If you normally enjoy devotionals & psychology, you will like this book. If you want strong Biblical teachings, you will not enjoy this book at all.
This is a large-sized devotional book designed for married couples, designed to appeal to both men and women, with its brown leathery cover. Unlike most devotionals, this book is full-sized and very simple and plain looking, to appeal to men. This is not a 365 day devotional but only has 52 chapters. This book has the feel-good from being a devotional and also from all its psychology emphasis.
Bible verses that are used are VERY short because they are cut off and not full verses. Verses are plucked out of context from the Bible, cropped accordingly, and rarely is the full verse even used. These short cropped verses are then used to support what the author wants to say. Often the author's story and the verse really have nothing to do with each other. They are out of context. The verses come from about a dozen different very paraphrased modern Bible translations: think Message, Good News and many I've never even heard of before! If biblical accuracy or biblical counseling is important to you, you will probably not like this book.
Disclaimer: I gave my honest review. I received this book from the publisher but a positive review was not required.
No Wonder They Call Him the Savior by Max Lucado
This book is supposed to be about finding hope in Christ's sacrifice on the cross. If you are already familiar with the writings of Max Lucado, you will probably enjoy this book. If you enjoy devotionals or books that make you feel emotionally warm and are light reading, you will also probably like this book. But if you enjoy using your brain, want something deep and profound, this book is not for you.
Prologue: The question is presented: "Forget the Christian religion - tell me what really matters." Lucado answers the seeker with a quote from 1 Corinthians 15: "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. That he was buried, that he was raised o the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve." Lucado tells us that no one can ignore the cross. However, I feel like millions ignore it, every single day, so I'm not convinced and Lucado's words mean nothing to me.
Each following chapter is a disjointed story that has nothing to do with the next chapter and not all that much to do with Christianity. I found this book pretty shallow. The main points can be summarized in one or two sentences, like "It's much easier to die like Jesus if you have lived like him for a lifetime." Not really all that profound, but this was the very best sentence in all of Chapter 1.
Most of Lucado's writings are unemotional, untouching, not life-changing, not profound in any way, and sometimes just plain disagreeable. Example: "What kind of people mock a dying man?" Well... the majority of people mock based on their anger. Most people become angry when they hear about someone on death row - they just assume the person is a "bad person" and did "bad things", so they say "good" to his/her death.
Disclaimer: I gave my honest review. I received this book from the publisher but a positive review was not required.
Prologue: The question is presented: "Forget the Christian religion - tell me what really matters." Lucado answers the seeker with a quote from 1 Corinthians 15: "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. That he was buried, that he was raised o the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve." Lucado tells us that no one can ignore the cross. However, I feel like millions ignore it, every single day, so I'm not convinced and Lucado's words mean nothing to me.
Each following chapter is a disjointed story that has nothing to do with the next chapter and not all that much to do with Christianity. I found this book pretty shallow. The main points can be summarized in one or two sentences, like "It's much easier to die like Jesus if you have lived like him for a lifetime." Not really all that profound, but this was the very best sentence in all of Chapter 1.
Most of Lucado's writings are unemotional, untouching, not life-changing, not profound in any way, and sometimes just plain disagreeable. Example: "What kind of people mock a dying man?" Well... the majority of people mock based on their anger. Most people become angry when they hear about someone on death row - they just assume the person is a "bad person" and did "bad things", so they say "good" to his/her death.
Disclaimer: I gave my honest review. I received this book from the publisher but a positive review was not required.
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