Here's a not-so-positive review of the book that's the "new" Pilgrim's Progress...My cousin recommended this book to me. The longer I read, the more frustrated I became. As the plot unfolded, I thought perhaps this was going to be a book dealing with the age old question; "Why do bad things happen to good people?" However, the longer I read the more I understood this book was about the character of God, who He is, and our relationship with Him.
I know this book is a work of fiction, but often people get their truths from fiction, and it could confuse some who are "babes" in the faith.
One of the first falacies that made me want to jump off my seat was when God is first introduced as a woman or rather 2 women, because God is "neither male nor female". In the Bible, the inspired Word of God, God never once refers to himself as a female. He has always revealed Himself to us as a male. God does not have feminine characteristics, women (and men) have Godly characteristics. We are created in His image, not the other way around.
The author believes God loves everyone, that we are all his children. The truth is that while we are all God's creation, we are not all his children. John 1:12 states, "...all who receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the RIGHT to BECOME children of God."
This book is very new age in it's thinking. Justice is unnecessary and barbaric. Satan is not mentioned. The closest he gets to mentioning Satan is some strange reference to the "matrix" and it is implied that few if any go to hell, because God just doesn't have the heart to send anyone there.
The virgin birth is not mentioned; Jesus is limited in being fully human, and while he does mention he is also fully God, he renders Him impotent of his Godly powers and claims Jesus can only do miracles because of God (the father?) working in Him and through him - reminiscent of Luke Skywalker and the force.
He states that the entire trinity was crucified with Jesus, that Jesus only felt abandoned. We know this isn't true. Jesus cries out on the cross, "My God, My God, why has thou forsaken me? (Matt. 27:46) Jesus had to pay the FULL penalty for our sins, part of that penalty was separation from God -experiencing hell.
The author obviously has a problem with authority, religion, responsibility and law. In fact he states that in Jesus we are not under the law, everything is lawful. It is true that the law isn't going to save us, good works are like filthy rags, unable to cleanse us of sin. However, obedience to the law is evidence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Much as an apple tree produces apples, the Christian life produces good works.
Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? NO!
The final straw for me was when the author finally comes out and says it, you don't have to be a Christian to be saved, it's just the "best" way. Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth and the life, NO one comes to the father except through me." (John 14:6)
There is SO much more wrong with the book, I just don't have the space to cover it all.
- Guest Blogger, Verla (original post on Amazon.com)
(For another review, visit by brother's Nufey blog.)
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