The Reluctant Messenger of Science and Religion: Science and the World's Religions Are Pieces to a Puzzle That Need Each Other to Form a Complete Picture Review

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The Reluctant Messenger of Science and Religion: Science and the World's Religions Are Pieces to a Puzzle That Need Each Other to Form a Complete Picture Review"The Reluctant Messenger of Science and Religion" is a study in how science and the world religions are not in conflict with each other and need each other to form a complete picture. To make it less of a laborious read it is presented in the format of a novel. It starts with two members of debate societies debating over whether science is correct about the creation of the earth or religion is correct. From there we follow both the losing and winning debater through a series of life changing and illuminating events that effectively illustrate the authors' beliefs. It is very well written for a book of this sort and teaches the viewpoint that there are other interpretations of various Bible passages that are not in conflict with science. In fact there are several areas where the teachings are actually a return to the older beliefs. The book also freely examines other religious views from Islam to Hinduism, Buddhism to Sufi and brings them into the discussion.
Strong conservatives from almost any religious teaching will probably have a problem with this book as it attempts to bring harmony between the various beliefs and show that they are all parts of a more complete whole. Since most conservatives by definition believe that their view is right and any other is blasphemy I would expect them to have at least some difficulties. On the other hand, those with an open spirit will probably find it one of their favorite books.
Having said this, I would be failing my obligation to my readers if I did not point out that there are several editing problems of a nature that I would not expect in a finished product. While I did not make a note of them as I went along there are maybe ten to fifteen in the book - far more than the two to three maximum that I expect. As an example, page 235 has the sentence "Chester spoke to know one in particular". Although annoying, they don't interrupt the flow of the book too much and the authors make their point very clearly. It is only because of these errors that this is a recommended read and not a highly recommended read.The Reluctant Messenger of Science and Religion: Science and the World's Religions Are Pieces to a Puzzle That Need Each Other to Form a Complete Picture OverviewScience teaches evolution. Genesis describes creation. Christianity, Judaism, and Sufism teach resurrection. Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism teach reincarnation. The Reluctant Messenger of Science and Religion resolves these paradoxes.Chester and Lydia meet in a debate. One wins. One loses. Neither are ever the same. Lydia discovers a secret from her past that destroyed her family. She tries to ignore it, but her nightmares won't let her. Chester's greed for gold and revenge lead him to ancient knowledge which the powers of darkness fight to suppress. When the information last came to light, thousands died. Somehow, Chester must safely reveal it to the world."This is the most inspirational story I have ever read! Honest!" Clint Hoadley re: www.reluctant-messenger.com

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Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis Review

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Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis ReviewI have found this to be a most honest and direct evaluation of the current national situation. It is an easy book to read and demonstrates the unusual honesty of Jimmy Carter as a past president and current world humanitarian. His evaluation of the current administration's shortcomings and intrigue in its selling of the Iraq war to the American public and Congress is most interesting and enlightening. He substantiates his concern for the other detrimental actions of the present administartion throudh his own religeous beliefs and gives an explanation of his separation from the Southern Baptist Convention.Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis Overview

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Faith Lost Review

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Faith Lost ReviewThis book will touch your soul. It made me hold my children a little thighter and help me love my wife a little more. True faith begin within and radiate outward in due time. Sometime it start outward but will find its way back within. Tomorrow is not ours to give. This book is worth every penny and more.
Souvie
Faith Lost OverviewFaith Lost, by Kenneth Johnson, is a moving memoir that chronicles the author's tragic loss of his wife and child, yet offers hope and encouragement in his eventual triumph over grief and depressions.Johnson's pain caused him to question his faith in the religion he was raised in, and ultimately live to accept what happened using his own strength, insight and will.

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Wicca for Couples: Making Magick Together Review

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Wicca for Couples: Making Magick Together ReviewIf I had skimmed this book at a bookstore, rather than buying it based on Amazon reviews, I never would have bought it. I was looking for a book that emphasized ways that my partner and I could practice Wicca together. Based on the title, I thought that's what I was getting. I was disappointed. Before I address the specifics of my disappointment, I want to note that the second half of "Wicca for Couples" does contain beautiful ideas for couple-oriented rituals. The handfasting ritual struck me as especially lovely, and as something that could easily be modified to make non-Wiccans comfortable while still retaining spiritual aspects important to Wiccans.
A.J. Drew's point is that too often in religious communities-whether Wiccan or Christian-we tend to forget the family and neighborly focus. By turning covens into artificial families, we have tended to forget the everyday living of the ideas we express in ritual. He notes that originally these practices were based in real community, where extended families and neighbors participated together. While I agree that leaving religion behind at the ritual or at church is a common failing of several religions, I disagree with Drew's apparent contention that close-knit communities never really become like real family. My own circle of friends does act like family, caring for each other when sick, helping each other through difficulties, etc., to a greater extent than I ever experienced from my biological family.
Since few of my friends and none of my family are Wiccan, I appreciated Drew's idea that we can incorporate our spiritual practices into the real-life practices that we share with those closest to us. Drew provides a basic outline for Wiccan rituals with parallels to real-life practices. For instance, he likens smudging to putting guests at ease. He even suggests that if you want to actually smudge non-Wiccan guests as they arrive, you can honestly tell them that smudging is a Native American tradition.
I also appreciated Drew's reminder that we need to do more than pay lip service to the idea that we honor God along with the Goddess, and that we should honor them in their relationship to each other. He makes an excellent point that if we are drawn to a particular Goddess, we also should examine the relationship that she had with the God most frequently associated with her, such as Hera and Zeus, Shiva and Parvati.
I purchased "Wicca for Couples" hoping to find ideas for couple-based celebrations of the Sabbats. Drew does not cover this. He suggests rituals only for births, handfasting, handparting, and dating. Since his approach to ritual is to encourage couples to make up what's meaningful to them, his approach of only providing a few examples is understandable. Nevertheless, I tend to look to more specific examples and adapt, rather than making something up completely on my own. If your style is like mine, you might not find this book as helpful. If your style were more like Drew's, then you more likely would find his book useful.
Next, my disappointments:
Drew does not get to the "couple rituals" section until about 100 pages into the book. Since the book is barely more than 200 pages long, a substantial part of the book does not focus on what the title promises-"making magic together." Instead, Drew focuses on how Wicca developed from being a traditional fertility religion to effectively becoming "sterilized." He spends an inordinate amount of the book analyzing how the Farrar and Buckland approaches to Wicca diverge (the latter has not welcomed homo(...) and has removed references to (...) in the Charge of the Goddess; the former welcomes homosexuals and retains reference to (...) in the Charge).
I was looking for a book on how I could incorporate my partner into my Wiccan practices, not a history lesson. When I do read history, I especially appreciate an author who provides a good analysis of WHY things happened, not just what happened. Drew never gets to the "why."
Until he gets to the section on couple rituals, Drew's tone is VERY negative. I have never encountered such extremely critical and judgmental language in any Wiccan writings before. His style was far more reminiscent of what I encountered in my fundamentalist Christian upbringing. Drew could have made his same points in a far more positive, affirming way, rather than spending half his book condemning how others practice their religion.
Finally, I have to address a comment that he made in arguing that educators should be personally successful in the subjects they teach. For instance, Drew contends that successful marriage counselors should have successful marriages. He draws a parallel to parenting, and states, "Abused children tend to grow up to be child abusers; molested children tend to grow up to be child molesters..." (p. 65). Although Drew provides footnotes for the flavor of Granny Smith apples and his preference for rock salt versus sea salt in another ritual (p. 212), he provides no statistics supporting his perpetuation of the "abused becomes abuser" myth. I have professional training in this area. Sarah Buehl, a nationally recognized expert on domestic violence, states that while abusers typically were abused as children, to say that abused children tend to grow up to abuse is absolutely incorrect. I tend to believe Buehl rather than the owner of a pagan bookstore on this point. When I encounter such blatant inaccuracies, I tend to question other "facts" presented by the author.
Overall, if you skip over the first five chapters, "Wicca for Couples" is not a bad starting point for developing rituals that you can share with your partner and family. Drew does point out that more needs to be done within Wicca. Unfortunately, his book still leaves plenty of room for others to develop inclusive, affirming couple-based rituals. I definitely did not find what I was looking for.Wicca for Couples: Making Magick Together OverviewIn a world where Wicca is something one does as a solitary or with his or her coven, this book demonstrates how Wicca is something one experiences with kith and kin. It focuses on a modern context for pre-Christian fertility religions and examines such issues as Archetype vs. Stereotype, Real Ritual vs. Real Life, Clergy vs. Guru, and as its title implies Couple vs. Coven. In so doing, this book gives us the foundation for rethinking the focus of our involvement with this religion in the context of our own deeply felt needs and desires. The book focuses on a Wicca where the structure is founded on the natural bonding of a couple. It includes rituals for Hand Fasting, Wiccaning, and Hand Parting with a discussion of how these sacred rituals have been almost trivialized in Wiccan culture and what steps we can take to return their sanctity.

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Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America Review

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Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America Review... and see what life we can make for our children", a quote by Sitting Bull, embraces the philosophy and vision of outstanding educator, reformer, and leader Geoffrey Canada, creator of the Harlem Children's Zone. Part biography, part call to action, "Whatever it Takes" is a transformative book of the highest order, one that challenges, inspires, and calls people to do what's best for our children.
Author Paul Tough writes a compelling and highly readable story of Geoffrey Canada's struggle from social service agency manager to this hugely comprehensive program designed to hold students in a web of great education and accountability until they enter college. Frustrated by seeing too many students who were in need of help and not receiving it, Canada envisioned a dream in which the children would be taken care of, from womb to high school, so that they wouldn't be haggled the by overwhelming needs that often interfered with their development and hence, education. Canada dared to ask the hard what, "What if?", and now, years after asking it, the Harlem Children's Zone is proving it's results.
What's interesting about the book is that Tough doesn't sugar coat anything. The HCZ has had it's ups and down, its issues and celebrations. Canada's philosophical battle with the Promise Academy's first principal Terri Grey, shows the conflicts that arose; two people with the same intentions, disagreeing on the way to go about it. Often, in a book like this, there is a temptation to be upbeat and happy about something new and innovative, probably so as not to give potential critics ammunition to shoot it down. Tough paints its honesty. It's simply refreshing. Dealing with students in poverty comes with no easy answers. The work, however, is some of the most personally rewarding work that anyone can do, and that shines clear through every single page.
Another interesting focus of this book is the role that race plays in our society, and the issues of race that our society is still choosing to ignore. Through Canada's life story, which stems from an inner city urban upbringing, to an almost improbable life as a college student in Maine, Tough echoes challenges people of color have in our still majority white society. Canada lives in both worlds, and has raised kids in both worlds. His ability to see the benefits and challenges in each world makes him effective in his current job.
I devoured this book, and now I'm anxiously awaiting to watch the HCZ over the years, to see the ultimate benefit of their students. Canada and his team has put their minds together ... and now let's see what kind of world his students will have.Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America Overview

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The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching: A Comprehensive Resource for Today's Communicators Review

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The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching: A Comprehensive Resource for Today's Communicators ReviewI recently received a copy of The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching: A Comprehensive Resource for Today's Communicators, and have been browsing through it from time to time. Whether you're a full- or part-time preacher or even if you spend any time at all speaking in front of others as a Christian attempting to bring others to a better understanding of the Bible, or to bring them to a point of decision, you need this book on your shelf. It is the finest compendium of useful preaching/exhortation articles I have ever seen.
I've only just started to browse through this tome, but every article I've glanced at or read has excited me, filled me with ideas on how to improve my preaching and prep-time, and given me already useful techniques to make my delivery more effective. Many of the articles were repurposed from timeless Leaderhip journal articles, some were culled from the Preaching Today website's "Skill Builder" articles, but there are a ton of new articles written fresh just for this project.
About the two editors: Haddon Robinson is considered by many to be one of the finest preachers alive today. I've always enjoyed the interviews and teaching I've heard from Robinson, and he has a clear, fatherly style of teaching. The blurb from Preaching Today Audio says, about him:
"Dr. Robinson has been named one of the 12 most effective preachers in the English-speaking world. His text, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages, is used in more than 100 seminaries and Bible colleges in North America. He is also host of Discover the Word which airs on 400 radio stations across the world."
Craig Brian Larson is pastor of Lake Shore Church (Assembly of God) in downtown Chicago, and is the managing editor of Preaching Today. He's well-known in the world of sermon illustrations, having compiled several illustration compendiums (see Movie-Based Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching, volumes one and two, for example), and coauthored a guide for helping preachers add journalistic impact to their messages (see Preaching that Connects).
If you preach or teach at all, you really owe it to your listeners to pick up this book and refer to it from time to time. It will be a resource you refer to for years, and it will challenge you at every turn. This book is truly a gift to the Church!
Rich.The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching: A Comprehensive Resource for Today's Communicators OverviewA Comprehensive Resource for Today's CommunicatorsThis extensive encyclopedia is the most completeand practical work ever published on the art andcraft of biblical preaching. The 11 major sectionscontain almost 200 articles, which cover every possiblepreaching topic, including changing lives, sermonstructure, 'the big idea,' introductions,outlining, transitions, conclusions, passionate delivery,application, leveraging illustrations, telling stories,preaching narrative texts, topical preaching,expository preaching, evangelistic preaching,preaching to postmoderns, using humor, speakingwith authority, and many others. Entries are characterizedby intensely practical and vivid writingdesigned to help preachers deepen their understandingand sharpen their communication skills.The contributors include a virtual Who's Who ofpreaching from a cross section of denominations andtraditions, such as John Ortberg, Rick Warren,Warren Wiersbe, Alice Mathews, John Piper, AndyStanley, and many others. Haddon Robinson andCraig Brian Larson---two of today's mostrespected voices in preaching---provide editorial oversight.

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Playing with God: Religion and Modern Sport Review

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Playing with God: Religion and Modern Sport ReviewThe author does outstanding research on the history of sports and how it has been interwoven within the structure of religion. I read every word. As a retired minister and pastoral counselor I was astonished as to how much sports and religion are competitive yet are parallel and both are interwoven into our modern faith and belief systems. I have a son who is an Offensive Coordinator in a local high school and I give it to him for his birthday. It's a great gift. I recommended it last Christmas to a friend to give to their father who enjoys sports and has everything. I also recommended it to my attorney to give to his law partner.
A great book thank you "Billy"
Playing with God: Religion and Modern Sport Overview

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