August book recommendations (pt 1)

As some of you may know, I got myself an Amazon Kindle for my birthday this year. I was a bit reticent about it at first for various reasons, but now I am addicted to it, oh my word, lol. It comes with me everywhere. And I've READ so much more in the past months than I used to! :) I admit I rarely read fiction outside of Harry Potter, but here are some books I've loved recently:

Bridge to Terabithia (by Katherine Paterson) - Yes, this is a children's book. I first read it in about 4th or 5th grade and loved it, so I thought I'd re-read it as an adult just for curiosity. If you've seen the film from a couple of years ago, it's nothing next to the book (sorry). As a child this book was so magical, the king and queen of their own secret world in the forest, and the Sacred Grove, a place where "Even the rulers of Terabithia come into it only at times of the greatest sorrow or of greatest joy". How can you not love it? And once again it became obvious that when we read or hear stories as children we add so much with our imagination! A 150 page book becomes an epic novel in our minds! Our inner world fills in all the gaps, elaborates and fantasizes. It's really amazing. The end of this book is so sad, though. I sat here with tears running down my face at 5am, of course reminded of June 25th. Jess is left with a familiar situation: "She wasn't there, so he must go for both of them. It was up to him to pay back to the world in beauty and caring what Leslie had loaned him in vision and strength"...

Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences (by Paul Perry and Jeffrey Long) - This is one I highly recommend, although even more than this book I'd recommend reading some of the thousands of full accounts of NDEs on the website Jeffrey founded over ten years ago, nderf.org (try "exceptional accounts" first, then check out the constantly updated monthly and yearly archives). We've all heard of NDE's and have the general concept down, like being out of body, a tunnel, a bright light, but if you haven't really studied them, you have no idea what you're missing out on. Nooooo idea. Books (and this one is again, highly recommended on the topic, as is Pim van Lommel's book "Consciousness Beyond Life") can give you wonderful information and an idea of just how these are researched by serious scientists and doctors, but they only give you a limited number of accounts or short excerpts to illustrate points. In other words, to really have a sense of what it's about, read the science AND the actual accounts. And not just a few. Read hundreds. Read thousands. You will be amazed, I promise.

Saving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ & Start Following Jesus (by Robin R. Meyers) I loved this book! This is a must-read! First, I am not a follower of any particular religion, so don't think I'm trying to push one on you. ;) I believe that religion is manmade, often divinely inspired, but misses the mark entirely when it's corrupted into "my God is the real one and ya'll are going to Hell!" We are ONE and there are many mansions, many pathways to God. Reverend Meyers seems to understand this, while still maintaining his Christian faith. He's made a good study of scholarly Jesus material (another topic that's very interesting, especially now) and is encouraging those who declare themselves Christians to wake up and follow the man they say they believe in. Jesus wasn't about hate and categorizing and tromping on the poor with a belief in some kind of Heaven-sanctioned material wealth parade. Meyers points out that for those in Jesus' time, "the call of God was not propositional. It was experiential." They experienced the man! They were there when early followers grappled with the implications of their messiah figure's sudden death and what to make of it. They were the ones who were left to discuss and theorize and grasp for explanations. Their ideas were the basis for the formation of a new sect of Judaism that grew over the next few decades, leading up to the writing of the Gospels. Christ-centered living wasn't a mere concept with centuries of built-up dogma, turned into a power structure with little left of its origins. It wasn't something that happened 2,000 years ago in a different world. These people were the "timely born" ones and they witnessed divinity in the flesh, not as a far-removed creed to recite in order to be "saved". Meyers writes, "Today, worshipers of Christ agree to believe things about him in order to receive benefits promised by the institution, not by Jesus." So true! This is a call to action, to real discipleship, to walk the walk. It's actually very inspiring, no matter what your belief system. And you'll find out some things you may not have known about the historical Jesus on the way. And many of the things could remind you of other events and people you may be holding in your mind and heart ... (... I'll just leave it at that for now, ahem...)

I read a lot of books, so stay tuned for August pt 2, lol. I didn't include MJ-themed books because they deserve posts of their own :)