Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Viti · 10-20-2006, 07:52 AM

I got this in the service email box for our small telco.

The bolded part made me laugh

---------------------------------------------------------

Dear Church Family and Friends,
I received this from a relative. I do not know who wrote it, but I did
some checking and what is said appears to be accurate. We need to be aware
of what is out there, so I'm passing this on to you. One web site I checked
is http://www.crossroad.to/Quotes/spirituality/Occult.html
Prayerfully consider this information.
Blessings,
Pastor Ken

BEWARE OF THIS BOOK!!!!!
If you have children or grand-children or you have
neighbor children whose parents you know, please take
note of the info below or pass it along to others.
Schools are a distribution point to children for this
book through the Scholastic Book Club.
Beware of the book, Conversations with God. Dr. James
Dobson talked about this book twice this week. It is
devastating and parents and Christian schools need to
be aware of this. Do pass it on to church/e-mail
addressees, Parents, Grand parents, Aunts, Uncles,
Cousins, friends.
Please pay special attention not only to what your
kids watch on TV and in movie theaters and the music
they listen to, but we must also be alert regarding
the books they read.
Two particular books, Conversations with God and
Conversations with God for Teens, written by Neale D.
Walsch, sound harmless enough by their titles alone.
These books have been on the New York Times best
sellers list for a number of weeks, and these
publications make truth of the statement, "Don't judge
a book by its cover/title."
The author purports to answer various questions from
kids using the "voice of God". However, the "answers"
that he gives are not Bible-based and go against the
very infallible word of God. For instance (and I
paraphrase), when a girl asks the question "Why am I a
lesbian?" His answer is that she was born that way
because of genetics (just as you
were born right-handed, with blue eyes, etc.). Then he
tells her to go out and "celebrate" her differences.
Another g i r l poses the question "I am living with
my boyfriend. My parents say that I should marry him
because I am living in sin. Should I marry him?"
His reply is, "Who are you sinning against? Not me,
because you have done nothing wrong."
Another question asks about God's forgiveness of sin.
His reply "I do not forgive anyone because there is
nothing to forgive. There is no such thing as right or
wrong and that is what I have been trying to tell
everyone, do not judge people. People have chosen to
judge one another and this is wrong, because the rule
is "'judge not lest ye be judged.'"
And the list goes on. Not only are these books the
false doctrine of devils, but in some instances even
quote (in error) the Word of God. These books (and
others like it) are being sold to school children (The
Scholastic Book Club) , and we need to be aware of
what is being fed to our children.
Our children are under attack. So I pray that you be
sober and vigilant about teaching your children the
Word of God, and guarding their exposure to worldly
mediums, because our adversary, the Devil, roams about
as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter
5:8) And how many of us know that lions usually hunt
for the slowest, and weakest and YOUNGEST of its prey.
Pass this on to every Believer you know. God bless!
And, if in doubt, look at the books yourself.
Gal 6:9 Let us not be weary in doing good, for we will
reap in due season, if we don't give up

Lanakila · 10-20-2006, 08:16 AM

I am so glad its against the rules to use the government email system in this way, so I don't get this shit in my email.

sea star · 10-20-2006, 08:29 AM

Thanks for the heads up.

My school is having its Scholastic Book Fair next month - if it has the book, I'll be sure to buy a copy for the school library.

The Bishop · 10-20-2006, 08:58 AM

I for one am sorry that the ridiculous decrying of a book as "the work of the Devil!" as posted here might encourage fellow infidels to go out and buy Neale Walsch's egotistical hubristic rubbish.

My amazon review of What God Wants:

Quote:

I must say I'm a little saddened that the majority of bad reviews come from devout Christians, whose calls to "read the Bible instead!" might form a justification for this book's self-aggrandising assertion that it is "a dangerous book".

I can scarcely believe anybody actually bought the book after reading the opening chapter, which I quote here in full:

Very few people will be able to believe what's in this book. At least, at first. That may make it one of the most unbelievable books of all time.

I mean, seriously? This is how you're going to start? Who carries on reading a book which starts with such a patently nonsensical statement?

Chapter 2 is not much longer, and winds up as follows:

Such ideas, if accepted and adopted, will produce dramatically different ways of living and being. Values will change. Priorities will change. Power structures and power holders will change. Some of those power holders do not want any of this to happen. That may make this not only one of the most unbelievable books of all time, but also one of the most dangerous.

And there you have it. Never mind Das Kapital, The Communist Manifesto or Mein Kampf, it's What God Wants that is truly a dangerous book! After all, it says so itself!

Having quickly browsed the book, I discovered very quickly the answer to Walsch's question. Apparently what God wants is "Nothing", based, apparently, on the notion that an omniscient, omnipresent God can literally "want" for nothing, since He already has everything. That's fine, but then what? Turning to near the end, there was a sub-heading "Morality", which began (from memory) - "Morality won't change, because God wants nothing." When I lost my faith in God and became an atheist, I had to think about and derive my own moral code, based on certain basic humanity-based precepts. But that whole question as to what defines morality in a Godless (or as Walsch puts it, "a Wantless God") Universe, deserves a little more exploration and consideration than half a page almost written as an afterthought.

The thesis of the book seems clear enough - all that's required is for the entire six billion population of the Earth to think the way Neale Walsch does, about Life, about God, about each other, and yadayadayada. This may surprise Neale Walsch, but the vast majority of people actually do behave as if God doesn't want anything from them, and I don't mean that in a bad or cynical way: most of us give our fellow human beings a certain amount of priority and consideration, as opposed to pursuing a single-minded trip to Heaven. But there are always those extremists - on all sides of the religious spectrum, and on the political. So what Walsch is pretty much suggesting is, "Abolish extremism!" All we have to do is sit down with Osama Bin Laden and Benjamin Netanyahu, give them "What God Wants" and see them embrace each other, crying "What have we been doing? God doesn't want anything! Here, have Palestine back, God never wanted us to live there in the first place!" "No, no, keep it! I insist! Turns out I was wrong - God didn't want me to blow up the twin towers"

The writing style is somewhat hectoring, like being cornered by a bore at a party: "What does God want? Nothing ... Even if you disagree with this vehemently, think about it ... What makes you disagree? Who told you this statement could not be true? What makes *them* right? ... Because they read it in a book? But then, what makes the book right?" You can practically feel Walsch's finger pounding into your chest. And note the hubris of dismissing a book ... in a book!

Ultimately, it is amazing to me that someone can express such baseless pretensions to philosophical and theological importance, in a seventh-grade writing style, and actually get published, let alone sell the substantial numbers it undoubtedly has. Ironically, one good thing the book might encourage people to do is to think more skeptically, but if everybody did that, Neale Donald Walsch wouldn't have sold Copy One, let alone fifteen books of vapid claptrap.

10-20-2006, 07:52 AM	#1
Viti Contributor Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Down South Posts: 12,879	Godspam at work I got this in the service email box for our small telco. The bolded part made me laugh --------------------------------------------------------- Dear Church Family and Friends, I received this from a relative. I do not know who wrote it, but I did some checking and what is said appears to be accurate. We need to be aware of what is out there, so I'm passing this on to you. One web site I checked is http://www.crossroad.to/Quotes/spirituality/Occult.html Prayerfully consider this information. Blessings, Pastor Ken BEWARE OF THIS BOOK!!!!! If you have children or grand-children or you have neighbor children whose parents you know, please take note of the info below or pass it along to others. Schools are a distribution point to children for this book through the Scholastic Book Club. Beware of the book, Conversations with God. Dr. James Dobson talked about this book twice this week. It is devastating and parents and Christian schools need to be aware of this. Do pass it on to church/e-mail addressees, Parents, Grand parents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, friends. Please pay special attention not only to what your kids watch on TV and in movie theaters and the music they listen to, but we must also be alert regarding the books they read. Two particular books, Conversations with God and Conversations with God for Teens, written by Neale D. Walsch, sound harmless enough by their titles alone. These books have been on the New York Times best sellers list for a number of weeks, and these publications make truth of the statement, "Don't judge a book by its cover/title." The author purports to answer various questions from kids using the "voice of God". However, the "answers" that he gives are not Bible-based and go against the very infallible word of God. For instance (and I paraphrase), when a girl asks the question "Why am I a lesbian?" His answer is that she was born that way because of genetics (just as you were born right-handed, with blue eyes, etc.). Then he tells her to go out and "celebrate" her differences. Another g i r l poses the question "I am living with my boyfriend. My parents say that I should marry him because I am living in sin. Should I marry him?" His reply is, "Who are you sinning against? Not me, because you have done nothing wrong." Another question asks about God's forgiveness of sin. His reply "I do not forgive anyone because there is nothing to forgive. There is no such thing as right or wrong and that is what I have been trying to tell everyone, do not judge people. People have chosen to judge one another and this is wrong, because the rule is "'judge not lest ye be judged.'" And the list goes on. Not only are these books the false doctrine of devils, but in some instances even quote (in error) the Word of God. These books (and others like it) are being sold to school children (The Scholastic Book Club) , and we need to be aware of what is being fed to our children. Our children are under attack. So I pray that you be sober and vigilant about teaching your children the Word of God, and guarding their exposure to worldly mediums, because our adversary, the Devil, roams about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8) And how many of us know that lions usually hunt for the slowest, and weakest and YOUNGEST of its prey. Pass this on to every Believer you know. God bless! And, if in doubt, look at the books yourself. Gal 6:9 Let us not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season, if we don't give up

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10-20-2006, 08:16 AM	#2
Lanakila Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 2,858	I am so glad its against the rules to use the government email system in this way, so I don't get this shit in my email.

10-20-2006, 08:29 AM	#3
sea star Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Tsunami zone Posts: 1,334	Thanks for the heads up. My school is having its Scholastic Book Fair next month - if it has the book, I'll be sure to buy a copy for the school library.

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