Musings of a Snickerdoodle

Polycarp: a destroyer of our gods is a novel about the life of Polycarp, known as one of the early church ‘fathers’. Beginning with Polycarp as a young boy, the narrative follows him into adulthood, old age and finally, his death. There are only a few details known about the actual Polycarp, one of which is that he was purported to have been taught by the Apostle John (who features as one of Polycarp’s mentors in this book). Because so much about Polycarp is unknown, the author is able to take liberties and present the life of Polycarp in this way. It is written from the perspective of Polycarp, who begins his account starting from his life as a young boy born into slavery who is experiencing drastic changes, having to come to grips with his parents’ death, and shortly after, being sold at the slave market where he is bought and freed by a Christian lady who adopts him as her own. He begins attending church assemblies with his adopted family and eventually meets the A...

I must admit, I liked the cover of this Bible (the 'Frost Bible') decorated with snow and sparkles and that was one of the reasons I requested this book in order to review it.   I am not an advocate of choosing a Bible because of its cover, and am generally uncomfortable with Bibles that are aimed towards a specific gender (mainly because of their study notes that may run into danger of eisegesis by trying to direct the thinking into a more egotistical interpretation of Scripture) , but this one, other than its being appealing to girls by its cover (as I am proof of) is otherwise a fairly basic Bible.      My motives in requesting this Bible were not wholly material in nature, I had never heard of the International Children's Translation before and was very curious about it.    It seems to be a rather literal translation overall.   They explain in the preface about some liberties they took in translation, such as clarifying ancient customs, c...

I wasn't sure about reading this book until I saw that Ken Ham had endorsed it and then I knew that it would be what I wanted:  a book that is biased towards the literal account that God's Word gives of creation.  The author of this book believes in a literal six-day Creation and in a literal global flood, and thus studies the dinosaurs with that viewpoint.  I was especially intrigued upon opening the first pages of the book to see 1 Timothy 6:20-21 and 2 Peter 3:5-6, two verses warning about those who turn away from what God's Word says. Dinosaurs Marvels of God's Design by Dr. Tim  Clarey is a very fascinating book on Dinosaurs. Filled with many photographs of dinosaur fossils, and many artist renditions of dinosaurs, it is interesting even to little kids as I found when my little brothers all gathered around me while I was reading this book this past week, asking about the dinosaurs and being intrigued with the pictures. Where the Bible is silent on Dinosau...

The Apostles' School of Prophetic Interpretation: With Its History Down to the Present Time - by Charles Maitland is a very fascinating book on prophecy.  Maitland bases his premise on the fact that the Apostles taught Christians verbally and not merely through letters, and that those letters do not contain everything they taught the early Christians.   He cites 2 Thes. 2:15,  "So then, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye were taught, whether by word, or by epistle of ours. "(2Th 2:15 ASV)   And   also uses another verse closely connected with the above to prove his point, speaking of 2 Thess. Ii 5-6.   "…on this point St. Paul and the Thessalonians understood each other:  ' Ye know what withholdeth. ' And how had they learnt it?  ' When I was yet with you I told you these things. '  They knew something not directly expressed in Scripture:  and this knowledge they were told to hand down together with the e...

Little Pilgrim's Progress is a rewritten, illustrated version of Pilgrim's Progress and Christiana for kids.   In this version, Christian is a "Little Pilgrim" who is close friends with a little girl named Christiana who has several little siblings. Christian goes out on his pilgrimage first, and meets with various characters similar to the original Pilgrim's Progress, though some of them have been changed to be boys instead of men.   Christiana goes on her pilgrimage later on in the book with her siblings, where they also encounter Christian's father who has become a Christian and is also journeying to the Celestial City.      There are two things that I had trouble with regarding this book and this is that first of all Christian's mother, who had gone to the Celestial City before him, is focused upon too much, she is portrayed as if she is watching, and possibly even helping him on his pilgrimage.   Speaking of Christian's mother, one characte...

Short Answers to Big Questions about God, the Bible and Christianity by Clinton E. Arnold and Jeff is just what its title declares it to be, it is an endeavor to answer, in only a few pages, many questions new Christians, or unbelievers, have about God, the Bible or Christianity.   The book is not as good as I had hoped it would be.   My main problem with it is its presentation of the relationship/interaction between God and mankind.     First, its discussions of the love of God toward people are presented too much like the modern concept of "falling in love", an uncontrolled, "couldn't help it" type of thing.   Here are a few quotes to demonstrate what I mean:   "God isn't just loving, he is love……And he isn't just a loving person 'in theory'; he literally, at this very moment, is aware of his deep love for you. " and, "he loves you because he created   you…If   you have a child,   you have felt this love before; you don...

The Carols of Christmas by Andrew Gant goes through various popular carols of Christmas and tells some of their intricate, and often confusing, history.  You may not come out of the book wiser than when you started it about who wrote such and such a carol but Gant himself warns of this in the intro:  "…if you occasionally get to the end of a chapter in this book slightly unsure about who wrote words or tunes or bits of either, me too…." Apparently we don't know exactly who wrote some of the songs, and many of them were revised from their original written form.   One of the histories I found particularly interesting was that of Hark the Herald Angels Sing, originally Hark How all the Welkin Rings' by Charles Wesley.  Apparently George Whitefield was one of the people who revised the song, one of the verses he changed was "universal nature say 'Christ the Lord is born today!' " to "With th'Angelic hosts proclaim, Christ is born in Bethl...

God commands His people to be happy and therefore being 'happy' is a matter of obedience for Christians. Such is the argument of Randy Alcorn's newest book "Happiness".   It seems that he has encountered a lot of Christians who seem to think, or imply, that happiness is sin and that God's purpose is for us to be holy, not happy.   He declares that the oft cited difference between happiness and joy is in reality a nonexistent difference, that the terms are so alike in meaning they are synonymous.   "The distinction between joy and happiness is not biblical ".      He critiques the view that 'joy' is more 'contentment' without reference to the emotions, while 'happiness' is primarily circumstantial and emotional.   He makes a case that the word "joy" is also emotional in meaning.   He also believes that "happy" is the better term to use in the case of many of the Greek and Hebrew words translated in many...

A Commentary on the Manuscripts and Text of the New Testament, by Philip Wesley Comfort is an interesting and a potentially helpful resource in studying the NT.  I appreciate that summaries are given about the various manuscripts that are referred to in the commentary, including their symbols, which are what Comfort uses to refer to the different manuscripts as he comments on the different readings of any particular verse.  Most of the variants appear to be rather small and do not appear to change the meaning of a verse much, for instance some manuscripts saying 'Jesus Christ' in a certain variant and others reading simply "Christ",  whichever reading a Bible translator chooses to use doesn't make a major difference as either way we know to Whom it refers.   Comfort mentions a variant of Romans 8:28 which I found interesting, he translates the variant as, "God turns everything to good" which of course is different from "all things work togeth...

Perhaps this is odd, but I find the subject of the Sinking of the Lusitania fascinating.   Perhaps it is because so many people's lives were affected and lost at once, and it was interesting to see   their reactions under pressure and fear of death, some were brave, some were cowardly, some were selfish and some were selfless.     Like the first book I've read on the subject, Dead Wake by Eric Larson,   An Epic Tragedy: Lusitania by Diana Preston looks at many people as they travel on the Lusitania and experience her sinking (The Lusitania was a passenger liner torpedoed by the Germans during WW1 before America entered the war).   Preston seems to repeat the accounts of   more people than Larson did, which I appreciate, even though getting glimpses of so many people does make it a bit 'crowded' at times and hard to remember who's who (that's more realistic right?).   It makes it seem like one is getting a 'bigger picture' of the event. ...

When first received my copy of the NIV Zondervan Study Bible in the mail, my first impression was amazement over its size and weight, it is HUGE!   It is quite impressive on the inside as well, the text of the   NIV is laid out in a one column format instead of the usual 2 columns.   The cross references are placed on the side of the column and study notes on the bottom.   I loved the charts throughout, especially in the OT which included charts summing up what was in certain sacrifices and offerings, and charts on the Lord's appointed festivals, census results, Levite Numbers and responsibilities…etc.   Very helpful.   There were many photographs of Biblical areas throughout, and also pictures of various archeological finds having to do with many biblical events and people.   Those are quite fascinating and interesting.    Many of the study notes seem quite intricate and useful and exegetical.   Several of the pages are quite pac...

One of the ways I know a book is well written is when it seems too short. 'Till we Meet Again by Ray and Betty Whipps with Craig Borlase is one of those books.   It is a true World War II account of a U.S. soldier (Ray) who ends up wounded and transferred to a place where U.S. Nurse (Betty) works.   Upon meeting they discover their love for each other.   After promising to marry Betty, Ray gets sent out to the battlefield again and gets captured.   But I knew it had a happy ending before I read it because their picture is on the back of the book as an old, happily married couple (of course, you can assume it too because Betty's name is joined with Ray's on the book cover with the same last name as Ray).      Told from Ray's first-person dramatized view, Betty's perspective is mainly told from her letters scattered throughout the book.   I found their first meeting very…I don't think that amusing is the word…it was very heartening/encouragin...