Don’t let the title fool you. It’s not a book that allows you to squeak by. What it is, is an attempt to take the current “hot button” issues in Western Christianity and reveal them for what they are, points that are debated and debatable within our faith. He tackles things like doubt, evolution, the role of women in the Church, social justice, a literal reading of the scripture, how we as Christians view other religions, and homosexuality. It will come as little surprise to any of you that I agree with his take on most, if not all, of these issues. The point is, agree or not though, you can sit wherever you like on these matters and still count yourself a believer. If I have any problem with this book, it’s that he seems to be making the case that on these ten or so topics, you should actually agree with him if you want to be right. I suppose that’s hard to avoid.

One thing he does make clear is that this is not a book on systematic theology. It’s hardly a book at all, weighing in at 144 pages. That’s not much when you not only want to cover the ten things you don’t have to believe, but the ten things you do. There he talks about things like who Jesus is, how God works in people’s lives, suffering, the resurrection, and the Holy Spirit. I’m satisfied with the answers to those questions as well, as I think most mainstream Christians would be. He also makes it clear that if you believe in these doctrines, that a few things need to happen. You need to be a member/regular attender at a mainstream church. Spiritual growth is vital and will only happen in community. Central to that growth is the ongoing process of sanctification through prayer, Bible study, congregational worship, service to others, and the like.

What this book won’t do. – If you’re a conservative Christian, it’s not going to convince you to change or that you’re wrong. That’s not his point. If you’re a hard core atheist it’s not going to convince you that Jesus is the only way.

What I hope (and I suspect the author hopes) it will do. – It can show some of you that Christianity isn’t a monolithic belief system. If you’re soured on the faith because you somehow came to the conclusion that we all belong to the He Man Woman Hater’s Club or that we’re all a bunch of evolution deniers, then maybe this can set the record straight.

Dr. Thielen isn’t going to set the world on fire with this. It’s well written and well thought out. The title is going to intrigue some people and turn others off. If it turns you off, likely you’re not the target audience. You might go ahead and read it anyway. You’d be a step ahead of some of the one star reviewers on Amazon. You risk nothing by giving it a shot. It’s free and if you can read this blog without tearing out your hair then you can read this book.

What’s the Least I Can Believe? – A Review is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Mentioned in this podcast:Let Christians Vote As Though They Were Not Voting

Promo played for Are You Just Watching

Spiritual Stew: Episode 16 – Your Jesus is Too Safe is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Personal Effects: Dark Arts is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Scott Sigler Interview is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Pitcher’s Pendant – A Review is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Double Trouble is the brilliant marketing push that Tee Morris and Pip Ballantine have put together to push their books up the Amazon chart. At 11:00 am EST (which should be now if this works right) you should go to Amazon and BUY THEM! If you’re a fan of fantasy at all I promise you’ll enjoy them both

Digital Magic comes out on 08/08/08 on Amazon.com. It’s the sequel the the podcast/print novel Chasing the Bard. You can download the PDF version for free right now, right here. Faeire in the future!

Billibub Baddings and The Case of the Pitcher’s Pendant is the sequel to Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword. Imagine if Mike Hammer had been a dwarf from a fantasy world, plunked down into 1930′s Chicago. Download it for free, right here! Buy it on 08/08/08!

Double Trouble is Today is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Samson and the Pirate Monks is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Little Brother is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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I’m curious to see what the market is for shareware shorts (or, at least, my shareware shorts). Basically, I think it’s an interesting experiment. Also, I think it’s a fun, fast story, one that folks will enjoy reading — i.e., if any science fiction story could make a go at converting readers into buyers, it’s this one. And finally, today I just paid a plumber lots of money to fix the pipes coming into my bathtub, and for a new faucet. I could use the cash.

As far as the money goes? Again here’s John.

Half of the money you send (after PayPal/Amazon fees are subtracted) will be donated to The Lupus Foundation of America, a favorite charity of Subterranean Press publisher Bill Schafer (who has graciously given me permission to use Subterranean’s beautifully designed and typseset version of the story). The other half goes to me, because it’s nice to get paid.

Certainly a worthwhile cause. You can get the details here.

A Shareware Short Story: “How I Proposed to My Wife: An Alien Sex Story” is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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You’re Siddhartha!
by Hermann Hesse
You simply don’t know what to believe, but you’re willing to try
anything once. Western values, Eastern values, hedonism and minimalism, you’ve spent
some time in every camp. But you still don’t have any idea what camp you belong in.
This makes you an individualist of the highest order, but also really lonely. It’s
time to chill out under a tree. And realize that at least you believe in
ferries.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

What Book Am I? is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Please do not email the PDF, email the LINK. This is so I can prove to Crown the value in giving away content, and if your friends click on the link, that counts on their server stats – emailing the PDF doesn’t count on the stats.
THANKS & ENJOY!
Copy the link address below, paste it into your email and send it to all your friends. Free crap for them! http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/infected/downloads/infected_novel.pdf

Infected is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Read American Gods, For FREE!!! is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works–and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.
But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.
When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.

Boy THAT’S gonna push a button or two. Knowing Cory, which I don’t, not personally anyway, this will probably be available for free in some form or another. I can’t wait to read it. Evidently every chapter will contain some interesting how to’s like defeating CCTV’s and your school’s proxy server. Heh.

Little Brother is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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More Chocolateering is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Dangerous Chocolate Cookbook is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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So mine:
1. The Bible – I don’t suppose this comes as a shock. It’s full of good things to do and good things not to do.
2. The Hobbit – I would love to build a civilization around The Shire.
3. Gulliver’s Travels – Some fantastic examples here as well as far as what not to do.
These are TOTALLY off the top of my head and I reserve the right to change this list.
So what about you?

Three Books is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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I’m aware that I’m not the first to have such thoughts on this tome. It has been applied to business, sports, and politics. I’m tempted to apply it to the current war we’re in, but of course not all of this could apply since we’d be hard pressed to use what resources our enemies have to add anything significant to our own forces. I will say that it would have been good to think about this particular pull quote before we entered the current conflict and leave it there.
I wonder if these principles could be applied in spiritual warfare. I’ve been thinking about that quite a bit, not just lately. I get together with a group of guys on a regular basis to pray and many of us are locked into some long standing battle with a sin. In some cases it’s a sin particular to one of is. In others it’s one that most of us share. In every case there’s more than one. Together we fight the good fight and help one another up after a fall.
Of course I know that the war against sin and temptation is one that won’t be won in this life, but our object is victory. Unfortunately the nature of the campaign is one that will require long suffering and patience. We face setback after setback. The length of the run is unknown to us, but the outcome (one hopes) is sure. So, perhaps Sun Tzu’s wisdom isn’t applicable to the spiritual realm.
The Bible says “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.” (2 Cor 10:3-4). We trust that these divine weapons, not the least of which is grace, is sufficient to do precisely what God intends, no matter how long it may take.

Art of War is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Friday I had my birthday cake with the family. It was AWESOME. My wife made a cinnamon, chocolate cake from scratch with chocolate/macadamia nut frosting (also scratch made) that is hands down the best cake I’ve had.
Saturday she had to work so I had the kids all to myself (bwahahaha). After a bit of light housework we trundled off to the library. It has been literally years since I’d been. I don’t know why we don’t go more often, but do trust I shan’t let it happen again. I picked up The Audacity of Hope (Check out the new shelfari thing in the left sidebar. Yes I’m reading all of those books at present.) and the kids and I participated in story time. Once the wife returned and we had a bit of a nap and did some housework, the sitter arrived. And it was off to our evening out.
We went to dinner at Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches, a new place for us. This is the sub shop to go to. It blows any other sammich place out of orbit. I had their Beach Club (fresh baked turkey breast, provolone cheese, avocado spread, sliced cucumber, sprouts, lettuce, tomato, and mayo) and mi esposa had the Pepe (applewood smoked ham and provolone cheese garnished with lettuce, tomato, and mayo) unwich (wrapped in iceberg). Freshness rules. After that we saw Todd Agnew giving a free concert at the mall. That boy has him a serious voice. He had some excellent things to say about the state of Christian radio (full of happy, happy, joy, joy songs) and talked about a new CD that he has coming out. After hearing him, I want this bad boy. It comes out tomorrow. We followed that up with a trip to B&N where we read until they closed up shop. Once home and with the sitter relieved we watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest until it went off at 1:30 and then retired to bed.
Sunday we mustered our strength and made it to church on time. That afternoon and the rest of the evening I felt absolutely awful. I did manage a trip to the used bookstore where I got a copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and discovered that Danielle Steel, of all folks, writes children’s books. I spent the rest of the night on the couch, missing The Religious Ride and feeling miserable.
No birthday loot to brag about, at least not yet. I did get some cash which I anticipate will be used towards a nice mike for my PC. I have also been promised gifts from my Mom (who sent cash to tide me over until we visit them in August) and my wife (who did get me a book and take me out).
Feeling fit and fine today, if a bit tired, and ready for the The Political Ride tonight. Won’t you join us?

Birthday Aftermath is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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abjure
abrogate
abstemious
acumen
antebellum
auspicious
belie
bellicose
bowdlerize
chicanery
chromosome
churlish
circumlocution
circumnavigate
deciduous
deleterious
diffident
enervate
enfranchise
epiphany
equinox
euro
evanescent
expurgate
facetious
fatuous
feckless
fiduciary
filibuster
gamete
gauche
gerrymander
hegemony
hemoglobin
homogeneous
hubris
hypotenuse
impeach
incognito
incontrovertible
inculcate
infrastructure
interpolate
irony
jejune
kinetic
kowtow
laissez faire
lexicon
loquacious
lugubrious
metamorphosis
mitosis
moiety
nanotechnology
nihilism
nomenclature
nonsectarian
notarize
obsequious
oligarchy
omnipotent
orthography
oxidize
parabola
paradigm
parameter
pecuniary
photosynthesis
plagiarize
plasma
polymer
precipitous
quasar
quotidian
recapitulate
reciprocal
reparation
respiration
sanguine
soliloquy
subjugate
suffragist
supercilious
tautology
taxonomy
tectonic
tempestuous
thermodynamics
totalitarian
unctuous
usurp
vacuous
vehement
vortex
winnow
wrought
xenophobe
yeoman
ziggurat

100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know… is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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It turns out that this book isn’t solely about addiction and recovery. What it’s really about is a desire to get Christian men into authentic relationships where they feel comfortable talking about their struggles, whatever those may be. See certain parts of the Church have a real hard time with Christians who are honest about areas of sin that they struggle with. What often ends up happening may run the gamut from trite offers of self-help and ineffective counseling to outright rejection. Fear of those reactions often leads to people suffering silently.

Nate Larkin is very open not only with his own struggle with sexual addiction, but also his tremendous problem with self-righteousness. As a preacher’s kid, he felt that becoming a pastor was part birthright, part familial obligation. Ultimately he ends up leaving the ministry and becoming a successful businessman, one who is active both in the church and in supporting the commercial sex industry financially. This nearly costs him his marriage.

As a result of these experiences he winds up going to a number of different 12 Step groups and finding some degree of help there. Gradually he built a network of Christian brothers who both support and get support from Nate. They develop something they call the Samson Society and here we are. The reason it’s named after Sampson is not because he’s some paragon of virtue, to the contrary. Sampson is constantly going it alone, working things out for himself and generally screwing things up. We as Christian men are so often Sampsons, doing just that.

Last night I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Nate and some other guys who were traveling around the country with him, talking about the Society. We have one at our church, made up of about seven guys. Last night there were over fifty guys present. There is a huge need for this sort of openness and honesty. I’m not sure that I’ll be going to our Sampson Society meeting as I already have a group that I meet with weekly. We are going to try and take Nate and the Society’s examples and ramp things up just a bit though.

You don’t have to read the book to start a Society of your own. You can get just about everything you need here. Give it a look. I would recommend the book though, especially to anyone who struggles with what Nate and I do.

Samson and the Pirate Monks is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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In the first novel Billi recounted what took him on the path of the private investigator and how he learned to get along in our world. Top that off with tracking down a magic sword while facing off against Al “Scarface” Capone and bedding a beautiful socialite and perhaps it becomes evident as to why I enjoyed it so much. When I heard that a second book was coming out I constantly bugged the man about a street date. Finally it happened, a few weeks ago I received it and read it as rapidly and yet as slowly as I could, torn between devouring it and wanting to savor it.

Pitcher’s Pendant opens after the stock market crash that started the Great Depression. Times are tough for everyone and it’s no different for Billi. Making ends meet requires appearances in a munchkin get up, straight out of the Wizard of Oz, and during one such performance he overhears a conversation that piques his interest. Then Billi gets a dream job with the Chicago Cubs. He’s asked to investigate the Mariners, a new team that’s good, too good. When it turns out the new job and the conversation may have some people in common, things get interesting and fists and bullets fly.

The characters in this novel are great fun. The fantasy elements add seasoning to what would be just a great nod to the noire detectives of the past. I turned pages laughing, guessing, gaping, and just in general having a fantastic time. Unfortunately the whole thing went by more than just a little too fast. If you enjoy fantasy or Spillane-esque fiction then give this a try. It may not sound like the two things work together, but I assure you they do. Now, when’s that third book coming out Morris?

Buy the book here!!

Pitcher’s Pendant – A Review is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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The things he’s talking about are why I am podcasting Archangel and will be podcasting my fiction for the forseeable future.

Scott Sigler Interview is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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“Personal Effects: Dark Art” Book Trailer #1 : J.C. Hutchins: New Fiction And Author Updates

Personal Effects: Dark Arts is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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