Nice post here. For all of you who are with me when I complain the movie didn’t include enough accounting stories.
(For the record: I personally vote for sugar over corn syrup. Ceteris paribus. Though I had never considered the exploding factories thing. Then again, I also eat flour, and you get exploding factories with that, too. Maybe I am not a good example in the eating-for-worker-safety department.)
Prove It! God, Revised Edition
by Amy Welborn
Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, 2010
You are not the only person in the history of the world who has wondered about God.
Quick Version: Yes, you should buy this book. Mighty good, mighty useful, fun, readable. And short, and easy to find what you want when you want it. Plus a good recommended reading list at the end.
***
What it is: The Prove It books are an apologetics series for teenagers – think high school student. Prove It! God answers the question “What do I say when my friends tell me they don’t believe in God?”
Kids have often wondered out loud to me why it is that the most challenging religious reflection expected of a sixteen-year-old who can drive, hold a job, design a web page, balance chemical equations, and study Hamlet is constructing a collage about “The Beatitudes in Today’s World.” They’ve wondered why their other texts are so big and solid, while their religion books tend to be flimsy things filled with the reflection question and lots of pictures of birds, meadows, and rainbows. They can’t help but compare and can’t help but wonder what’s being communicated to them about how seriously they’re supposed to take religion after all.
The book covers the gamut — starting with does it even matter what we believe, through all the common objections to God’s existence, and finishing up by making a case for Jesus and the importance of a personal relationship with Him. The tone is conversational, and the examples relate to teen life, but the contents are rock solid. No flimsy cop-out stuff.
Each chapter looks at a single topic, and gives a realistic apologetics pep talk designed to prepare students for real-life conversations. As Welborn goes through the classic arguments for the existence of God, she points out the limitations of each argument; there’s a very strong emphasis on clear, logical thinking. And although she doesn’t mince words, the tone is never that snarky triumphalism that so easily infects certain apologists. Very down-to-earth and understanding.
Who would benefit: The obvious audience is teens whose friends are asking about God. The book is also written for readers who may have doubts of their own. You don’t need to be 100% sure about all things theological before you start reading.
Two caveats:
1) There were a couple places where I thought the book moved a little too quickly. It’s a short, fast-paced book; a young reader may want some help fleshing out the principles presented. That’s not all bad – if you know a teen who is reading the book, you can read it together and discuss. If you are the teen, you can force some adult you know to turn on the ol’ brain and do something useful.
2) I’m not sure the chapter on suffering (problem: why do innocent people suffer?) is quite as strong as I’d like. It is good, but I’d like to see something more. I suppose we all would. This book probably won’t hold up as the sole source for someone struggling with that particular question. Still a great chapter though – honest, compassionate, and hitting some really big nails on heads. Or hands, as it were.
Alive. Jesus, God-made-victim of sin and death, alive. They could not hold Him, they could not win.
Do you see?
Christianity isn’t about rules, no matter what your friend wants to think. It’s not about nice teachings from a nice man. It’s about God coming into this world to re-create His creation, to twist it all back around to its rightful place, turn the world’s expectations upside-down, and give us another chance.
There are also some categories of adults that would really benefit from this book:
As I stated before, I don’t think any of your friends who claims to be an atheist is a hard-core unbeliever. Why? Because I’ve no doubt he does, in his heart, assume the existence of meaning and purpose in life, as well as broad absolute moral standards.
How cool would it be if you could help him see the short but necessary path from what he already believes to the joy and peace of a relationship with the living god of love and life?
Can you think of a greater gift that friend could ever offer?
Is it Protestant-friendly? Absolutely. It’s a catholic book, but the contents are suitable for any christian. I can’t promise there isn’t a single unique-to-catholics sentence anywhere in there, but none come to mind. Might make a nice discussion tool for that awkward silence when you aren’t sure what you have in common with your catholic (protestant) friend. The answer is: All this. Lots of room at that lunch table.
Good book. Highly recommended.
***
A couple of FYI’s:
PS: I bet they want me to tell you the Catholic Company is a great place to get baptism and first communion gifts. It has come to my attention that there are people who buy gifts *other* than books. Curiously, my children really like those people. Go figure. So if you are one of them, not only are you no doubt more popular than me, you can also find what you need at fine catholic book & gift stores such as our sponsor. Yay.
UPDATE #1: Katja votes in the combox for working out with heavy weights. I totally agree — if you can pull it off, do it. Since she is fitter & stronger than me, and pretty much would totally school me if I were foolish enough to try to race her.
So if there are any heavy objects lying around in Haiti, there you go. I feel sure you can find something.
UPDATE #3 Christian votes for: Run around the block, do push-ups.
Do they have blocks in Haiti? They have something. Street-like. Sort of. No? If children can be left unattended. Push-ups, though. We know they have that. You can do push-ups in the privacy of your own, spectator-free private quarters.
UPDATE #2: Some links:
A handout on dumbell excercises. A bunch of these are ones I do. Little animated pictures to show you how, plus a description. Could keep you busy for a while.
Here are some rotator cuff exercises, if you have wonky shoulders. Or just for fun.
If I find more useful links, I’ll add them. Surprisingly tricky to find ones I like.
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This is a reply to Gwen of the Mangine Many, who asks:
So. I need some functional toning exercises. Something that I can do here that will help me feel healthier and less jiggly. (Though I do understand that at this point, a moderate to high amount of jiggle is a foregone conclusion.)
If you have a good answer for her (read through her blog to get an idea of her actual life and realisitic conditions), she says:
If you have any ideas, email me at gwenn@joyinhope.org or comment on my facebook once this note imports there…
I wouldn’t mind seeing your answers, too. Since this is a topic on which I’m always looking for ideas. Combox or link to your own post, hmmn?
Meanwhile, here’s my answer:
1) I learned some weight-lifting exercises from various sources. One I found helpful was a library book, Smart Girls Do Dumbells, by Judith Sherman-Wolin. There were others, too. You can probably find some nice websites with suggestions.
2) I learned some core exercises from my PT, a few from this book: Relieving Pelvic Pain During and After Pregnancy by Cecile Rost, and others from other places too.
3) Some exercises I just made up. (And pre-latest-injury, I had some ballet and fencing odds and ends I would included in the repertoire. Lately I’ve been subbing in some shoulder exercises my GP gave me, which are rather helping my persistently weak and crotchety shoulder). There are also some good stretches/range-of-motion exercises in there.
4) I tossed out anything that my body didn’t seem to like. Didn’t matter how much the PT swore it was good for me, or some exercise guru is sure everyone can do it, there are certain movements my body just doesn’t approve. Out with them.
5) I put in a good CD, and do low-weight, high-reps. Just whatever. Start with no weight to warm up, and then go from there. Baby any body parts that need babying, make work hard any body part that is up to it that day.
–> Think of it like going for a walk, only instead of walking, you are doing bicep curls or sit-ups or whatever is on your list. Or like free-range aerobics.
Works great. Not get-ripped-quick, but over the very long term, definitely the strength and fitness has improved. You can use this, btw, to persuade a reluctant body to learn new sports. When I took up fencing, I think I spent a month doing your basic poke-someone-with-a-sword movement *with no sword*. And then the shoulder got on board and I could add some weight.
I can say that at this point, maybe four years in, people sometimes ask me if I have lost weight because I look fitter. (I have gained about twenty pounds – some of it muscle, much of it fluff.) Generally speaking people mistake me for someone who is athletic and fit and not decrepit.
So that works. And it can be done with kids around, doesn’t require space or anything expensive. Works around injuries and illnesses. Works with whatever number of minutes you have — be it five minutes here or there, or 23 minutes between when the kids are supposed to be in bed and when the spouse is ready to visit for a while. (Actually quite good for bedtime, because all that marching to the kids’ room to tell them to be quiet just adds to the fitness, eh?) Tolerates interruptions. Putting away laundry or cleaning up the bedroom makes a good warm-up.
My friend Ann Miko at Uncommon Adornments and Phos Hilarion (jewlery and liturgical/devotional crosses respectively) wants me to remind you she has a sale going on:
http://www.adornmentssc.com/phpectoral.html
Beautiful gift possibilities.
Hand made by people on my short list of if-I-were-stranded-in-a-deserted-coffee-shop-who-would-I-want-for-company. Purely an altruistic post on my part, btw. They are trying to raise funds to relocate. But go take a look anyway.
Making an attempt to update the links to add some good blogs I’ve been enjoying but failed to list. If you read here and your site is not on the sidebar (now – I might have just added you, no doubt long overdue), please let me know.
Thanks!
Yay. I just finished Prove It!: God this morning. Verdict: I give it a ‘buy’ recommend for an awful lot of audiences, including quite a few people firmly in the former teenager category. Super book. Yay OSV for putting out a revised edition. Official review coming soonish.
And now this evening, in a sign that the USPS really does love me, my new book from Tiber River arrived:
I told you I was trying to stack the deck in my favor.
Wednesday had me thinking quite a lot about sin.
About what a fallen world it is. About my own inability to behave as I ought. And then of course I couldn’t help but notice other people seem to be having this problem as well. (Full disclosure: I noticed the other people first. You knew that.)
–> And all that finally settled into a realization new to me, though I suppose the rest of you junior & senior economists already understood this:
There are people who believe true socialism can work, and there are people who believe pure capitalism can work. And here I’m assuming they believe in a good way — that their system is in fact the solution to economic problems, for the betterment of all humanity. But either way, they have something in common: They do not believe in original sin.
And of course that is why as catholics we don’t support either system in a “pure” form. Socialism tries to achieve by force what man would naturally do if only he were good. But of course, the people running the system aren’t any better than the ones who can’t be persuaded to freely share and share alike in the first place. Capitalism tries to harness the natural tendency of man to assume responsibility for his own good — but forgets that left to our own devices, we do not necessarily do what is good for ourselves, let alone show any caution for our neighbor.
People do sin. There is no real solution to the human condition until you admit that.
Latest Catholic Company book arrived – Amy Welborn’s Prove It!: God.
I have this bad habit of getting people books as gifts, but acquiring them early enough that I have time to read the book myself. Been doing it all my life. In this case, though, I’m required to do so, since I have to write a review before I ship my copy (or one just like it) out west to my neice*.
Here’s what happened:
1) My niece asked me to be her confirmation sponsor.
2) Her parish has this really great interview form for a mandatory conversation between student & sponsor. I’ll post the questions soon. We had a great conversation. (Hint: I am pretty much rolling in awesome young kinspeople.)
3) She explains that many of her friends don’t believe in God. It frustrates her because she can’t explain to them why she believes.
4) I think about the Amy Welborn books that I’ve seen at my local catholic bookstore, but the quickest thing is to send her to Catholic Answers.
5) I get invited to a friend’s house for supper. My friend has to take a phone call. I pick through her library, and find Prove It: God. I read a few pages. I kick myself for not choosing this as my Catholic Company review book when I first saw it on the list.
6) My Eric Sammons book review gets approved, and the Amy book is still up for grabs. Meanwhile, there is another guaranteed-win book on the CC list, that my other niece needs. Serious conflict now — which book to choose? But hey, I look over to Tiber River, and the other must-read book is there. (I’ll post that title once it shows up at the house. ‘Tis in transit as I type.)
7) So I pick the Amy book for my next CC review. Shows up today. Yay!
Safe money says it will be read by end of day Saturday at the latest. What with the lousy luck on library books, I have a surplus of reading time.
*No surprises were ruined in the making of this blog post. I am very predictable in my gift choices. Less predictable in my ability to use a post office. That’s the real surprise: not what, but when?
Cover art courtesy of OSV.
Not cheerful reading: http://goatpath.wordpress.com/2010/11/22/cholera-reaches-port-au-prince-as-victims-are-left-in-mass-graves/
Thanks to the Livesay’s for the link.
UPDATED to add:
Sanitation and the cholera panic from the Mangine’s. Additional perspective, not graphic.
Here and here are photos of the RHFH Rescue Center’s Cholera House in action.
And if you are a Catholic Relief Services supporter, here’s their report on what they are doing to help curb the spread of the epidemic.
Every time I sit down to pray, my dog brings me an object for fetch. She was not very appreciative last night when I tried to explain that it was cold and dark now, and that I refuse to throw a frisbee in my bedroom.
(What does this say about my prayer life? A. I am still. B. I have at least one hand free.)
So today I made a point of tackling the ol’ rosary earlier in the day, when I could still pray outdoors.
–> Yes, that is where I stand on the piety-meter. The Lord has sent me a german-shepherd-mix to help prevent excessive procrastination. Very gentle about it. All cute eyes and respectfully dropping the flying object closer and closer. How could I not want to pray with a partner like that?
Or perhaps the Lord has sent me a rosary to make me get out and play with my dog more.
UPDATE: Edited to add a photo. But I promise I am not turning into a pet-blogger. No really. Just seriously goofing off.
