Book Review: More Lost Than Found Finding a Way Back to Faith by Jared Herd

I agree with what the author wrote in some chapters, but in other chapters, I disagree with him, and in many areas, I find that the author was fuzzy and vague in his writings.

In chapter 1, the author said that "all of us understand and relate to Jesus through the lens of our experiences and our culture" and as a "paradox, but to stay the same, the gospel must always be changing."

I find this to be rather confusing, and even bothering on the heretical unless the author took the trouble to explain what does he try to convey.

I beg to differ. I would rather ask, must the gospel or more accurately, the timeless truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ be always changing? Or should it be more appropriate to say that the way the gospel is presented must always be changing to fit the context of our contemporary culture?

True, as the author said, that there are a lot of "unmitigated" factors, but we should be interpreting the contemporary culture through the lens of the timeless gospel of Jesus Christ but not the other way around. Otherwise, the way we look at Scripture would be more eisegetical rather than exegetical.

Nonetheless, I also find a lot of good stuffs from this book.

In chapter 2, for example, the author talked about the secular-sacred divide.  He talked about how the church has turned into a country club. As he said:

"There is Christian everything. It is possible to be driving with your friends from a Christian school on your way to see a Christian movie while you listen to Christian radio and chew on Christian mints. That car probably has a fish on the back of it too. In our culture, Christian isn’t a noun proclaiming the center of someone’s identity or spiritual life. It is an adjective convincing us that something has been sanitized and is now safe to use."

In chapter 3, the author talked about the illusion-reality gap. For example, he said,

"You were told what to become, but no one tried to understand how you became who you are. Perhaps this is why you felt guilty for all the spilled paint in your story. You are a drip artist living in a sketch art world. It isn’t that you no longer believe. It is just that you don’t have the tools to make sense of the messy picture you made."

As the result, like the author said, we would rather "deny certain realities about our lives, and we embrace illusions because they are easier than confronting something difficult."

But that is not what God wants from us. He specializes in the impossible. He "allows things to be ugly. He doesn’t work around reality—he works with it. Somehow he sees a way to redeem it and make it into something different than we imagined. And somehow he makes every painting beautiful in a unique way."

In the following chapter, the author dealt on the difficult subject of doubt. He talked about learning to embrace doubt as a friend rather than enemy in our journey of faith. As the author said,

"Perhaps doubt isn’t the enemy of faith. Perhaps it is just the enemy of religion. Maybe doubt leads us closer to reality. [This is because....] we are at our most vulnerable when we are asking questions. When we have shunned certainty and know that we don’t know, we are open to discovering God’s reality."

I am not sure how much I can agree with him. Doubt can be a good friend if there is someone else to come alongside us to show us the way. As Philip said to Ethiopian eunuch when he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. (Acts 8:30, 31 NKJV)
In other words, I think doubt can be a good friend, but it can also drive us further into our skepticism.

Nevertheless, I like what he wrote in the following Chapter 5,

"For most people who go to church, it is usually limited to an hour-long experience on a Sunday. Outside of the church, most people understand it as a Sunday-bound activity. The hope is that this hour will change the direction of the 167 other hours experienced in a week. Given such a limited time frame, churches do the best they can to get across as much information as they can. The Bible is filled with lots of words, and churches are filled with a lot of words explaining those words. We all know that a relationship with our Creator is a mystical and transcendent experience, but very few of us would use those same words to describe the last church service we attended. More often than not, it is a lot of words. Some are applicable; a lot of them are not."

I tend to agree with him. Sometimes we want to cram as much information as possible into the minds of our church members with the hope that it will be adequate to equip them to wage wars against the trials and temptations for the remaining week in the workplace..but that is not how the Christian faith should work. The christian faith is a faith of communal living.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Book Review - Gabby, God's Little Angel By Sheila Walsh

This children book is about the humorous tale of Gabby, a guardian angel in training who has much to learn about taking care of God’s little ones.

Her new assignment is to protect a young girl named Sophie, but Gabby soon realizes that watching after Sophie is a bigger challenge than she had expected! After a close call while riding her pony, Sophie learns what the Bible says about guardian angels:

“He will put his angels in charge of you. They will watch over you wherever you go” (Psalm 91:11 ICB).

Basically this is a heartening, delightful and entertaining book to create the awareness among little children that God loves us so much, and He sends his angels to guard us.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Book Review: Max Lucado's Hermie & Friends: Hermie, a Common Caterpillar

This attractive children book is about the story of Hermie and his friend Wormie. Hermie and Wormie have always felt common. They don’t have stripes or dots, they aren’t very strong, and they can’t find anything special about themselves. But every time they pray, God tells them that He loves them all the time just as they are and that He isn’t finished with them yet. When Hermie becomes a beautiful butterfly, he realizes just how special God’s plan is for him!

Lessons I learned:
1. Sometimes we limit God -- we had the misconception that God cannot make something beautiful out of the "common". That's when the common is placed into the palm of the uncommon God.
2. We are impatient. We wanted God to answer us, and answer us NOW! But God has His purposes for us. And He will do it in His time!
3. We wanted to be someone else other than the person God has made us to be. We are unique in our own identity and our security should rest in the confidence we have in Him. We should be comfortable in our self-image.

In short, this is a great book to be read together with my kids.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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It Couldn't Just Happen Knowing the Truth About God's Awesome Creation By Lawrence Richards

This is an extremely informative, excellent book on apologetics - answering tough questions like

“Did Earth begin with a ‘Big Bang’ cosmic explosion?”
“Does science contradict the Bible?”
“What happened to dinosaurs?”
“Is there life on other planets?”
“Did we evolve from apes?”
“What makes my body work on its own?”

I am really really attracted to the uniqueness of this book to make the enormously complex issues like ones highlighted above into simple, comprehensible materials that can be digested at the level of a teenage kid.

Although originally intended for kids, I find this book to be informative for myself too. As a lecturer and as someone who deals with college students in CF, this book is an excellent book for me to carry along in my iPad wherever I go, because it contains an enormous wealth of scientific information, that adhere to the sovereignty and creativity of our Creator God. To those who are not so inclined to scientific arguments, the materials contained in this book may seem a bit daunting and mind-blowing, but to those who love science, including myself, this book is simply, simply amazing!

Highly recommended!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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The Greatest Man Ever Live

In chemistry, He turned water to wine.

In biology, He was born without the normal conception;

In physics, He disproved the law of gravity when He ascended into heaven;

In economics, He disproved the law of diminishing return by feeding 5000 men with two fishes & 5 loaves of bread;

In medicine, He cured the sick and the blind without administering a single dose of drugs,

In history, he is the beginning and the end;

In government, He said that He shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace

In religion, He said no one comes to the Father except through Him;

So, who is He? He is Jesus!

The greatest man in history

Jesus had no servants, yet they called Him master.

Had no degree, yet they called Him teacher.

Had no medicines, yet they called Him healer

He had no army, yet kings feared Him.

He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world.

He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him.

He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.

Book Review: Smack-Dab in the Middle of God's Love By Brennan Manning & John Blase

Typical of Manning's style of writing on Abba's love, this first of his children books, is a delightful story outlining the fact that God, as our Heavenly Abba, wants us to enjoy his blessings more than anything we have done for Him. His love is pure, simple and fatherly.

Nonetheless, I find this Manning's book does not really flesh out concrete enough. The core message was not really put forth clearly. Probably a little conclusion section at the end to encapsulate the core message would help.

Other than that, this book is beautifully illustrated, and simple enough for children to understand.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Book Review: The Blessing - Giving the Gift of Unconditional Love and Acceptance By John Trent & Gary Smalley

The Blessing by John Trent and Gary Smalley powerfully communicates biblical truths on how to pass on a blessing to others, particularly our own family members; it teaches us on how to instill self-worth and emotional well-being into others.

As mentioned in the book, there are five essential elements that comprise a blessing:

• meaningful touch
• a spoken message
• attaching high value
• picturing a special future, and
• an active commitment.

As a medical doctor, I particularly like the part where the authors mention about the various physiological benefits of a meaningful touch.

For example, the authors mention that there are over one-third of our five million touch receptors centered in our hands!

In another part, the authors mentioned about the various studies done by Dolores Krieger, a professor of nursing at New York University on the effects of laying on of hands. What she found is that both the toucher and the one being touched receive a psychological benefit from this practice. Repeatedly, Dr. Krieger has found that hemoglobin levels in both people’s bloodstreams go up during the act of laying on of hands. As hemoglobin levels are invigorated, body tissues receive more oxygen. This increase of oxygen energizes a person and can even aid in the regenerative process if he or she is ill.

In yet another part, the authors mention about a study done at UCLA which found that men and women need eight to ten meaningful touches a day just to maintain emotional and physical health.

Even in the animal kingdom, meaningful touch in infancy causes rats’ brains to put a brake on the development of glucocorticoids and other stress hormones.

Therefore, as the authors mention, parents, in particular, need to know that neglecting to meaningfully touch their children can starve them of genuine acceptance—so much so that it can drive them into the arms of someone else who is all too willing to touch them.

Intrigued by what the authors wrote, I went to the back section of the bibliographic part. I was a bit disappointed to find that for some of these studies that the authors quoted, they did not quote the original sources (although in many others cases, they did). Instead of quoting the primary sources, occasionally they quoted secondary sources, even sources like Reader's Digest. I wish the authors could have quoted more from the original scientific papers as these would enable readers to go and find out more by retrieving these original publications.

Overall, however, this is a challenging book that should be read by all, especially those in positions of authority.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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