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I chose this book because it basically lies outside of genres that I would normally gravitate to. While I can't say that I hated the book, I can say that I disagreed fundamentally with mostly everything that Doug Pagitt had to say.
There are a couple of main problems I have with this book:
1. I consider myself to be a fairly intelligent person, but there were times during my reading where I was left pondering, "Uh. What?" I just didn't "get" some of the points that Pagitt was trying to make.
2. This man stated that he was a pastor. Maybe it's not very open-minded of me, but I feel that this pastor has missed the main point of the Gospel and what Jesus was trying to say.
I understand that Pagitt's point is to "flip" the traditional thinking of God and religion, and depending on your belief system this book may be wonderful or horrible to you. There were some ideas that I did agree with. I do feel that we should not be trying to hide or live with "If/Then" thinking. God does not want us to simply do good in the hope that he will do something good for us. That's not the point. Bad things still happen to good people, and it's not necessarily God "punishing" them for their choices. Sometimes bad things happen from bad choices. Sometimes bad things just happen. But I do completely disagree that we should just do whatever we want where ever we want with whomever we want. We SHOULD be trying to live Godly lives based on Jesus' example, knowing that we will NOT ever be perfect because we're human. We WILL make mistakes, and that's why we have a God who offers forgiveness when we mess up.
While Pagitt didn't directly say anything like this, if we are ALL in God, does that mean it's okay to murder others, or live a life of addiction, or abuse your spouse or children? It just makes me question his point. Shouldn't those people be ashamed of their actions? Shouldn't they want to repent?
Overall, I felt that Pagitt wrote well, but I just can't get on board with this flip.
1 comments:
I think the fact that "bad things happen to good people" is one of the hardest things we have to stomach in life. As an atheist, I find it easier to function believing that there is no one out there to thank OR blame for what happens. But I know for others, their belief in god provides a tremendous amount of peace.
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