I recently received a copy of The Sword by Bryan Litfin from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. The Sword seeks to explore what would happen if the Bible were introduced into a society with no knowledge of God or the Bible. The book follows the main characters as they progress from living in this society to the life changing experience of finding a copy of God’s word in an old church.
The premise of the story is very interesting but I found the setup to be rather simplistic and unbelievable. Once you get past the two introductory chapters the story that follows is very compelling. The characters were interesting and most of the situations they found themselves in were believable. The false religions presented in the book are ridiculous but it see they are very similar in that respect to those presented in the Bible.
The good characters have their flaws and realize that the only way to accomplish anything is to believe that God is able to deliver them. They don’t always do the right thing but find that God will forgive even the worst sinners. They learn that God doesn’t always work out situations the way they would like but that they need to have faith that he is working.
The writing is not exceptional but didn’t distract from the story most of the time. I think it’s a good job for a first novel from the author. I would recommend this book to any that are intrigued by the premise of introducing the Bible to a society completely without Christianity. I look forward to reading the second volume in the series.
Doug Wilson has recently posted an excellent series of articles that basically get down to a biblical understanding of the state and how it relates to citizens of the state. Can the state do wrong or more specifically is there a level of taxation that the government has no right to take? Without much more explanation I want to link to the articles he wrote:
The Right says that the government isn’t the solution to problems at home but at the same time wants the government to solve problems everywhere else. The Left says the opposite. When either are elected they grow the government at home and never actually shrink the presence of our government abroad. When will the vast majority realize that government as practiced today is also the cause of most of these problems.
I just finished watching Collision: Christopher Hitchens vs. Douglas Wilson. This documentary follows a series of debates and discussions that Douglas Wilson and Christopher Hitchens did after they had authored the book, Is Christianity Good for the World?. It is excellent and seems to present a fair look at both sides of the argument. Christopher Hitchens claims that Christianity is an “immoral” religion, while Doug Wilson consistently points out that Hitchens has no basis for what is and is not moral (where does the atheist base his morality).
Ultimately the argument between the believer and non-believer is an issue of faith. The Christian believes because God has given him the gift of faith. The unbeliever rejects because his sin has darkened his understanding. Collision will edify the believer and I would recommend that everyone see it.
The House Financial Services Committee will hold hearings on Ron Paul’s bill to audit the fed this Friday, September 25, beginning at 9 a.m. You can watch the hearings online here.
Ron Paul’s latest book, End the Fed, will be released on September 16. If you are at all interested, please pre-order the book to help make it a best seller on Amazon and get it more exposure. Also, don’t forget to contact your congressman and senators and tell them to cosponsor HR1207 and S604 to Audit the Fed.
John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods Market, has written an article at the Wall Street Journal on The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare. It is good to see someone from the business world pointing out that there are better ways. Part of the problem with this whole health care debate is that President Obama’s side wants you to think that we currently have a free market. They then try to convince you that the free market doesn’t work. The problem is that health care doesn’t happen in a free market. To name a few obvious intrusions into health care that manipulate the market with easy money and also add unnecessarily regulation we have the Food and Drug Administration, Medicare and Medicaid to just name the government intrusions that first pop into my mind. Let’s quit pretending the market is currently free and maybe realize that some of these past ideas created the current problems.
I first saw this story on the Campaign for Liberty blog in the article, Health Care, Whole Foods, and Consumer Choice. Andrew Ward points to the progressives that have now vowed to boycott Whole Foods. All those against ObamaCare should consider increasing their shopping there.
You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. — Leviticus 19:15
I recently received a copy of The Sword by Bryan Litfin from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. The Sword seeks to explore what would happen if the Bible were introduced into a society with no knowledge of God or the Bible. The book follows the main characters as they progress from living in this society to the life changing experience of finding a copy of God’s word in an old church.
