Diana Butler Bass Review

As a viral blogger I chose this book because I am a fairly recent Christian and did not grow up in the Church. I don't know anything about the churches history so when Diana Butler Bass's book "A People’s History of Christianity" came up for me to read I jumped at the chance. This is a great book that I highly recommend to anyone looking to know a accurate portrayal of the church and it's sometimes not perfect history.

See below for the description of her wonderful book and a also a great interview with the author:
Subtitled A History of the Grassroots Movements in Christianity that Preserved Jesus’ Message of Social Justice for 2,000 Years and Their Impact on the Church Today, Bass’s A People’s History of Christianity is written in the same spirit as Howard Zinn’s radical and groundbreaking work A People’s History of the United States. In this landmark volume, Bass reveals the under-reported movements, personalities, and spiritual practices that continue to inform and ignite contemporary Christian worship, activism, and social justice reforms in the name of Jesus. The book will offer up a much-needed “other side of the story” for missional and emerging Christians, drawing from examples of alternative practices in every period of Christian history, including:

• Care for the environment and celebrating God in nature
• Defining compassion, hospitality, and social justice as integral to the Gospel
• Peace-making as the pervasive Christian response to war
• Highlighting the female attributes of God, and the power of women in the Church
• Celebrating human sexuality as a gift from God

When I first started reading Finding An Unseen God by Alicia Britt Chole I was a little sceptical. I saw that it was listed under apologetics /biography (Which is not my usual type of read). But then I opened the book and was immediately hooked. The way she writes in such short bursts of chapter immediately sucked me in. I was also very fascinated by the way she interwove her story of conversion with her story of growing up finally converging in the middle. Every other chapter is one story and the other half was telling another story. The short chapters made it so I could read only a little at a time and then pick it right back up. Although it was such a great read that I was sucked in and could not put the book down. She does get a bit preachy with her apologetics. But coming from a former atheist it made it so much more interesting for me. My boyfriends brother is a atheist who was formerly a believer. As you can imagine that is why I was drawn to this book. Her apologetics made me understand better how to talk to him, understand him and be more sympathetic for him. I definitely recommend this book for anyone, but I really recommend this book if you know any one searching for a unseen God.

http://www.truthportraits.com Alicia's official website
Excerpts from the book

Renewed hope to blog again

As many of you know I have not updated this blog in months. Life got busy and I forgot to write about it. So this is my new start!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

life goes madly on

Sometimes I think life is not real because it goes so fast and can so quickly spin out of control. Almost like I am in a constant dream..

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

The Lord shows compassion

For men are not cast off
by the Lord forever.

Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.

For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to the children of men.

Lamentations 3:31-33

My Grandfather became ill a few days after Christmas. He was not eating, and could not hold down what he would eat. His doctor had him go to the hospital to run some tests, they originally thought it was an ulcer. It turns out it was much more and he has terminal cancer. He has not eaten since being admitted to the hospital and is hooked up to IV fluids. Tonight he was admitted to the ICU because of fluid in his lungs and he was coughing up bile. My Grandfathers days are coming to an end, my family is slowly dwindling.

I love you Grandpa Phil.

John Williams is the MAN

Life through glasses

So I now live life through glasses. I am still getting used to having to wear them. It is not my first choice of things I want in life, but it is really not that bad. I am now just paranoid that I will break them and have to buy another pair. The picture to the right is a picture of my new frames.