An award-winning western novelist with decidedly liberal political leanings writes a spiritual autobiography unlike any other. The author grew up in a small west Texas town, attended seminary, became a war correspondent in Vietnam, and taught creative writing and literature for 40 years at Trinity University in San Antonio. With a deep sense of the irony of his project, he sets out to explain how … how the Bible came to be, delving into historical misconceptions, errors in translation, political and cultural biases, as well as the editorial failings of the Bible’s many authors — and yet, he arrives at a place of ultimate faith.
more
Robert Flynn writes a masterpiece of historical, spiritual, and political insight in his autobiography. He shares his journey as he explores what his calling is to be, life as a preacher, the war in Vietnam, his family, attending seminary, and later his yearning to become a writer.
He explains the Bible, how it came into existence, the misconceptions of different Christian denominations, with plenty of slogans and media quoted during the time of war and depression. There are numerous questions that address the power of our words, our language, the original words of the writers of the Bible, and the written word of God.
If you are a writer of any sort, you will enjoy the discourse about the importance of names, the meanings of words, punctuation and capitalization in the Bible, figurative language, and more.
If you are a scientist, there is plenty of knowledge to be discovered and remembered as Robert shares scientific explanations for natural disasters, absolutes, and facts.
I could identify with the author’s words when he says, “There are some universal myths or stories that people need to know or create in order to answer universal questions, understand their own existence and give meaning to their mortality.” He goes on to explain that every family has a story, stories of the past, the ones left behind, and the ones who started a new life braving the unknown.
The Bible is quoted throughout the story and is literally shredded into pieces as male or female, innocence or guilt, Hebrew and Greek, mythology, the Koran, Jews and Christians, conception, destruction, redemption, and reconciliation are discussed.
There were several paragraphs that made a statement that caught my eye and I would like to share them with you. We are God’s hands to feed the hungry, care for the sick, defend the defenseless, even the least of them. We are God’s feet to carry hope to the world, to carry children to safety, to carry us to places of terror and temptation. We are also God’s hands and God’s tongue to tell the GodStory, and we are flawed in all these things. “There is a crack in Everything. That’s how the light gets in” (Leonard Cohen).
Being born blind wasn’t fair. That’s a complaint every child makes. I was good and something bad happened. The moral explanation is that being good is not going to prevent disease, stop a wayward car or a drunk driver or give you undamaged children. The philosophical explanation may be that east of Eden, it is not a loving, caring world. The scientific explanation will likely be in genetics, infection or something amiss in the complex procedure that conception, gestation, and birth are.
A Christian, a Muslim, and a Jew met every day to pray for peace in the land that is holy to all three. For weeks, months, years they prayed until one day in despair and desperation they cried out, “Will there ever be peace in the Holy Land?” “Yes,” responded a loud voice from above. “But not in my lifetime.” If you think that’s a joke, you missed the point. God is the problem in the Holy Land. Does that require the death of God? No. It requires that three religions give up their exclusive right to the Almighty, their claim that God loves them and their land more than the others. When you recite the Lord’s Prayer, who is the “our” in “Our father who is in heaven?”
This is the occasion for a scripture often taken out of context. “I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away” (Luke 19: 26). It’s not about money; it’s about faith put to work in positive ways.
In conclusion, “You don’t destroy evil by killing evil people. There are always • 201 • others, perhaps worse than those you killed. You can’t defeat evil by attrition. You can’t destroy evil without destroying all of us or part of all of us. That’s a lesson from the Garden of Eden. The penchant toward evil may be the God-part of us, giving us free will. Violence may sometimes be necessary but violence can never be redemptive. Isn’t that the lesson of the cross? It wasn’t the violence done to Jesus that was redemptive; it was his sacrificial love.”
If this doesn’t stir your soul and arouse your curiosity, then I feel sad knowing that you are missing out on the eternal questions that every person asks and feels at some point in their life. Was the Bible written by God or man? How did the earth come to be? What are the commandments and laws?
Purchase this book today to help you answer your most burning questions about the Bible and the most interesting facts that you never knew existed!