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Books: Life-changing prose
Bestselling Christian author Karen Kingsbury markets her books under the trademark “Life-Changing Fiction.” Certainly, fiction can be life-changing as writers, through unforgettable characters and the power of “story,” comment on and analyze the world around us. In my own experience, nonfiction books have had a more life-changing impact on me.
For most of us here, the Bible has changed — and continues to change — our lives, as it has for human beings since even before the canon of Scripture closed. With the Book as the acknowledged list-topper for most WMBers, answer these questions: What three books, fiction or nonfiction, have most changed your life? How? Why?
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This is of great interest to me.
In AN EXPERIMENT IN CRITICISM, C.S. Lewis says that creative literature (as opposed to more expositional non-fiction) isn’t supposed to “do” anything. If anything, it’s supposed to engage our imaginations, but I become deeply afraid when people start telling me their books are going to do anything to me. A novel or play or poem may play some small role in a life change, but that’s not its primary purpose.
One problem Christians have is that we want all our art to “do” something: save people, proclaim the gospel, do apologetics. This makes for the worst kinds of literature.
Yet, non-fiction books can hit you at just the right time – especially books that expose ideas – and they can profoundly move you in this or that direction.
HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE by F. Schaeffer. Got this as a freshman in college. For the first time, ideas in the world made sense.
DARWIN ON TRIAL by P. Johnson. Not so much because of the whole evolution thing as because it showed me how a philosophy colors everything, for good and ill, so be careful what your philosophy is.
BIRD BY BIRD by A. Lamott. The best all-time book on writing. I give this to every young writer I know. Reading it is like going to a bar with a writer friend and telling writing stories all night.
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For me it’s been the following:
HOW NOW SHALL WE LIVE? by Chuck Colson: Got this as a young believer prior to leaving for the mission field.
SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY by Wayne Grudem: Got this one during Bible school and refer to it constantly.
EVANGELICAL FEMINISM & BIBLICAL TRUTH: by Wayne Grudem. This one has opened my eyes to some very fundamental truths and shed light on alarming sin patterns in both my own denomination, and many others.
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Fiction can change you.
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD awoke my social conscience when I was 12
In the 60s, when I was growing up, it became anathema to say you were prejudice even though we all are. Our family, our town, our school, our state, our country, it is human nature to be bias toward ourselves and prejudice against them, whoever they are. CRY THE BELOVED COUNTRY taught me that we are prejudice, racist, sexist, whatever, out of fear, fear of the unknown. Face your fears and you can deal with it. That’s over simplifying it, but it is a powerful book.
In the non-fiction category THE POWER OF THE POWERLESS comes first to mind. The pathos and grace in this book is amazing. It is mostly about the author’s brother who was born blind and deaf and was bed-ridden all his life. It is about how much that brother enriched the life of those who knew him.
I agree with HSK that writing to merely moralize is obnoxious, but a great story has power. That’s why these are three of the ten books my kids have to read before they turn 18 and we release them on an unsuspecting world.
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THE DOCTRINES OF GRACE by James Montgomery Boice and Philip Graham Ryken – read this while trying to decide whether to become a member of a Presbyterian church
A novel that I can’t even remember the name or author of is #2. The main character is the wife of the pastor of a mega church. She meets a young man who turns out to be the son she gave up for adoption many years ago – before she met her husband – a secret she’s been hiding for years. He shows her a different side of Christianity and changes her life. The book wasn’t very well written – rather predictable and the characters were rather one-dimensional – but the book started an itch which continues to this day.
Finally I’d add the book I’m reading now – 10 pages left – called LIFE AFTER CHURCH – God’s Call to Disilusioned Christians by Brian Sanders. It is scratching the itch
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I don’t know if even I can say what has most changed my life. Only God knows that. I can tell you what has been helpful to me.
Where the church and all my k-college Christian education failed: (because we spend too much time distinguishing ourselves from others who profess to be Christians, so that we look like the most correct Christians, that we lose the opportunity to disciple and teach character discernment. We don’t even know that fools exist and how to recognize one.)
FoolProofing Your Life, Jan Silvious, for understanding the Psalms and Proverbs on the nature of a fool. The only thing that ever came close to this was Dave Wyrzten’s teaching at Word of Life Bible Institute in 1982 on the different kinds of fools in Proverbs. It was very sobering.
However, Silvious helped me take off labels like Bipolar (not that bipolar is not real; it is) addicted, (once again, addictions are real, and amino acids can counter act them) even “out-going”, and I have forgotten what all, but Silvious replaced all this logical reasoning/enabling, whatever you want to call it, I was doing with the word fool.
Why Does He DO That? Bancroft. Abusive men. Makes sense now. I wasn’t causing that anger; he wasn’t out of control, it was a choice on his part. I have a friend whose pastor told her with her abusive husband right there to hear and use it later, that if SHE would submit to him then he would stop committing adultery. This book is the opposite side of life! Try it. Submit to an abuser and find out what happens, if you live through it. No, the companion of a fool comes to ruin. Do NOT make friends with an angry man, let alone marry one.
Brotherhood of Betrayal, Arthur, fiction, it is Therapuetic
He wrote about situations he observed over many years. HE created feelings that I experienced when I had similar experiences. I had to put the book down in amazement and weep. I do not see this story as church bashing, but as teaching discernment, really. There are abusive churches and a different church that emerges in this book. You don’t have to agree with all that he creates in the story to benefit from it. I gave it to my 15-year-old when I divorced his dad. It helped him grieve in a way I didn’t expect. IT also helped shape him to want to write novels. A powerful experience. I was so glad to know that the abuse I was suffering at the time (we were harassed from the pulpit and by mail for two years and finally excommunicated from a church (cult) for leaving it)was not unique to me. There were others. It brought together a LOT of pieces of my life which were previously disconnected in my mind. Healing.
Our trials are God’s assignments to us to prove his faithfulness. IF we are unwilling to share these trials and God’s work in them with others, we cannot help others through the same trials. It feels like starving when a person goes through a certain trial and can find no one else who has ever been through that same thing to share with. It just feels like the weight is not so heavy when you can share with someone who has been there.
So there is another way for us to say in practice with Psalm 14 that there is no God if we deny His working by hiding our trials and his work from others, because we are too busy creating perfect theology on paper and Sunday morning practice.
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Miss Manner’s Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior. This got me through many military functions as a junior, then senior, officer’s wife. It enabled me to stare, without shock on my face, at people who had just said the most astounding things. Remembering Miss Manners’ guidelines for polite behavior enabled me to not react negatively.
I use her guidelines often with my Christian brothers and sisters, and all the time in ministry. And even with the kids now and then.
My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers, the daily devotional I read, many days a week.
I’m continually challenged by the things Chambers interprets from Scripture and it often answers questions I had just posed to God moments before. Amazing.
The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian. 30 chapters long, each with a prayer at the end. I take the date (today is the second, hey, Ground Hog’s Day, so I’ll pray chapter 2’s prayer) and pray that for my husband. I have been blessed beyond measure to see his spiritual growth since I began praying systematically and regularly for him. This book has helped me a great deal.
Adios–who is the author of The Power of the Powerless? I just checked for the book at our library, and came up with an author named Parenti –but it looks like it might be about class struggle . . . Can I borrow one of your copies?
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The author is Christopher de Vinck.
And yes, you can borrow my copy:)
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RegOur trials are God’s assignments to us to prove his faithfulness. IF we are unwilling to share these trials and God’s work in them with others, we cannot help others through the same trials. It feels like starving when a person goes through a certain trial and can find no one else who has ever been through that same thing to share with. It just feels like the weight is not so heavy when you can share with someone who has been there.
So there is another way for us to say in practice with Psalm 14 that there is no God if we deny His working by hiding our trials and his work from others, because we are too busy creating perfect theology on paper and Sunday morning practice.
What you have said here is utterly profound! It is so sad when churches close off real communication, love, and support and trade it for looking good. Nothing is more hurtful. Real life is messy.
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Ooooh, cool topic:
WHAT COLOR IS YOUR PARACHUTE. Showed me that I don’t have to do whatever job comes along, I can CHOOSE what I do with my life.
MOBY DICK. Showed me the insanity of holding a grudge or being embittered by uncontrollable events. I don’t know why, but I also took away the message that, while Creation may be amoral, God is not.
THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS. It’s okay to be human because being human is a marvelous thing. The angels envy us.
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I had to think about this and come back to it. I might have a slightly different list tomorrow, but all these books rank high any day….
Vipers’ Tangle, Francois Mauriac–a requirement of my college freshman English class. As I read it, I first started seeing my mom’s sins, and then I started seeing my own. It did two things: showed me some of my selfishness, and showed me that fiction can dig deeply and change lives, not just be a story.
Glenda’s Story, Glenda Revell–I never would have found this book except I was assigned to review it for Moody magazine years ago. I’ve recommended it many times since, especially to women who have suffered greatly. The author had a truly horrendous childhood, but that isn’t what shines in this book; grace is. The book helped me feel a child’s abuse and also feel God’s grace. A short book, but stunning.
Dispensationalism: Rightly Dividing the People of God?, Keith Mathison–I almost hate to put this book on the list, but I can’t deny it changed my life. I can’t say I had always believed dispensationalism; rather I had always assumed it to be true, because others around me believed it. I was beginning to have doubts, so I started reading this, along with Ryrie’s Dispensationalism, and it didn’t take long before dispensationalism was a relic from my childhood. Changing from being a lifelong Baptist to PCA is a life change, and my little PCA church is a major part of my life today.
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Now I’m going to cheat, and add three more books–three books from childhood that changed my life.
Walt Disney’s True-Life Adventures, one of my very earliest books, a prize from winning a reading contest in first grade. It had lots of photographs, and I completely wore it out. It helped me fall in love with reading and with animals, two of my lifelong passions.
Lad: A Dog, Terhune. I don’t think I even liked this book very much, and certainly didn’t read it repeatedly. But between it and some real collies I met, I fell in love with collies. Perhaps that’s not exactly “life changing,” but having wanted a collie since about the age of ten, and finally getting one in my late thirties, it is at least significant.
The Wheel on the School, Meindert DeJong. I discovered this book about the age of ten, thinking it was about storks. It is, in a sense, but it’s about people even more. And it was absolute balm to a lonely young girl; I read it every year after that. After reading it I felt like I wasn’t the only friendless child in the world; lonely children (and adults) are treated with incredible respect in this book. It also has adults and children working together, and an old lady becomes one little girl’s dear friend. My grandparents all died before I was born, and I think this book sort of set the tone to allow me to let sweet godly ladies love me in my teen years, which in itself changed my life and set me on a path to knowing how to make friends as an adult.
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Janie,
i am glad you are still around. I emailed you, but it bounced back. I am at queenregina81@gmail.com
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The Hidden Smile of God: The Fruit of Affliction in the Lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd, by John Piper. (Clarified for me in a new way issues of God’s sovereignty and the purpose of suffering in our lives.)
Systematic Theology, by Wayne Grudem. (Ongoing–helps me sharpen my theological positions and sometimes convicts me when I’m trying to “reason away” something Biblical.)
I can’t pick a third, because there are several tied: Bonding (Relationships in the Image of God), by Donald Joy, Rebonding, by Donald Joy, Man & Woman in Christ, by Steve Clark, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, by Wayne Grudem and John Piper, Eros Defiled, by John White, Traveling Mercies, by Anne Lamott.
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Cheryl,
“Since changing from being a life long Baptist…”
Does this mean that I, too, will have to change when I leave my Baptist church after 60 years there to join an Evangelical Free church?
After being right so long, I don’t know if I will be able to be wrong. Oooww!
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Janie,
I love the Bonding books, too!
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Cheryl,
Thanks for digging deep into your past and pulling out those gems. I remember listening to Lad a Dog on cassette with my children while we ate lunch in our home school years ago. The collie was absolutely amazing as you thought it was going to die and then somehow survived the whole ordeal. I was spellbound. It is God’s creation.
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MERE CHRISTIANITY by C. S. Lewis
CAPITALISM, THE UNKNOWN IDEAL by Ayn Rand, et al.
THE PURSUIT OF GOD by A. W. Tozer
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Your God Is Too Small by J.B.Phillips
I found this on a shelf of my parents’ house when I was in high school, a couple years after leaving the liberal church I had been brought up in to attend the fundamentalist church where I was saved. In the first half, Phillips explains how so many adults carry with them a “Sunday School” image of God, and reject God as an adult because that old image from childhood is no longer adequate for a mature adult. He counters that of course it is not adequate, and no one should expect that their understanding of God remain the same as they grow, and that the God of the Bible is so much more than what most people are thinking of when they decide they have “outgrown” belief in God. (I recognized in this book some of the limiting views of God that the fundamentalist church tended to encourage, but as I didn’t know where else to go except back to the liberal church, which did not preach the Gospel, I felt stuck with it for the time being.) In the second half of the book, Phillips asks what we would expect an infinite God who wanted to communicate with finite man to do, and shows how the Incarnation perfectly matches that.
Fairly early in my marriage I read a series of novels by Susan Howatch, starting with Glittering Images, which tells the stories of people whose lives have been warped by deception – both self-deception and deception of other people, and how at least one of them experienced the reality of “the truth shall set you free” not only in terms of his relationship with God but also with other people (though the process was not at all easy for him). I had never been inclined to tell outright falsehoods, but I was very much used to hiding my thoughts and feelings if they did not seem acceptable to others. I don’t want to do as my mother did, and blurt out whatever I’m thinking or feeling no matter how hurtful to the other person, but I realized how necessary it was for me to be more open and honest in my marriage about what I thought and how I felt. (Though I still struggle with that – and the fact that my husband works nights and is hardly ever around to tell things to when they’re on my mind doesn’t make it any easier.)
The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck. It’s hard to describe how it changed me, but I read it one week on vacation, while we were visiting my father-in-law just a month after my mother-in-law’s death, and this book was on their bookshelf. From the opening line, acknowledging how difficult life is, through a discussion of how every circumstance in life can be the occasion of spiritual growth, to a discussion of love and grace – none of it from a Christian perspective but not necessarily conflicting with it (some of it did, some didn’t), I was gripped by a wider sense of what it meant to live, to love, and to grow than I had learned in the fundamentalist churches I had gone to for most of my teens and early 20’s. I can’t say what specifically I saw differently after reading the books – they certainly didn’t make me give up any Christian beliefs – but a week later I felt as though I had been wearing some kind of blinders and I could barely remember anymore what it felt like to have them on. (Please note, I am not saying this to bash fundamentalism – I have realized from participating on this blog the past few years that some of the churches I attended were the most extreme examples of narrowmindedness, but at the time of course I had assumed they were all there was other than apostate liberalism because that’s what they claimed.)
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#14 Bob Buckles: For a period of time I visited an Evangelical Free church where I live. I found out I had been wrong about a lot of things. I heard some really remarkable expository teaching that was very helpful to me. The “being wrong” part was actually pretty painless, so just relax and enjoy the ride!
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Pauline; Great list! I’m reminded that I also read and greatly appreciated “Your God is Too Small” and “The Road Less Traveled”.
The experience you describe of “losing blinders” happened to me when I read “The Hidden Smile of God”.
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Janie, The Hidden Smile of God is on my to-read-soon shelf. It’s one of many, but your endorsement may move it up the list. Cowper fascinates me.
Bob Buckles, at least in Chicago, EV Free isn’t much different from Baptist. But switching to PCA means leaving dispensationalism, going Calvinist, baptizing babies (which oddly enough seems to be the biggest sticking point for many new Presbyterians), changing the way churches are governed, adding liturgy, and more. One other difference is that many Baptists think it’s a sin to drink alcohol, and Presbyterians may serve wine with communion, and otherwise not have any problems with it as a beverage as long as one does not get drunk (which is the biblical issue with alcohol). But this is off topic, so that’s enough.
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The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
I read this about five years after becoming a believer in the fish-sticker, praise-music, Bunko-night, “Lord we just come before you right now” culture of Southern California evangelicalism. Bonhoeffer’s exposition on “cheap grace” made me want to live a more disciplined, committed, sacrificial Christian life. Most of the time, I fail.
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Cheryl D.:
The EV Free church I went to seemed quite reformed in theology compared to the churches I was used to. However, they did not baptize babies. But then, Piper is a Baptist and his theology seems “reformed” to me also.
I’m currently reading a book that may end up on my most-influencial list–Revival & Revivalism: The Making and Marring of American Evangelism, 1750-1858, by Iain H. Murray. The undergirding theology seems quite Calvinist. Its making a lot of sense to me.
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“The Holiness of God” by R. C. Sproul. Blew my mind with a deep look into the crowning characteristic of God, one that gets little attention these days. This is the hub of His attributes that hold all the others together. I read it in college after my pastor mentioned it in a sermon. (Thanks, Pastor Hopper!)
“Shepherding A Child’s Heart” by Tedd Tripp. A simply wonderful look into parenting children in the way that mirrors God’s parenting of us. The “circle of blessing” idea gave me the perfect way to explain how forgiveness and repentance work in the Christian’s life as well as sharing with my children the Gospel. Also, it really helped me to understand my relationship with my heavenly Father.
“Mere Christianity” by C. S. Lewis. My first foray into a philosophical view of everything. Also, a great encouragement to my faith. And a great way to begin thinking of majoring on the majors and minoring on the minors in the context of Christian unity and doctrine.
And IF I were to add to the Bible and the three above for a nice top ten list, I’d add:
* “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C. S. Lewis
* “Pilgrim’s Progress” by John Bunyan
* “A Meaningful World; How the Arts and Sciences Reveal the Genius of Nature” by by Benjamin Wiker, Jonathan Witt
* “The Valley of Vision; A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions” edited by Arthur Bennett
* “The Parable Of Joy; Reflections On The Wisdom Of The Book Of John” by Michael Card
* “The Practice of the Presence of God” by Brother Lawrence
Cheryl D.: I got “The Wheel on the School” for my 10 year old this past summer. She really liked it, too.
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Since Litoralise added to her list, I will too.
THE HUMILIATION OF THE WORD by Jacques Elul
HIND’S FEET ON HIGH PLACES by Hannah Hurnard
CELEBRATION OF DISCIPLINE by Richard Foster
WALKING ON WATER by Madeleine L’Engle
THE HIDING PLACE by Corrie ten Boom
THE DIVINE CONSPIRACY by Dallas Willard
THROUGH GATES OF SPLENDOR by Elizabeth Elliot
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Great list, Kyle A. There is another book by Dallas Willard I like almost as much as “The Divine Conspiracy”, but I can’t remember it right now.
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22–
I have never been to Southern California…but here goes it from the east…
I grew up with this more reformed perspective on life until my 40’s. I cringe to hear the “fish sticker” comments. I cringe because the reformed churches did not know what to do with a couple getting divorced in their midst. The E. Free had Divorce Care, Car Care, and lots of other care going on for those is need. I can’t possibly describe for you how wonderful it felt to be in the midst of those who welcomed me and helped me after being publically humiliated and harassed and excommunicated from a Reformed church because I left it. Our lives require discernment wherever we find our selves. I would not be able to read reformed writing today; it nauseates me. I read the Psalms. I read the Word.
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Many great books listed and some are ones I would have chosen as well, including Sproul’s “The Holiness of God” and Hurnard’s “Hind’s Feet”. Amy Carmichael’s tiny little book, “IF” is one that has made a big impact on me as did “Leave Yourself Alone” by Eugenia Price.
I’m anxious to read Piper’s “The Hidden Smile of God…”
Reg – I think it’s quite clear that you’ve been deeply hurt; I want to encourage you to stay in the Word and pray that bitterness does not consume your life over the hurts of your past.
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“Captured by Grace” by David Jeremiah is a book but also a teaching series on DVD and in this particular instance, I got much more out of the video than his actual book.
It is a beautiful teaching on the wondrous gift of God’s grace!
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Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up? David Bercot, I read this nearly 20 years ago, gave it to my 17-year-old last week, and he agrees that it adds nicely to the Reformed perspective. It does a great job with Constantine.
I didn’t mean to go completely sour on Reformed writings altogether. I realize that a person’ life context has a lot to do with what is gained.
Our family suffered a church split when I was 18, and the life and friends I had gained from our large local non-denom church was over as I had known it for several very happy, productive years. My transition into adulthood, as a result, was quite awkward as my life changed dramatically.
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Josephus was one of my favorites as my son was growing up. Josephus recently came up again in Divorce: A Gift of God’s Love, Callison. That with the original language study brought this book to life.
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As people keep listing books, I keep remembering more I loved, too. And seeing more I want to read. I’ll have to take a look at “The Holiness of God.”
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After reading WMB, I thought that life changing prose had to be disguised as poetry?
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From High School, it was Walden; in college it was Cost of Discipleship — boy, did it invite me to confront myself. In adult life several titles come to mind, perhaps the most important was Richard Foster’s Prayer. I had barely gotten through the first section and I was utterly convicted by God.
Of late, I have been especially touched by Esther deWaal’s Seeking God.
The other intellectually significant book for me was Brevard Childs’ Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture, which opened the concept of canon and resulted in a turn to being more biblical if less evangelical.
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To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Total Truth, Nancy Pearcey
Art and the Bible, Francis Schaeffer
The Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom (I figure I can list four because Art and the Bible is a pamphlet, not a book
)
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In Two Minds by Os Guinness
Liberated me from the idea that “doubt” (that undefined shadowy concept) was a “bad” (generically) thing. Growing up in a Baptist church did not prepare me for the questions I had when I became a young adult.
The Marriage Builder by Larry Crabb
This introduced me to a fundamental concept that we are all infected with justified self-centeredness. In order to get what we want, we manipulate each other so quickly and so naturally that we don’t even notice we are doing it (until someone like Crabb points it out). He defines and distinguishes “goals” and “desires” as concepts that we frequently mix up. A goal is something that we can directly affect and work for ourselves. A desire is something that we can only request of someone. Frequently we pray for our goals (instead of working at them) and “work” for our desires via manipulation.
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36-
Please tell me how Crabb’s book helped you.
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MIM,
I have never read any of his stuff but based on what you say, that Crabb guy knows people. Sounds interesting.
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Desiring God by John Piper taught me to seek my satisfaction in God Himself, and Him alone.
The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges showed me how I had subtly been operating under a works-righteousness mentality, and how I must “preach the Gospel to myself every day.”
Confessions by Augustine, which ignites my heart with awe and gratitude toward God every time I pick it up.
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Reg,
By understanding that basic principle outlined above, one realizes that previous manipulations are wrong, and one begins to recognize how hurtful they are. I found that we now have less fights in our marriage because we can more easily separate goals and desires. In respect, one can only request one’s desires. If you overstep that, then you’ve just become manipulative and disrespectful and have sinned no matter what end may justify the means. If the means are corrupt, you’ve just undermined whatever you are trying to accomplish.
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Reg – Crabb’s book caused me to change my attitude about my husband and my marriage and, I think was a factor in restoring my marriage.
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Crabb was a hard one for me to figure out in my twenties. I was on campus with him where I earned my four-year degree. I audited his core class, majored in psychology, and was a counseling project for one of his students. I now have a better appreciation for life span analysis and what works when. I don’t know if that makes any sense, or not.
I am glad to hear of how the writings are helpful in others’ lives.
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Two books each had a horribly negative impact on my life, although I wouldn’t realize it until many, many years later. They both changed my life radically, and at the time, I thought they were wonderfully positive changes.
The first one was The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey. I was only a young teenager when I stumbled on this book as an unchurched kid who knew nothing of the Bible or Christianity. The end of the world? Ancient prophecies coming true? The Rapture? This was all news to me, and I ate it up. I began attending a local church and in short order got saved, got baptized, and got on fire for Jesus. I had never been so happy. For the first time in my life, I knew what life was all about, and I’d found my purpose – to tell others about Jesus.
A few years later I was off at Bible College to study for the ministry. In the library I came across A W Pink’s The Sovereignty of God. Wow! Pink opened my eyes to the truths of Calvinism, and from there I read Calvin, Boettner, Sproul, etc. From there it was only a hop skip and a jump to Bahnsen and Rushdoony, and before I knew it I’d gone from a Fundamental Baptist to a hardcore Presbyterian theonomist. Now I not only had the cure for people’s souls in Jesus, I also had the answer to all of society’s problems in Old Testament law. Yeah, right. This happened during my first semester there, and, because the school didn’t support Calvinism, I left as soon as it was over.
There’s not a day goes by that I don’t rue the day I picked up Hal Lindsey’s book. It set me off on a path that I wasted years on, only to discover that it was a dead end. I often wonder what I would have made of myself had I not become a teenage Jesus freak. What if I’d gone to a real college? But I couldn’t do that because the profs were all “God haters”, “secularists” , etc, who had been blinded to God’s truth by the Devil. What could they teach me?
And the Pink book put me on the path to Fruitcake City and LaLa Land. You wanna spend your life debating minutiae with freaks, geeks, and weirdos? Become a theonomist/reconstructionist.
What a waste of what should’ve been the best years
of my life.
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And now you’re so happy and fulfilled by bashing Christianity? Hmmmmm….
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Don’t taze me, bro!
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You don’t seem very happy….
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43-NT
I have been there. You said what you would throw away. What would you keep?
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Not much.
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You’re not going to mention the Stitchen books?
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I’m not 100% convinced that Sitchin is right. I think he’s probably right, but I don’t know for sure. I do know that the Bible makes a whole lot more sense when read in light of his books. I guess I’m about 85% persuaded, I guess. At any rate, his books didn’t really change my life. I had abandoned Christianity before I began reading Sitchin.
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Actually, that might be a bit of an overstatement. I probably began reading Sitchin right around the time I began questioning the Bible/Christianity. I can’t remember the exact timeline and sequence of events. So it may have played a part, but it was by no means what “pushed me over the edge” so to speak
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Night Train,
When you say that you abandoned Christianity, (I don’t know Stichin) do you mean Constantine’s inventions, the whole Bible, parts of the Bible, or what?
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Pretty much all of it.
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Janie, 13-
Did you see this one? Two Becoming One, Donald Joy, is good for understanding relational vs. hierarchical structure in the church and family.
He illustrates the trinity with father, mother, and child/children. That made more sense to me than the hard-boiled egg illustration!!
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