Reader: Separation of Church and Hate

Welcome, everyone. This is the place where I finally have decided to plant my flag, since I already have it and I've been waiting and procrastinating long enough. 

This is Reader, Writer, Rhetoric. It's the place I'll be reviewing books I've read, occasionally talking about Scripture I've read, and overall giving only my tiny thoughts about things I've observed in the written space. 

We begin today with a wonderfully comfortable read. /s

I hereby introduce you to "Separation of Church and Hate", by John Fugelsang. Available wherever you purchase books. I got mine from Kindle, and I've read some of it twice a day, up until I finished it this morning. 

Here is what I think. I find John's book to be a well written one, including other folks' thoughts and his interpretation of what he reads in the Bible. He speaks of how his own history informs his viewpoint, which is honest, and all of us have this formative in the back of our heads: children really do learn what they live, and children really are watching, and children really do grow up to love and understand their parents and be woefully confused at cognitive dissonance. I think the most beautifully raw portion of this journey comes as John discusses his relationship with someone who was churched, but hated right along with it, and he piercingly tells you what a hard road that is, to love someone who does not appear to love as the Bible teaches. Buy the book, I"m not giving all the premises away. 

John may not realize this, but it helped me so much to get a good look at what the Bible actually says, vs what the people who claim to follow it do. I had to ask myself several times, "Am I OK?" as I looked through the comparisons, the provided Scriptures, and the context. 

Without giving away the farm, my conclusion is this: This is a good book to read for deeper understanding of the power of what one THINKS is right, vs. what actually IS. 

Thanks for writing it, John. I will probably read it through again and again. 

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