The Return

Review: Short Answers to Big Questions about God, the Bible & Christianity Clinton E. Arnold and Jeff Arnold Baker Books 2015 The title describes this book well.   It gives short answers, but as the authors say in the preface, “… Short Answers is not meant to be the end of your study; rather, it’s the beginning.   Let this be the springboard for you to dive into the deep ocean that is understanding God.” (17)   To help the reader move toward that goal each chapter ends with several Scripture passages related to the chapter topics and then a few questions for thought.   Some of those questions are tough, too.   There is a list of titles for further reading provided at the end.   The authors have achieved their goal, in my opinion. This is no light, fluffy read.   There are illustrations that are relevant though, so it isn’t like trying to read a catechism book.   That is good.   It is not written for the totally unchurc...

Review: Good Things:   Seeing Your Life Through the Lens of God’s Favor Kevin Gerald Waterbrook Press 2015 Right from the start the author hits his reader with the question, “What do you think God thinks about you?” (10)   Combine that with some polarized sunglasses and you are off and running through this book.    This is a short, easy read that surveys seeing your life through the lens of God’s favor, borrowing his subtitle.   I say survey since each of his chapters could have been a feature length presentation.   Happily, he gives us enough to get the idea and go with it.   You could almost say he’s an optometrist of sorts, staying inside his metaphor.   He’s out to help his reader see the good things more clearly.    One statement in particular stood out for me.   The authors says, “The actual challenge for us is not gaining God’s approval but rather accepting God’s approval.” (13)   That’s just the s...

Review: Dataclysm: Love, Sex, Race and Identity---What Our Online Lives Tell Us about Our Offline Selves Christian Rudder Broadway Books 2014 Rudder takes a subject that could’ve made the Sahara look verdant and makes it not only enlightening but a good read.   This guy deserves some award for his service to readers like me.   In the meantime he’s showing us how similar and different we are as persons and groups of persons.    OK, we already know that---sort of, but he’s got the numbers to prove it.   Big samples that reflect the characteristics of the online users.   For those of us that managed to get through school without statistics as a requirement he explains what he’s done in ways that are understandable to us. This is not a beach read, page turner item but I don’t think the readers mind that too much.   He’s revealing how the information is gathered and used.   Some of it I knew about and so do you.   The stores tra...