Which book has had the biggest impact on your life (besides the Bible)

A place to discuss your favorite authors and poets, Christian and secular

Which book has had the biggest impact on your life (besides the Bible)

Postby rocklobster » Wed Mar 26, 2008 5:41 am

OK, what book really helped point the way for you besides the bible? I'd love to see what books helped you guys out. For me, the most inspirational, non-Biblical books I've ever read were:
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you. I appointed you to be a prophet of all nations."
--Jeremiah 1:5
Image
Hit me up on social media!
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100007205508246<--Facebook

I'm also on Amino as Radical Edward, and on Reddit as Rocklobster as well.


click here for my playlist!
my last fm profile!
User avatar
rocklobster
 
Posts: 8903
Joined: Mon Dec 20, 2004 1:27 pm
Location: Planet Claire

Postby Etoh*the*Greato » Wed Mar 26, 2008 8:33 am

Brian Jacques' redwall books were the first books I ever actually got on a moral level. I read them in Middle School. I think those books really shaped who I was morally and also developed my sense of honor before Christianity seriously stepped in to my life. A lot of my ideas of right and wrong come from those books... Except the ideas that certain species of people are just genetically predisposed to being evil.
"I do not feel obliged to believe that that same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forego their use." - Galileo Galilei
ImageImageImageImage
Image
Image
User avatar
Etoh*the*Greato
 
Posts: 2618
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 12:46 pm
Location: Missouri

Postby chibiphonebooth » Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:24 am

i think one of the books that really impacted me was "All the clever words on pages" by Paul Harrison.

It's an amazing book about a man who considers committing suicide, and then one of my favorite bands, mewithoutYou, takes him in and teaches him about love and stuff.

its a great book. <3
ImageImageImage


[font="Impact"][SIZE="3"][color="SeaGreen"]"Savannah's signature: ruining serious since 2008"[/color][/SIZE][/font]

[font="Georgia"][color="Orange"][url=yourtoesaremissing.deviantart.com]Visit my DA X3[/url][/color][/font]
User avatar
chibiphonebooth
 
Posts: 1975
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 12:00 pm
Location: in SILLY LANDDD WEEOO

Postby GhostontheNet » Wed Mar 26, 2008 12:08 pm

Jesus and the Victory of God by N.T. Wright
What Is Goth? by Voltaire
Religion and Nothingness by Keiji Nishitani
New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton
Exiles: Living Missionally In A Post-Christian Culture by Michael Frost
User avatar
GhostontheNet
 
Posts: 1963
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 12:00 pm
Location: Aurora, CO

Postby mitsuki lover » Wed Mar 26, 2008 1:01 pm

Your God Is Too Small by J.B.Phillips
User avatar
mitsuki lover
 
Posts: 8486
Joined: Sun Oct 03, 2004 12:00 pm

Postby sharien chan » Wed Mar 26, 2008 7:02 pm

White Oleander

In a lot of ways I related to the main character, and what I wanted to become when I was really depressed. But I still relate to the main character,, more towards the beginning ofthe book when she became Christian. When she lost her faith, that was how I was before I was Christian. But it helped me in a lot of ways that I can't explain.
I no longer read it just because I feel like the old me would still find it an attractive life style, and I'm not strong in my Christian identity yet to read it again. But I do read the parts where she goes to church and has faith, and first finds God.
User avatar
sharien chan
 
Posts: 454
Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:36 am
Location: lalalala life

Postby Angel Tifa » Wed Mar 26, 2008 11:45 pm

Oh I have a couple;

1.Save Me From Myself-By Brian 'Head' Welch who is the former lead guitarist of Korn and how the Lord has found him. It is an amazing book and it also touched my soul deeply :angel:
2. A couple of Dr. Laura Schlessingers books "Stupid Things Parents Do to Mess Up Their Kids" and "Stupid Things Women Do to Mess Up Their Lives". Now I understand Dr. Laura may seem harsh to some, but after reading these books I was like "wow I could I'll have to remember all these methods for the future *____*!". I feel like I can honestly learn so much from Dr. Laura and have already :).
[color="Purple"]God Is Good All The Time :angel:![/color]
User avatar
Angel Tifa
 
Posts: 272
Joined: Fri Feb 15, 2008 6:15 pm
Location: Southern California

Postby sharien chan » Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:44 am

[quote="Angel Tifa (post: 1210912)"]Oh I have a couple]

aw I like dr. Laura. My boyfriends mom got me one of her books "The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands" XD I need to read it, but I feel awkward reading it in my dining hall XDDDD
User avatar
sharien chan
 
Posts: 454
Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:36 am
Location: lalalala life

Postby Angel Tifa » Thu Mar 27, 2008 8:13 am

sharien chan (post: 1210933) wrote:aw I like dr. Laura. My boyfriends mom got me one of her books "The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands" XD I need to read it, but I feel awkward reading it in my dining hall XDDDD


Yeah I know the feeling. I feel awkward reading some of my Dr. Laura books around certain people in the family who aren't very fond of her :eh:. XD.
[color="Purple"]God Is Good All The Time :angel:![/color]
User avatar
Angel Tifa
 
Posts: 272
Joined: Fri Feb 15, 2008 6:15 pm
Location: Southern California

Postby Maledicte » Thu Mar 27, 2008 2:45 pm

Mere Christianity and Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
Grimm's Fairy Tales
The Picture of Dorian Gray and Fairy Tales by Oscar Wilde. It's amazing how two completely different pieces were written by the same man.
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
User avatar
Maledicte
 
Posts: 2078
Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2004 9:39 pm

Postby the_wolfs_howl » Fri Mar 28, 2008 7:05 am

Are we talking about books that have influenced our faith, or what? 'Cause lots of books have influenced me greatly, but in many different ways.
You can find out things about the past that you never knew. And from what you've learned, you may see some things differently in the present. You're the one that changes. Not the past.
- Ellone, Final Fantasy VIII

Image

"There's a difference between maliciously offending somebody - on purpose - and somebody being offended by...truth. If you're offended by the truth, that's your problem. I have no obligation to not offend you if I'm speaking the truth. The truth is supposed to offend you; that's how you know you don't got it."
- Brad Stine
User avatar
the_wolfs_howl
 
Posts: 3273
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:26 pm
Location: Not Paradise...yet

Postby Angel Tifa » Fri Mar 28, 2008 7:15 am

I think we're talking about how books had an impact on our lives in many different ways.
[color="Purple"]God Is Good All The Time :angel:![/color]
User avatar
Angel Tifa
 
Posts: 272
Joined: Fri Feb 15, 2008 6:15 pm
Location: Southern California

Postby the_wolfs_howl » Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:23 am

Okay, well, here goes. I suppose some of these have influenced my writing more than my life, per se, but as my life mostly consists of my writing....

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien - This, as well as The Hobbit, was what got me into fantasy, and still inspires me to keep on writing my pitiful little stories.
The Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling - I have learned more than even I realize about writing from these books. She has such a way of crafting her stories; I can only dream of emulating her.
Teaching a Stone to Talk, which is a collection of short stories by Annie Dillard - These little stories have decapitated me, turned my head upside down, and plonked it back onto my neck. They have completely changed the way I look at logic and writing.
The Third Culture Kid Experience by David C. Pollock and Ruth E. Van Reken - Since I am a TCK, this book obviously spoke to me quite a bit. Made me understand myself so much better. Possibly even pulled me out of the well of tears and despair that was my life at age 14.
Dating with Integrity by John Holzmann - This book gave me an entirely new perspective on dating, before I even had a chance to get caught up in all the confusing mess that is boyfriend/girlfriend relationships.
"The Library of Babel" by Jorge Luis Borges - I'm still not sure exactly how this little story has affected me, but I know that it has. It's sort of changed the way I think about the world, I guess.
You can find out things about the past that you never knew. And from what you've learned, you may see some things differently in the present. You're the one that changes. Not the past.
- Ellone, Final Fantasy VIII

Image

"There's a difference between maliciously offending somebody - on purpose - and somebody being offended by...truth. If you're offended by the truth, that's your problem. I have no obligation to not offend you if I'm speaking the truth. The truth is supposed to offend you; that's how you know you don't got it."
- Brad Stine
User avatar
the_wolfs_howl
 
Posts: 3273
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:26 pm
Location: Not Paradise...yet

Postby Warrior 4 Jesus » Tue Apr 01, 2008 2:00 am

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
What's So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey
The Adventures of Tintin by Herge
The Oath by Frank Peretti
The Circle Trilogy by Ted Dekker
User avatar
Warrior 4 Jesus
 
Posts: 4844
Joined: Tue Sep 07, 2004 10:52 pm
Location: The driest continent that isn't Antarctica.

Postby Sae-chan » Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:46 pm

Hmm, hard question. I know there's a few more than the ones listed below, but I don't remember at this moment.

The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis - Morally, this book changed me. It got me to think about right and wrong and justice.
The Case for a Creator: Student Edition by Lee Strobel - I haven't read the adult version, but I want to. This book gave lots of evidence for Christ, and it got me to think about Christ and what is real.

Like I said, I know there are more books... but I just can't think of them right now. ;)
Sae-chan
 
Posts: 99
Joined: Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:28 pm
Location: I live in Him. ;)

Postby Warrior 4 Jesus » Wed Apr 30, 2008 11:44 pm

SirThinks2Much, I just finished Mere Christianity several weeks ago. I agree and excellent book.
User avatar
Warrior 4 Jesus
 
Posts: 4844
Joined: Tue Sep 07, 2004 10:52 pm
Location: The driest continent that isn't Antarctica.

Postby Manillien » Sun May 04, 2008 2:00 am

Agree with warrior4jesus and sirthinks2much - C.S. Lewis' had a special gift! But Philip Yancey also writes good stuff..
"Do all that you have in mind, for God is with you" - 1 Chronicles 17:2

"A Christian is a cross product" - Christomath humorist

"Way to breathe, no-breath" - James "Jimbo" Jones
User avatar
Manillien
 
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:35 am
Location: Norway

Postby GhostontheNet » Tue May 06, 2008 2:38 am

Manillien (post: 1222957) wrote:Agree with warrior4jesus and sirthinks2much - C.S. Lewis' had a special gift! But Philip Yancey also writes good stuff..
C.S. Lewis was, in my opinion, the greatest popular level apologist of the modernist age. With the shift into the age of postmodernism, however, I think N.T. Wright takes over where Lewis left off. This is especially true now that he has largely shifted from writing works written for scholars (like his influential Christian Origins and the Question of God series) to writing at the popular level. His Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense gives C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity a run for its money, while his recent Surprised By Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church is a powerful reminder that "heaven is important, but its not the end of the world" and that the Christian hope is ultimately for reembodiment at the resurrection and the new creation. To top it off, his For Everyone series of popular level New Testament commentaries takes over where William Barclay left off.
User avatar
GhostontheNet
 
Posts: 1963
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 12:00 pm
Location: Aurora, CO

Postby Warrior 4 Jesus » Tue May 06, 2008 3:09 am

Gives 'Mere Christianity' a run for it's money? Wow, I've got to read that!
User avatar
Warrior 4 Jesus
 
Posts: 4844
Joined: Tue Sep 07, 2004 10:52 pm
Location: The driest continent that isn't Antarctica.

Postby Manillien » Tue May 06, 2008 10:56 am

Hmm yeah, that sounded impressive! I have read "The last word" by Wright, and it was good, so I'll read the one you mentioned as well... I also read somewhere - wikipedia - that Wright said, regarding the trilemma, that it "doesn’t work as history, and it backfires dangerously when historical critics question his reading of the Gospels."... Anyone knows what he means by this?
"Do all that you have in mind, for God is with you" - 1 Chronicles 17:2

"A Christian is a cross product" - Christomath humorist

"Way to breathe, no-breath" - James "Jimbo" Jones
User avatar
Manillien
 
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:35 am
Location: Norway

Postby GhostontheNet » Tue May 06, 2008 3:43 pm

Warrior 4 Jesus (post: 1223511) wrote:Gives 'Mere Christianity' a run for it's money? Wow, I've got to read that!
Yes, please do read it. Its quite excellent.

Manillien wrote:Hmm yeah, that sounded impressive! I have read "The last word" by Wright, and it was good, so I'll read the one you mentioned as well... I also read somewhere - wikipedia - that Wright said, regarding the trilemma, that it "doesn’] N.T. Wright writes his thoughts about C.S. Lewis in an article titled Simply Lewis: Reflections on a Master Apologist After 60 Years, which can be read by clicking on link just given. My friend Craig Blomberg argues in his book The Historical Reliability of the Gospels that Lewis' trilemma should be modified into a quadrilemma of Liar, Lunatic, Legends, or Lord. Wright goes into more detail on his objections to the trilemma in the article formerly linked to, where he writes the following.

But of course the real problem is the argument for Jesus’ divinity. And this problem actually begins further back: There is virtually no mention, and certainly no treatment, of Israel and the Old Testament, and consequently no attempt to place Jesus in his historical or theological context. (One of the “Screwtape Letters” contains a scornful denunciation of all such attempts, and lays Lewis wide open to the charge of ignoring the historical context of the writings he is using—a charge that, in his own professional field, he would have regarded as serious.)

I am well aware that some in our day, too, see the historical context of Jesus as part of what you teach Christians later on rather than part of how you explain the gospel to outsiders. I think this is simply mistaken. Every step towards a de-Judaized Jesus is a step away from Scripture, away from Christian wisdom, and out into the world of . . . yes, Plato and the rest, which is of course where Lewis partly lived. If you don’t put Jesus in his proper context, you will inevitably put him in a different one, where he, his message, and his achievement will be considerably distorted.

This deficit shows particularly in Lewis’s treatment of incarnation. Famously, as in his well-known slogan, “Liar, Lunatic or Lord,” he argued that Jesus must have been bad or mad or God. This argument has worn well in some circles and extremely badly in others, and the others were not merely being cynical.

What Lewis totally failed to see—as have, of course, many scholars in the field—was that Judaism already had a strong incarnational principle, namely the Temple, and that the language used of Shekinah, Torah, Wisdom, Word, and Spirit in the Old Testament—the language, in other words, upon which the earliest Christians drew when they were exploring and expounding what we have called Christology—was a language designed, long before Jesus’ day, to explain how the one true God could be both transcendent over the world and living and active within it, particularly within Israel.

Lewis, at best, drastically short-circuits the argument. When Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven,” he is not claiming straightforwardly to be God, but to give people, out on the street, what they would normally get by going to the Temple.
User avatar
GhostontheNet
 
Posts: 1963
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 12:00 pm
Location: Aurora, CO

Postby Manillien » Tue May 06, 2008 10:36 pm

Darn... I guess I have to read some of Wright's apologetics, then! I need a replacement argument for the trilemma... He had best come with some convincing stuff!
"Do all that you have in mind, for God is with you" - 1 Chronicles 17:2

"A Christian is a cross product" - Christomath humorist

"Way to breathe, no-breath" - James "Jimbo" Jones
User avatar
Manillien
 
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:35 am
Location: Norway

Postby MBlight » Sun May 25, 2008 1:13 am

Some of my favourite and most life-changing books are:

Velvet Elvis - Rob Bell
Safely Home - Randy Alcorn (i'm busy with it now, but it's shaking the ground I stand on)
Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller
Circles in a Forest - Dalene Matthee

and finally...

The Cross Examination of Jesus Christ - Randy Singer
I am a Rat Activist!

My Blog: http://mhitchens.wordpress.com

@)}~`,~ Carry This Rose In Your Sig, As Thanks, To All The CAA Moderators.

Proud member of MOES!
User avatar
MBlight
 
Posts: 327
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2008 1:17 am
Location: South Africa

Postby Bunny » Fri Jun 06, 2008 10:19 am

MBlight (post: 1229451) wrote:Some of my favourite and most life-changing books are:

Velvet Elvis - Rob Bell
Safely Home - Randy Alcorn (i'm busy with it now, but it's shaking the ground I stand on)
Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller
Circles in a Forest - Dalene Matthee

and finally...

The Cross Examination of Jesus Christ - Randy Singer


Your post excited me! I love Rob Bell and Donald Miller. Both of them have really impacted how I view Christianity. Blue Like Jazz made me want to stand up on the plane where I was reading it and yell, "I am not the only one who thinks this way!" It's just so uncommon to hear from someone who has the same problems with the church as I do but it really gave me hope in a lot of areas where it was lacking.

If you haven't read Sex God, I'd highly recommend it. It's not at all the way it sounds. It talks a lot about community and shared humanity. Wonderful.
"So David said to Michal, "It was before the LORD, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the LORD. And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them I will be held in honor."

2 Samuel 6: 21&22



"I am going to take this bucket of water and pour it on the flames of hell, and then I am going to use this torch to burn down the gates of paradise so that people will not love God for want of heaven or fear of hell, but because He is God."

User avatar
Bunny
 
Posts: 429
Joined: Mon Aug 11, 2003 2:31 pm
Location: NC

Postby GwenneZ » Mon Jan 05, 2009 7:10 pm

hmm I'd have to say its a tie between "The Dragon Keeper Chronicles" by Donkita K. Paul, and "The Door Within Trilogy" by Wayne Thomas Batson. Oh! then there's "Chicken Soup for the Teen Soul"!
Konnichi Wa peoplez!!!

COWS GO MOO! IF WE WERE COWS, WE WOULD, TOO!

The world will tell you who you are until you tell the world

Never Alone

[font=Arial]@)}~`,~ Carry This Rose In Your Sig, As Thanks, To All The CAA Moderators.[/font]
User avatar
GwenneZ
 
Posts: 55
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 8:33 am
Location: Amara


Return to Book Corner

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 104 guests