By William Powers
Harper Perennial, 2010
240 pages
On the weekends I rarely check my e-mail. It wasn't intentional that I started doing that, it just sort of happened. I get busy with my wife and kids and checking e-mail doesn't seem that important. Seriously, would you rather play with your three year old son, or spend an hour checking and responding to e-mail? It seems a bit of a no-brainer.
You have to realize I'm not some Luddite who hates technology. I've had e-mail for 18 years now. I was the second person I knew to get an e-mail account. I've got an active account on Twitter that I check regularly (@mrpuffin) and Twitter has helped me find a couple of long lost friends with whom I went to grad school. I like what the Internet can do for you.
But the thing is, I like to be in charge of what technology can do for me. I see an awful lot of people around me who are constantly e-mailing, tweeting, and texting. With smart phones you can have the Internet at your finger tips twenty four hours per day, seven days per week almost anywhere on earth. Many people appear to be chained to their phones, computers, or tablets and unable to let them go.
Yet curiously, because of that technology that allows us to open ourselves up to the world, many of us are shutting ourselves off to those around us. We've all seen someone busily texting people at work or school while ignoring the people in the room. We've seen the parent at McDonald's updating their Facebook status while the kids swing from the arm of the Ronald McDonald statue mere feet away. By being available to the world, those people are shutting themselves off to the people right next to them.
Hamlet's Blackberry suggests it doesn't have to be this way. While it's true that we often feel overwhelmed by the rapidly changing world around us, we can take control. Powers surveys several periods in history that were faced with shifts in technology and examines how the people in these times tried to cope with the change. He examines how they embraced the technology, all the while finding ways to maintain a little time and space for family, and for themselves. Though Powers doesn't mention it, that same quietness gives us time to contemplate God and his creation. As Psalm 46 says, Be still, and know that I am God. When all the world is buzzing around us, it becomes awfully hard to enjoy being with God.
Powers ultimately suggests an "Internet sabbath" where we take a break from our computers, phones, and whatever else may be distracting us from the relationships we need to cultivate. In addition to giving us time to build those relationships, time apart from our technology can also lead to greater appreciation of it (and of its ultimate designer) when we return to it.
Powers is not suggesting technology is bad, we just have to be careful how we use it. While texting during a church service would be improper, I've heard of some pastors who encourage the congregants to text them questions during the service. It allows the pastor immediate feedback and he has the chance to answer difficulties in a timely way. Texting can be a negative, but in this case it allows the congregation to work together more effectively.
How do we manage technology? Powers doesn't have all the answers, but he makes an intriguing starting point in any attempt to understand how to manage our digital age.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
The betrayal: a novel on John Calvin
by Douglas Bond
P&R Publishing, 2009, 383 pages
If you want to get an understanding of the times Calvin lived in, this novel is better than any biography. Douglas Bond immerses readers in the day-to-day details of living in France in the 1500s by telling Calvin’s story through the eyes of a life-long, entirely fictional, companion named Jean-Louis.
Jean-Louis is born in the same village as Calvin, and for a time goes to the same school. But while Calvin’s intellectual gifts set him apart early, Jean-Louis is an average fellow living an ordinary, though rather brutal existence. Like many in the 16th century, he loses his whole family and his livelihood to the Plague. Left without a home or money, he falls back on his one extraordinary ability: Jean-Louis can lie without shame or qualm of conscience. It is this “talent” that gets him close to Calvin again, securing a job serving the Reformer. And it is this trait that allows him to act the role of loyal servant even as he vows to work against God’s servant.
This is a fascinating read, but it does takes some effort. Though Bond is known as a teen fiction author, the weighty theological dialogues interspersed throughout The Betrayal make this a novel best suited for adult Calvin enthusiasts - for them it would be a really great read. I think I've read a half dozen biographies about John Calvin, but this fictionalized account might have given me the best feel for his life.
P.S. if you know any one whose first language is Dutch, it has been translated, and is available as Het verraad.
P&R Publishing, 2009, 383 pages
If you want to get an understanding of the times Calvin lived in, this novel is better than any biography. Douglas Bond immerses readers in the day-to-day details of living in France in the 1500s by telling Calvin’s story through the eyes of a life-long, entirely fictional, companion named Jean-Louis.
Jean-Louis is born in the same village as Calvin, and for a time goes to the same school. But while Calvin’s intellectual gifts set him apart early, Jean-Louis is an average fellow living an ordinary, though rather brutal existence. Like many in the 16th century, he loses his whole family and his livelihood to the Plague. Left without a home or money, he falls back on his one extraordinary ability: Jean-Louis can lie without shame or qualm of conscience. It is this “talent” that gets him close to Calvin again, securing a job serving the Reformer. And it is this trait that allows him to act the role of loyal servant even as he vows to work against God’s servant.
This is a fascinating read, but it does takes some effort. Though Bond is known as a teen fiction author, the weighty theological dialogues interspersed throughout The Betrayal make this a novel best suited for adult Calvin enthusiasts - for them it would be a really great read. I think I've read a half dozen biographies about John Calvin, but this fictionalized account might have given me the best feel for his life.
P.S. if you know any one whose first language is Dutch, it has been translated, and is available as Het verraad.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Letters That Got Away
The Screwtape Letters
by C. S. Lewis
Bantam Books, 1984, 112 pages
Lord Foulgrin's Letters
by Randy Alcorn
Multnomah Books, 2001, 208 pages
Normally, we don’t appreciate people going through our personal correspondence. However, from the 1600s on, people have been fascinated by other people’s letters, whether real or fictional. In Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis used the device of the correspondence between two devils to make his own points about the kind of temptations faced by human beings, temptations that may well have been orchestrated by hell itself. (See the description of the tongue in James 3!) More recently, Randy Alcorn, who admits his debt to Lewis, has created his own more involved version of the same story, titled Lord Foulgrin’s Letters. If you are considering reading either of these books, you may have two questions ringing alarm bells in your head. One is essentially negative: Does anyone have any business looking that deeply into the nature of evil, especially demonic evil? The other is skeptical, but basically positive: What can a look at the topsy-turvy perspective of the evil one tell us about the way life should be?
So, first, is it dangerous to look at evil too closely? The apostle Paul certainly implies that we should not focus on evil, but on good, when he commands us to “think about... things” that are “noble, ...right, ...pure, ...lovely, ...admirable, ...anything... excellent or praiseworthy” (Philippians 4:8, NIV). Paul also tells the Ephesians that “it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret” (Ephesians 5:12).
One might well ask why C. S. Lewis and Randy Alcorn did not write more about angels instead of focusing on demons. Lewis himself felt that it was impossible for him to write authentically about angels, since he, as a sinful man, could not well portray the absolute submission of angels to God’s will, while (sadly) we all know far too well what devilish thoughts and desires must be like, since by nature we are also in rebellion against God. Alcorn, on the other hand, does include a letter from one of God’s angels in his book, but you’ll have to read the book to find out whether or not this "works."
Lewis’s words do give us an idea of why looking at devils might be useful for a Christian. To realize that temptation often has a demonic source may help us take our own sin and misery more seriously, something the Heidelberg Catechism points out is all-important knowledge (Lord’s Day 2). And while it may be shameful to self-righteously focus on others’ sins (see Matthew 7:1-5), we must be aware of our own sinful weaknesses, lest we fall prey to them. Lewis and Alcorn’s books echo the great truth of Ephesians 6:12, that we are in the midst of a “struggle... against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
The Screwtape Letters and Lord Foulgrin’s Letters may even be seen as obeying the command of Philippians 4:8 when we realize that Lewis’s and Alcorn’s devils cannot help speaking about “whatever is noble, ...right ...pure, ...lovely, ...admirable, ... excellent or praiseworthy.” Of course, they speak in enmity rather than awe, but as long as we accept whatever they reject, we can learn much from their malicious advice.
Alcorn’s book is particularly interesting, because it carries Lewis’s premise just a little further. Whereas Lewis sticks to letters written by a senior devil to his protege during World War II, Alcorn alternates letters with chapters of narrative about the family targeted by Foulgrin, and sets the story in our own time, with references to e-mail and teenage despair. Even more importantly, while Lewis’s account takes us up to the moment of conversion of a non-Christian, Alcorn deals with the demons’ reaction to the conversion of the central human character, especially their attempt to make him an ineffective Christian.
What this means is that Alcorn deals with two issues that Reformed Christians also struggle with now: how to react to the “world,” and how to respond to God in our spiritual life. For instance, at the same time as Foulgrin extols the danger of pornography on the web, of broken families, of consumerism and materialism, he also rages against the “sludgebags” whom God gives physical bodies. Through Foulgrin’s words and the narrative chapters, we see both the temptations of worldly pleasures and the true beauty of the pleasures God gives us in this physical life: the taste of a fine meal, the touch of a loving husband in a foot massage for his pregnant wife, the sight of a sunset, and the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Alcorn thus attacks both the attitude of Christians who mistrust enjoyment in life and the foolishness of those who think that we can experience the world on the world’s terms, and not be influenced by that world. Foulgrin gleefully mocks the stupidity of Christians who know that viewing someone else’s nudity and sexual intimacy is wrong, but do not flinch from seeing the same in a movie. He is, of course, immensely pleased also by parents who keep poisonous household products on the top shelf to protect their children, but who pay no attention to the toxic ideas their children ingest through the Internet and the music they listen to.
Alcorn also uses Foulgrin’s warnings to his student Squaltaint to show what the demons shudder at in the Christian life. Foulgrin advises Squaltaint to keep his human charge Jordan Fletcher away from “the forbidden Book” (the Bible) and “the forbidden squadron” (the communion of saints in the local congregation). He warns Squaltaint not to let Fletcher draw close to God in prayer, not to let Fletcher read good Christian fiction, not to let Fletcher think of his life (his time, his thoughts and emotions, his money) as belonging to God rather than himself.
CAUTION and CONCLUSION: Are there still problems with reading about life from a demonic perspective? Any concerns with this way of writing about the spiritual and moral life of a Christian may be allayed by the fact that both Lewis and Alcorn show their demonic title characters losing in the ultimate sense. The only other problem that Reformed Christians might have with both these books is that they seem to imply that conversion is a matter of man’s free will - the error of Arminianism. Whether this Arminian tendency is simply the devils’ mistaken understanding is not clear, but Lewis at least seemed to be Arminian in his other writing (even while demonstrating that his own conversion was a result of God’s persistence rather than his search!). Despite this quibble, I would recommend both these books to any Christian who is open to considering just how effective and consistent his or her own Christian walk is, and in what areas he or she needs to plead for God’s Spirit to work “against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
by C. S. Lewis
Bantam Books, 1984, 112 pages
Lord Foulgrin's Letters
by Randy Alcorn
Multnomah Books, 2001, 208 pages
Normally, we don’t appreciate people going through our personal correspondence. However, from the 1600s on, people have been fascinated by other people’s letters, whether real or fictional. In Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis used the device of the correspondence between two devils to make his own points about the kind of temptations faced by human beings, temptations that may well have been orchestrated by hell itself. (See the description of the tongue in James 3!) More recently, Randy Alcorn, who admits his debt to Lewis, has created his own more involved version of the same story, titled Lord Foulgrin’s Letters. If you are considering reading either of these books, you may have two questions ringing alarm bells in your head. One is essentially negative: Does anyone have any business looking that deeply into the nature of evil, especially demonic evil? The other is skeptical, but basically positive: What can a look at the topsy-turvy perspective of the evil one tell us about the way life should be?
So, first, is it dangerous to look at evil too closely? The apostle Paul certainly implies that we should not focus on evil, but on good, when he commands us to “think about... things” that are “noble, ...right, ...pure, ...lovely, ...admirable, ...anything... excellent or praiseworthy” (Philippians 4:8, NIV). Paul also tells the Ephesians that “it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret” (Ephesians 5:12).
One might well ask why C. S. Lewis and Randy Alcorn did not write more about angels instead of focusing on demons. Lewis himself felt that it was impossible for him to write authentically about angels, since he, as a sinful man, could not well portray the absolute submission of angels to God’s will, while (sadly) we all know far too well what devilish thoughts and desires must be like, since by nature we are also in rebellion against God. Alcorn, on the other hand, does include a letter from one of God’s angels in his book, but you’ll have to read the book to find out whether or not this "works."
Lewis’s words do give us an idea of why looking at devils might be useful for a Christian. To realize that temptation often has a demonic source may help us take our own sin and misery more seriously, something the Heidelberg Catechism points out is all-important knowledge (Lord’s Day 2). And while it may be shameful to self-righteously focus on others’ sins (see Matthew 7:1-5), we must be aware of our own sinful weaknesses, lest we fall prey to them. Lewis and Alcorn’s books echo the great truth of Ephesians 6:12, that we are in the midst of a “struggle... against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
The Screwtape Letters and Lord Foulgrin’s Letters may even be seen as obeying the command of Philippians 4:8 when we realize that Lewis’s and Alcorn’s devils cannot help speaking about “whatever is noble, ...right ...pure, ...lovely, ...admirable, ... excellent or praiseworthy.” Of course, they speak in enmity rather than awe, but as long as we accept whatever they reject, we can learn much from their malicious advice.
Alcorn’s book is particularly interesting, because it carries Lewis’s premise just a little further. Whereas Lewis sticks to letters written by a senior devil to his protege during World War II, Alcorn alternates letters with chapters of narrative about the family targeted by Foulgrin, and sets the story in our own time, with references to e-mail and teenage despair. Even more importantly, while Lewis’s account takes us up to the moment of conversion of a non-Christian, Alcorn deals with the demons’ reaction to the conversion of the central human character, especially their attempt to make him an ineffective Christian.
What this means is that Alcorn deals with two issues that Reformed Christians also struggle with now: how to react to the “world,” and how to respond to God in our spiritual life. For instance, at the same time as Foulgrin extols the danger of pornography on the web, of broken families, of consumerism and materialism, he also rages against the “sludgebags” whom God gives physical bodies. Through Foulgrin’s words and the narrative chapters, we see both the temptations of worldly pleasures and the true beauty of the pleasures God gives us in this physical life: the taste of a fine meal, the touch of a loving husband in a foot massage for his pregnant wife, the sight of a sunset, and the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Alcorn thus attacks both the attitude of Christians who mistrust enjoyment in life and the foolishness of those who think that we can experience the world on the world’s terms, and not be influenced by that world. Foulgrin gleefully mocks the stupidity of Christians who know that viewing someone else’s nudity and sexual intimacy is wrong, but do not flinch from seeing the same in a movie. He is, of course, immensely pleased also by parents who keep poisonous household products on the top shelf to protect their children, but who pay no attention to the toxic ideas their children ingest through the Internet and the music they listen to.
Alcorn also uses Foulgrin’s warnings to his student Squaltaint to show what the demons shudder at in the Christian life. Foulgrin advises Squaltaint to keep his human charge Jordan Fletcher away from “the forbidden Book” (the Bible) and “the forbidden squadron” (the communion of saints in the local congregation). He warns Squaltaint not to let Fletcher draw close to God in prayer, not to let Fletcher read good Christian fiction, not to let Fletcher think of his life (his time, his thoughts and emotions, his money) as belonging to God rather than himself.
CAUTION and CONCLUSION: Are there still problems with reading about life from a demonic perspective? Any concerns with this way of writing about the spiritual and moral life of a Christian may be allayed by the fact that both Lewis and Alcorn show their demonic title characters losing in the ultimate sense. The only other problem that Reformed Christians might have with both these books is that they seem to imply that conversion is a matter of man’s free will - the error of Arminianism. Whether this Arminian tendency is simply the devils’ mistaken understanding is not clear, but Lewis at least seemed to be Arminian in his other writing (even while demonstrating that his own conversion was a result of God’s persistence rather than his search!). Despite this quibble, I would recommend both these books to any Christian who is open to considering just how effective and consistent his or her own Christian walk is, and in what areas he or she needs to plead for God’s Spirit to work “against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Scimitar’s Edge
by Marvin Olasky
Broadman and Holman, 2006, 276 pages
This is a novel about Islamic terrorism – when a party of four Americans vacations in Turkey they become the target of terrorists who believe torture can be poetic and artistic. The author, Marvin Olasky, is best known as the editor-in-chief of the Christian newsmagazine WORLD, but he is also an expert on world religions, authoring The Religions Next Door: What we need to know about Hudaism,Hinduism,Buddhism and Islam and what reporters are missing.
As might be expected, Scimitar’s Edge is a very educational novel, giving readers an insightful look into the minds of Islamic terrorists. However it is also Olasky’s first attempt at fiction, so some dialogue is clunky, and the foreshadowing is a little too apparent. That said, it is still suspenseful, enjoyable and certainly educational, and a really good read for anyone who wants to learn more about Islamic terrorism (that is the key - a great read for someone seeking an education; only an average read for someone looking for a great novel).
One word of warning for parents is warranted: Olasky does go into detail about the torture and cruelty these terrorists engage in, and while he treads quite tactfully, some of the detail he provides would be too much for young readers. Scimitar’s Edge is available at many Christian bookstores and can be order online at www.amazon.com.
Broadman and Holman, 2006, 276 pages
This is a novel about Islamic terrorism – when a party of four Americans vacations in Turkey they become the target of terrorists who believe torture can be poetic and artistic. The author, Marvin Olasky, is best known as the editor-in-chief of the Christian newsmagazine WORLD, but he is also an expert on world religions, authoring The Religions Next Door: What we need to know about Hudaism,Hinduism,Buddhism and Islam and what reporters are missing.
As might be expected, Scimitar’s Edge is a very educational novel, giving readers an insightful look into the minds of Islamic terrorists. However it is also Olasky’s first attempt at fiction, so some dialogue is clunky, and the foreshadowing is a little too apparent. That said, it is still suspenseful, enjoyable and certainly educational, and a really good read for anyone who wants to learn more about Islamic terrorism (that is the key - a great read for someone seeking an education; only an average read for someone looking for a great novel).
One word of warning for parents is warranted: Olasky does go into detail about the torture and cruelty these terrorists engage in, and while he treads quite tactfully, some of the detail he provides would be too much for young readers. Scimitar’s Edge is available at many Christian bookstores and can be order online at www.amazon.com.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes
by Sally Mavor
Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2010, 72 pagesI've always really enjoyed good children's books - for the good stories, the sense of fun, and especially for the pictures. The best picture books are works of art. And this particular book is a great example of that.
In this book, Sally Mavor has used her considerable skill to illustrate favorite nursery rhymes - in fabric, embroidery, and collage. The artist uses wood for faces, acorns for hats, beads for flowers and fruit, and quite a variety of stitches and fabrics to create shapes and patterns. Each page is a lush, detailed depiction of one or more rhymes with plenty for readers to examine and find. As someone who once dabbled in fabric arts, I wish I had more spare time to try what she has accomplished here (and I notice she has also written another book to tell us how!).
I like the book for other reasons, too. Nursery rhymes are great for enjoying with very young children - they rhyme, they have rhythm, they often lend themselves to actions, they're short, and they allow you to start the book on any page. They're also important for everyone to know as part of our English literary heritage - they reappear throughout our lives as readers, and contain a variety of ideas, from nonsense to history to nuggets of wisdom.
The layout of this one is very appealing - just the right amount of words on a page, allowing little ones to listen and share, and slightly older children to read for themselves.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Marcelo in the Real World
by Francisco X Stork
Arthur A. Levine Books, 2009, 320 pages
Arthur A. Levine Books, 2009, 320 pages
What makes a person foolish or wise?
Marcelo is a 17-year-old boy who perceives and understands the world a little differently than most.
He has a disorder similar to Asperger's syndrome which makes social interaction difficult. Marcelo has what he calls "special interests" in music and religion, meeting regularly with a rabbi to discuss the Bible and other spiritual texts. He is content studying at his special high school and working with horses and disabled children.
His father has other ideas. He thinks Marcelo's interests are foolish ones. And he feels if Marcelo tries to work in what he calls the real world, Marcelo will find he fits in just fine. And he ups the ante - if Marcelo doesn't succeed at a summer job at his father's law firm, he will go to public school for his final year of high school.
Well, he does do just fine, although he encounters a lot of misunderstanding along the way. His first challenge is his supervisor in the mail room, a beautiful and confident girl who had someone else in mind for the job. And his second is the son of his father's legal partner - a young man preoccupied with women and pursuing his own goals with no consideration for the needs or feelings others. How does a young man who thinks about ethics in concrete terms navigate the situations and choices he finds in a law firm where a client's profits supersede taking responsibility for flaws in their products? And still succeed at his job so he can go to the school he feels comfortable in?
I like this book for two reasons. Firstly, it presents a complex and nuanced depiction of a person with an increasingly common difference in the way he interacts with the world. And second, through Marcelo's questions and problems, the author raises some interesting issues around ethics and loyalty. Marcelo doesn't doubt that God is real, and that He has communicated to express His will. He does have doubts about knowing God's will in difficult and conflicting circumstances, and the exploration of that question highlights what all people have in common.
As readers we come to see Marcelo's way of seeing the world is both a hindrance and an advantage. We're not sure how his father feels about the choices his son makes - but there's no doubt that Marcelo has grown up and is making his own choices by the end of the story.
"Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a "fool" so that he may become wise." (1 Corinthians 3:18)
A caution - there is some crude language in portions of the book. It's used to contrast Marcelo's perspective with that of the people around him, but it may disturb some readers.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
TELLING THE TRUTH
How to Revitalize Christian Journalism
by Marvin Olasky
Crossway Books, 1996, 303 pages
The best media book you’ll ever read… and it’s free!
If you want to understand the media, if you want to understand how the news business should be done, if you want to know what it means to be truly objective (hint: it actually involves bias – biblical bias!) then you need to read Marvin Olasky’s Telling the Truth.
To give just a taste of the book, here is one of the more important lessons Olasky passes on, using whitewater rafting as an illustration.
We know the God, in his Word, gives us direction on how to please Him, and do what He wills. But in some situations it is clearer than others what his will is. And that is an important point to note, and concede. If we act as if an issue is clear-cut, when in truth the biblical position on the issue is only discernable after extended study, then we will be seen as unreasonable and even arrogant, both to other Christians, and particularly to non-Christians. This too-certain-by-half attitude will ensure that people who might learn from us, won’t want to talk to us. It’s important then, to remember that while the Bible addresses many issues, it does not speak directly to all issues.
In Telling the Truth, Olasky compares the Bible’s various degrees of direction to the six classes of whitewater rapids. Class one rapids can be navigated by anyone, while class six rapids are all but impossible.
Class one: Specific biblical embrace or condemnation. Gay Marriage is a hot topic these days, even in the churches. But the Bible’s condemnation of homosexuality is so clear that it can only be misconstrued by those trying to twist Scripture. To pretend that this is anything other than a black and white issue is to act as if the Bible as a whole is meaningless.
Class two: Clearly implicit biblical position. As Olasky notes, “even though there is no explicit command to place our children in Christian or home schools, the emphasis on providing a godly education under parental supervision is clear.” So while not explicit, there is a clear implicit biblical directive to follow.
Class three: Partisans on both sides quote Scripture, but careful study does allow biblical conclusions. Some Christians, citing examples like the Good Samaritan, and quoting texts like “love your neighbor as yourself,” think that helping the poor means guaranteeing everyone a certain standard of living. But as Olasky notes, if in the Bible, “even widows are not automatically entitled to aid then broad entitlement programs are suspect…the poor should be given the opportunity to glean, but challenged to work.” With issues like these, looking deeper into Scripture allows us to find a more certain direction.
Class four: Biblical understanding backed by historical experience does allow us to draw some conclusions. While large government initiatives like, for example, a proposed national daycare program, may in many ways seem like wonderful ideas, we can look back through history and see what happens when governments exert more and more influence over daily life. There is no clear biblical directive for limited, smaller government, but Samuel’s warning in 1 Sam. 8 and Lord Acton’s historically verified adage, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely” show us we should be suspicious of any government that seeks to constantly expand its sphere of influence.
Class five: A biblical sense of human nature provides minimal, but real direction. The malevolence of 9/11 shocked many people around the world. They wondered how anyone could do anything so evil. The same sort of reaction occurred 50 years ago when the truth was fully revealed about Hitler’s “Final Solution.” As Christians we know that man is by nature inclined to all sorts of evil, so while we might be saddened we shouldn’t be too surprised at those events. We should recognize that war and violence are more man’s norm than peace, and prepare likewise. So our biblical understanding of human nature shows us that we should prepare, even if it doesn’t make clear how we should prepare.
Class six: These issues are navigable only by experts, who themselves might be overturned. Some issues have no clear biblical position. These issues can range from the local (Should we put up a stoplight at this intersection?) to the national (How should we address the problem of illegal aliens already in the country) to the international (what should be done about Iran's nuclear program?).
It’s all too easy, in a world embracing lawlessness, to overreact and embrace the opposite extreme, but that is also wrong - it is legalism. But to be a true light to the world Christians must remember both to speak out clearly where God’s intent is clear, and to speak out more charitably where God’s direction is less clear.
This is just one of the lessons Olasky teaches in this amazing book. I can't praise this book highly enough: it is one of my ten favorite of all time, a book I have read and reread, and if you are thinking of going into journalism it is simply a must-read. And if you read newspapers or any sort of media, well you'll find it amazing too. And, yet one more amazing thing about it: it is available to be read for free online by clicking here.
by Marvin Olasky
Crossway Books, 1996, 303 pages
The best media book you’ll ever read… and it’s free!
If you want to understand the media, if you want to understand how the news business should be done, if you want to know what it means to be truly objective (hint: it actually involves bias – biblical bias!) then you need to read Marvin Olasky’s Telling the Truth.
To give just a taste of the book, here is one of the more important lessons Olasky passes on, using whitewater rafting as an illustration.
We know the God, in his Word, gives us direction on how to please Him, and do what He wills. But in some situations it is clearer than others what his will is. And that is an important point to note, and concede. If we act as if an issue is clear-cut, when in truth the biblical position on the issue is only discernable after extended study, then we will be seen as unreasonable and even arrogant, both to other Christians, and particularly to non-Christians. This too-certain-by-half attitude will ensure that people who might learn from us, won’t want to talk to us. It’s important then, to remember that while the Bible addresses many issues, it does not speak directly to all issues.
In Telling the Truth, Olasky compares the Bible’s various degrees of direction to the six classes of whitewater rapids. Class one rapids can be navigated by anyone, while class six rapids are all but impossible.
Class one: Specific biblical embrace or condemnation. Gay Marriage is a hot topic these days, even in the churches. But the Bible’s condemnation of homosexuality is so clear that it can only be misconstrued by those trying to twist Scripture. To pretend that this is anything other than a black and white issue is to act as if the Bible as a whole is meaningless.
Class two: Clearly implicit biblical position. As Olasky notes, “even though there is no explicit command to place our children in Christian or home schools, the emphasis on providing a godly education under parental supervision is clear.” So while not explicit, there is a clear implicit biblical directive to follow.
Class three: Partisans on both sides quote Scripture, but careful study does allow biblical conclusions. Some Christians, citing examples like the Good Samaritan, and quoting texts like “love your neighbor as yourself,” think that helping the poor means guaranteeing everyone a certain standard of living. But as Olasky notes, if in the Bible, “even widows are not automatically entitled to aid then broad entitlement programs are suspect…the poor should be given the opportunity to glean, but challenged to work.” With issues like these, looking deeper into Scripture allows us to find a more certain direction.
Class four: Biblical understanding backed by historical experience does allow us to draw some conclusions. While large government initiatives like, for example, a proposed national daycare program, may in many ways seem like wonderful ideas, we can look back through history and see what happens when governments exert more and more influence over daily life. There is no clear biblical directive for limited, smaller government, but Samuel’s warning in 1 Sam. 8 and Lord Acton’s historically verified adage, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely” show us we should be suspicious of any government that seeks to constantly expand its sphere of influence.
Class five: A biblical sense of human nature provides minimal, but real direction. The malevolence of 9/11 shocked many people around the world. They wondered how anyone could do anything so evil. The same sort of reaction occurred 50 years ago when the truth was fully revealed about Hitler’s “Final Solution.” As Christians we know that man is by nature inclined to all sorts of evil, so while we might be saddened we shouldn’t be too surprised at those events. We should recognize that war and violence are more man’s norm than peace, and prepare likewise. So our biblical understanding of human nature shows us that we should prepare, even if it doesn’t make clear how we should prepare.
Class six: These issues are navigable only by experts, who themselves might be overturned. Some issues have no clear biblical position. These issues can range from the local (Should we put up a stoplight at this intersection?) to the national (How should we address the problem of illegal aliens already in the country) to the international (what should be done about Iran's nuclear program?).
It’s all too easy, in a world embracing lawlessness, to overreact and embrace the opposite extreme, but that is also wrong - it is legalism. But to be a true light to the world Christians must remember both to speak out clearly where God’s intent is clear, and to speak out more charitably where God’s direction is less clear.
This is just one of the lessons Olasky teaches in this amazing book. I can't praise this book highly enough: it is one of my ten favorite of all time, a book I have read and reread, and if you are thinking of going into journalism it is simply a must-read. And if you read newspapers or any sort of media, well you'll find it amazing too. And, yet one more amazing thing about it: it is available to be read for free online by clicking here.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Loser
by Jerry Spinelli
HarperCollins, 2003, 224 pages
Donald Zinkoff's name is not the only thing that makes him conspicuous. All the things that make him conspicuous brand him either as a "loser" or simply as someone who wears his heart on his sleeve.
In Jerry Spinelli's novel Crash, the bully who narrated the story showed us how unsatisfying it is to treat others as losers. In Loser, we see the story from the point of view of the one living with the various handicaps that lead him to be labelled and shunned by others.
Spinelli does not romanticize Zinkoff's life. Zinkoff never learns to write legibly. He is uncoordinated in sports. Finally, for the first eight years of his life, he has a stomach disorder that leaves him subject to sudden vomiting. He can react quickly enough to vomit in something, but not necessarily quickly enough to find the right container. Even his loving father's patience is sorely tested by this particular weakness.
And patience is part of the point. For Zinkoff's greatest weakness - and his greatest strength - is his inability to see himself and his life through others' eyes. He doesn't reflect on life; he simply lives it - to the fullest. When he is having fun, he yells "Yahoo!" He laughs uncontrollably for an hour when he hears a word that sounds funny to him.
There are two ways to respond to such transparent joy in life. One is patience and compassion - exercised by Zinkoff's parents and more sympathetic teachers - and the other is irritation and anger - shown by his less sympathetic teachers and classmates.
As unreflective as Zinkoff is, others do eventually make him uncomfortably aware that he does not measure up to their standards. One teacher assumes that he must be deliberately trying to annoy her, dislikes him for his illegible handwriting. Another gives a personality test that makes him aware that he has no best friend. His classmates reject him because of his poor performance at Field Day.
Zinkoff finds ways to cope with these setbacks, partly by immersing himself in the lives of other equally outcast characters in his neighbourhood. In the end, his love for his neighbour, like that of the rejected Samaritan in Jesus' parable, leads him to try to help find a little lost girl, but also puts his own life in danger on a dark, cold, blizzardy winter night.
CAUTION AND CONCLUSION: Spinelli's novel Stargirl uses evolution as an explanation for our unity with nature. None of his novels feature clearly Christian solutions to the conflicts involved, but several show sympathy for the role of religion in the lives of the major characters. Loser's main character goes to church, but faith in God does not really enter into his daily response to the world. However, the whole story serves as an example of the importance of loving even those who are not "cool." How much more should we as Christians seeks to love all the members, strong and weak, of the Body of Christ. Recommended to get discussion started - especially as a read-aloud by parents and/or teachers.
HarperCollins, 2003, 224 pages
Donald Zinkoff's name is not the only thing that makes him conspicuous. All the things that make him conspicuous brand him either as a "loser" or simply as someone who wears his heart on his sleeve.
In Jerry Spinelli's novel Crash, the bully who narrated the story showed us how unsatisfying it is to treat others as losers. In Loser, we see the story from the point of view of the one living with the various handicaps that lead him to be labelled and shunned by others.
Spinelli does not romanticize Zinkoff's life. Zinkoff never learns to write legibly. He is uncoordinated in sports. Finally, for the first eight years of his life, he has a stomach disorder that leaves him subject to sudden vomiting. He can react quickly enough to vomit in something, but not necessarily quickly enough to find the right container. Even his loving father's patience is sorely tested by this particular weakness.
And patience is part of the point. For Zinkoff's greatest weakness - and his greatest strength - is his inability to see himself and his life through others' eyes. He doesn't reflect on life; he simply lives it - to the fullest. When he is having fun, he yells "Yahoo!" He laughs uncontrollably for an hour when he hears a word that sounds funny to him.
There are two ways to respond to such transparent joy in life. One is patience and compassion - exercised by Zinkoff's parents and more sympathetic teachers - and the other is irritation and anger - shown by his less sympathetic teachers and classmates.
As unreflective as Zinkoff is, others do eventually make him uncomfortably aware that he does not measure up to their standards. One teacher assumes that he must be deliberately trying to annoy her, dislikes him for his illegible handwriting. Another gives a personality test that makes him aware that he has no best friend. His classmates reject him because of his poor performance at Field Day.
Zinkoff finds ways to cope with these setbacks, partly by immersing himself in the lives of other equally outcast characters in his neighbourhood. In the end, his love for his neighbour, like that of the rejected Samaritan in Jesus' parable, leads him to try to help find a little lost girl, but also puts his own life in danger on a dark, cold, blizzardy winter night.
CAUTION AND CONCLUSION: Spinelli's novel Stargirl uses evolution as an explanation for our unity with nature. None of his novels feature clearly Christian solutions to the conflicts involved, but several show sympathy for the role of religion in the lives of the major characters. Loser's main character goes to church, but faith in God does not really enter into his daily response to the world. However, the whole story serves as an example of the importance of loving even those who are not "cool." How much more should we as Christians seeks to love all the members, strong and weak, of the Body of Christ. Recommended to get discussion started - especially as a read-aloud by parents and/or teachers.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
The Mozart Question
by Michael Morpurgo
Candlewick, 2008, 80 pages
Violinist Paolo Levi has played everything from Bach to Vivaldi, and jazz to Scottish fiddle music. But not Mozart; never Mozart.
Rookie reporter Lesley McInley has been given the chance to interview this world-renown musician. She has been warned, though, not to ask “the Mozart question” – Levi doesn’t like it when he’s asked why he doesn’t play Mozart. That’s why McInley is surprised to hear herself begin with the one question she simply can’t ask.
And she is even more surprised to hear Levi answer.
His answer is beautiful, poignant and horrible – Levi tells the reporter his whole life story, how he had to practice in secret because his father wouldn’t approve, how his father was a violinist too, but would never play, and how mother kept a violin hidden away, on the top of a cupboard. And he explained how his father, a Jew, survived the Nazi concentration camps by playing violin in the camp orchestra. Their performances were played outside, by the train tracks, and timed for the arrival of each new convey of Jews – the Nazis had them play Mozart to calm the new arrivals as they were sorted and sent to the gas showers.
While The Mozart Question is intended for pre-teens (so it doesn’t dwell on the horrors of the Holocaust) adults are sure to appreciate it too.
Candlewick, 2008, 80 pages
Violinist Paolo Levi has played everything from Bach to Vivaldi, and jazz to Scottish fiddle music. But not Mozart; never Mozart.
Rookie reporter Lesley McInley has been given the chance to interview this world-renown musician. She has been warned, though, not to ask “the Mozart question” – Levi doesn’t like it when he’s asked why he doesn’t play Mozart. That’s why McInley is surprised to hear herself begin with the one question she simply can’t ask.
And she is even more surprised to hear Levi answer.
His answer is beautiful, poignant and horrible – Levi tells the reporter his whole life story, how he had to practice in secret because his father wouldn’t approve, how his father was a violinist too, but would never play, and how mother kept a violin hidden away, on the top of a cupboard. And he explained how his father, a Jew, survived the Nazi concentration camps by playing violin in the camp orchestra. Their performances were played outside, by the train tracks, and timed for the arrival of each new convey of Jews – the Nazis had them play Mozart to calm the new arrivals as they were sorted and sent to the gas showers.
While The Mozart Question is intended for pre-teens (so it doesn’t dwell on the horrors of the Holocaust) adults are sure to appreciate it too.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Four Books for Christmas
The thing I love most about Christmas is the reminder that there is more to life than the day to day attention to our own affairs, which is such an easy mindset to slip into. Christmas tells us that we are all here together, that we are united in suffering and darkness, and that our great hope is the one who came into the world to embody and fulfill the two great commandments: to love God with all we have in us, and to love our neighbour as ourselves. Even the secular stories point to this theme. I don't like a Christmas to go by without seeing "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas," and the morning scene from "A Christmas Carol."
Red Parka Mary is about the fears that keep us apart from one another...and the joy of new friendships.
The narrator is a boy who walks past the home of an elderly neighbour each day. Someone, sometime, told her he should be afraid of her...and so he is.
But one summer day she calls to him to bring a pail of chokecherries to his mother, and they begin to visit after school. Mary tells him about herself, and the boy listens, and comes to appreciate her hospitality and friendliness. He also sees that she has needs too. She wears three sweaters all the time, and is cold all winter, except when she bakes bread in her wood stove.
Close to Christmas time, the boy notices a parka that would be just right for Mary in a store window, and asks his parents to help buy it for her. In return, she tells him she has the biggest and best present for him in the whole world. What could it be, the boy wonders...and the answer brings us back to what really matters.
(Note: this book can be ordered directly from the publisher for a reasonable price, and may also be available in your public library.)
An Orange for Frankie
by Patricia Polacco
Christmas is Here
May the joy and peace of the season be with you all!
Here are four books for children and their families that point readers away from everyday preoccupations and towards allowing God's love to flow through us.
Red Parka Mary
by Peter Eyvindson
Illustrated by Rhian Brynjolson
Pemmican Publications, 1996, 38 pages
Red Parka Mary is about the fears that keep us apart from one another...and the joy of new friendships.
The narrator is a boy who walks past the home of an elderly neighbour each day. Someone, sometime, told her he should be afraid of her...and so he is.
But one summer day she calls to him to bring a pail of chokecherries to his mother, and they begin to visit after school. Mary tells him about herself, and the boy listens, and comes to appreciate her hospitality and friendliness. He also sees that she has needs too. She wears three sweaters all the time, and is cold all winter, except when she bakes bread in her wood stove.
Close to Christmas time, the boy notices a parka that would be just right for Mary in a store window, and asks his parents to help buy it for her. In return, she tells him she has the biggest and best present for him in the whole world. What could it be, the boy wonders...and the answer brings us back to what really matters.
(Note: this book can be ordered directly from the publisher for a reasonable price, and may also be available in your public library.)
An Orange for Frankie
by Patricia Polacco
Philomel Books, 2004, 48 pages
Frankie is the youngest son in a family of eight children on a farm during the depression. They are all eagerly anticipating Christmas and the return of their father, who has gone to get oranges for the family - it's their traditional Christmas treat. The hallmark of this family is generosity - as the story opens they are getting ready for Christmas, and feeding breakfast to railway workers and hobos who are passing by the farm. Mother says that they have had a good harvest, and should share what they have. In fact, the very next thing Frankie does is give a hobo who has no shirt the sweater his sister gave him for Christmas last year, leaving him with a problem when she announces she's giving him a matching muffler this year and wants to see how well it goes with the sweater. After his father comes home he manages to lose his Christmas orange. Two problems that could make Christmas less enjoyable for everyone...but his wise parents manage to smooth things over and turn the day into a specially memorable one, centered on forgiveness and love.
Great Joy
by Kate DiCamillo
Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline
Candlewick Press, 2007, 32 pages
"The week before Christmas, a monkey appeared on the corner of Fifth and Vine. He was wearing a green vest and a red hat, and with him was a man, an organ grinder, who played music for the people on the street."
Young Frances looks down from her living room window and notices the pair. She wonders where they goes at night - a question which is not encouraged by her mother. But she wonders and worries anyway, and watches for him in the night, discovering that he sleeps on the street, even in the snow. Her mother brushes off her concerns and declines to invite him to dinner.
On her way to the Christmas pageant, Frances invites the organ grinder to come, and inspired when he enters, she" recites her single line:
"Behold! I bring you tidings of Great Joy!"
Great joy indeed - Frances knows better than her mother what the message of Christmas means for all of us. And perhaps her mother comes to understand too.
Young Frances looks down from her living room window and notices the pair. She wonders where they goes at night - a question which is not encouraged by her mother. But she wonders and worries anyway, and watches for him in the night, discovering that he sleeps on the street, even in the snow. Her mother brushes off her concerns and declines to invite him to dinner.
On her way to the Christmas pageant, Frances invites the organ grinder to come, and inspired when he enters, she" recites her single line:
"Behold! I bring you tidings of Great Joy!"
Great joy indeed - Frances knows better than her mother what the message of Christmas means for all of us. And perhaps her mother comes to understand too.
Christmas is Here
Words from the King James Bible
Illustrated by Lauren Castillo
Simon & Shuster Books for Young Readers, 2010, 32 pages
My final selection is a simple and also profound one. Lauren Castillo has pictured a family coming upon a nativity scene as they busily go about their Christmas shopping. As they take a moment to look, they are drawn into the story by the words of Luke from the King James Bible. There is a moment of peace and awe in which we all can contemplate the great love which our God has for us.
The illustrations for this book are beautiful and subtly done. Readers who have hesitations about visual depictions of God and angels will like this book. The author uses perspective and light in ways that subtly suggest the holiness of the incarnation. It's a lovely book to use with children and to enjoy as a family.
The illustrations for this book are beautiful and subtly done. Readers who have hesitations about visual depictions of God and angels will like this book. The author uses perspective and light in ways that subtly suggest the holiness of the incarnation. It's a lovely book to use with children and to enjoy as a family.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Maniac Magee
by Jerry Spinelli
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; 1999, 180 pages
This is a very moving book about overcoming prejudice that also works well as a read-aloud. The title character's real name is Jeffrey Lionel Magee and his hometown is Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. When he is suddenly orphaned because his parents' train plunges off a bridge, his aunt and uncle can not give Jeffrey the love an orphan needs because their house (one cannot call it a home) is permeated with their disdain for each other. When the boy can not stand it any longer, he runs off into the night, and never comes back. His running becomes one of the things that makes him legendary.
Jeffrey Lionel Magee wanders for a year until he comes into Two Mills, a town near his hometown. He becomes Maniac Magee when he joins first the local high school football team's practice and then a Little League baseball game and excels without even trying. In true tall-tale fashion, Maniac becomes a local legend in these and many other different ways, all without any deliberate attempt to show off. What makes his legendary status even more amazing is that he is still just an ordinary boy with a desperate need for love.
His need to find a home, to find a real family of some kind, brings him into the life of a chaotic but loving black family, the Beales, on one side of Two Mills; an old has-been former baseball pitcher who works as the caretaker of the local zoo; and a paranoid white family who are waiting for the great race war to start. The ways in which Maniac changes the people he lives with, and is in turn changed by them, brought tears to my eyes when I heard it read out loud in the audiobook version.
CAUTION AND CONCLUSION: At least one of Jerry Spinelli's novels (Stargirl) imples that we are all the products of evolution, and this one never brings any specific Christian resolution to the divisions in Two Mills. However, the book does show the Sunday worship of the Beales as living and beautiful, and Maniac's greatest yearning - to find a home - echoes, on the earthly level, the deepest heaven-directed desires of all those whom God makes His children. Finally, Maniac's difficult navigation of the racial and geographic divide of Two Mills challenges us as Christians to consider how we, with so much greater reasons for unity, can break down the barriers between races, nations, and classes. A great book to share between children and their parents or teachers.
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; 1999, 180 pages
This is a very moving book about overcoming prejudice that also works well as a read-aloud. The title character's real name is Jeffrey Lionel Magee and his hometown is Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. When he is suddenly orphaned because his parents' train plunges off a bridge, his aunt and uncle can not give Jeffrey the love an orphan needs because their house (one cannot call it a home) is permeated with their disdain for each other. When the boy can not stand it any longer, he runs off into the night, and never comes back. His running becomes one of the things that makes him legendary.
Jeffrey Lionel Magee wanders for a year until he comes into Two Mills, a town near his hometown. He becomes Maniac Magee when he joins first the local high school football team's practice and then a Little League baseball game and excels without even trying. In true tall-tale fashion, Maniac becomes a local legend in these and many other different ways, all without any deliberate attempt to show off. What makes his legendary status even more amazing is that he is still just an ordinary boy with a desperate need for love.
His need to find a home, to find a real family of some kind, brings him into the life of a chaotic but loving black family, the Beales, on one side of Two Mills; an old has-been former baseball pitcher who works as the caretaker of the local zoo; and a paranoid white family who are waiting for the great race war to start. The ways in which Maniac changes the people he lives with, and is in turn changed by them, brought tears to my eyes when I heard it read out loud in the audiobook version.
CAUTION AND CONCLUSION: At least one of Jerry Spinelli's novels (Stargirl) imples that we are all the products of evolution, and this one never brings any specific Christian resolution to the divisions in Two Mills. However, the book does show the Sunday worship of the Beales as living and beautiful, and Maniac's greatest yearning - to find a home - echoes, on the earthly level, the deepest heaven-directed desires of all those whom God makes His children. Finally, Maniac's difficult navigation of the racial and geographic divide of Two Mills challenges us as Christians to consider how we, with so much greater reasons for unity, can break down the barriers between races, nations, and classes. A great book to share between children and their parents or teachers.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Evening Star
by Sigmund Brouwer
Bethany House, 2000, 317 pages
I picked this one up because I've read and really enjoyed two novels the author co-wrote with Hank Hanegraaff:
Bethany House, 2000, 317 pages
I picked this one up because I've read and really enjoyed two novels the author co-wrote with Hank Hanegraaff:
- The Last Disciple
: a post-millennial reponse to the pre-millennial fiction Left Behind series that is set in first century AD, and which portrays most of the book of Revelation being fulfilled in the 70 AD destruction of Jerusalem. It was very well written, character driven, and very educational.
- Fuse of Armageddon
: another response, of sorts, to the Left Behind series, but this one is in modern day Israel, and shows how pre-millennial beliefs could be manipulated to by dastardly folk, to dastardly ends. A lot of action in this one, but it too, will give readers a theological education.
In Evening Star Sigmund Brouwer again switches genres, taking on the Western. Or that's the setting - the American frontier in 1874 - but it could as easily be called a mystery as Sam Keaton, from the moment he steps into the town of Laramie, has to solve one mystery after another. It all starts with the mysterious Indian that Keaton saves from a vicious beating. This good deed puts Keaton behind bars, and when this Indian next shows up, he's got a message from a mysterious woman named Rebecca, who promises to help Keaton escape. But before she can engineer his rescue, the town's Marshal, a mysterious sort himself, decides to help Keaton escape first and sends him off to find out about some gold that may, or may not exist.
So the mysteries abound in this very fast paced book but what brings some depth to it, and sets it apart, is the growth Keaton goes through. Early on, he's trapped in his tiny jail cell facing a very large, very angry man who has been sent to kill him. Staring down the wrong end of a shotgun barrel changes Keaton. When a pretty, and very willing young woman throws herself at him, Keaton turns her down, but finds himself
"... wondering why I had not pursued the company she had been offering.... Because of that shotgun I could not deny the nagging feeling that I was missing something, that life had to be bigger than finding ways to satisfy the varied demands of my body. I could not escape the feeling that deep down, I'd always known life had to be bigger, but along the way I had always chosen whatever distractions it took to keep me from wondering about God. Except now, try as I might, I couldn't ignore what some certainty told me was beyond. If I turned my back on whatever instinct now pulled me to seek answers, if I chose distractions like this Suzanne, I would have to fool myself real good not to find those distractions sour and hollow."
Keaton isn't done with his spiritual wrestling by the end of the book, but he has made a good start of it.
But while there is a lot to love about this book, it is worth noting that there is some adult material here - there is some grit. One example: Keaton recalls a time when he was seduced by a "wild" woman. It never gets lascivious but Brouwer does describe sexual temptation in a pretty frank way. So this is a book I would recommend for adults only.
So the mysteries abound in this very fast paced book but what brings some depth to it, and sets it apart, is the growth Keaton goes through. Early on, he's trapped in his tiny jail cell facing a very large, very angry man who has been sent to kill him. Staring down the wrong end of a shotgun barrel changes Keaton. When a pretty, and very willing young woman throws herself at him, Keaton turns her down, but finds himself
"... wondering why I had not pursued the company she had been offering.... Because of that shotgun I could not deny the nagging feeling that I was missing something, that life had to be bigger than finding ways to satisfy the varied demands of my body. I could not escape the feeling that deep down, I'd always known life had to be bigger, but along the way I had always chosen whatever distractions it took to keep me from wondering about God. Except now, try as I might, I couldn't ignore what some certainty told me was beyond. If I turned my back on whatever instinct now pulled me to seek answers, if I chose distractions like this Suzanne, I would have to fool myself real good not to find those distractions sour and hollow."
Keaton isn't done with his spiritual wrestling by the end of the book, but he has made a good start of it.
But while there is a lot to love about this book, it is worth noting that there is some adult material here - there is some grit. One example: Keaton recalls a time when he was seduced by a "wild" woman. It never gets lascivious but Brouwer does describe sexual temptation in a pretty frank way. So this is a book I would recommend for adults only.
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