Two Finished Titles

I completed two different books this week. One was Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham. It was one I have been chewing on and digesting for quite some time. It has been like steak, potatoes and vegetables -- a full course meal. In fact, it was so powerful and thought provoking that I am going back through each chapter and will post a brief synopsis here in the coming days and weeks. Watch for it!

The other one, Tristan's Gap by Nancy Rue was a quick-fiction read that was well written and it kept my attention (took me about 1 1/2 days to complete) but as I read it, I kept having small, red warning flags. Because I have been know to over react too quickly in the past, I read slow, made mental notes and plowed along to the end.

The gist of the story was of a Christian family that apparently had religion but not relationship. The sixteen year old girl runs away partly because of her "patriarchal father" and "submissive mother". Prayer was mentioned, but the traditional church was somewhat mocked. In the end, she is found pregnant, delivers a baby that dies, the mother learns to stand up to the father and everybody lives happily ever after.

I have learned to trust small red flags in my conscience. I did a quick google search and found the author's blog. You can learn a lot about a person's belief system from their links. What I found were links to Brian McLaren, a known Emergent leader who has strayed so significantly from the core beliefs of Christianity. I do not know if Nancy Rue believes these things whole-heartedly, but some of the things that came out in her fiction book definitely lean this way.

My purpose is not to bash her or this book, but gently remind readers that we are called to be discerning as we read. I think the fiction genre makes this harder to accomplish due to our emotional attachment to the characters and story line. But this is no excuse not to compare everything with the truth of the only accurate standard - the Bible.