Another must-read book & giveaway

I never really thought about the concept of “spiritual urban legends” until I heard about this book by Larry Osborne. But as soon as I read the Table of Contents, I immediately realized that not only had I heard of such things, I believed many of them myself.

Osborne touches on 10 widely held beliefs that are both dumb and dangerous—dangerous because they often lead to disillusionment with God, and a loss of faith in Him, church and other Christians.

All of them were eye-opening and thought-provoking, but the five topics that touched me the most were:

• -Faith can fix anything
• -Forgiving means forgetting
• -God has a blueprint for my life
• -Everything happens for a reason
• -A valley means a wrong turn

For many years, Donnie and I attended churches where we were taught these things from the pulpit. And I don’t think that our pastors had bad intentions; they were just sharing what they’d been taught that were also misinterpretations of the Bible.

As a “word nerd” I have always been fascinated with learning about the original meanings of the words in the Bible, words that sometimes lost their original meaning when translated into English. Osborne delves into these meanings, and explains—in a completely non-judgmental, compassionate fashion—how it’s been so easy for man to misinterpret so many essential Biblical verses.

As somone who has been “living in a valley” for the past two years, wondering where we went wrong to end up in such a difficult place, I can’t tell you how comforting it was to read Osborne’s work and realize that no matter how much I dislike it, this actually is where I should be right now.

Interested? I have another copy to give away to one of my readers! Just post a comment or send me an email with your email address, and this Friday, I will draw a random name from all who enter.