I thought I would create a blog for those of you bookclub girls who want to post some comments about the book. I just finished reading it and would like to take notes on it so I'll remember them at bookclub in March. But I figured that we could post our notes on here under the comments section of this little blog and then we can all see what we think of the book! I will put my comments under the comment section as well. This book is amazing and I would definitely recommend it to all of you!
6 comments:
I thoroughly enjoyed this book although I thought it was a little strange, the whole story, and thought it would have been good just to have heard the authors thoughts and have it not be fiction. But for those of you who enjoy fiction, it makes this book more interesting I guess. I loved how he said forgiveness is essential in order to gain eternal life. If we were standing in line waiting to get into the celestial kingdom, and saw someone in front of us who had sinned against us, and we didn't forgive them, it would be us that would be withheld from going inside, not the person who wronged us because they already repented of it. I also enjoyed the story of Jonah, how we all "deserve" absoluteley nothing, unless we think we deserve hell. It is what the Savior makes up for in our lives that helps us get what we desire. Say for instance in order to get back to God you need to be free of sin 100%. Say that one person worked as hard as they could, hardly ever sinned, and got to say 85%, while another person didn't do anything, goofed around, didn't care much, and only achieved 20%. The fact is that we all fall short, regardless of the sin. A sin is a sin and it makes us fall short no matter who we are. So the Savior comes in and makes up the rest, it's as simple as that. The Savior will make up the 15% or the 80%, if we just come to him, because in reality none of us deserve to get back to God, we all fall short. I enjoyed the chains of hell part as well. I thought it was beautiful how he depicted the flaxon cord and the mist of darkness. Most of us don't even realize we are in it unless we realize that we are at fault. And then the atonement part was awesome. How he talked about how the Savior payed for all our sins, and not just that but everything that leads up to the sin and everything that follows the sin. I thought it was a great book and goes along well with what John and I often talk about. Why do we think that we will be saved and other people won't? It's because we think we deserve it because we work hard for it. But guess what? Isn't it the third article of faith that says : We believe that all man kind will be saved? If you desire it, all you have to do is accept the atonement, and He will make up for the rest. I thought it was great!
I'm not sure I could have read the whole thing if the fiction part of it wasn't in there. I'm not very good about reading doctrinal books. The fiction was especially good for me because I've been there with Adam. I honestly don't know what all the steps were in getting out of the hole--that place where everything Adam did was wrong (to me) and we were just hating being married to each other--but I'm so grateful we're so much better now!
My favorite part of the book was when the author described how we are in danger with the first sin we commit. We start seeing other people’s motes and not the beams in our own eyes, we justify our little sins because they’re not huge sins. By doing so, we lose the ability to feel the Spirit and we become desensitized.
I also believe that we do need a change of heart by coming to Christ in order to produce change. And to pray continually for help. Otherwise, we might set goals in our relationships like, “Talk nicely no matter what. Count to 100 before speaking. Be creative in dealing with problems. Ask questions and be interested in what the other person’s feelings are” or whatever I was trying to do to patch things up with my husband instead of first acknowledging that I was at fault too and that my whole heart needed to change toward him.
Great ideas in the book. I hope I don’t forget them!
My comment is about the same as Marcy's. I really enjoyed the book, and I thought there were some good tips to use in a lesson or two.
The only thing I had a hard time with was that some of the conversations with the Grandpa were redundant. I kept thinking - get this point through your head, you are talking in a circle. But I really did like the book - I liked being a "witness" to stories in the scriptures and applying it to current situations. The last chapter or two really just brought it home for me. I think it would benefit everyone I know to read this book.
Alisa, it was so talky, wasn't it? I was worried I wouldn't make it through the whole book. Gratefully, I did, because I think it had a great moral. I'm glad we did it for book club so I had no excuses!
I really enjoyed reading everyone's comments (so thanks for posting them). I just finished the book today and I enjoyed the fictional aspect of the book. I think it made the book relatable. While I was reading I thought about similar situations in my own life.
I got the most out of section 3&4. I have never pictured satan. And I thought the author did a remarkable job protraying him the way he really is. I loved the part about agency. And how we fought in the beginning to retain our agency and then we do silly things on earth and freely give our agency away.
Section 4 was by far my favorite. It helped me more fully understand the atonement. Our Savior took all of our sinfulness and then withstood Satan, and remained without sin.
I am very glad we read this book and I am excited to hear more at book club.
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