NowTHINK!AboutIt

Avoiding Hackneyed...Making Sense

Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination With The Afterlife

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Heaven may be considered a figment but it sure isn't fading.

Heaven
According To Everyone

Heaven is a trending topic so it is no surprise that people are thinking and writing about it. Lisa Miller’s book, however, breaks the mold.

Lisa’s book isn’t a Bible study. It isn’t a book on theology. Instead, she writes from the perspective of human longing, expectation and hope.

The Bible isn’t ignored but it doesn’t feature as the only or even the primary source of information.

About The Author

I first learned of Lisa, and her book, when she did an interview with Rob Bell for the release of his book, Love Wins. Although the interview was more about Rob’s book, there was an obvious secondary motive. [Read more…] about Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination With The Afterlife

Is Christmas Love Different To Old Testament Love

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Visiting Sins fits somewhere between direct judgment and doing nothing.

Love Takes On Many
Shapes And Sizes

This is the Christmas season.

It’s a happy time. It’s bright, cheery, fun, energetic and the spirit of Christmas-Love pervades.

I don’t know if it’s the decorations or the family time or the idea of peace and goodwill toward all men but Christmas breeds hope.

And it takes over.

Every TV series has a Christmas episode. New Christmas movies are produced annually and old ones are shown again.

Retail sales go crazy. One-fourth of all personal sales are made during the Christmas season. That means that one single day, out of 365, accounts for 25% of all personal expenditures.

Before your jaded, non-commercial side screams foul, please remember that all or most of that spending is done for other people. That is, one person is thinking about another person and attempting to buy them just the right gift. One that says, “You’re special to me.”

Personally, l love it. [Read more…] about Is Christmas Love Different To Old Testament Love

Top Ten Biblical Discoveries In Archaeology: Not Recommended

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Top Ten Biblical Discoveries In Archaeology

More A Pamphlet
Than A Book

Disclaimer: Credo House is a great organization. Nothing said here is intended to reflect badly on them. But . . .

I recently purchased Top Ten Biblical Discoveries in Archaeology, published under the banner of Credo House (which no longer exists), and returned it in less than a day.

Why? Several reasons.

One, I paid over $7 for the Kindle version. Seven dollars isn’t huge but the price does come with expectations.

The book is listed as having 88 pages. That’s long enough to be considered a book but in this case it misrepresents the reality.

There was lots of white space and I do mean lots.

Don’t misunderstand. White space isn’t a bad thing. It helps with reading but in this case it seemed like it was used to inflate the size. Reduce the white space, which could easily be done, and the book is now much shorter.

Making it worse was the fact that there were many illustrations, which weren’t very clear (didn’t add much value), and the text didn’t wrap. Adjacent to each illustration, none of which were very large, was – you guessed it – white space.

There was a lot of white space that seemed to be added for no reason at all, and then each illustration introduced even more white space.

From a volume point of view the book was worth maybe a dollar, not seven.

Two, the discoveries, though significant, aren’t recent. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in the late 1940’s. Hezekiah’s conduit was discovered in 1867. One of the more recent discoveries was the “House of David” inscription found at the Dan site in 1993. By archaeological standards that’s not recent.

The point is the book catalogs some of the more significant finds but it doesn’t add anything new. It’s very basic. If you are looking for up-to-date, this book won’t satisfy.

Three, you can find all the material scattered throughout the web for free. Because this information is relatively old, you can find it recorded in many places on the web. Just Google the “Top Ten Biblical Archaeological Discoveries” and you’ll easily find the listings and the information.

THINK!AboutIt

Book Review: Out Of My Mind By W. J. de Kock

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Out Of My Mind by W. J. de Kock

A Genuine Re-Minding
Produces Genuine Re-Lifing

The language de Kock uses is different (regenerative theology) but the meaning is very similar to what we’ve come to know as spiritual formation.

But for de Kock it is more than a theoretical discussion. It’s personal. He lived regeneratively and shares his experience in Out of My Mind.

In this great read, life and theology come together. It combines biographical material – de Kock’s experience of transformation – with theology and history. The theology is modernist with an Apartheid flavor and the history focuses on the recent transformation of the South African society.

De Kock’s transformation is tied to and parallels that of South Africa, and the book gives a brief account of both.

One of my favorite words in the book is re-minding. It is beautiful but different way of saying repentance and de Kock’s case illustrates what that really means.

Because the book contained theology, it was a little dry in places but overall an insightful read.

The book is available in both hard cover and Kindle.

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Book Review: Origins by Mark Henrikson

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Origins by Mark Henrikson

Alternative History, No
Alternative Interpretation, Yes

Origins by Mark Henrikson is Sci-Fi with a twist. It is written from an alien perspective but is based on historical record (the biblical account of the Exodus).

It comes in two formats: paperback and ebook. Both available through Amazon. I received my copy free through BookBub.

The story’s timeline spans some three thousand years (plus/minus) beginning with the period just before the Exodus and extending into the present. The narrative alternates between the two ends of that period and follows four plot lines: aliens in Egypt, an alien (Hastelloy) visiting a psychologist in the present, an NSA agent (Mark) attempting to interfere with NASA’s deployment of communication devices and archeologists researching Egypt’s pyramids.

The book also makes reference to thousands of years prior. The lead character, Hastelly, is 25,000 years old. [Read more…] about Book Review: Origins by Mark Henrikson