Books

From WORLD Magazine’s website:

“To make a (way too long) story short, Gilbert (who is actually a great writer), spent months on the bathroom floor crying out to an ambiguous god/being/universe/Jiminy Cricket, begging for communion. She decides, after one particularly emotional episode, to take a year off to find him/her. She just wants God, she says, more and more of Him. Filled up and flowing over. The rub, being, of course, that she isn’t looking for God as much as she’s trying to create Him from scratch:

“I think you have every right to cherry pick when it comes to moving your spirit and finding peace in God. I think you are free to search for any metaphor whatsoever which will take you across the worldly divide whenever you need to be transported or comforted. . . . If humanity never evolved in its exploration of the divine, a lot of us would still be worshiping golden, Egyptian statues of cats. And this evolution of religious thinking does involve a fair amount of cherry-picking. . . . That’s me in the corner, in other words. That’s me in the spotlight. Choosing my religion.”

“Sounds more like a kid in a Build-a-Bear store than a spiritual quest—but with more fluff.”

Me: Save $10 and skip the movie. Save $20 and skip the book. Read the rest of the review here.

In a new interview with Christianity Today, Dr. James Dobson “explains his ideas for raising daughters” and his new release, Bringing Up Girls.

It’s Friday, and for many families that means a run to the local movie rental store. With Blockbuster promoting ad nauseum the new Twilight saga DVD release, New Moon, it’s past time for me to post a thoughtful critique from The Christian Research Journal of the series for Christians to consider, especially ones with teen friends and family attracted to the novels and movies.

Read the article here.  It says in part:

“The Twilight love saga, then, may be the ultimate female coming-of-age fantasy that our biblically illiterate culture can offer, and, as such, this captivating story evokes dangerlously false expectations in young women that no man could ever satisfy. In fact, given that female sexuality is quite naturally rational, far more so than young male sexuality, the comparison that comes to mind is that Twilight is to female sexuality what pornography is to male sexuality.”

Here are two memorable quotations from C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters:

• My dear Wormwood,
  I note what you say about guiding your patient’s reading and taking care that he sees a good deal of his materialist friend. But are you not being a trifle naive? It sounds as if you suppose that argument was the way to keep him out of the enemy’s clutches. That might have been so if he had lived a few centuries earlier.

• Gratitude looks to the past and love to the present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead.

Just finished listening to The Screwtape Letters on audio CD. If you are a Christian and you’ve not read C.S. Lewis’ masterpiece, do yourself a major favor and pick it up from the library.

“The Screwtape Letters is a Christian apologetics novel written in epistolary style by C. S. Lewis, first published in book form in 1942. The story takes the form of a series of letters from a senior demon, Screwtape, to his nephew, a junior tempter named Wormwood, so as to advise him on methods of securing the damnation of a British man, known only as ‘the Patient’.”

One of my favorite lines from Screwtape, “Prosperity has a way of knitting a man to the world. He has thoughts of him finding his place in the world when actually; the world is finding its place in him.”

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

-C.S. Lewis in The Problem of Pain, 1940

A while back, you may recall my mentioning the new book,Why We Love The Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion

The summary stated: “The authors of the award-winning Why We’re Not Emergent return to tackle another set of theological innovators. Whether committed, disgruntled, waffling, or disconnected from the local church, this book will help you love the bride of Christ.”

In the face of the Emerging Church’s “we love Jesus but dislike the church” sentiment comes this breath of fresh air. Though I’m less than halfway, I can see this book surpassing the authors’ superb Why We’re Not Emergent: by two guys who should be.

I intend to write a full review upon finishing. As a preview, I’d like to quote respected Christian scholar and author J.I. Packer, who said of the book: “As I read, I wanted to stand up and cheer.” I know just how you feel, Dr. Packer.

From the Baptist Press:

Irene Vilar’s “abortion addiction,” as she describes it, resulted in 15 of the lethal procedures in 16 years.”

If Vilar is sensing hatred, Tom McClusky, vice president of Family Research Council Action, wrote on the organization’s blog (www.thecloakroomblog.com), “I doubt it is coming from anyone in the pro-life movement.”

After reading the ABCnews.com article, McClusky wrote, “I am sure many would have the same reaction as me, one of pity for this poor woman who has had a troubled life, compounded by her multiple abortions.”

Amen. We do aim to be compassionate conservatives, after all. Read the rest here.

Today, August 18, in Christian history:

August 18, 1688: John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim’s Progress preaches his last sermon, in London.

Me: His masterpiece, Pilgrim’s Progress is arguably the most famous Christian published book besides the Bible (before The Shack usurped its status, that is, on the wings of a bereft culture).

“A person’s a person, no matter how small.”

-Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who!

The Christian Research Institute offers a summary critique of Joel Osteen’s best-seller, Become a Better You. It begins:

Named as one of Barbara Walters’ “10 Most Fascinating People of 2006” and selected as the “Most Influential Christian in 2006” by the readers of Church Report Magazine, Joel Osteen’s star continues to rise. His charmed life as the guru of the ”gospel-light” message is now all the more assured with skyrocketing sales of a new blockbuster book on self-improvement. Not without its merits, Become a Better You offers good advice throughout, such as accepting God’s forgiveness, reaching out to others, and never giving up. As in his other number-one bestseller Your Best Life Now, which remained on the New York Times “Best Sellers” list for more than two years and has sold more than four million copies, however, there are serious concerns about its teachings.

Read the rest here.

“Now personally, I don’t recommend the Potter books. I’d rather Christian kids not read them. But with some 325 million of them in print, your kids will probably see them and hear others talk about them, and they’re probably going to read them anyway. So use this occasion to teach them to be discerning—like Daniel. Dare them to have Daniel as their role model, not Harry Potter.

“And if your kids do enjoy Harry’s magical world, you should give them copies of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books and Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.

“These books also feature wizards and witches and magic, but in addition, they inspire the imagination within a Christian framework—and prepare the hearts of readers for the real-life story of Jesus Christ.”

–Chuck Colson in his July 2007 Breakpoint commentary

What do you all think? Is Colson right?

Less than a year ago, I wrote this review of the best-selling book, The Shack. In the meanwhile, I have spoken to countless others who either loved it or hated it.

The other day I came across a review by author and preacher, Dr. Michael Youssef. He says, “The book is like a deep ditch covered with beautiful flowers — and sadly, many Christians are falling into this ditch.” Read the rest here.

His is not the most thorough treatment of the work, but neither is the best comment I’ve heard to date about it. Controversial Pastor Mark Driscoll said, “If you haven’t read The Shack, don’t.”

What do you all think of The Shack?

HT: Jerry M.

“The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold of me.”

—Martin Luther

Why We Love The Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion
by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck

“The authors of the award-winning Why We’re Not Emergent return to tackle another set of theological innovators. Whether committed, disgruntled, waffling, or disconnected from the local church, this book will help you love the bride of Christ.”

In the face of the Emerging Church’s “we love Jesus but hate the church” sentiment comes this breath of fresh air. Having read Why We’re Not Emergent, I am confident this work will be worth its weight in gold.

One of my favorite authors and professors, Dr. Timothy Paul Jones, answers “How should Christians respond to the new movie Angels & Demons?” You can read his entire press release here, but for a taste:

“As in The Da Vinci Code, Brown blends history and fiction so smoothly that it’s difficult to tell where one begins and the other ends. The difficulty comes when readers fail to explore the claims and inadvertently trust fiction as a fact. According to Angels and Demons, ‘References to all works of art, tombs, tunnels, and architecture in Rome are entirely factual, and the brotherhood of the Illuminati is also factual,’” says Jones.

The Illuminati

“In Angels and Demons, The Illuminati is depicted as an organization that began in the 1500’s, whereas it actually began in 1776,” Jones says.

Persecution of Galileo?

“And as for the supposed persecution of Galileo: While Galileo was correct that the earth moved around the sun, his reasoning was wrong. Galileo’s ‘proof’ was the movement of the ocean; he said that the tides came in and out because they were sloshing around on a spinning earth. We know now that that’s not what causes the tides. He was never tortured, and he wasn’t convicted in court because of scientific irregularities. It was because he lied under oath. He was exiled to a luxuriant villa where he carried out scientific research until the day of his death.”

The Death of Copernicus

“Angels and Demons declares that Copernicus was murdered by the Roman Catholic Church for his scientific research when, in truth, Copernicus was a Polish priest who died a natural death,” Jones says.

Me: Dr. Jones provides some worthy analysis. Yet unlike The Da Vinci Code,  this movie seems to be drawing a yawn from critics, the media, Christian apologists. Just about everybody, including me.

OK, I’ll admit it. I have not read any of the books in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga, nor have I seen the popular film. As a general rule, I do not comment on works I have not read or seen.

Yet I am aware of countless teens (and even grown, Christian women) who are swooning over the works, therefore I felt compelled to research whether its runaway popularity is a positive development.

A paraphrase summary I found of the film goes something like this: Seventeen-year-old Bella falls for Edward, who is charming, mysterious, powerful, and dangerous but wise beyond his years and, ultimately, a gentleman. The paragon of self-control Edward will not allow them to have premarital sex. The catch is Edward is a vampire.

The abstinence seems to be why many Christian reviewers have heaped praise on the books and movie. I have found two reviews, however, from sources I trust, The Christian Research Journal and WORLD magazine, who think differently.

In CRJ’s review [not available online] entitled, “The Twilight Saga: A Classic Romance Too Mature for Teens,” Stephen Ross takes a fair and balanced look at the series. His review crescendos with this stinging statement: “The Twilight love saga, then, may be the ultimate female coming-of-age fantasy that our biblically illiterate culture can offer, and, as such, this captivating story evokes dangerlously false expectations in young women that no man could ever satisfy. In fact, given that female sexuality is quite naturally rational, far more so than young male sexuality, the comparison that comes to mind is that Twilight is to female sexuality what pornography is to male sexuality.”

WORLD’s review, written from a woman’s perspective, is no kinder. Read the rest of this entry »

“Be not deceived, Wormwood, our cause is never more in jeopardy than when a human, no longer desiring but still intending to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe in which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”

-”Screwtape,” a senior demon speaking to his understudy, ”Wormwood,” in C.S. Lewis‘ masterpiece, The Screwtape Letters. (The aforementioned “Enemy” in “Screwtape’s” eyes is, of course, God Himself.)

“We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.”

-George Orwell, written in 1939

William P. Young, author of the runaway best-selling fiction book, The Shack, is coming to Oklahoma next month. Read more about it here, and pay special notice to the backlash.