Musings of a Snickerdoodle

Fool's Talk:   Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion by Os Guinness is quite a convicting book, a book that really makes you   think about how serious we really are about evangelism/apologetics.   It provokes the question:   how much thought do we really put in our conversations (or even our small-talk) with unbelievers?   Do we hold back on saying anything related to the Gospel because we are ashamed of being considered foolish because of our belief in God's Word?   Or if we do evangelize, are we just sticking with simple pre-contrived evangelization questions like, "If you were to die today and stood before God and He asked you why He should let you into Heaven, what would you say?"   Are we willing to truly put thought into persuading someone of the truth of Christianity, giving answers to their questions, and asking thought-provoking questions ourselves, rather than merely turning to someone else's pre-designed method of evangelism.   D...

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...