Musings of a Snickerdoodle

I have liked pretty much any Elisabeth Elliot (Gren) book I have read (I've read about three or four I think, but not the ones on marriage or relationships).  When I saw that this book was published, I was quite excited.  This is a book about Jim and Elisabeth's 'love story', told through many of their letters to each other and their journals.  Their daughter, Valerie, put it together and added commentary. I was very disappointed by their relationship.   I had always had the impression that they were a model example in Christian pre-marital relationships.   After reading this book, I think that they are a horrible example to young men and women. I was quite shocked.   They started out liking each other, but not being sure whether the Lord would have them marry. All fine and good.   But then when you get to them still not being sure whether or not the Lord would have them marry,(actually for a while,   Jim was quite sure that the Lo...

Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss is one of my favorite works of Christian fiction.  Written in the 1800s, it is still very interesting and relevant to people in our current day and very readable. Prentiss tells the story using the format of a diary written by a woman named Katherine, who records her life struggles, from young womanhood through much of her married life.  She gives the events of various days (sometimes skipping days, months or even years, but giving updates along the way), and writes down many of her inmost thoughts, questions and struggles with sin.  She has questions about her salvation and whether or not she is being sanctified.  God brings along many different people to teach her and to help her recognize that He really is working in her and making her more Christ like. God also brings along many different trials to grow her spiritually.  There are several interesting dialogues with others that are recounted by Katy, I give...

I am consistently struck during my travels how a bond is immediately created with other believers, regardless of the cultural, ethnic, and linguistic differences between us.    In many respects, this bond is stronger than the biological bonds that exist between father and son, or mother and daughter.  In face, Jesus plainly says that his advent will break such biological bonds, and if we are not willing to forsake these natural relationships when necessary, we have no business seeking a supernatural relationship with Christ.     - Victor Kuligin Quote from his book : The Language of Salvation:  Discovering the Riches of What it Means to Be Saved See more quotes on my quote collection blog:   https://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/

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...