Books!

 I read a lot. A lot. I love to read. It is my favorite hobby.

The last few weeks I have read a few really good books and thought I would talk about them. 

Number 1: All Systems Red: the Murderbot Diaries

This one is science fiction, and I don't read a lot of SF. When I do, I like humor, and All Systems Red has plenty of it. It is an absolutely brilliant book about a self aware cyborg who goes through a bunch of stuff... well, let's just say it is very funny and also very moving. There is a little swearing but not horrific. I have read it twice because it is so much fun and I caught things the second time I didn't "get" the first time. Also, the first six books of the series (yes, there are more!) are on Kindle Unlimited!

Number 2: The Doorbell Rang by Rex Stout.

I have read this one at least five times before but it is so much fun. Nero Wolfe is a 285 lb brilliant detective and Archie Goodwin is his assistant. Archie is the "voice" -- the books are in first person. This one was particularly enjoyable.

Number 3: How We Love by Milan and Kay Yerkovich

This one isn't "fun" but it is thought provoking and helpful. The Yerkoviches are a Christian couple who work as therapists. They contend that most people have an "imprint" about how they relate to others, usually based on personality and upbringing and life experiences. It definitely hits the spot regarding me. I am an avoider, which means I tend to manage my own emotions and not reach out for help. I am very smart and have always been an intellectual, and talking about emotions isn't easy. I have learned how to in the last 26 years of marriage which is very good. It was still useful to read the book again, and think about the children and how they talk, or don't talk, about their feelings. Feelings are important, and if they are strong enough, they can cause a person to lash out in anger (when in fact they are feeling fear, or grief). So yes, interesting and good book.

Number 4: Unveiling Grace by Lynn Wilder

This one was recommended on some FB group of mine and yeah, the library had it!  It is the story of a woman and her husband who entered the Latter Day Saints faith (more commonly known as Mormon) and after thirty years in it, decided it wasn't true and they became evangelical Christians.

I am an evangelical Christian. I am confident the Mormon faith is wrong.  The book is fascinating and well written. One of the things that struck me the most, though, is how easy it is to get confused about meaning when people of two different religions are talking. Words that mean something in one faith journey mean something entirely different in another faith journey. Mormonism is largely a works based religion. In order for an LDS individual to achieve the "celestial kingdom", which is the highest and best of kingdoms, he or she has to do a lot of stuff. They need to serve and they need to have a temple ordinance and they need to do this and that and the other.

I believe that there are only two destinations after death, heaven and hell. Heaven is the dwelling place of those who trust in Christ for salvation. Ours sins were washed away by His blood on the cross. We do "good things" out of gratitude for his sacrifice and love, not because we are trying to earn our way into heaven.

These are diametrically opposing belief systems. There is way more than that; the LDS faith has a lot of very, very, very different beliefs. We can't both be right.

But yet, when an LDS person and an evangelical Christian person talk, they may well talk at cross purposes because what a member of the LDS means by "grace" and "salvation" is different than for an evangelical Christian.

Words definitely matter! Probably when talking to an individual of another faith, it is super helpful to define words in common which may mean something very different based on one's faith.