Reddit mentions: The best religious worship & devotion books

We found 110 Reddit comments discussing the best religious worship & devotion books. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 65 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the top 20.

1. Always Ready: Directions for Defending the Faith

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2. Being Zen: Bringing Meditation to Life

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3. Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist

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4. The God of Jesus Christ: Meditations on the Triune God

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5. One God, One Lord: Early Christian Devotion and Ancient Jewish Monotheism

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7. Imagining Creates Reality: 1967 Lectures

Imagining Creates Reality: 1967 Lectures
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8. Hermaphrodeities: The Transgender Spirituality Workbook

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9. I Am That

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10. Praying Backwards: Transform Your Prayer Life by Beginning in Jesus' Name

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11. Lectio Divina―The Sacred Art: Transforming Words & Images into Heart-Centered Prayer (The Art of Spiritual Living)

Lectio Divina―The Sacred Art: Transforming Words & Images into Heart-Centered Prayer (The Art of Spiritual Living)
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12. Tomorrow's God: Our Greatest Spiritual Challenge

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13. The Wisdom of the Knowing Ones: Gnosticism: The Key to Esoteric Christianity

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14. God's Big Instruction Book: Timeless Wisdom on How to Follow the Spiritual Path

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18. The Ragamuffin Gospel

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19. The Maze of Mormonism

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20. The Practice of the Presence of God: The Wisdom and Teachings of Brother Lawrence

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🎓 Reddit experts on religious worship & devotion books

The comments and opinions expressed on this page are written exclusively by redditors. To provide you with the most relevant data, we sourced opinions from the most knowledgeable Reddit users based the total number of upvotes and downvotes received across comments on subreddits where religious worship & devotion books are discussed. For your reference and for the sake of transparency, here are the specialists whose opinions mattered the most in our ranking.
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Top Reddit comments about Religious Worship & Devotion:

u/Frankfusion · 1 pointr/Penhugs

Coming as a reformed guy, the presuppositional approach is the school of thought most of us come from. The books in this tradition worth reading would be:

Defense of the Faith by Cornelius Van Til

He was the founder of the movement and this is an intro to his ideas. He was a philosopher and English wasn't his first language, so it might be a but dense in a few places. But it's worth the read.

Always Ready by Greg Bahnsen

Bahnsen was one of Van Til's best students and probably one of the best debaters of that method til his tragic death at 45. This is a really good intro to the theory and practice as he applies the method to popular questions including the problem of faith, miracles, and knowing the supernatural.

Apologetics to the Glory of God and Doctrine of the Knowledge of God by John Frame

Van Til's other best student who is also considered his best living expositor and friendliest critic. Apologetics to the Glory of God (AGG) is his attempt at making the method user friendly. He deals with evil, the existence of God and the reliability of the gospel and he even has a funny sample dialogue at the end showing how the method could be applied in real life. His other book, is the first in his Theology of Lordship Series covering in depth various topics. His Doctrine of the Knowledge of God is a theology of epistemology. That is, he looks at the Bible and asks, "What does it mean to "know" God?" TONS of Scripture. A brilliant book with great application at the end, especially in terms of apologetics.

The Francis A Schaeffer Trilogy by Francis Schaeffer

One of Van Til's most famous students (The only one to ever be on the cover of Time Magazine), he was a very influential voice in evangelicalism in the 60's and 70's. Van Til never felt Francis truly "got" his method, but the influence of Van Til on his work is pretty evident. Francis wrote these three books in order to be read together and they were developed as a result of his work in Europe working with college kids at his home called L'Abri They cover cultural trends in Europe and the US and why they were happening. He saw that the idea of truth was in decay and only God could truly be the anchor to hold society together. Broad brush strokes indeed, but philosopher Richard Taylor would make a very similar (but more detailed) case in his book A Secular Age. They aren't apologetics books (I would almost say prophetic as he saw many of our current cultural trends years before they happened), but they do have his approach to apologetics and it is one that has influenced many current evangelicals. To be honest, any of his many books would be worth your time. His book and documentary How Then Shall We Live, while a bit dated, are both worth your time. They both look at the history of art and what it tells us about mankind. Here's a clip from the documentary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdLejdyNpik

Every Thought Captive by Richard Pratt

One of Frame's students who took the method and wrote this book for High School/College age students. Great intro to the method. Lot's of scripture.

Reasons for Faith: Philosophy in the Service of Theology and Covenantal Apologetics by Scott Oliphint

He is currently teaching in Van Til's old position and has written a lot on the subject. The first book is just what it sounds like, it's a look at the role of reason in apologetics. The second book comes out next month and it is his explanation of the presuppositional method of apologetics. It's a highly anticipated book.

The Divine Challenge: On Matter Mind Math and Meaning by John Byl

A physicist, he uses the presup. approach while looking at the materialistic worldview. He deconstructs the view and shows that things like mind matter math and meaning can only make sense in a Christian worldview.

Religion, Reason, and Revelation by Gordon Clark

Clark was a one time friend of Van Til and later would become his rival-their students to this day keep the rivalry going! This is his own kind of presuppositionalism and well worth your time. His other works like The Christian View of Men and Things are a great intro to his approach.

Faith and Reason by Ronald Nash

A student of Clark's, he wrote this intro to philosophy of Religion with some great thoughts on worldviews.

A World of Difference by Kenneth Samples

A student of Nash's who looks at different tests of world views and show show Christianity can deal with all of them.

Articles

Van Til Info is run by Christian philosopher James Anderson and it has tons of articles from the presupp approach
http://www.vantil.info/bysubject.html

Monergism
Links to various writers and on the pressuppisitional method.
http://www.monergism.com/directory/link_category/Apologetics/

u/finnerpeace · 3 pointsr/religion

I would read SHORT but incisive texts from great religions or religious thinkers. Just one or two a day to start with.

I personally love The Hidden Words by Baha'u'llah, but there are many great interfaith collections as well. One nice one is God's Big Instruction Book, here used, which is actually many tiny delicious nuggets from different world Faiths.

I'd read one or two short interesting pieces, and meditate on them.

I think the spirit is quite easily reawakened and nourished! Also looking forward to seeing others' recommendations...

I also really like this prayer:

>O God! Refresh and gladden my spirit. Purify my heart. Illumine my powers. I lay all my affairs in Thy hand. Thou art my Guide and my Refuge. I will no longer be sorrowful and grieved; I will be a happy and joyful being. O God! I will no longer be full of anxiety, nor will I let trouble harass me. I will not dwell on the unpleasant things of life.

>O God! Thou art more friend to me than I am to myself. I dedicate myself to Thee, O Lord.

Here in musical form

There's also a really neat event called Soul Food that happens in several cities, with very uplifting and inspiring interfaith readings. Attending something like that might also be helpful: but really, I think short prayer, meditation, and reading are the best.

u/[deleted] · 1 pointr/atheism

Alright guys, let me finally get to questions one and six.

>How do you rationalize the concept that "god is love" (your words) with the suffering which exists in the world?

I have two answers for this, one philosophical, one theological.

Philosophical (disclaimer: the following is not Catholic doctrine, but neither does it contradict Catholic doctrine):

I assume that you are familiar with the theodicy with which Alvin Plantinga essentially solved the logical problem of evil; therefore I will consider this issue settled.

Next, I'd like to make the claim that suffering is inherently undesirable, but not inherently evil. We can all think of examples in which suffering is imposed upon a person in a manner that is not evil: chemotherapy, for instance, is painful. Many types of burn therapy cause much suffering for the patient. Even working out involves suffering and pain (e.g. "no pain, no gain"). Therefore, having found examples of instances in which suffering imposed upon someone is not evil, I therefore make the claim that to impose suffering upon a person is not necessarily evil (it oftentimes is, but evil is not an essential property of suffering).

This in mind, I turn to Eleonore Stump's theodical individualism, which, in its most basic form, goes like this: the best way for human beings to conform their will to God's, and to thereby enter heaven, is to suffer, and therefore God allows suffering for the purposes of enabling people to conform their will to his.

There is much more to be said about this particular argument, but suffice to say the gist is that the undesirability of the enabling of or even imposition of suffering is outweighed by the good that suffering produces for individual human beings, and that good is (perhaps) the attainment of union with God in heaven.

Theological:

This answer is mostly taken from The God of Jesus Christ, a highly enlightening book by Joseph Ratzinger, and from a class that I recently took. Since it's been a couple of months I'm not presenting this as coherently as I once did, but I'll give it a shot.

As Pope Francis writes in Lumen Fidei, Christianity is an attempt to illumine all aspects of reality, which must therefore necessarily involve penetrating "to the shadow of death." Faith must open this horizon; it must illumine all aspects of the human experience, of which suffering is one of the most important parts. Thus, for Christianity to legitimately claim to being the light that illumines all reality, it must be able to give a coherent and persuasive answer to the question of why people suffer, for if it cannot it is not what it claims to be.

God, in Ratzinger's view, has not given a "conclusive answer" to the question of why people suffer (i.e. this is why the previous response, as I mentioned, was not formal Catholic doctrine but rather was merely compatible with Catholic belief), but the former pope emphasizes forcefully that neither has God been silent; God has provided a substantial answer in the form of his Son, in whose suffering there has been a transformation of suffering itself. God suffered, which means that God "dwells in the innermost sphere" of suffering, of what it means to be human.

If God has entered into suffering then suffering must therefore be sanctified; it cannot be what it once was, because God's very participation in it has transfigured it. What this means is that because God suffered, suffering is no longer meaningless nor in vain, but rather means something; because God died, death is not what it once was. They point to a new reality now, they point to something more.

The Christian story, after all, makes no sense without the Resurrection: because God entered into suffering, at the end of it all there is now also necessarily a final hope. As such, God is particularly with those who suffer, and those who suffer unjustly are assured that their suffering is of value and that there will be an ultimate justice. Because God sanctified suffering, unwarranted suffering now brings us closer to a completed form of life—there is, to put it one way, a life out of death.

>Why does the catholic church teach that masturbation is a sin when the one scripture they use is not about masturbation, but about a man's unwillingness to let his brother's wife have a child through him for his brother?

Let's again draw it back to the Catholic conception of God: Catholicism insists that ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν, that God is love. However the word used for love in this statement is ἀγάπη, "agape," which refers to self-giving, self-sacrificial love, love that cares not so much about the good of the self but rather concerns itself with the good of the other.

Catholics believe that ἀγάπη is the nature of God and the foundation of all that there is, and, since we are created by God, Catholicism also holds ἀγάπη is also our telos and our end as human beings (i.e. we ought to be Godlike, which means being ἀγάπη). Human beings are created for self-giving love, and thus our moral systems must be founded upon the expression of self-giving love: Our lives are to become self-giving love, and a key point is that this type of love is virtually always relational.

Erotic love (in the Greek, eros) is a particular type of love that is seen in Christianity as being extremely good if it leads to the bodily and spiritual union of two persons, if it enables two people to draw so near to each other and to be so completely overtaken by love that their very selves become subsumed into one, so to speak. Indeed, this type of expression of eros is seen as a conduit to and a participation in the life of God. This, then, is the relational end of the sexual faculty; eros, erotic love, is itself ordered toward ἀγάπη, which is the type of self-giving love explained earlier. Therefore we would say that the purpose of sex itself is to express self-giving love such that two people become one entity, and that therefore our sexual faculties are ordered toward the expression of self-giving love; our sexual faculties are ordered necessarily outward.

The Church, then, logically concludes that masturbation is necessarily an inversion of the purpose of sex because it takes the sexual faculty, which is meant to express love outward toward another human being, and instead redirects it inward toward the self, toward the ego. Instead of being relational, sex becomes self-contained; instead of being primarily love-giving, it becomes primarily pleasure-giving and becomes concerned first and foremost with the attainment of higher and higher levels of physical pleasure (though to clarify, Catholicism views physical pleasure as extremely good, but nevertheless insists that it must always be subordinated to self-giving love; it must never become the first priority).

Seen in this light, masturbation is an inversion of what authentic love could be. However I'm not saying that this is the most important aspect of Catholic sexual ethics. Nor am I saying that it is not "normal" to masturbate, nor that one is evil for masturbating, nor that God would condemn a teenager (or anyone, really) whose passions are too strong to be contained. I am simply saying that there is an ideal, that Catholicism strives for that ideal, and that masturbation falls short of that ideal. That is all.

By the way I hope you see that this is why I initially refused to answer your questions. I answer in very lengthy answers, and if I'd attempted to answer them all, I'd have no time for the other questions on the AMA.

u/Ophrys13 · 3 pointsr/Meditation

Im having one of those "never pick up another book" moments with The Most Rapid and Direct Means to Eternal Bliss. Awareness of awareness, 12 hours a day, for as long as it takes, with the intensity of a drowning man. Cant really argue with that!

Resources hmm, well books i enjoyed The Transparency of Things by Rupert Spira, and Francis Lucille's pay per view videos can be a good resource on his website. Papaji is one of my favourites, student of Ramana Maharshi, i enjoyed the book Wake Up and Roar very much. Sri Sadhu Om is another student and his famous book is available online in PDF: [The Path of Sri Ramana: Part One] (http://www.happinessofbeing.com/The_Path_of_Sri_Ramana_Part_One.pdf). Mooji is a student of Papaji, he has a large selection of videos free to watch on his [YouTube Channel] (http://www.youtube.com/user/Moojiji?feature=CAQQwRs%3D). [Gangaji] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwwjQuUJvJQ) is another Papaji student, her talks can also be found on YouTube.

[Robert Adams] (http://www.amazon.com/Silence-Of-The-Heart-Dialogues/dp/B002AUGI9K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347415434&sr=8-1&keywords=silence+of+the+heart) book, and Nisargadatta Maharaj's [I Am That] (http://www.amazon.com/I-Am-That-Nisargadatt-Maharaj/dp/8185300453/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347415482&sr=1-2&keywords=i+am+that) as xoxoyoyo recommended.

I really recommend the last chapter of Ken Wilbers The Eye of Spirit entitled ["Always Already"] (http://integral-options.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/ken-wilber-always-already-brilliant.html). I found a recommendation for it once online, not the book just that chapter, and i reread it every now and again, i really like it.

Not self-enquiry, but i really take to the Avatamsaka Sutra/The Flower Ornament Scripture. I have the Thomas Cleary translation - cost a bomb, but its one of my desert island books. [Hannya Shingyo] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UGln73LzoM) i listen to a few times a day - again may not be to all tastes. Sanskrit one. They get stuck in my head and replace thought after a while. If you have to think of something, why not lol. They feel good. Way off topic but ive listened to/watched these a gazillion times: [Great Bell Chant: The End of Suffering] (http://vimeo.com/6518109), [Om meditation] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaWGFlJAmH8). That Great Bell Chant one has scenes from Baraka, i love that movie. Think the sequel Samsara has been released now too, should be good!

When it comes to people you can have a chat with, Jeff Foster has an active [Facebook page] (http://www.facebook.com/LifeWithoutACentre). He replies to your questions and updates most days with some inspiring posts (though he doesn't actively suggest self-enquiry). His [balloon post] (http://www.lifewithoutacentre.com/read/essays-transcripts/the-balloon-nonduality-in-a-nutshell/) is cool on his site. Really nice chap, and occasionally offers one-on-one Skype sessions. I had a session with him about 12 months ago and found it really helpful, we spoke specifically about the fear of death barrier. I also like chatting with Pamela Wilson on Skype, i read her interview included in the book "Conversations on Non Duality" and got in touch through [her site] (http://www.pamelasatsang.com/). I have no idea how, but each time ive spoken to her ive had profound experiences. To my recollection we weren't even talking about anything much, they just came on. She's really nice too.

In the end i always seem to come back to the Be As You Are book, as you posted.

Thats me out, though im hoping that i will stop looking now with the "The Most Rapid and Direct Means to Eternal Bliss" techniques.

u/reformedscot · 1 pointr/Reformed

On the making of books [on prayer], there is no end. Others have given good examples and I commend those to you. I might just offer a quick two.

One is "Does Prayer Change Things?" This is a free ebook by Sproul and is good for a quick overview on prayer. Short. Punch. Free. What's not to love?

The next is a book by Bryan Chapell called "Praying Backwards". If you're looking to understand prayer from a more theological or Biblical stance, this is your book!

You asked about how prayer looks for us as individuals. There's a couple of practical things I do. I read a Psalm every day. I try to read it prayerfully and not on autopilot. Sometimes it happens. I accept it. That's why the Holy Spirit intercedes. I'm broken enough to need all the help I can get even on my best day!

Another thing I do is pray while I'm driving. It's almost like talking on a hands-free cell phone. It takes a minute or two to get past the self consciousness of it, but after that I really enjoy those prayers a lot. It's like a friend is in the car and I talk to God like that. No every day, but often.

Lastly, I write prayers like poetry. I think there's a place for extemporaneous prayer - but I also think that this casual 'jeans and tshirt' approach to prayer takes away from the solemn aspect of prayer. I write these prayers. I edit them. I read them aloud and chew on the words and see how they taste. I swap phrases in and out. I eventually land on a written prayer.

So this reading, chatting, writing "trilogy" works best for me. I add in the little moments during the day when I might say something that is directed to God but not really 'prayer' in a formal sense and I found a balance that works for me. You'll find a balance, too. Be willing to consider new ways of doing things. Perhaps singing a Psalm might be prayer. I don't believe that every word every time has to be a new, never prayed before, totally in the moment prayer or it doesn't count. I believe the Holy Spirit can be transformative and can take a song or a sonnet that is prayerfully offered and 'make' it into prayer.

[Ecclesiastes 12:12], please /u/versebot

u/SkybluePink-Baphomet · 3 pointsr/asktransgender

This site transchristians.org seems to list common Bible verses and methods of interpretting them to get around their common use as objections to trans people, the sites also got some general stuff on it from a quick flick through (biblical analysis - not my strong point) on various things linking Christianity and trans topics. Have a look through and make sure theres no disasters lurking on the site that will trip you up later.

Reading material may or may not be useful at the time, and may or may not be more useful later while they're digesting the information, or coming to terms with it.

If you want to explore the eunuch/trans angle more you could look into stuff like the Galli (theres more over here The Gallae: Transgender Priests of Ancient Greece, Rome and the Near East - By K. A. Lucker and in Kaldera's Hermaphrodeities) although if you and/or your parents are religious and Christian they may not really mesh well with that information or approach but it indicates that people have been managing to cope with the existence of religious trans people for a hell of a long time.

If you're concerned about rejection from them and are currently dependant on them for housing or finances it may be best to have a trusted friend on speed dial in case you need a sofa to crash on for the night. If you foresee this being a heavy duty and emotional event you may want to make sure you've got a friend on hand for afterwards who can give you a hug, something to eat and generally distract you with company.

Good luck with it, hope it goes smooth and they accept you :)

u/VanTil · 2 pointsr/Reformed

Yeah, the counterpoints series is a GREAT introduction on each of the five major apologetic approaches.

Five Points

Return to Reason by Kelly James Clark is a fantastic book on the virtues and methodology of Reformed Epistomological apologetics

Return to Reason

If you've noticed my username, you'll see I'm a proponent of Presuppositional apologetics. For a great introduction to it, I recommend Matrix of the Atheist by James D. Lashley

Matrix of the Atheist

and for a more in depth review and understanding of both the negative (deconstruction of a non trinitarian worldview) and positive (construction of the trinitarian worldview) argumentation I reccomend Greg Bahnsen's book Always Ready

Always Ready

If you or anyone else who happens upon this and doesn't have the means to purchase either one of the presuppositional books, PM me with your address and I'll gladly have one or both shipped to you (though they may be used).

Hope you enjoy!

u/__Autofac · 1 pointr/Christianity

This is a thought for your current bible study, rather than going online.

Recently a student-led bible study began at my university chaplaincy with students who don't really know scripture well enough for someone to read it so they took up the practice of Lectio Divina and everybody is benefiting from it greatly.

If it's done right it takes the burden off of one person and lets the group actually sink really deeply into the text and into meditation on the text and then to share your experiences and thoughts with one another.

>This method of prayer goes back to the early monastic tradition. There were not bibles for everyone and not everyone knew how to read. So the monks gathered in chapel to hear a member of the community reading from the scripture. In this exercise they were taught and encouraged to listen with their hearts because it was the Word of God that they were hearing.

The idea as outlined below is that a passage is read in the group three times. In between each reading there is a time of silence for each person to think about and meditate on what was read. Following the three readings you open up and talk.

>Lectio Divina can also be an effective form for group prayer. After a passage is read, there can be some extended silence for each person to savor what he or she has heard, particularly noting whether any word or phrase became a special focus of attention. Sometimes groups invite members, if they so desire, to share out loud the word or phrase that struck them. This is done without discussion. Then a different person from the group would read the passage again with a pause for silence. Different emphases might be suggested after each reading: What gift does this passage lead me to ask from the Lord? What does this passage call me to do? The prayer can be concluded with an Our Father.

The idea as I have come to understand it is that you read it multiple times and just wait for a passage, sentence, or word to shine out at you. Don't look for it. Don't go into the reading hoping to find answers to some question or problem that's burning in your head--leave yourself open to what God wants to reveal in the reading and it will be revealed. Maybe one word strikes you as being particularly beautiful--well, when the time comes tell the group and engage discussion.

I only bring it up because it has been really effective and good for all of us who don't have someone leading it. We also wanted to engage with it in a prayerful way--praying the scriptures, not just reading them.

I also mention it because I really believe in the efficacy and importance of being gathered in person for this sort of thing. I don't believe the internet and virtual ways of coming together, video or not, can force us to face one another or be in community in quite the same way as is necessary for this sort of practice. Others may disagree.

Here are some resources:
http://www.amazon.com/Lectio-Divina--The-Sacred-Art-Heart-centered/dp/1594733007/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383071024&sr=8-1&keywords=lectio+divina

http://www.valyermo.com/ld-art.html

http://www.ocarm.org/en/content/lectio/what-lectio-divina


u/LightBringerFlex · 2 pointsr/spirituality

Ya, it's still convo with God but book for under a,new subtitle. Same author of course.

4. Home with God discussing death and afterlife.

https://www.amazon.com/Home-God-Life-That-Never/dp/0743267168

5. Friendship with God discussing the step by step process on how to make God your best friend and work with him to forge your future.

https://www.amazon.com/Friendship-God-Neale-Donald-Walsch/dp/0425189848/ref=pd_sim_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0425189848&pd_rd_r=8TPW9GPDST108FE6A0AM&pd_rd_w=U3TqC&pd_rd_wg=t7isz&psc=1&refRID=8TPW9GPDST108FE6A0AM

6. Communion with God. I think this covers ancient myths that formed and have harmed our planet to this day and how to overcome them.

https://www.amazon.com/Communion-God-Neale-Donald-Walsch/dp/0425189856/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0425189856&pd_rd_r=8TPW9GPDST108FE6A0AM&pd_rd_w=U3TqC&pd_rd_wg=t7isz&psc=1&refRID=8TPW9GPDST108FE6A0AM

7. Tomorrow's god - this has to do with actually understanding the real god vs the Biblical God and how this god plays out in our lives.

https://www.amazon.com/Tomorrows-God-Greatest-Spiritual-Challenge/dp/0743463048/ref=la_B000APZH4Y_1_20?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483810346&sr=1-20&refinements=p_82%3AB000APZH4Y#customerReviews

8. New revaluation concerns the peaceful revolution we are in.

https://www.amazon.com/New-Revelations-Conversation-God/dp/074346303X/ref=pd_sim_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=074346303X&pd_rd_r=KQSYN4Q8S91CF23FWWWX&pd_rd_w=YwD35&pd_rd_wg=yWn5i&psc=1&refRID=KQSYN4Q8S91CF23FWWWX

u/Pandoraswax · 1 pointr/religion

Yes, insofar as you're referring to only some of the more extreme dualistic Gnostics, a term given to them not by themselves, but as a sarcastic put down by their opponents - like a "know it all". I forget the ancient greek word that they used to call themselves, but it meant "those who are aimed", their aim being the escape from the material world, as fashioned and governed by the demiurge and his archons, of birth and death, much like the karmic wheel of Buddhism and Hinduism. There's an interesting book The Wisdom of the Knowing Ones: Gnosticism: The Key to Esoteric Christianity, by Manly P. Hall where he writes that much of the ancient Gnostic influence is on account of the inflow of ideas from the east, including Buddhism and Hinduism, as there was a trade rout open to China by 200B.C..

I'm no expert, but I have studied these matters to some degree and they are a fascination of mine, what I can say is that it looks as though there was much diversity in how the Gnostics considered the demiurge's relationship to the cosmos. Some said he is evil as is his material world, others that he's as benevolent as possible and the cosmos as good as possible, only he's ignorant of his higher, divine origins and our cosmos is fallen due to this ignorance and divine mishap.

Yes, Yeshuwa is a manifestation of the Gnostic godhead, to save the lost divine sparks from human souls and even, according to some Gnostics, the demiurge himself.

This is where it gets tricky, Satan, say as the serpent in the garden, is seen to be as the redeemer, but they saw the serpent as Christ - even Moses lifted the bronze serpent to heal the wondering Israelites in the desert, as foreshadowing of Christ on the cross.

u/minerva330 · 1 pointr/martialarts

/u/Toptomcat nailed it. Wholeheartedly agree in reference to Bubishi, not very practical but interesting nonetheless. I loved Draeger's CAFA and Unante is comprehensive thesis on the historical origins and lineages of the Okinawan fighting arts. These titles might not be for everyone but I am a history buff in addition to a martial artist so I enjoyed them.

Couple of others:

u/WastedTruth · 2 pointsr/Christianity

> What does Christianity have for me?

Grace.

Here's my story. The word grace doesn't appear in it anywhere, but that's what it's all about. God knows us but loves us anyway. His grace is the pivot-point of a life with purpose, meaning and direction.


I'm the ghost of a not-dead man
A waste of space
An also-ran
A failed attempt at something great
A player caught in fools' mate
A man who saw the truth, and yet
Risked everything and lost the bet
A swine who took his pearls and
Cast them into sinking sand
A battery - flat
A dieter - fat
An eaten hat, a dead cat
A pointless careless worthless loveless good-for-nothing rat

BUT

I'm the child of a not-dead God
who comforts me with staff and rod
whose love will never, ever end
and in whose hands I'll break
and mend
and who, despite my flaws intends
into this broken world to send
such punched-up patched-up stitched-up love-struck
Ragamuffin men.

If you've forgotten this, or never known it, read the book which inspired me to write that poem, The Ragamuffin Gospel, or the book in which my poem appears, Moving Beyond Mediocrity.

God bless you - the Best is Yet to Come!

u/silouan · 1 pointr/Christianity

Before Christianity was legalized, it was easy to categorize Christians as an underground who practiced countercultural sexual and social ethics, practiced fasting, austerity, simplicity, pacifism, and radical hospitality and sharing - especially the refugee communities outside the cities.

After Christianity was legalized, the refugees returned to the cities; within a generation they realized what they considered normal Christian life wasn't what the new, prosperous, patriotic Christians considered normal. So the refugees and their followers returned to the deserts (classic work: The Desert, A City)

Ever since then, Christianity has existed in two streams: Regular folks living in the world, owning property, marrying and pursuing professions, and working out their salvation within a society governed by a state's laws; and those communities out on the margins, where community, austerity, pacifism and rejection of property are practiced - and the State is pretty much irrelevant. If we let the "desert communities" of monasticism influence us, then it gives us as individuals the freedom to decide just how much loyalty we're going to give the State, and what our relationship to secular authority will look like.

u/CelticMara · 2 pointsr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

Not counting shipping, this is only a penny (but costs four bucks with), or there is this for 99 cents total.

This pretty purple dress is $36.99, free shipping.

Congratulations on having your first contest!! And thank you. :)

u/Holiman · 1 pointr/DebateReligion

Yes it is passive aggressive to pretend you both know me and know I seek 'truth' from some apologetic websight pretending to translate better than scholars because it fits their interpretations better.

Yes I have sought truth and no longer feel any need to question the stories in the bible or apologetic explanations of them. I am neither your friend nor your foe, just some dude on the internet. I would strongly suggest you research more than the bible or those who seek to support it with presuppositional logic.

Read about the origins of christianity how the bible has been altered before and after the ecumenical councils. Take some classes offered by people who do not believe, study the actual history.

I suggest reading this
>http://www.amazon.com/Losing-Faith-From-Preacher-Atheist/dp/187773313X

u/fictitiousfishes · 4 pointsr/TrueChristian

The Maze of Mormonism is an older but very good book about the history and beliefs of Mormonism, including photocopies of actual LDS church documents. It might be too much to get through in a week, but it's still a great resource for a solid understanding of what Mormons actually believe.

u/OtherWisdom · 3 pointsr/AskBibleScholars

Yours as well as ChiefPrinceOfNigeria's comments are not grounded in current scholarship.

See for example:

u/Andalusian_Dawn · 2 pointsr/NevilleGoddard

Interesting! I hadn't noticed thar the text lectures on the Neville & Carl website were abridged. From what I have, Neville rambles a little, like any older man and isn't quite as succinct.

I don't listen to Neville in his own voice much due to hearing problems, which is why transcriptions are so important to me. I guess I will have to compare the original audio to the transcriptions I bought.

I bought these on Amazon Kindle. The books are supposedly exact transcriptions and go from year to year and appear to be from 1963 - 1968. I have 1963 -1967 and they are amazing and massive. I am a prolific reader and I've only finished one book completely. I learn something new with each one. If you get the kindle editions, they're only about $4 each, which is well worth the price. Yeah, they're not free, but for me personally, they're worth the price.

Here are the links:

The Awakening: 1963 Lectures

Imagining and the Transformation of Man: 1964 Lectures

The Wonder Working Power of the Imagination: 1965 Lectures

I Am Is the Way: 1966 Lectures

Imagining Creates Reality: 1967 Lectures

The Fall and Restoration: 1968 Lectures

u/encouragethestorm · 1 pointr/Catholicism

Joseph Ratzinger, The God of Jesus Christ. I can think of no better general introduction to the notion of the Triune God than this book. Beautiful, simple, yet profound.

Francis, Lumen Fidei. An outstanding reflection on what faith is and on the purpose that it serves in a modern context.

Gustavo Gutiérrez, A Theology of Liberation. A genius work that reminds us that God is indeed on the side of the poor, that he elevates the lowly, and that we are called to participate in his work of bringing forth justice.

u/plong42 · 5 pointsr/AcademicBiblical

The Making of Christianity is focused on the biblical materials and only touches on the second century. Of the three volumes (Gospels, the book of Acts and the rest of the NT) the second may have some liturgical comments in passing, but I do not think it is what you are looking for.

You might consult Larry Hurtado, At the Origins of Christian Worship: The Context and Character of Earliest Christian Devotion or his One God, One Lord: Early Christian Devotion and Ancient Jewish Monotheism.

u/rockytimber · 1 pointr/zen

No, not a man of peace, not me.

I didn't mean to suggest you should not have posted Richard Rohr.

I can see how that could be posted here. There was a time when I was a big fan of Brother Lawrence, Practice of the Present. http://www.amazon.com/The-Practice-Presence-God-Teachings/dp/1434410137

One of my oldest friends was a monk in Cistercian monastery for years.

He is more interested in Zen now. It has been interesting to see the evolution.

I suppose there would be a place for a polite approach to where Richard Rohr is coming from, the kinds of issues he is attempting to reconcile. Its interesting.

u/kitog · 3 pointsr/stopdrinking

I did a 6 week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course last year which covered a number of different relaxation and meditation practices and I find it helpful to mix them up; they include body scans, yoga and sitting meditation.

Here as some of the recommended books from the course

Being Zen

Wherever You There Are


There is a whole series of talks and practices available for free @
Audio Dharma

BTW, this is my first post to stopdrinking - sober for 12 days

u/rick_muller · 2 pointsr/books

Everyday Zen by Joko Beck, and Being Zen by Ezra Bayda are two of my favorites. There's a free version of Mindfulness in Plain English that you might also like.

u/ForMePlease · 2 pointsr/tabc

God is Not Great. Getting it out there, I think it's probably one of the more inevitable ones.

Losing Faith in Faith and Godless each by Dan Barker.

Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel Dennett.

First ones that come to mind. I think a few theologians may be worth reading as well. Not sure what ones though. If Kent Hovind wrote a book, we could keep a facepalm count.

u/B_anon · 1 pointr/ReasonableFaith

Just got into it myself, I am reading Always Ready: Directions fo Defending the Faith: Greg Bahnsen
you can see a lecture from Brahnsen here this all comes from Cornelius Van Til but they expand on it. There is also a full class worth of lectures here, I will give a full outline and references page once I fully wrap my head around it.

But this is quite a different school of thought than the evidential kind and I think Plantinga is trying to meld the two.

u/wolscott · 1 pointr/ChapoTrapHouse

> Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana

Unironically, developing some (non-corporate BS) mindfulness practices can help you stay sane when surrounded by chuds, and also practice self reflection and criticism when necessary.

I'd recommend something much more introductory though, like Ezra Bayda's Being Zen

u/FrankAvalon · 3 pointsr/lawofattraction

Neville lecture transcripts are also available via Amazon, if you prefer either printed paper or Kindle format, and don't mind paying (links thanks to /u/Andalusian_Dawn):

The Awakening: 1963 Lectures

Imagining and the Transformation of Man: 1964 Lectures

The Wonder Working Power of the Imagination: 1965 Lectures

I Am Is the Way: 1966 Lectures

Imagining Creates Reality: 1967 Lectures

The Fall and Restoration: 1968 Lectures

u/Pilebsa · 0 pointsr/IAmA

May I also recommend The Dark Side of Christian History, Losing Faith in Faith and Ken's Guide to the Bible. It doesn't hurt to get some more objective sources of information on your religion's history.

u/cbessette · 1 pointr/nottheonion

Essentially I was deconverted by an ex-preacher.


Specifically, Dan Barker, ex-evangelical preacher turned atheist. Reading his book "Losing faith in faith'" helped me to see through a lot of the subjectivity of my beliefs. https://www.amazon.com/Losing-Faith-Preacher-Atheist/dp/187773313X

u/TooManyInLitter · 1 pointr/ReasonableFaith

A tough view. The use of pop, and children's, culture icon cartoon figures, the distracting background noise, and the really slow presentation of actual information/argument make the first vid hard to watch and really dilutes any message. Though I did like the cameo from the Little Caesars Pizza-Pizza guy. From watching the first vid, there is no topic argument/position statement explicitly made/presented, though if I had to guess as to the final topic position/argument, based upon the way the very sparse information is presented, that an argument will be made that supports the listed or attributed authors of the various books of the NT - this is just a guess, the presentation of introductory material was really incoherent.

> "One of the things I have noticed about critics who say that this or that book in the NT is bogus is that they seldom seem to explain in any detail how we decide who wrote a document."

Say what? I smell a strawman argument.

The above quote was made whilst a slide show of books that discuss the New Testament was shown. Some of these books are recognizable as titles containing literary criticism of the New Testament, many are not. I could not get a good look at the "examples" presented as the screen time was very short (compared to the relatively long time given to worthless animations of smurfs or topic transition special effects), too short to get a good look at the sources that I assume supports the above statement was quoted; I had to do a frame by frame advance to see/read the titles presented.

Let's look at the first few "references" presented:

  • The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold, by Acharya S

    Just between the book title and lack of authorship identification, without even reading the book description, is enough for anyone discussing NT literary criticism to reject the book as a credible source.Does not seem to be a reference to literary criticism and authorship of the New Testament books. Nope.

  • Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist, by Dan Barker

    A book containing the personal journey of one man losing Religious Faith. Does not seem to be a reference to literary criticism and authorship of the New Testament books.

  • Secret Origins of the Bible, by Tim Callahan

    Examines the documentary hypothesis and other possible sources of much of the narrative of the Bible. Does not seem to be a reference to literary criticism and authorship of the New Testament books.

  • The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails, by John W. Loftus (Editor) , Dan Barker

    Look, another Dan Baker book already. A book against the reasonableness and rationality of Christian belief. Does not seem to be a reference to literary criticism and authorship of the New Testament books.

  • Cutting Jesus Down to Size: What Higher Criticism Has Achieved and Where It Leaves Christianity, by George Albert Wells

    Finally, a book that appears to have sections that may address the authorship of selected New Testament writings (I say appears as I have not read it and am relying upon the publisher description, the TOC, and reviews) - though the book appears to be more directed towards the content of the NT rather than attributed source critism.

    Bummer. Out of the first 5 potential references which one would reasonably consider as being presented on the authorship of the NT (you know, the topic/vid title), none (0 for 5) of them seem to be a reference to literary criticism of the authorship of the New Testament books. And I wanted to use the very references presented above to refute the strawman argument presented in the above quote that books/references that perform a literary criticism of the NT authorship (or the Bible in general) "seldom seem to explain in any detail how we decide who wrote a document."

    Let's look at a popular writer on the New Testament, Bart D. Ehrman. An example, Forged: Writing in the Name of God--Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are. And look at that, Ehrman does indeed present extensive detail, on the how's of literary criticism and attributed authorship. Granted one example does not a strawman break, however, I have found that references literary criticism, Biblical or other, almost always include a review of the methods used.