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Friday, August 29, 2008

tell me all your thoughts on God

I just finished reading a novel and it's bugging me. That said, I'll give it credit for the fact that I finished it in about a week. Many books go unfinished due to lack of interest, or take me the full 3-week library checkout period to complete.

But, like a green potato chip, it's left an icky taste in my mouth. The plot was intriguing, the writing was.... well, the plot was intriguing.

The book is "Uncharted" by Angela Hunt. It's touted as a blend of Castaway and The Big Chill, with a touch of the television series Lost. But that's not really what made me pick it up. I have seen Castaway and really liked it, never seen The Big Chill, and I am one of the few people on the planet that has never watched a single solitary episode of Lost.

I'm not going to pick apart the plot and all that, but I was about halfway through it when I realized that there would be a message, and I suppose that's what kept me reading. Where was she going with this? I read some of the unfavorable reviews about it, and most of the reviewers were miffed about the fact that they felt duped into reading Christian literature without knowing it. Although I didn't know it at first either, that didn't bother me.

What bothers me is that, in the end, I didn't like the picture she painted of God. Now, I typically avoid getting religious or political here on the old blog, but I'm writing this now, I suppose, because of that green potato chip feeling.

So I'm not going to get all deep into my thoughts on God, but bottom line, I've been taught and have come to believe that God is a loving Father of all his children (us). He doesn't spoil us rotten, but allows us to experience this life including all the interwoveness of good/evil, happy/sad, rich/poor, etc., and to choose our own paths while always leaving the door open to us.

The God in "Unchartered" should have CPS called on him. Screw up once, even just a little, you're out. Don't show your face again. No prodigal sons and no fatted calves for you!

At the same time, though, it does prompt the readers to take a look at themselves and the congruency of their thoughts and actions, so for that it is useful. I'll give it 2 'tater chips out of 5.
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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think this book would tick me off. It sounds like the complete opposite of a book I absolutely loved. I just read "The Shack" by William P. Young and it painted a beautiful, loving and fair image of God. If you haven't read it, I would highly recommend it.

Anonymous said...

Book? Books? What is this? I respect books. Books is good. I don't bother them and they leave me alone. Books is good. Books and I have this understanding and it works. There is something Freudian about this whole relationship with books and myself but I'm really not sure what it is. I love my emaciated mind.
** translation - "I don't suffer from ignorance, I rather enjoy it" **

But let me degrease.
I do on occasion crack one open, if it has a purdy cover jacket. No pictures inside? False advertisement I say! Bad! Very bad! So then I would explore the words. I was enthralled by the myriad of words. I found out without words, a book is pretty much blank. WHO KNEW!? Damn! I just got educated again and now my head hurts. I must go lay down now. Thanks for torturing me with this whole book thing again.

Beej said...

If I told you all my thoughts on God, we be up several nights in a row...and somehow I think you'd be a fun person to do that with. But, in a nutshell, I think God is good. All the time. Even when we don't FEEL like he's being good. If God was small enough for us to understand, He wouldn't be big enough for us to worship.

Whimsical Ranter said...

I hate books that do that to me.

pendoodles said...

I think i'm needing to read this book now to find out.

God or Jesus?

There is a distinction. Did she write about the one true God, or Jesus as god his son. Alot of people just plain forget about God these days and bypass him to Jesus, or in some cases the reverse. LOL

Duble said...

It turns out that i've already screwed up, alot, and although I don't plan to do it again, I am sure I will.

Why do I want to read a book that says, no screw ups. THat seems very un christian and very un christ like.

IT reminds me of this quote

If it weren't for Christians, I'd be a Christian.-- Mahatma Ghandi

Anonymous said...

Having read UNCHARTED, I think you missed an important point. Didn't David have an affair? I'd hardly call that "no screw ups." Yet he wasn't stuck on the island with the others.

The difference was whether or not they placed faith in "the book." Whether or not they believed its message, no matter WHAT they did with their lives. God didn't choose to send them to that place, they made their own choices.