Showing posts with label questions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label questions. Show all posts

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Cross Roads by Wm. Paul Young: a 5 star Book!


Rarely do I read a work of Fiction that changes my life, one that impacts me and helps me to deepen my faith.  I have read some great fiction, C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, Jon Henderson, James Byron Huggins, Ted Deckker and many others; yet none of those impacted my way of life, or my thinking in the way that one author has.

            Classic literature is filled with controversy and topics that made people think.  “Oliver Twist”; “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”; “War and Peace” these are just some titles that not only were good reads but led to a revolution of thought.

            Back in 2008 a book came out by Wm. Paul Young called the Shack.  This single book went on to be on every Best Seller list and sell millions of copies.  The book wasn’t without it’s controversies yet when one set down and read it in its entirety and in the concept of a fiction titles they could understand it so much better.

            Wm. Paul Young is back.  This November 2012 his second work is coming out entitled “Cross Roads”.  I received a free preview copy from Hachette Book Group to review.  

            In this story Young takes on the concept of the Soul.  What is it?  What does it look like?  We follow a man who had it all, wealth, fame, etc… but used his family as a stepping stone as well as anyone else who got in his way.  When his life is suddenly traumatized and he finds him self in coma we begin to see what takes place.

            Follow Tony as he journeys through the hear and now visiting in minds of those surrounding him.  And what happens when Jesus himself tells Tony that he could heal one person?  Will the selfish man win, or will Tony experience a change in heart?

            As always, since this book deals with the Trinity, and deals with the Soul and the topic of what happens when a body is not dead but not full of life, there will be controversy.  Expect it, and embrace it.  Learn from it!

            There is a line at the end of the book that I feels sums it up the best:

“Imagery,” added Grandmother, “has never been able to define God, but it is our intention to be known, and each whisper and breath of imagery is a little window into a facet of our nature.  Pretty cool, eh?”

If you look for Truth you may find comfort in the end.
If you look for comfort you will not get neither comfort nor truth,
Only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin and in the end, despair.   
~C.S. Lewis

This is a must read.  Put all other fiction aside and read this book as soon as it comes out!
You will not be disappointed and you will be led to THINK!

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Faith and other Flat Tires by Andrea Palpant Dilley

I recently received a book Faith and Other Flat Tires by Andrea Palpant Dilley for free to review from the publisher.

My first thought when I got this book was a bit disgruntled.  Why?  Well, in this day and age where we live so many people are writing books that are just outright negative towards the church.  While I perfectly agree with many of the points, being a PK (Preacher's kid) myself I can relate with some of the issues; but since misery loves company I feel that these books can fuel a negativity fire that is very hard within the church to distinguish.

But before I get into the review let me give you the publishers take:

At age twenty-one, Andrea Palpant Dilley stripped the Christian fish decal off her car bumper in a symbolic act of departure from her religious childhood. At twenty-three, she left the church and went searching for refuge in the company of men who left her lonely and friends who pushed the boundaries of what she once held sacred. In this deeply personal memoir, Andrea navigates the doubts that plague believers and skeptics alike: Why does a good God allow suffering? Why is God so silent, distant, and uninvolved? And why does the church seem so dysfunctional? Yet amid her skepticism, she begins to ask new questions: Could doubting be a form of faith? Might our doubts be a longing for God that leads to a faith we can ultimately live with?


So I finished this title and really found it a great and easy read.
While it does come out of a memoir of the multiple times that the author had where the air was let out of their Faith tire, it doesn't leave you there in misery.
It is out of the misery that your faith can begin to ask questions and challenge you to live, learn and truly believe.

So check out the book and see what you think?  It might just help you through a challenge you are going through that is similar with the author.