Anybody else having their fundy family give them a book like the shack

[zonmoy]

which is a blatent attempt to convert them back to fundamentalism.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0964729237/ref=s9subs_c1_14_img1-rfc_p_si3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=19D7X4T5HNPGNESYCE0D&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=463383351&pf_rd_i=507846

[JuniperLea]

1. No, but thanks for the warning! eom

[Warpy]

2. Ugh.

Send them "The God Delusion" in return. They will get the message and Dawkins will get the royalty.

[Taverner]

3. Funny how many ways are the "only way" to talk to your imaginary friend

[thunder rising]

4. Two points of contention arose during my Christmas visit to a fundy (racist) sister and BIL

1: Unions.
BIL: I think the time for unions is past.
Response: So, what's an alternative?
Unsaid: Remember the phrase, "it's not what's fair, it's what the market will bear." In other words, you stand alone and the Corps will starve you and your children and piss on your grave. Another saying, "The Marlboro man died of cancer".

2: Universal Health Care
Sister: Not on my dime.
Response: During the SW bubble I made very good money and could not get anybody to talk to me about insurance.
Unsaid: If you paid less under a universal health care arrangement would it be "on your dime".

Believe me .. fundies still exist.

[MineralMan]

5. Sure. I have some fundies in my family,

and they love to give me such books. I return the favor by giving their children books on evolution and the like. I'm also fond of giving copies of The Screwtape Letters, by that Christian author C. S. Lewis to the adults, which confuses them wonderfully.

[The_Commonist]

6. From the decription...

"In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant..."

God, we can only hope so!

[damntexdem]

7. Trying to Shack-le one's mind, huh?

[FirstLight]

8. I haven't read it yet, but am getting a copy soon -

my pastor and his wife and a few others really raved about it. I think books like this need to be seen as an interpretation, not a indoctrination.
There are alot of folks here at DU that bash christianity like ALL christians are fundies and rethugs etc... it is sad.

I come from a very liberal Lutheran church, the pastor is under 35 and has tattoos and plays World of Warcraft, his wiffe has a nose ring and we have been known to have some fun girls nights making sangria...they are all very open minded nd have taught me alot about the christian value of acceptance (as opposed to tolerance). That is more of a jesus quality, IMO.

so please try to see things like this with an open mind and what ideals you can gain from them.
Even if you aren't a practising christian or a practicing ANYTHING,
qualities like fairness and cooperation and caretaking and compassion are supposed to be universal.
...and as far as I am concerned, these qualities are the only ones that will get us through the rough spots we face as a people.

so mellow out, even IF you think your fundie family gave you the book for an intended purpose.
What's the harm in finding a nugget of your OWN truth in the pages?

maybe it could even give you a litle common ground to work with?

just a thought
peace
:)

[LWolf]

9. I read it last week.

A parent donated 3 copies to the classroom library.

I'll be giving them back.

My buddhist mother, given a copy of this book by xtian, not fundie, friends, thought it was okay. Not great, but okay. She doesn't mind looking for the spiritual on any path, from any voice.

I was appalled.

First of all, the foreword at the beginning of the book is written as if the book is a factual account. The author talks about meeting his main character, talking to him, helping him to put the story together. This book is fiction; there IS no real MacKenzie Phillips. There was no "Missy."

To present it as though there were, as a fictional device, is dishonest.

I was okay with the story for awhile. The process of cloaking god in different skins than the average xtian would expect (although people whose faith lies outside the judeo-xtian tradition would not find it shocking or new,)is at least interesting.

Until you get to know them, and listen to the message. Then you find that the god, and the message, is no larger, no broader, no more visionary, than the narrow dogma of organized xtianity. Same stuff wrapped in a few new robes. At that point, it becomes obvious that the liberties taken with the god persona are devices. Familiar devices for a familiar purpose: to get people to dive into xtian dogma.

Proselytizing.

The use of misleading fictional devices, not-so-"charming" portrayals of the xtian god, and hard-core emotional buttons, in the grieving father and the murdered daughter, to pull people into a novelistic sermon for the purposes of "finding god," is, to be frank, disgusting.

[raccoon]

12. I totally agree--and I'm tired of this dishonesty of people presenting books/movies that are fiction

as if the events had really happened.


"First of all, the foreword at the beginning of the book is written as if the book is a factual account. The author talks about meeting his main character, talking to him, helping him to put the story together. This book is fiction; there IS no real MacKenzie Phillips. There was no "Missy."

To present it as though there were, as a fictional device, is dishonest. "

See also http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x8367470

[michaz]

10. No, I bought it myself and enjoyed it. n/t

[Fleshdancer]

11. The books I have received over the years from a family member:

The Case For Faith
The Prayer of Jabez
Pleasures Evermore

and on audio:
Ravi Zacharias: The Harvard Veritas Forum


My husband and I are both Atheists.