book Review: O ME OF LITTLE FAITH by Jason Boyett

NOTE: A copy of this book was provided me free of charge by the publisher for review purposes.

Fr Benedict Groeschel, CFR, said on one of his shows:

"Everytime I get annoyed with God, I pick up a crucifix and remember that Jesus went through it all before us."

Fr Groeschel, a priest psychologist, after writing several books, made it through a coronary bypass in his early 70's and then, in his late 70's got into a horrible car accident which left him in a coma for several weeks. He came out of that also but not without a lot of injury. He is disabled to the point of needing assistance for all daily tasks which must have been a bitter pill for him to swallow. And if that were not enough, he recently had a couple of strokes, one of which partially took away his ability to speak.

Let's face it, we all ask those questions like "What was God thinking of?" or "Why is this a part of God's Plan?" And "How can God's Plan be perfect when it seems to allow terminal illness in children, famine and starvation in the world and more?"

Jason Boyett, author of "O Me of Little Faith", who describes himself on Facebook, as a Dad, a husband, a writer, a musician and speaker and a grown man who still likes cookies and milk, is not a theologian or pastor. His bio mentions that he has written several other books and has been featured on the National Geographics and History Channel. And that he lives in Texas with his wife and two kids.

He made his commitment to the Lord when he was 10 years old in a fundamentalist church, but found he had a lot of questions and also found that those around him who may have had similar questions and doubts about God, were afraid to voice these, as many seem to feel that faith and doubt cannot co-exist.

He leads us through HIS doubts which I think all of us can relate to, and ends with an inspiring last chapter which details how he solves this dilemma.

The honesty in "O Me of Little Faith" is refreshing. Jason rips through the pretensions of some who claim constant communication with God but not in a uncharitable manner. Just that this did not work for him. Perhaps they are in constant communication with God, he writes but that's not where he's at.

Jason writes that to believe in God is more of a leap of faith than to simply say there is no God but because it's the path of least resistance doesn't make it the right way to go. (P 54) Actually in studying the order of the universe, cosmological constants and latest "Big Bang" Theories, for me it's more of a leap of faith to not believe in God but many feel that the famous Occam's Razer would solve that question as saying God does not exist.

He also wonders why do we have to ask God for things we want when God already knows.I confess I used to feel that way also but in my later years, I have been asking God for things I need. If nothing else, it feels good to make pleas of God and Jesus did point out that the pesky asker - the squeaky wheel is the one who gets God's attention. He asks if any parent would deny their children and if not how much more does God love us? I feel that God does answer every prayer though sometimes, much to our frustration, the answer is "No".

As Mother Angelica of EWTN has said:

"God opens a door for us and we must walk through in total faith and then wait for God to open the next door."

Jason concludes that the ideal way of praying is the prayer of the church i.e. the Divine Office (praying the psalms). I must agree with him here.

"O Me of Little Faith" is not a fast reading book but it is very worth reading and will, I feel, give anyone who endures, a stronger faith. It's not that faith excludes doubt but that doubt is a part of faith, Boyett concludes. There, I agree also and feel that if people do not acknowledge their doubts, it actually can weaken their faith.

Catholics will like Jason's admonishment that the sinner's prayer is only the beginning of faith - he quotes James 2 "Show me your faith without works and I will show you the faith which underlies my works."

Although Jason Boyett describes himself as an agnostic, I had a feeling throughout the book that he is really a very strong believer.

I would really recommend this book! I enjoyed it very much!

Here's where you get it:

Amazon

Jason Boyett has a website and a blog.

Review: Present Perfect by Gregory A. Boyd

NOTE: a copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher for review purposes.

This book by Dr Greg A. Boyd, Pastor of an Evangelical church in Minnesota, promises to help the reader experience "true spiritual formation" by "inviting God's Presence" in one's life.

And yet the author openly admits that he hasn't really experienced this transformation:

"Brother Lawrence, Frank Laubach and Jean de Caussade each speak of experiencing a transformation after which “practicing the presence of God” was as natural to them as breathing. I thought I was getting close to this sort of breakthrough last year when I was writing a book on this discipline (called Present Perfect) but I now suspect this was simply because my mind tends to be totally occupied with whatever I happen to be writing about at the time. This year I’m back to being pretty much the same old atheistic-minded Greg."

Although Greg attended a Catholic church for several years, it was because of his stepmother whom he describes as abusive, and when she left, he and his father both became atheists. The following is from an interview with Greg:

"My mom died before I was 3. My father remarried rather quickly, mostly out of a desperate need for someone to care for his four kids. If there are marriages made in heaven, this one was made in the other place. There was almost non-stop warfare in my home growing up. On top of this, my stepmother was physically abusive. The day my parents divorced and the family split up when I was 13 was quite honestly one of my happiest memories I have growing up. Though we had been attending a Catholic church up to this point, as soon as my stepmother and her two kids moved out, my father and I declared ourselves to be atheists."

After being atheist for 4 years and getting into drugs, Greg said he found the Lord.

He went to school for theology and has an impressive set of credentials including a M.Div from Yale Divinity School and a PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary. Dr Greg has also published 18 books and is a speaker on the international scene.

About 20 years ago, Greg encountered the writings of Catholic monk, Brother Lawrence, "THE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD". He also read a couple of other authors on similar subjects: Jean Pierre de Caussade who was apparently a contemporary of Brother Lawrence and Frank Laubach.

Greg was intrigued and began to find a way to put what he had read about, into practice. And "Present Perfect" details his own way of striving to be aware of God in his own life.

One charming thing about "Present Perfect" is that Greg is very honest about his own struggles. In one place he writes:

"I often feel as if I'm on a train that's constantly picking up speed as it races toward a brick wall. I have no idea when I'll crash, but I know I won't survive. Each passing moment takes me closer to this inevitability at an ever increasing speed. I'm dying." (P 63)

But then adds that

"The fear is not just that we're going to die. The fear is that we'll never really live." P 64

Quite a bit into this book, I realized that Greg's beliefs are very earth centered. He did state that he believes what Catholics call "Heaven" will be here on earth. I wondered how he dealt with the words of Jesus about His Kingdom being "not of this world".

My sense is that Greg with his struggles in being aware of God, may be speaking from an agnostic point of view. (He quipped to CNN that when one "Googles" his name, the word "heretic" comes up quite often!)

That being said, there is much merit in a person who has not received the "gift of faith", in working so diligently to approach God.

One of many intriguing things about "Present Perfect" is that it offers many practical ways of becoming more aware of God's presence that all of us can use in our own lives. These methods use both psychological tools like what Weight Watchers refer to as "anchors" (innocuous gestures or items which remind of what we want to be reminded of) and "positive self talk" or "affirmations" and, imagery.

Although Catholic spirituality should center around powerful channels of grace like the Holy Mass, the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy as well as ejaculatory prayer as Robert Spitzer, S.J. suggests - short prayers like "God help me" and "Holy Spirit, push away the darkness", we still can benefit a lot by supplementing these with many of Pastor Greg's suggestions in "Present Perfect".

Pastor Greg tells us to not be bothered by something we did for God imperfectly advising us to just "let it go". However, I find it the best for me in such situations to pray "God, please fix it!" Pastor Greg does offer an interesting method of letting things go, using an anchor (I won't tell you about it - you'll need to read the book, but I'm planning to try it myself!). :)

I could relate to a lot of what Greg wrote about. For example, have we all not been here:

"I realized that my trivial, self-centered mental chatter about the past and future - like a dark cloud blocking the sun - had kept me from seeing the Glory of God that surrounded me every second of every day."

I found many of Pastor Greg's observations to be rather profound - like how the world tends to program us and many of us live as "semi conscious slaves" as in "The Matrix".

And things which intrigued me such as his reporting that the core values of most Christians do not much differ from those of pagans. (I think this may not be true of Catholics and possibly members of other mainstream churches like Lutheran or Southern Baptist though). He also quoted a statistic about only 4 percent of those who come up for an altar call and "accept the Lord", continuing in the Christian walk. I looked for a cite for this which was not provided and again I wonder which congregations Pastor Greg was referring to. I suspect not Catholic and this possibly illustrates that putting people through a rigorous course in religion before they make the commitment such as our RCIA program, might be a wise idea.

I disagree with Pastor Greg about the earth based Heaven (probably referring to a literal interpretation of Revelations but ignoring many other passages which suggest something different).

Greg also seems in places, a bit anti religion, making a sharp distinction between religion and spiritual walk, a definition which is loved by the world but is erroneous in my POV. Greg writes in a blog:

"the religion of Christendom dies a slow death (praise God!)"

In this, he ignores that Jesus founded a church (REF Matt 16:14FF) with a leader (and I even felt that when I was a Protestant reading the KJV).

Truth is, Greg quotes very little scripture in the book although he does quote Brother Lawrence and mostly the non Catholic, Frank Laubach. I missed there not being more Scripture because in places, things he writes, seem to contradict Biblical teachings.

Would I recommend "Present Perfect"? I believe I would, with the caution that you keep in mind that the writer may be writing from an agnostic POV. That being said, the book is profound and clever and very interesting reading and I personally, found it helpful to me. I think anyone reading it, may discover not only, how to pray better but also how to live life more fully.

You can obtain a copy of "PRESENT PERFECT" on Pastor Greg's website or on Amazon.

Book Review: THE NAKED GOSPEL

NOTE: A copy of THE NAKED GOSPEL by Andrew Farley, was provided me, free of charge by Zondervan, for review purposes.

Andrew Farley, author of THE NAKED GOSPEL, found himself going into what may be suspected to be clinical depression. He writes in the beginning of THE NAKED GOSPEL:

"I found myself lying on the floor of my apartment, sobbing for hours on end: "God, I'm doing everything I'm supposed to do, and I still don't feel closer to you. In fact, I feel worse than ever! How could this have gone wrong? I can't see any way out. Help me."

I think that others have been there and in fact, Farley brings up a couple of famous people, one of which was Martin Luther. He writes:

"[Luther] was constantly overcome with guilt. He was infatuated with self flagellation and made countless attempts to atone for his never ending list of sins. In addition to whipping himself until he bled, he would sometimes lie on the snowy ground all night long in the dead of Winter until eventually, he was in such a state of shock that his colleagues would have carry him to safety."

Farley goes on to mention Mother Teresa's 40 year period of spiritual dryness - quoting her out of context, he suggests that she had a difficult time finding "meaning and purpose" and a "stable relationship with God".

It's not surprising that Farley doesn't understand the complexity of the spiritual dryness of a saint like Blessed Teresa of Calcutta as he's not a Catholic but in the case of Martin Luther, although I have read suggestions that he was a bit too heavy handed with the self punishment when he was an Augustian priest, enough to "worry" his superiors (this I found in an article in the Encyclopedia Americana years ago), in all fairness to him, there is no evidence he spent his whole life in such a mode. Farley doesn't document his claims about Luther so I can't research it further. At the least, Lutherans will take exception to these statements as Luther is, understandably, sort of a hero to those members of the church he founded in the 1500's.

There is no doubt that Farley is a scholar and a brilliantly intelligent individual. In fact, the text of his book, reads similarly to articles I have found in Mensa publications (the IQ group).

For in order to cure his clinical depression (which likely was NOT "caused" by his religion - chances are, the religion was only how he expressed it!), Farley ends up deciding that all laws in the Bible, including the entire teachings of Jesus, are null and void for Christians.

The "harsh teachings of Jesus", he explains, are just too difficult to live by and besides, since Jesus had not died on the cross yet, Jesus was merely speaking to those under the "Old Covenant". The New Covenant began, says Farley, when Jesus died on the cross. He writes further:

"Jesus tells His audience to cut off their hands, to pluck out their eyes and to be perfect just like God...in short He is discouraging his contemporaries as they seek to achieve righteousness through the law." (p. 231)

And concludes that:

"God intended us to be dependent on Him with no concern for morality and ethics...if we get life from the Spirit, then we're not designed to live by the Jewish law, religious rules, a moral code or even Christian "principles"

Farley who is a weekend pastor of a (must be) free spirited church in Texas and a linguistic professor in his day job, leaves no stone unturned, even explaining away the faith plus works passages in James (i.e. "show me your faith without works and I'll show you the faith which underlies my works" and "faith without works is dead").

Farley writes:

"we need to recognize that this passage in James does not seem to be referring to a post salvation experience." p 199

Farley ignores Jesus' statement however that "I came not to destroy the law but to fulfill the law" and makes mention that we should not follow a dead religious teacher (Jesus the man) but the resurrected Christ who is "fused within us". And that we should realize that when Christ is dwelling within us, our wants will be what Jesus wants.

If this is sounding more and more like "New Age" to you, yes, I believe this is very similar to New Age which is really an adulterated mixture of agnosticism and Buddhism with a bit of paganism thrown in. New Age teaches people to look within for the Christ or god or deity within us and to follow that, thus deciding for themselves what is right and wrong. The theological name for this is "moral relativism".

In fact, Farley's gospel sounds very much like the famous New Age "Course in Miracles" which gives similar advice albeit not cloaked in Christian terminology. So even though Farley claims a new (and of course, better) type of Christianity, his ideas are not really new at all and may in fact, be anathema to mainstream Christians.

Farley's complete dismissal of the teachings of Jesus may be, to most mainstream Christians, definitely a serious problem. And Farley's distinct separation of what he calls "Jesus the Man" who taught the Jews how to live according to their law (not applicable to us, says Farley), from Jesus resurrected who indwells, seems to be teaching against traditional Christology. This is not a new type of heresy, having first appeared in the 2nd or 3rd century of Christianity, the on going argument about whether Jesus had two natures, human and Divine or just a Divine nature or just a human nature.

The Catholic church settled the issue in the 4th century by declaring Mary the "mother of God" thus establishing that Mary was not the mother of a nature (i.e. Jesus' human nature) but rather the mother of a Person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus who is all Man and all God. Even poorly understood by some Catholics, calling Mary the "mother of God" is really saying something important about Jesus rather than Mary.

Farley's doctrines are very earth centered, another area in which it very much resembles "New Age" thinking. He writes:

"if we merely had a ticket to Heaven, there'd be no power to live in the present." p 181

And

"it's very difficult, if not totally unrealistic to live for something far off in the future. "
P 182

He calls mainstream Christianity a "Lackluster Gospel", writing:

"We're inundated with a lackluster gospel that advocates partial forgiveness, a pressure filled motivation for behavioral change, and the promise of earned rewards in Heaven or a cash return on earth. This counterfeit is the reason that the church sometimes doesn't appear much different from the world." p 192

He feels that all the law in the Bible (which he contradictorily still insists is the 'Word of God') can cause people to sin.

"The law causes sin to increase, not decrease. " p 232

But, I may ask, if the Bible is the Word of God, how could following it, cause people to sin? Lack of desire to follow the Commandments has led many a person into New Age thinking which seemingly comfortably tells us sin is outdated and we are "free", however, it seems that Andrew Farley has gone a step further in bringing New Age thinking into Christianity.

He seems to have forgotten some of the basics like "sin is a moment of pleasure and a lifetime of pain and virtue is a moment of pain and a lifetime of joy" (Bishop Sheen).

Although this book might make interesting reading for agnostics and atheists, especially those into intellectualizing, it seems not appropriate for people really trying to find Jesus through Christianity.

While Farley may feel he is making Christianity palpable to the typical Post Christian hedonist (and he well might be doing this), I have to question his theology as it seems to agree more with New Age philosophy than traditional Christian theology but I guess if that is what it takes to bring him to God, then God can work through that also.

For some, however, the book might seem a way out of the "boring" rules of Christianity and they should keep in mind:

"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." (2 Timothy 4:3)

Everyone has their own path - I must say, the book did keep my interest all the way through although I can say that also about the "Course in Miracles". This isn't MY path to God but it's always interesting to read about the paths of others and we can always learn something!

on Amazon...

March for Life -revisiting it

We went to one of the first Marches for Life in our city, in the late 1970's... a few hundred showed up and we marched and ended up at a Rally which was more of an Evangelical Evangelism effort than anything else. Amidst the music groups, one speaker got up and said 'this is not a church issue but a civil rights issue'. He was basically ignored as the music went on. It was mostly unimpressive to say the least.

So I have skipped all the marches since then but this year, EWTN, the Global Catholic Network, had complete live coverage of both the March on Washington and the West Coast March for life (in San Francisco) and I decided to watch it.

I discovered things have greatly changed since the 1970's. For the March in Washington, 500,000 marchers, by most reports showed up - it looked more like a million when I watched on TV. The speakers included tearful women who regretted their abortions (and were hurt by them), Abby Johnson who ran a Planned Parenthood clinic for several years, who had recently quit her clinic and joined the Pro Life movement after watching a doctor abort a 13 week fetus using guided ultra sound, Lila Rose, a young person who went under cover as a 13 year old seeking an abortion to several Planned Parenthood clinics and discovered they were willing to cover up that her boyfriend was 22 and that they tried to talk her into an abortion and more.

One of the speakers was a Rabbi who was extremely passionate about abortion and how it was hurting women and babies.

Also on the platform were several Congress persons, Catholic Bishops and clergy. And standing behind the speakers on the platform, several women held up signs which read "I regret my abortion".

The weather was cold and grey but this did not stop or slow down the March and the most impressive thing was perhaps that a goodly portion of March attendees were young people. Young people are the hope of our country, the future and if so many of them are pro life, we are looking in much better shape than I've thought.

It rained at the West Coast March for life in San Francisco but 40,000 marchers showed up and marched in the cold rain.

Watching these marches, I'd say the future of the pro life movement looked very hopeful - there was a lot more substance than the Rally I attended 30 years ago.

Things change and sometimes for the better!

Yoga and Pilates - honoring non Christian gods?

I just read an interesting blog which said that Christians should not do yoga because "every posture is designed as a position of worship to a Hindu god!" Aside from the fact that Hindus have been monotheists for centuries i.e. students of comparative religions tell us that Hindus kind of morphed into monotheism - their God is considered a tri-une God - God the Creator, God the Preserver and God the Destroyer - we should probably take a moment to clarify this issue of doing yoga or pilates etc.

First of all, if we think of it, many common practices can be traced to pre Chirstian times - even those we use in our sacred liturgy like lighting candles for example, and didn't they kneel in pre Christian times? Does that mean by kneeling in church we are honoring a pagan god because kneeling was a posture, originally designed to honor pre Christian deities?

Secondly, many customs we enjoy to celebrate Christian holidays come from pre Christian customs. For example the Christmas tree, that we all love - that comes from the practice of decorating a tree for the drunken debauchery known as "Saturnalia". Santa Claus who bears little to no resemblance to the Catholic Bishop, St Nicholas, is actually, a variation of the Norse god, Thor, who wore a red suit and rode around the sky in a chariot pulled by goats and dropped gifts down the chimneys of "good" children, at Saturnalia time. Also true of the Easter Bunny (and Easter eggs) and more. All of these customs are things we could omit from our celebrations without any medical or physical repercussions but far as I know, most Christians would not feel like Christmas without the decorated tree -- even the Vatican has a Christmas tree. And although we have not put up a Christmas tree in our home for many years, I did very much enjoy the exquisite decorations we had in our parish this year which included several Christmas trees.

I can see where a Christian might not want to do the meditational part of Yoga i.e. the "OM" mantra's etc. But then, I suppose if one were to use that as a launch into a prayer meditation about Our Lord, that might be ok also. I like to do the Divine Mercy Chaplet when I'm doing yoga.

This isn't an original idea with me. There is a physician, Dr Anne who practices a form of TAI CHI combining it with signing the words (deaf sign language) of the Divine Mercy Chaplet. I've done this with the DVD (she is a devout Catholic - this physician) and it's a very touching prayer experience.

Fact remains, medicine recognizes Yoga as an EXTREMELY healthy practice to maintain muscle tone, avoid contracture and even to treat or minimize arthritis (see for example, Arnot, Bob, MD "WEAR AND TEAR",NY 2001, in which he points out that studies have suggested that in countries where folks do Yoga, knee replacement surgery is almost unheard of).

As a person who does yoga 4 times a week or more, I can attest to the fact, that it's a very healthy practice. I don't take a class but I have watched classes on TV to learn the poses. I have a routine I do which takes about 15-20 minutes depending on how long I hold each pose.

Catholics are often accused of "formal idolatry" (worshipping statues) when we pray the "Hail Mary" but the bottom line is that few if any folks, even folks who belong to non theist religions, practice formal idolatry any more today. However, as I point out to those who thus accuse Catholics, "Practical idolatry" i.e. considering money or career or a person more important than God, is COMMONLY practiced in our society today and yet, while being so fearful of "formal idolatry", Christians are seldom even warned about "practical idolatry".

Apparently those in the early church even Jesus' disciples may have been confused about things which is probably why Jesus told us in Mark 7:14-15 " Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile."

In other words, with neutral things like Yoga, Pilates etc, it may be true that "it's not what ya do but the way that ya do it!" :)

God gave us all these things to enjoy. And practices like Yoga and Pilates, besides being wonderful for the physique, can also SIGNIFICANTLY reduce stress, which medicine has long recognized as a prominent player in all types of illness and heart disease.

This sounds more to me like being nice to our "Temples of the Holy Spirit" which IS honoring OUR God.

the Manhattan Declaration - Time for Civil Disobedience?

A couple of blogs ago, I wrote that it was time for the sleeping Christians to wake up and stop our country from an ever plunging downward spiral to total immorality and depravity.

Apparently, other Christians and Catholics have come to the same conclusion and have drafted a document called "the Manhattan Declaration". In the Manhattan Declaration, it is stated that Christians will NOT tolerate nor participate in three urgent issues:

• Life Issues like abortion, euthanesia and embryo destructive stem cell research



• Sanctioning same se/x marriage



• Persecution of individuals for practicing their faith (calling teaching against illicit se/x etc a "hate crime")

Sadly, the dealbreaker which seems to have awakened the sleeping giant was the third point. I say, "sadly" because it seems that 35 years of our slaughtering the unborn to the tune of 1.4 million unborn babies a year (99 percent which are NOT the so called "hard cases" i.e. rape and incest) wasn't enough to get folks upset enough. It took threatening their very persons to get them to wake up.

Religious persecution has been happening all along, worldwide. One estimate put the number of priests and other Christians who suffered martyrdom in the last 30 years to be at an all time high but suddenly with the election of a president who likely is Christian in name only (if that- they have film clips of him ridiculing the Bible) and a "hate crimes" law in Canada, things are getting closer to home and it's getting a bit "hot in the kitchen" so to speak.

For example, in Canada, a Bishop was arrested and tried for a "hate crime" - his offense? Writing a letter to the Catholics in HIS diocese stating the Catholic teachings on same se/x marriage which is considered an "intrinsic evil".

The Bishop was released but not before he spent thousands of dollars in his defense.

In Washington, two Senators are going after the Catholic Bishops committee because they told Congress they would not support a Health Care Bill which used tax moneys to pay for abortions.

In New Jersey, a Methodist church is being sued because they refused to rent out their hall to a same se/x couple who wanted to use it for a "wedding" reception.

And in Massachusetts, the only state in the union where same s/ex marriage is legal, Catholic Charities, the largest adoption agency in the USA which has placed thousands of children, had to close its doors or be forced to place children in homes considered not healthy according to their beliefs. Also, children in that state in public schools are taught that s/s marriage is a valid lifestyle regardless of what the parents would like their children taught. Parents are told they don't have a say in what their kids are taught.

All over the country, though, persecution against religion especially Christianity, is increasing. Parents tell stories like their children are not allowed to wear teashirts to school with a religious theme because that's a "hate crime". One child was told that she couldn't tell her friends at recess about her First Communion. Stories like that are too prevalent to ignore the trend.

Also in public schools, it's ok to teach Islam and witchcraft, but NOT ok to EVEN MENTION Christianity or Judaism.

With the "hate crimes" bill in effect and the possible sanctioning of unrestricted abortion in health care, we face a new peril i.e. health care workers being forced to act against their moral code, Catholic hospitals possibly closing their doors because of being forced to do abortions and more.

And so the sleeping majority is beginning to wake up.

Will the Manhattan Declaration lead to "Civil disobedience"? One of the clergypersons told Fox News he hoped not but if people are forced to do immoral acts like abortion, it may lead to that, like, he pointed out, Martin Luther King led civil disobedience against Jim Crow laws. (How ironic that a president who has Martin Luther King and the civil rights activists to thank for his being ABLE To be elected is oppressing believers - he should know better).

The real irony of this is that many Christians swallowed their distaste for the millions of abortions and other problems and voted for this president because of his promises to fix the economy and end the war. Barack Obama has ESCALATED the war with no end in sight and has spent almost up to the limit for the national debt some 11 trillion dollars, very little of which the American people have seen. It's true you can buy a car now for a couple of thousand bucks cheaper than you could a few years ago but who's buying with unpaid furloughs and lay-offs and pay cuts. Medicare premiums will go double in the next few years, we are told.

And the unemployment percentage is at 17 percent which is higher than it was in the Great Depression of the 1930's - it was 15 percent then. But as Mr Obama laughingly told one of the late night talk show hosts, "So much for campaign promises".

In the meantime, Christians may be called upon to act the part, perhaps for the first time in a couple of hundred years.

Opposition from the world is the price we pay for following Christ. No pain, no gain. Why should that surprise us? If living the Gospel were easy, all the world would be saints. But the Gospel is demanding. It rubs against our fallen human nature. It demands of us — and even makes us unpopular. Why? Because people who do good are a thorny reminder to those who don´t. It shouldn´t surprise us that the neighbors look down on us for having so many kids. Or that the guys in the dorm snicker at us for living chastely. Or that the boss overlooks us for a promotion because we wouldn´t donate to that pro-abortion group last Christmas during the company fund drive. Do I realize that to be a Christian is to be persecuted?

-- Father Edward McIlmail, LC

Book Review: The Year of Living like Jesus by Ed Dobson

NOTE: this book was provided for review by Zondervan.

The cover of Pastor Ed Dobson's "the Year of living like Jesus" states "It may appear from the cover as a nice book about growing a beard because Jesus did but be warned..."

Dr. Ed Dobson was diagnosed with ALS, 9 years ago and told he had 2-5 years of life left. As he says in one of his videos on the Ed's Story website , a website about his journey with ALS, he thought if he were diagnosed with a terminal disease, that's when he would get serious about praying and reading the Bible but he is finding that rather, he is concentrating on living his life to the fullest for as long as God has him here.

He likely has the type of ALS that Stephen Hawking has (very slowly progressive) so he might be here for a while yet and he seems to be making the best of it for now, as far as enjoying a bit of fame. He's appeared on "Good Morning America" and is apparently doing some book tours with this book I am reviewing. He's also on Twitter (according to his "tweets" he's on the road now) and has a blog website called, "livingJesusly.com"

It seems Reverend Ed Dobson who has accomplished a lot in his life (pastored a church for several years, worked with Jerry Falwell and even done some TV work) is a charming sort of man as well as clever and well educated. He is very highly respected as an evangelical Pastor and was voted "Pastor of the year" in 1993 by the Moody Bible Institute.

In "THE YEAR OF LIVING LIKE JESUS", Dr Dobson spins a good tale and does acquaint the reader with several stories from the Gospels, re-told in an understandable manner. He also includes interesting experiences with observing Jewish law, dress and Kosher cuisine.

But he (like many clever people, I would suppose) is anything but conventional. His living like Jesus did not extend to things becoming inconvenient for him. His fasting for 40 days ended up being 1 day. He also enjoyed comfortably traveling in a vintage Corvette and had a difficult time parting with his tailor made suits, although he wrote that this might be the right thing to do if he really wanted to "live like Jesus".

In sharing his accumulated wealth with the poor, he wrote

"Of course I wasn't willing to give everything away, my house, my cars, my savings and my retirement. But I thought Lorna and I could give away one or two week's salary. Then we'd have to trust God to meet our needs."

Dobson did in fact, he said, go into bars to reach those who would never darken a church door and have a beer with them and perhaps show a view of a Christian which they could better tolerate than the traditional view. He wrote:

"I would often go down to the bar, sit up at the counter, drink a beer and talk about God, which Jesus was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard,"

This seems to be taking the Bible out of context to me - something which is easier to do if one is not guided by the Roman Catholic Magesterium and left to one's own devices in interpreting the Bible. As Fr Corapi on EWTN says, "You can use the bible to prove ANYTHING!". Very true.

Dr Dobson also stated that he was finding atheists and agnostics easier to deal with than some Christians because they were "less judgmental". Although it is easy to get that idea, one finds that they are only "less judgmental" when you don't get TOO much into what Jesus taught. I find that in my later years when I have become closer to the church, I am not popular at all. But of course, neither was Jesus.

In the Wikipedia, in his biography, it states that although he worked with Jerry Falwell, he, by 1980, had decided the "Moral Majority" had been wrongheaded about politics changing the country.

By the time, he wrote "The Year of Living Like Jesus", he seems to have drifted from Conservatism enough to justify abortion as not being an important issue "because Jesus never mentioned it" and voted for Obama because he felt Obama more exemplified what Jesus taught, a stance which endeared him to the media. He still loves Jerry Falwell, he stated on "Twitter" and wishes Jerry would call him. He lamented that he upset Conservatives with his voting decision, though not too much - apparently he felt that his stance about disregarding the 5000 unborn killed daily as a non issue and voting for Obama was right and Conservatives are incorrect and perhaps not "Jesusly" about this issue.

I personally felt that he should not have spent time on politics at all in a book about a spiritual journey but that's my opinion. I do NOT think abortion is a non issue and I feel that Jesus who is the Word of God through Whom "all was created" (see John 1:1 ff) would NOT advocate voting for a candidate financed by the abortion industry who openly promises abortion providers that he will advocate unrestricted abortion (whether the American people want that or not). And of course, it's questionable that a politician who does not have concern for the youngest and weakest of humans would really have concern for the poor, and disabled humans already born.

Perhaps this is what I found less than inspiring about this book. It often seems to express more the worldly view rather than the strictly Christian view.

That is, we don't have to grow a beard, nor eat Kosher food, nor attend services in a synagogue to live like Jesus - we just have to love one another, reach out to those in need, share more than what is comfortable, pray a lot and stand up courageously for "truth, justice and the American way" which is often less than endearing in our world as well as, a most difficult thing to do. My impression of Rev. Dobson's walk was that it was, perhaps a bit lacking in the hard line things about living like Jesus - you know, the things which eventually got Jesus crucified.

What might be interesting to Catholics is that Rev Dobson did pray the Rosary at least some of the time and found it a good way of praying. Perhaps one day, he might be appearing on EWTN's "Journey Home" program as one who has decided to return to the Mother church. Stranger things have happened. We never know where a journey will end.

If I found some of Rev Dobson's stands to be less than inspiring, I also found his candor and honesty, very refreshing. He seems to be up front with how he is feeling which is a very good quality and definitely (as he would say) "Jesusly".

Would I recommend the book? Ed Dobson states in his blog that:

"I wrote this book for those on the fringes of the faith. People who are interested in Jesus but not "the church." I did not write for those who are in the church. My passion has always been for those who are "unchurched."

I do agree that this book would be interesting and intriguing for the very group Rev. Dobson mentioned above - the unchurched, the agnostics and so forth, an entertaining way to acquaint yourself with what Christianity teaches and providing you with much food for thought. Also for those with a terminal illness or who are dealing with disability, perhaps this book (and also the Ed's Story website) might be very inspiring and helpful for you. As for the serious mainline Christian or Catholic, you might consider giving it a try - whether you agree with Rev Dobson or not, you certainly will find "The Year of Living Like Jesus", intriguing and a good read.

This book is available on Amazon or for more information please visit Dr Ed's website, http://livingjesusly.com/