men and women, like grandparents.
Churches that emphasize the Lamb side of Jesus Christ, tend to lean towards feminine characteristics. The characteristics of the Lamb are kind, meek, and considered feminine by most people. The more liberal the church, the more feminine the characteristics being taught among members. Christians that emphasize the Lion in Jesus Christ tend to attract the 18-35 crowd, men, younger women, and the macho or rebelliousness in people. Some of these churches are criticized for being "too strong", "too angry", or for "fire and brimstone" teachings.
I think this book is FANTASTIC!!! I think it is a must read for all Christians, especially preachers/pastors. This book is also accurate. I am a female in the 18-35 and this is the exact reason I have never been a church-goer. I do NOT believe in the system. I do not believe in the watered-down gospel. I don't agree with the wimpiness in church systems. Or all the gossip and judgmentalness. These feminine characteristics and also excessive masculine characteristics are both unppealing. Until churches wake up and realize they are reaching the people they are designed to reach (by their outdated, watered-down teachings), Christian churches will continue to appeal to mostly women and older women. MUST READ BOOK.
Fantastic update to this book. Murrow explains the updates to this book are make this second release more valuable than the first.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
Churches that emphasize the Lamb side of Jesus Christ, tend to lean towards feminine characteristics. The characteristics of the Lamb are kind, meek, and considered feminine by most people. The more liberal the church, the more feminine the characteristics being taught among members. Christians that emphasize the Lion in Jesus Christ tend to attract the 18-35 crowd, men, younger women, and the macho or rebelliousness in people. Some of these churches are criticized for being "too strong", "too angry", or for "fire and brimstone" teachings.
I think this book is FANTASTIC!!! I think it is a must read for all Christians, especially preachers/pastors. This book is also accurate. I am a female in the 18-35 and this is the exact reason I have never been a church-goer. I do NOT believe in the system. I do not believe in the watered-down gospel. I don't agree with the wimpiness in church systems. Or all the gossip and judgmentalness. These feminine characteristics and also excessive masculine characteristics are both unppealing. Until churches wake up and realize they are reaching the people they are designed to reach (by their outdated, watered-down teachings), Christian churches will continue to appeal to mostly women and older women. MUST READ BOOK.
Fantastic update to this book. Murrow explains the updates to this book are make this second release more valuable than the first.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
Not Recommended: Going Deep by Gordon MacDonald
Going Deep is a fictional story that uses real life preacher Gordon MacDonald and his wife in a story of fellowship and church growth. The two come to the realization that their church should be filled with deep people and set out to create a program to train deep people. After setting up their program, they take several years to impliment the program and grow depth within a number of select individuals.
The idea is great - a church of deep people will glorify God by their Christlikeness more than a church of shallow people who don't know much about their beliefs and don't live fully committed lives that produce spiritual fruit: joy, kindness, faithfulness, patience, etc. This idea probably would have made a good "how-to" instructional non-fiction book. I think the fiction format could have worked if the story had been well-thought and more realistic.
When I pick up a book about "deep people", I expect to find something deep within its pages. Instead of giving readers an "Ah-ha" moment, this book is dragged across 400 pages in a painful diary format: Pastor woke up, ate breakfast, talked to Joe, went home, ate dinner. Next day, pastor called Pete, went home, talked to wife. The book drags on like this and by the time you are 50% through the book, they still haven't even decided how to impliment the learning program. The last part of the book is rushed through 2 years of "implimenting the program" by skipping weeks at a time between meetings. Prayer is described as "a one sentence "I'm thankful for..."." When there is a cultivating depth meeting, it's all that unrealistic corny dialogue that Christian books and movies are notorious for and there is no depth to the meetings or dialogue.
Example of rushing through growth meetings without any details: "AS THE WEEK SPASSED [Yes, that's an error in Kindle ebook], WE STUDIED THE LIVES OF OTHER biblical heroes...AFTER WE’D FINISHED STUDYING TEMPERAMENT, THE GROUP began studying the so-called spiritual disciplines. Gail and I outlined some of the ways the Bible called people to a life of devotion... We spent time talking about how to read various parts of the Bible and internalize what we were reading. We even looked at the structure of the Bible, its division into Older and New Testaments. One night we reviewed the sections of the New Testament and talked about the purpose of each of the small letters that Paul and the other apostles had written. Then there was the subject of meditation, or reflection, something more easily understood by the introverts and harder for the extroverts."
After completing the book, (without any disrespect towards the author) I must wonder if Gordon MacDonald took the time to sit down and actually think about what a real life successful program would look like. If he did, all those details that would create a successful program in real life, are left out of this book. This book has the feel of the author coming up with a good idea, not wanting to put much thought into how the idea would be carried out in real life, and just banging out a warm fuzzy fictional story, while he left out all the "deep" details.
I would not recommend spending your precious time reading this book. If you are looking for any good ideas on becoming deeper, you won't find it here. This isn't a bad book, but it isn't especially good either - long, drawn out, boring, slow to accomplish anything. By the end, I'm left going "that could have been so much better."
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
The idea is great - a church of deep people will glorify God by their Christlikeness more than a church of shallow people who don't know much about their beliefs and don't live fully committed lives that produce spiritual fruit: joy, kindness, faithfulness, patience, etc. This idea probably would have made a good "how-to" instructional non-fiction book. I think the fiction format could have worked if the story had been well-thought and more realistic.
When I pick up a book about "deep people", I expect to find something deep within its pages. Instead of giving readers an "Ah-ha" moment, this book is dragged across 400 pages in a painful diary format: Pastor woke up, ate breakfast, talked to Joe, went home, ate dinner. Next day, pastor called Pete, went home, talked to wife. The book drags on like this and by the time you are 50% through the book, they still haven't even decided how to impliment the learning program. The last part of the book is rushed through 2 years of "implimenting the program" by skipping weeks at a time between meetings. Prayer is described as "a one sentence "I'm thankful for..."." When there is a cultivating depth meeting, it's all that unrealistic corny dialogue that Christian books and movies are notorious for and there is no depth to the meetings or dialogue.
Example of rushing through growth meetings without any details: "AS THE WEEK SPASSED [Yes, that's an error in Kindle ebook], WE STUDIED THE LIVES OF OTHER biblical heroes...AFTER WE’D FINISHED STUDYING TEMPERAMENT, THE GROUP began studying the so-called spiritual disciplines. Gail and I outlined some of the ways the Bible called people to a life of devotion... We spent time talking about how to read various parts of the Bible and internalize what we were reading. We even looked at the structure of the Bible, its division into Older and New Testaments. One night we reviewed the sections of the New Testament and talked about the purpose of each of the small letters that Paul and the other apostles had written. Then there was the subject of meditation, or reflection, something more easily understood by the introverts and harder for the extroverts."
After completing the book, (without any disrespect towards the author) I must wonder if Gordon MacDonald took the time to sit down and actually think about what a real life successful program would look like. If he did, all those details that would create a successful program in real life, are left out of this book. This book has the feel of the author coming up with a good idea, not wanting to put much thought into how the idea would be carried out in real life, and just banging out a warm fuzzy fictional story, while he left out all the "deep" details.
I would not recommend spending your precious time reading this book. If you are looking for any good ideas on becoming deeper, you won't find it here. This isn't a bad book, but it isn't especially good either - long, drawn out, boring, slow to accomplish anything. By the end, I'm left going "that could have been so much better."
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
Not Recommend: Heaven Is For Real by Todd Burpo
This book is written by Penecostal preacher Todd Burpo. He re-tells and describes his own son's journey to heaven in a near-death-experience. I would give this book 0 stars because this book doesn't come close to matching the true heaven in the Bible. Read these quotes from the book itself and decide for yourself if this matches the version of heaven from the Bible.
- Angels sang to Colton: “angels sang to me” “Well, they sang ‘Jesus Loves Me’ and ‘Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho,’” he said earnestly. “I asked them to sing ‘We Will, We Will Rock You,’ but they wouldn’t sing that.”
- Angels look like: “one of them looked like Grandpa Dennis, but it wasn’t him, ’cause Grandpa Dennis has glasses.
- “I was sitting in Jesus’ lap.”
- [Man who died] “He had to have Jesus in his heart! He had to know Jesus or he can’t get into heaven!”
- “Did you know that Jesus has a cousin? Jesus told me his cousin baptized him.”
- “Hey, Dad, did you know Jesus has a horse?” “A horse?” “Yeah, a rainbow horse. I got to pet him.”
- “What did Jesus look like?” “he has brown hair and he has hair on his face,” he said, running his tiny palm around on his chin. I guessed that he didn’t yet know the word beard. “And his eyes . . . oh, Dad, his eyes are so pretty!” “What about his clothes?” “His clothes were white, but it was purple from here to here.” Another word he didn’t know: sash. “Jesus was the only one in heaven who had purple on, Dad. Did you know that?” In Scripture, purple is the color of kings.
- “And he had this gold thing on his head . . . a crown, and it had this . . . this diamond thing in the middle of it and it was kind of pink.”
- “Colton, where are Jesus’ markers?” Without hesitation, he stood to his feet. He held out his right hand, palm up and pointed to the center of it with his left. Then he held out his left palm and pointed with his right hand. Finally, Colton bent over and pointed to the tops of both his feet. “That’s where Jesus’ markers are, Daddy,” he said.
- “What do people look like in heaven?” “Everybody’s got wings, but mine weren’t very big.”
- “Okay . . . did you walk places or did you fly?” “We flew. Well, all except for Jesus. He was the only one in heaven who didn’t have wings. Jesus just went up and down like an elevator.” The book of Acts flashed into my head, the scene of Jesus’ ascension, when Jesus told the disciples that they would be his witnesses, that they would tell people all over the world about him. After he said this, the Scripture says, Jesus “was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.’”1 Jesus went up. And will come down. Without wings. To a kid, that could look like an elevator.
- “Everyone kind of looks like angels in heaven, Dad. All the people have a light above their head.” I couldn’t remember angels having lights over their heads specifically—or halos, as some would call them—but I also knew that Colton’s experience of angels in storybooks and Scripture did not include lights over angels’ heads. And he didn’t even know the word halo.
- “Well, what did God’s throne look like?” “It was big, Dad . . . really, really big, because God is the biggest one there is.”
- “And do you know that Jesus sits right next to God?” Colton went on excitedly. “Jesus’ chair is right next to his Dad’s!” “Colton, which side of God’s throne was Jesus sitting on?” I asked. Colton climbed up on the bed and faced me on his knees. “Well, pretend like you’re in God’s throne. Jesus sat right there,” he said, pointing to my right side.
- “Well, who sits on the other side of God’s throne?” I said. “Oh, that’s easy, Dad. That’s where the angel Gabriel is. He’s really nice.” Gabriel. That makes sense. I remembered the story of John the Baptist and the moment when Gabriel arrived to deliver the news of John the Baptist’s coming birth. The angel told Zechariah, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.”
- He saw the gates of heaven, he said: “They were made of gold and there were pearls on them.” The heavenly city itself was made of something shiny, “like gold or silver.”
- The flowers and trees in heaven were “beautiful,” and there were animals of every kind.
- “What does God look like?” I said. “God the Holy Spirit?” Colton furrowed his brow. “Hmm, that’s kind of a hard one . . . he’s kind of blue.”
- “Jesus shoots down power for Daddy when he’s talking.” Sonja shifted on the bed so that she could look directly into Colton’s eyes. “Okay . . . when? Like when Daddy talks at church?” Colton nodded. “Yeah, at church. When he’s telling Bible stories to people.”
- The book claims Colton met his sister in heaven and she was old enough to give him a hug and talk to him. But in real life, Sonja had a miscarriage and they never knew if the baby was a boy or girl. So the claim is the miscarried baby is now approximately 4-7 years old.
- The book claims Colton met his grandfather but the grandfather was not old. He was in the prime of his life. Colton says "No one is old in heaven."
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
- Angels sang to Colton: “angels sang to me” “Well, they sang ‘Jesus Loves Me’ and ‘Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho,’” he said earnestly. “I asked them to sing ‘We Will, We Will Rock You,’ but they wouldn’t sing that.”
- Angels look like: “one of them looked like Grandpa Dennis, but it wasn’t him, ’cause Grandpa Dennis has glasses.
- “I was sitting in Jesus’ lap.”
- [Man who died] “He had to have Jesus in his heart! He had to know Jesus or he can’t get into heaven!”
- “Did you know that Jesus has a cousin? Jesus told me his cousin baptized him.”
- “Hey, Dad, did you know Jesus has a horse?” “A horse?” “Yeah, a rainbow horse. I got to pet him.”
- “What did Jesus look like?” “he has brown hair and he has hair on his face,” he said, running his tiny palm around on his chin. I guessed that he didn’t yet know the word beard. “And his eyes . . . oh, Dad, his eyes are so pretty!” “What about his clothes?” “His clothes were white, but it was purple from here to here.” Another word he didn’t know: sash. “Jesus was the only one in heaven who had purple on, Dad. Did you know that?” In Scripture, purple is the color of kings.
- “And he had this gold thing on his head . . . a crown, and it had this . . . this diamond thing in the middle of it and it was kind of pink.”
- “Colton, where are Jesus’ markers?” Without hesitation, he stood to his feet. He held out his right hand, palm up and pointed to the center of it with his left. Then he held out his left palm and pointed with his right hand. Finally, Colton bent over and pointed to the tops of both his feet. “That’s where Jesus’ markers are, Daddy,” he said.
- “What do people look like in heaven?” “Everybody’s got wings, but mine weren’t very big.”
- “Okay . . . did you walk places or did you fly?” “We flew. Well, all except for Jesus. He was the only one in heaven who didn’t have wings. Jesus just went up and down like an elevator.” The book of Acts flashed into my head, the scene of Jesus’ ascension, when Jesus told the disciples that they would be his witnesses, that they would tell people all over the world about him. After he said this, the Scripture says, Jesus “was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.’”1 Jesus went up. And will come down. Without wings. To a kid, that could look like an elevator.
- “Everyone kind of looks like angels in heaven, Dad. All the people have a light above their head.” I couldn’t remember angels having lights over their heads specifically—or halos, as some would call them—but I also knew that Colton’s experience of angels in storybooks and Scripture did not include lights over angels’ heads. And he didn’t even know the word halo.
- “Well, what did God’s throne look like?” “It was big, Dad . . . really, really big, because God is the biggest one there is.”
- “And do you know that Jesus sits right next to God?” Colton went on excitedly. “Jesus’ chair is right next to his Dad’s!” “Colton, which side of God’s throne was Jesus sitting on?” I asked. Colton climbed up on the bed and faced me on his knees. “Well, pretend like you’re in God’s throne. Jesus sat right there,” he said, pointing to my right side.
- “Well, who sits on the other side of God’s throne?” I said. “Oh, that’s easy, Dad. That’s where the angel Gabriel is. He’s really nice.” Gabriel. That makes sense. I remembered the story of John the Baptist and the moment when Gabriel arrived to deliver the news of John the Baptist’s coming birth. The angel told Zechariah, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.”
- He saw the gates of heaven, he said: “They were made of gold and there were pearls on them.” The heavenly city itself was made of something shiny, “like gold or silver.”
- The flowers and trees in heaven were “beautiful,” and there were animals of every kind.
- “What does God look like?” I said. “God the Holy Spirit?” Colton furrowed his brow. “Hmm, that’s kind of a hard one . . . he’s kind of blue.”
- “Jesus shoots down power for Daddy when he’s talking.” Sonja shifted on the bed so that she could look directly into Colton’s eyes. “Okay . . . when? Like when Daddy talks at church?” Colton nodded. “Yeah, at church. When he’s telling Bible stories to people.”
- The book claims Colton met his sister in heaven and she was old enough to give him a hug and talk to him. But in real life, Sonja had a miscarriage and they never knew if the baby was a boy or girl. So the claim is the miscarried baby is now approximately 4-7 years old.
- The book claims Colton met his grandfather but the grandfather was not old. He was in the prime of his life. Colton says "No one is old in heaven."
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
Not Recommended: The Book of Man by William J Bennett
This book is supposed to be about "What it means to be a man" by giving examples of men for our boys to look up to as heroes. The author gives us about 500 different stories of men from ancient history to modern day politicians, athletes, celebrities, etc. He says, these men present an ideal of manhood. He tells us that our boys should follow these examples of "real men" and learn how they should live and the things to which our boys should aspire. The author lists these men as examples worth emulating - as heroes to be honored by our boys. I was SICK and DISGUSTED when I read the list of men William Bennet holds up as heroes. What is Bennett's standard for picking these men as heroes? "Every community, even Sodom and Gomorrah, has one individual in it who might be identified as worth admiring." No wonder this author picked non-Christians and unethical men to represent the "heroes" in this book. This is the LAST book anyone should hold up as an example for their sons.
Bennett's heroes include Shakespeare, Colin Powell, Alexander the Great, Winston Churchill, Navy Seal Creed, William the Conqueror, Ronald Regan, Plato, Homer, Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, Thomas Carlyle, "Pistol" Pete Maravich, A.G. Spalding, Leo Tolstoy, Buster Douglas, Davy Crockett, Aristotle, John Locke, John F. Kennedy, Charles Dickens, Robert Morris (current day pentecostal megachurch pastor), Abraham Lincoln, Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, George Washington, and more.
I found much of what the author had to say as mindless ramblings, lacking logic and any conclusive purpose. Example: The author starts the introduction by giving us a statistic: "In 1954, 90% of American men worked. Today, that number is 80%". Instead of considering the many possibilities for this decline, such as unemployment, immigration, retirement, and other factors; the author immediately jumps to the conclusion this decline is due to laziness and men leaching off the government. While laziness is certainly a factor, the author doesn't even consider that it might not be the only factor. He portrays this as a direct correlation.
Next, Bennett takes an even bigger leap - "In 1970, 80% of men 25-29 were marriaged, but in 2007, only 40%". He immediately blames what he calls a decline in marriage on the fact that there are too many aimless men! When we all know that men and women are getting married later and later in life these days due to educational and career-oriented goals! This author is SOOOO far off base, it's ridiculous! I feel like this author misses the point time after time.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
Bennett's heroes include Shakespeare, Colin Powell, Alexander the Great, Winston Churchill, Navy Seal Creed, William the Conqueror, Ronald Regan, Plato, Homer, Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, Thomas Carlyle, "Pistol" Pete Maravich, A.G. Spalding, Leo Tolstoy, Buster Douglas, Davy Crockett, Aristotle, John Locke, John F. Kennedy, Charles Dickens, Robert Morris (current day pentecostal megachurch pastor), Abraham Lincoln, Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, George Washington, and more.
I found much of what the author had to say as mindless ramblings, lacking logic and any conclusive purpose. Example: The author starts the introduction by giving us a statistic: "In 1954, 90% of American men worked. Today, that number is 80%". Instead of considering the many possibilities for this decline, such as unemployment, immigration, retirement, and other factors; the author immediately jumps to the conclusion this decline is due to laziness and men leaching off the government. While laziness is certainly a factor, the author doesn't even consider that it might not be the only factor. He portrays this as a direct correlation.
Next, Bennett takes an even bigger leap - "In 1970, 80% of men 25-29 were marriaged, but in 2007, only 40%". He immediately blames what he calls a decline in marriage on the fact that there are too many aimless men! When we all know that men and women are getting married later and later in life these days due to educational and career-oriented goals! This author is SOOOO far off base, it's ridiculous! I feel like this author misses the point time after time.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
Highly Recommend: Radical Together
David Platt's Radical together is about living the Christian life and putting your faith before the world's culture. In a day and age where we are all pursuing the American Dream, Platt urges readers to return to Christ and put Jesus back into the place of most important in our lives. Platt outlines 6 ways we can live in obedience and serve God - creating radical amazing lives.
I found this book an easy read and very inspirational. It was deep enough to get me thinking but not too difficult to understand. I think the great part about this book is that it is motivating and makes you excited to be a Christian again. For me, this book returned me to the days of me youth when I wanted to run out there and be a missionary and live for God!
Platt follows in line with some of my other favorite authors (like Francis Chan, Frank Viola): calling Christians back to being REAL Christians and living the life and not a shallow Christianity. This is the Christianity that the 18-35ers have been seeking and missing in mainstream church! This is the reason we all left the churches. We couldn't find others who really wanted to LIVE Christianity. I highly recommend this book.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
I found this book an easy read and very inspirational. It was deep enough to get me thinking but not too difficult to understand. I think the great part about this book is that it is motivating and makes you excited to be a Christian again. For me, this book returned me to the days of me youth when I wanted to run out there and be a missionary and live for God!
Platt follows in line with some of my other favorite authors (like Francis Chan, Frank Viola): calling Christians back to being REAL Christians and living the life and not a shallow Christianity. This is the Christianity that the 18-35ers have been seeking and missing in mainstream church! This is the reason we all left the churches. We couldn't find others who really wanted to LIVE Christianity. I highly recommend this book.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
Not Recommended: Absolute Love by By R. I. Willroth
We all want to be loved and be loving people. This book is about what love is. Is it that human love inside of us or is it something more? This book teaches the general Christian believe that GOD IS LOVE. Love is GOD.
I was very excited to be reading another book on love, except instead of a psychology book, this one was a Christian perspective. Problem is, this book is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO painful to read, I barely (and I really mean barely) got through it. I had to force myself. My eyes went buggy and my brain died and I had to re-read many sentences and some paragraphs over. The book is boring, drags on, is redundant and is written in a PHD language. Yikes... God should be simple, not clinical or in-comprehendable! This book is terrible in that it is very difficult to comprehend. Given, I am only a Straight-A Bachelor's degree student, this book is very difficult for a lay person to read! Ugh... unpleasant to the max.
I got this ebook on 09/16/11 and it I didn't finish it until 10/01/11. And normally, I go through 3-4 books a week. Even though the subject of love is interesting, this book certainly was not.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
I was very excited to be reading another book on love, except instead of a psychology book, this one was a Christian perspective. Problem is, this book is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO painful to read, I barely (and I really mean barely) got through it. I had to force myself. My eyes went buggy and my brain died and I had to re-read many sentences and some paragraphs over. The book is boring, drags on, is redundant and is written in a PHD language. Yikes... God should be simple, not clinical or in-comprehendable! This book is terrible in that it is very difficult to comprehend. Given, I am only a Straight-A Bachelor's degree student, this book is very difficult for a lay person to read! Ugh... unpleasant to the max.
I got this ebook on 09/16/11 and it I didn't finish it until 10/01/11. And normally, I go through 3-4 books a week. Even though the subject of love is interesting, this book certainly was not.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
Recommend: More Lost Than Found by Jared Herd
The author writes about finding your way to God even if it is outside of organized religion and the church. He talks about how the youth of today aren't or shouldn't write off Jesus just because they write off the church. He explains that the church is NOT Jesus, so throwing out a bad church, shouldn't also equal throwing out Jesus.
The author also focuses on how church expects too much instant perfection from Christians and how new believers should be accepted with their sins and allowed to slowly shed those sins, instead of instantly stop living in sin. His example is a girl who sleeps around. He tells us maybe she should be allowed to continue to sleep around, as long as she works on some aspect of her life and make that part better. As long as she wants to change something, she should be accepted. She can always work on the sleeping around someday in the future, when she's ready to give that up.
I don't know his views but the author almost sounds like a Universalist or at least someone who really wants to make it as easy as possible for others to become Christians. He tries to tell the reader, it's okay to be disillusioned by church, just keep Jesus! Your angry feelings are okay. Your sins are okay. You can still love Jesus and Jesus will still love you.
The author spends a lot of time explaining that church WITHOUT culture doesn't seem to work and how church/Christian life needs to incorportate culture, not seperate from it. In other words, he seems to imply Christian music, Christian school, Christian books etc are put together to form a seperate Christian only society and when Christians try to come back into real life jobs/society, they are lost. They have seperated themselves from reality and now are unable to cope with an Unchristian culture. He also explains that Christians who seperate from non-Christian culture, lose appreciation for culture. He spends time telling us the value of culture and what it says about how we are raising our families. Culture and its elements (such as rap music) reflects human happiness/unhappiness, dissatisfaction, anger, etc.
Excerpt from PROLOGUE: I vaguely remember finding Jesus when I was a child, but I vividly recall losing him. My family’s carefully pruned image was shattered when my [minister] father’s affair became public. I didn’t know what sins my father had committed, but I knew this church had robbed him of his ability to be happy or to be home long before the choir started whispering about his transgressions. I watched him die there in that church while he gave his life to others. I would go to church, and then I would reenter life [and culture, leaving my Christian beliefs behind]. Perhaps the violent rejection of [the Christian] message by those on the outside isn’t an issue with Jesus—it’s an issue with how the Savior has been translated for them. Engage with God in a genuine way, a way that is not divorced from everyday life.
I'm not sure what to make of this book. I enjoyed it and it is thought-provoking and certainly not "mainstream" Christianity. It is challenging those mainstream beliefs and mainstream Christian lifestyle. Sadly, this book also seemed very fragmented and skipped all over the place with different ideas. The book didn't seem to make a coherent story. Although it had some VERY good points, I felt lost by the end of it and like I had to re-read it to try to make sense of it. I never did get the "jist" of what he was trying to convey. Or maybe this book just doesn't make sense by the end. I like the book for the good points it has and how it make me think, but I would guess most people will give it 3-4 stars.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
The author also focuses on how church expects too much instant perfection from Christians and how new believers should be accepted with their sins and allowed to slowly shed those sins, instead of instantly stop living in sin. His example is a girl who sleeps around. He tells us maybe she should be allowed to continue to sleep around, as long as she works on some aspect of her life and make that part better. As long as she wants to change something, she should be accepted. She can always work on the sleeping around someday in the future, when she's ready to give that up.
I don't know his views but the author almost sounds like a Universalist or at least someone who really wants to make it as easy as possible for others to become Christians. He tries to tell the reader, it's okay to be disillusioned by church, just keep Jesus! Your angry feelings are okay. Your sins are okay. You can still love Jesus and Jesus will still love you.
The author spends a lot of time explaining that church WITHOUT culture doesn't seem to work and how church/Christian life needs to incorportate culture, not seperate from it. In other words, he seems to imply Christian music, Christian school, Christian books etc are put together to form a seperate Christian only society and when Christians try to come back into real life jobs/society, they are lost. They have seperated themselves from reality and now are unable to cope with an Unchristian culture. He also explains that Christians who seperate from non-Christian culture, lose appreciation for culture. He spends time telling us the value of culture and what it says about how we are raising our families. Culture and its elements (such as rap music) reflects human happiness/unhappiness, dissatisfaction, anger, etc.
Excerpt from PROLOGUE: I vaguely remember finding Jesus when I was a child, but I vividly recall losing him. My family’s carefully pruned image was shattered when my [minister] father’s affair became public. I didn’t know what sins my father had committed, but I knew this church had robbed him of his ability to be happy or to be home long before the choir started whispering about his transgressions. I watched him die there in that church while he gave his life to others. I would go to church, and then I would reenter life [and culture, leaving my Christian beliefs behind]. Perhaps the violent rejection of [the Christian] message by those on the outside isn’t an issue with Jesus—it’s an issue with how the Savior has been translated for them. Engage with God in a genuine way, a way that is not divorced from everyday life.
I'm not sure what to make of this book. I enjoyed it and it is thought-provoking and certainly not "mainstream" Christianity. It is challenging those mainstream beliefs and mainstream Christian lifestyle. Sadly, this book also seemed very fragmented and skipped all over the place with different ideas. The book didn't seem to make a coherent story. Although it had some VERY good points, I felt lost by the end of it and like I had to re-read it to try to make sense of it. I never did get the "jist" of what he was trying to convey. Or maybe this book just doesn't make sense by the end. I like the book for the good points it has and how it make me think, but I would guess most people will give it 3-4 stars.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
Recommend: Right From the Heart by Bryant Wright
Right from the Heart is a 365 day Christian devotional that comes in a small size 7inches tall by 5 inches wide. The book is a little more than one inch thick but the the font/print is not too small to read - maybe a 10 point font. Each page has one bible verse and a life application or story to go with it for each day of the year. It takes less than 5 minutes to read through the page and no daily devotional is longer than one page.
This devotional is perfect for giving me a glimpse of God each morning, right before I start my crazy day schedule. I love that it only take 5 minutes to sit down and get a little gem to carry with me throughout the day. This book is easy to read and not too complex/hard to understand.
The only other devotional I have read is Utmost for His Highest and I found this devotional much easier to read. At the same time, it wasn't as deep, but it still serves a very good purpose - it makes you feel good, without being really heavy reading. I would expect women and new Christians to especially enjoy this book. But men should go with Utmost for His Highest and so should intellectuals and those who enjoy theology. This book would probably be a little too basic/shallow for them. So I recommend this book for women who enjoy Christian fiction and devotional lovers. Serious thinkers and theologans will probably not find a lot here but light reading and happy feelings. :)
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
This devotional is perfect for giving me a glimpse of God each morning, right before I start my crazy day schedule. I love that it only take 5 minutes to sit down and get a little gem to carry with me throughout the day. This book is easy to read and not too complex/hard to understand.
The only other devotional I have read is Utmost for His Highest and I found this devotional much easier to read. At the same time, it wasn't as deep, but it still serves a very good purpose - it makes you feel good, without being really heavy reading. I would expect women and new Christians to especially enjoy this book. But men should go with Utmost for His Highest and so should intellectuals and those who enjoy theology. This book would probably be a little too basic/shallow for them. So I recommend this book for women who enjoy Christian fiction and devotional lovers. Serious thinkers and theologans will probably not find a lot here but light reading and happy feelings. :)
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
Slightly Recommended: The Next Christians by Gabe Lyons
When I learned this author was the same guy who wrote "unchristian" I was very excited to able to read his follow-up book. I was expecting a great book that demonstrated who the Christians of the future will be and also how the 18-35 crowd fits into the New Christianity.
The author explains how every 500 years, since Jesus, there has been a major shift in Christianity. 500AD was the fall of the Roman Empire and Constantinian Christianity. In 1000AD Roman Catholics and Orthodox split. In 1500AD, the Protestant Reformation occurred. Now at 2000AD, are we posed for a New Christianity? It seems likely, with the severe dis-interest in Christian churches by the next generation of 18-35ers.
This book falls flat and is slow, a bit boring, drags on, and never gives a good view of the future for Christianity. It's like the author had enough material for a short 5 page paper and he blew it into a book to make some dough. I was quite disappointed. This book goes into who the author thinks are the Next Christians. (Well, if he's right, I think, Christianity is in for more bad news, because I think this author misses the mark on this one). The author thinks the Next Christians are those who don't pull away from the world and live in a Christian-only world (like listening to Christian music only, no smoking, no tattoos, Christian-school, Christian-t-shirts) and don't lose themselves in the world as Cultural Christians (adopting the world's ways) but the New Christians are those who seek to restore the world to the beauty of the Garden of Eden and engage the world with beauty, grace and love. He defines the New Christian Restorers as having 6 characteristics: Being provoked, not offended; being creators, not critics; being called, not employed; being grounded, not distracted; being in community, not alone; being countercultural, not "relevant". I disagree with this author.
Being one of the 18-35, I feel like I understand very closely what my fellow 18-35ers are feeling and believing. I see Christianity moving away from organized religion and its human power struggles and corruption and towards a personal spiritual relationship with God. More and more Christians are ashamed of being called "Christian" and we are instead adopting the label "Spiritual" in preference because we can't stand to be associated with those judgmental hypocrites we meet at church. We are staying home and still very willing to be friends with and help our fellow non-Christians. I was disappointed with the author's conclusions and also that he wasted 6 boring chapters going into each of the 6 characteristics that he defines New Christians as holding. I believe the 18-35ers want to KNOW GOD above all else and want that spiritual relationship and everything else is just salad dressing. :)
I won't say the book was bad, because there is a place for this material, it's just not very inspiration or all THAT educational. I think most Christians could skip this book and do much better reading Skye Jethani's book "With" about living WITH God in a personal relationship, rather than living FOR God (achieving great deeds in God's name to give you self-importance). Also books by Frank Viola are very good for understanding why the new Christian generation cannot stand Christians. Also the book: "Why Men Hate Church" would be helpful for anyone interested in this subject matter.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
The author explains how every 500 years, since Jesus, there has been a major shift in Christianity. 500AD was the fall of the Roman Empire and Constantinian Christianity. In 1000AD Roman Catholics and Orthodox split. In 1500AD, the Protestant Reformation occurred. Now at 2000AD, are we posed for a New Christianity? It seems likely, with the severe dis-interest in Christian churches by the next generation of 18-35ers.
This book falls flat and is slow, a bit boring, drags on, and never gives a good view of the future for Christianity. It's like the author had enough material for a short 5 page paper and he blew it into a book to make some dough. I was quite disappointed. This book goes into who the author thinks are the Next Christians. (Well, if he's right, I think, Christianity is in for more bad news, because I think this author misses the mark on this one). The author thinks the Next Christians are those who don't pull away from the world and live in a Christian-only world (like listening to Christian music only, no smoking, no tattoos, Christian-school, Christian-t-shirts) and don't lose themselves in the world as Cultural Christians (adopting the world's ways) but the New Christians are those who seek to restore the world to the beauty of the Garden of Eden and engage the world with beauty, grace and love. He defines the New Christian Restorers as having 6 characteristics: Being provoked, not offended; being creators, not critics; being called, not employed; being grounded, not distracted; being in community, not alone; being countercultural, not "relevant". I disagree with this author.
Being one of the 18-35, I feel like I understand very closely what my fellow 18-35ers are feeling and believing. I see Christianity moving away from organized religion and its human power struggles and corruption and towards a personal spiritual relationship with God. More and more Christians are ashamed of being called "Christian" and we are instead adopting the label "Spiritual" in preference because we can't stand to be associated with those judgmental hypocrites we meet at church. We are staying home and still very willing to be friends with and help our fellow non-Christians. I was disappointed with the author's conclusions and also that he wasted 6 boring chapters going into each of the 6 characteristics that he defines New Christians as holding. I believe the 18-35ers want to KNOW GOD above all else and want that spiritual relationship and everything else is just salad dressing. :)
I won't say the book was bad, because there is a place for this material, it's just not very inspiration or all THAT educational. I think most Christians could skip this book and do much better reading Skye Jethani's book "With" about living WITH God in a personal relationship, rather than living FOR God (achieving great deeds in God's name to give you self-importance). Also books by Frank Viola are very good for understanding why the new Christian generation cannot stand Christians. Also the book: "Why Men Hate Church" would be helpful for anyone interested in this subject matter.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
Recommend: With by Skye Jethani
I barely got through reading this book. Normally, I'm a really fast reader and can bust through a book, but this book felt really dry and boring to me. There seemed to be a lot of repetition and the ideas weren't laid out in a nice neat order.
The material itself was quite enlightening and I feel like it was worth the read, but I wish so much someone would just sum this book up in a 2 page book report, rather than my having to spend days reading a dry book.
This book is about four different Christian worldviews: Life from God, life over God, live under God and life for God. Jethani explains each view in detail, dedicating a chapter and more to each of these worldviews. You end up seeing how you probably have a little bid of each of these worldviews in your life now or at least held these views previously. You can also see these views in all your family and friends and in other Christians. Jethani explains why none of these views is the view God wants us to hold. God wants us to life with God, not from him, for him, under him, or over him. If we can life life with God, this is where we will find Christian happiness and connect with God. It's the same idea that John Piper says "Make God himself your treasure" not the things you can get from God. Jethani explains how the 4 views are all ways of using God and getting things from God. But we are all guilty of using God. Using him to get to heaven, get blessings, etc. So this is a great book to give us understanding of ourselves so we can change our views and make sure not to use God but to love God for God Himself and enjoy life with God. I loved this idea that you get from the book. The knowledge part of the book was fantastic.
Unfortunately the writing wasn't so good. The author would touch on one four views, then move on to another, then come back to the first. He skipped all over and just his writing style is so boring. Maybe if this book was a short sermon or pamphlet, it would have been successful. But I think the author lost focus and drifted here and there and the book just dragged on. The first chapter was the worst most boring. I barely got through it. Once I saw the value in what I was reading, I was able to press on and get through it to gain the knowledge. But especially the beginning of this book was painfully written and certainly needed a lot of editing!
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
The material itself was quite enlightening and I feel like it was worth the read, but I wish so much someone would just sum this book up in a 2 page book report, rather than my having to spend days reading a dry book.
This book is about four different Christian worldviews: Life from God, life over God, live under God and life for God. Jethani explains each view in detail, dedicating a chapter and more to each of these worldviews. You end up seeing how you probably have a little bid of each of these worldviews in your life now or at least held these views previously. You can also see these views in all your family and friends and in other Christians. Jethani explains why none of these views is the view God wants us to hold. God wants us to life with God, not from him, for him, under him, or over him. If we can life life with God, this is where we will find Christian happiness and connect with God. It's the same idea that John Piper says "Make God himself your treasure" not the things you can get from God. Jethani explains how the 4 views are all ways of using God and getting things from God. But we are all guilty of using God. Using him to get to heaven, get blessings, etc. So this is a great book to give us understanding of ourselves so we can change our views and make sure not to use God but to love God for God Himself and enjoy life with God. I loved this idea that you get from the book. The knowledge part of the book was fantastic.
Unfortunately the writing wasn't so good. The author would touch on one four views, then move on to another, then come back to the first. He skipped all over and just his writing style is so boring. Maybe if this book was a short sermon or pamphlet, it would have been successful. But I think the author lost focus and drifted here and there and the book just dragged on. The first chapter was the worst most boring. I barely got through it. Once I saw the value in what I was reading, I was able to press on and get through it to gain the knowledge. But especially the beginning of this book was painfully written and certainly needed a lot of editing!
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
Turn To God With Your Problems
A dear friend of mine has been struggling a lot with life problems. He keeps trying to fix everything his own way. I've been encouraging him to turn to God because I know God is the only one who can fix it all. So please, let me also encourage you, my fellow believers, take your problems to God. Rely on Him and He will carry you. :)
God bless!
God bless!
Highly Recommend: The God I Never Knew by Robert Morris
Not knowing anything about this author, I picked up this book and began to read. It was great right from the start! It was about how everyone knows God and Jesus but forgets the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit IS the part of God and Jesus that you and I CAN KNOW, can talk to, can pray for us, can help us. The Holy Spirit is the part of the trinity that can be CLOSEST TO US. I was so excited to be reading about a book encouraging me to work on building my friendship with the Holy Spirit. I had never really heard much emphasis on the Holy Spirit, yet as this book points out, the Holy Spirit is God WITH US NOW. God is in heaven. Jesus is on his right hand. But the Holy Spirit is WITH US NOW!
The author goes into how the Holy Spirit can help us know what to say in difficult or uncomfortable times and also warn us not to say certain inappropriate things at times. The H.S. guides us through life and tells us to talk to so-and-so or take that job or go to that college or help that person or avoid that house, etc. The Holy Spirit is a super natural spirit guide. How can we know the WILL OF GOD? Through the Holy Spirit.
Many Christians never fully let the H.S. into their lives. They might let one foot in, but that's it. When we keep control of our lives, we struggle with sins and make poor life choices. If we were t0 let the H.S. into our lives, we could become so much more as Christians. We are always praying for God to be in our lives and help us, but we don't let God/the Holy Spirit truly into our lives to make these changes.
TONGUES: Author correctly interprets "tongues" as "languages". He explains the Greeks heard those speaking tongues as speaking Greek. Those who were from Crete, heard THE SAME PEOPLE speaking Cretan. (pg 72) "On the day of Pentecost, God removed language as a barrier from knowing Him."
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
The author goes into how the Holy Spirit can help us know what to say in difficult or uncomfortable times and also warn us not to say certain inappropriate things at times. The H.S. guides us through life and tells us to talk to so-and-so or take that job or go to that college or help that person or avoid that house, etc. The Holy Spirit is a super natural spirit guide. How can we know the WILL OF GOD? Through the Holy Spirit.
Many Christians never fully let the H.S. into their lives. They might let one foot in, but that's it. When we keep control of our lives, we struggle with sins and make poor life choices. If we were t0 let the H.S. into our lives, we could become so much more as Christians. We are always praying for God to be in our lives and help us, but we don't let God/the Holy Spirit truly into our lives to make these changes.
TONGUES: Author correctly interprets "tongues" as "languages". He explains the Greeks heard those speaking tongues as speaking Greek. Those who were from Crete, heard THE SAME PEOPLE speaking Cretan. (pg 72) "On the day of Pentecost, God removed language as a barrier from knowing Him."
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
Highly Recommend: A Place Called Blessing by John Trent and Annette Smith
I am not familiar with either author but decided to give this one a shot anyway. I didn't realize this story was a beautiful fiction novel about love without expectations. This book was so beautiful! I highly recommend it and am purchasing one for my sister. You will love this book.
The book is about a kid who has a very tough life. He grows up into a young adult with a very tough life and now also a lot of baggage from his childhood. A family tries to befriend him, but his childhood baggage keeps resurfacing and he finds it hard to believe someone would be nice to him without expecting something back. He is so sure that there is no such thing as a free gift or free hand in life that he turns from the gifts over and over. Finally, he learns about love. Real love with no conditions. Such a beautiful moving story and the authors did a fantastic job painting a vivid picture. Great piece of artwork!
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion.
The book is about a kid who has a very tough life. He grows up into a young adult with a very tough life and now also a lot of baggage from his childhood. A family tries to befriend him, but his childhood baggage keeps resurfacing and he finds it hard to believe someone would be nice to him without expecting something back. He is so sure that there is no such thing as a free gift or free hand in life that he turns from the gifts over and over. Finally, he learns about love. Real love with no conditions. Such a beautiful moving story and the authors did a fantastic job painting a vivid picture. Great piece of artwork!
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion.
Cannot Recommend: The Little Red Book of Wisdom
The reason I cannot recommend this book is because nearly everything in this book, you and I already know. We've all heard it before. We may not always listen, but we've heard it. I wish there had been some new big insights that we've all missed in life. I don't want to spend my time and money on a book that I already heard all its "wisdom" from somewhere else already!
Sure there are positive bits of wisdom in this book. Here are some examples:
- live life because it is short
- keep your focus in life and don't let temptations lead you off track
- under-promise so that you can suprise and over-deliver
- don't lose the lost art of letter writing
- always tell the truth.
- it all belongs to God
- appreciate God's gifts and how He got you where you are
- don't lose your integrity - you either have integrity or don't
- listen more than you speak
See? Nothing new.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exhcange for this reviewbut I really did give my honest opinion.
Sure there are positive bits of wisdom in this book. Here are some examples:
- live life because it is short
- keep your focus in life and don't let temptations lead you off track
- under-promise so that you can suprise and over-deliver
- don't lose the lost art of letter writing
- always tell the truth.
- it all belongs to God
- appreciate God's gifts and how He got you where you are
- don't lose your integrity - you either have integrity or don't
- listen more than you speak
See? Nothing new.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exhcange for this reviewbut I really did give my honest opinion.
Cannot Recommend: The One-Day Way by Chantel Hobbs
Like others who want to lose weight, I have tried many many books and none of them have helped me to lose weight. So naturally, I wasn't expecting a lot out of another book. And unfortunately, as much as I wish I could find a solution in a book, I am certain this book will not inspire many to lose the weight, just like all the other books.
Pretty much, this book is the same idea. Exercise. Eat healthy. Only difference is you are supposed to only do it one day at a time. Don't look to the future. Don't set a month goal. Just go one day at a time.
Well, as far as I'm concerned, that is no big revelation. Looking only at one day at a time isn't going to motivate me. It isn't going to give me the energy. It isn't going to make me stop eating healthy and it certainly isn't going to make me want to exercise!
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion.
Pretty much, this book is the same idea. Exercise. Eat healthy. Only difference is you are supposed to only do it one day at a time. Don't look to the future. Don't set a month goal. Just go one day at a time.
Well, as far as I'm concerned, that is no big revelation. Looking only at one day at a time isn't going to motivate me. It isn't going to give me the energy. It isn't going to make me stop eating healthy and it certainly isn't going to make me want to exercise!
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion.
Recommend: The Quotable Rogue, The Ideals of Sarah Palin by Matt Lewis
I don't follow politics but I heard enough Sarah Palin bashing to be leaning towards the negative. So when I got this book from the publisher, I wasn't expecting much at all. In fact, I was certain I was going to hate this book.
But the author is a fantastic writer and organized this book in a very easy to read, welcoming manner that just draws you in right from the start. I was immediately engrossed in reading about Sarah Palin's thoughts on issues like Abortion, the True America, Civil Rights, Barack Obama, Faith, Crime, Taxes, Health Care, Gun Control, Politics, Recession, War in Iraq and many many other topics.
The quotes were VERY good, even if you don't agree with them. They seemed very articulate and stated in such simple easy-to-relate-to terms that they made you want to agree with her view! This book is encrossing and I am adding it to my library. I would also recommend this book to anyone who is interested in politics, Sarah Palin or even anyone who does not agree with Sarah Palin, because anti-Palin fans should also be open-minded enough to see her intelligence on the issues.
Next time someone says something about Sarah Palin, I won't just sit and nod my head. I'll feel like I understand where she is coming from - a strong Christian woman who loves her country. I can feel her values after reading this book. I am so glad this was not just another fluff piece.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion.
But the author is a fantastic writer and organized this book in a very easy to read, welcoming manner that just draws you in right from the start. I was immediately engrossed in reading about Sarah Palin's thoughts on issues like Abortion, the True America, Civil Rights, Barack Obama, Faith, Crime, Taxes, Health Care, Gun Control, Politics, Recession, War in Iraq and many many other topics.
The quotes were VERY good, even if you don't agree with them. They seemed very articulate and stated in such simple easy-to-relate-to terms that they made you want to agree with her view! This book is encrossing and I am adding it to my library. I would also recommend this book to anyone who is interested in politics, Sarah Palin or even anyone who does not agree with Sarah Palin, because anti-Palin fans should also be open-minded enough to see her intelligence on the issues.
Next time someone says something about Sarah Palin, I won't just sit and nod my head. I'll feel like I understand where she is coming from - a strong Christian woman who loves her country. I can feel her values after reading this book. I am so glad this was not just another fluff piece.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion.
Cannot Recommend Why Do We Suffer by Daniel Harrington SJ
As a Calvinist Christian, I should have known not to buy this book, but I didn't notice the author was a Catholic Jesuit Priest. As soon as I realized who the author was, I knew I made a mistake. Still, I forced myself to read the book to see if I could learn any insights or gems. None found.
The book was junk - garbage. No insights, no answers. The entire books goes over some Bible verses and tells you what the verses tell you - which, you already understand their meaning when you read the verses yourself! The entire start of the book is all about what the lamenting pslams. No insights. Then it goes to Job. You would think you would learn something about suffering by reading about a chapter on Job. None found. It tells you a summary of Job. But we already know what Job is about!!! Then it tells you about Jesus and his resurrection and how his apostles WANTED to suffer because Jesus suffering. It still never tells you ANYTHING new about suffering.
In the end, the book never addresses ONE SINGLE question about why we suffer. So the book is titled "Why do we suffer?" The author answers this question "I don't know" but here are some bible verses that deal with suffering. But sorry, none of the verses answer our questions either.
I am throwing this book in the garbage. No one should waste their time or money on this book.
The book was junk - garbage. No insights, no answers. The entire books goes over some Bible verses and tells you what the verses tell you - which, you already understand their meaning when you read the verses yourself! The entire start of the book is all about what the lamenting pslams. No insights. Then it goes to Job. You would think you would learn something about suffering by reading about a chapter on Job. None found. It tells you a summary of Job. But we already know what Job is about!!! Then it tells you about Jesus and his resurrection and how his apostles WANTED to suffer because Jesus suffering. It still never tells you ANYTHING new about suffering.
In the end, the book never addresses ONE SINGLE question about why we suffer. So the book is titled "Why do we suffer?" The author answers this question "I don't know" but here are some bible verses that deal with suffering. But sorry, none of the verses answer our questions either.
I am throwing this book in the garbage. No one should waste their time or money on this book.
Recoommend The Waiting Place
I enjoyed this book and felt I learned a beautiful story from it. the author tells her life story in the book. Normally I don't like life stories and don't get much from them but this one is like a friend sharing something important they learned in life. You learn from the story itself. I wish the author had given us some steps or a way to apply what she learned to our own lives, but even though she didnt, I still fell like I can extract some of life's lessons from the book. It is like learning from another person's mistakes and successes. So we can also learn to find God and listen to him and wait for him and see him in all the places in life. I would recommend this book to others because of the life lessons and examples it sets forth.
I received this book from the publisher for free for this review but I really did gave my honest review.
I received this book from the publisher for free for this review but I really did gave my honest review.
Can't Recommend: Lazarus Awakening
We've heard the Lazarus story a hundred times - in Sunday school, reading our bibles, and in church. In all honesty, it's been beaten to death, much like the Prodigal Son story. And unforunately, this book doesn't really add anything to the story. It seems the author (a woman) is writing for other women. There is no real depth, no real insights. Anyone really seeking to learn will be bored. This is a feel good book for old ladies in a women's bible study. If you find those old lady bible studies boring and not insightful, you will not enjoy this book.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher for this review. This review is my honest opinion.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher for this review. This review is my honest opinion.
Books For Christian Thinkers
Books for Christian Thinkers. I will be posting lots of reviews for Christian books here! For all your "thinkers" out there, I will recommend and mark books "dont waste your time" so you can filter through new books!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)