Beyond Opinion by Ravi Zacharias

Author and speaker, Ravi Zacharias gathered a team of apologists to contribute to this book. They aim for a apologetic method focused on winning people, instead of arguing about faith. This book begins by addressing the difficult questions posed to those of faith in Jesus by postmodernism, atheism, youth, Islam, eastern religions, and science, and then discusses "the questions behind the questions" involving controversial apologetics, cultural and philosophical challenges, and the challenges of evil and suffering,

Beyond Opinion is varied in writing style as it is written by many contributors. The book was marketed as one that could by read and understood by the general public, but I think that is a stretch. Though I have a degree from a Bible college and excelled in my Bible and Theology classes, I am slightly embarrassed to admit I struggled through parts of this book.

Regardless of my personal struggles to wade through the content of Beyond Opinion, I found it thorough, thoughtful, and a great resource for anyone being asked or asking intelligent questions about why we still believe and why faith "is a gift, but it is not the gift of stupidity" (p 139).

Ravi Zacharias has said, "The greatest obstacle to the impact of the gospel has not been its inability to provide answers, but the failure on our part to live it out."

The arguments can be won, but the key is winning hearts by living out the love of Christ.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
 

Activities in a Bag

Do you ever have moments when you just need a quick activity to keep a small child out of your hair for a bit? Maybe while cooking dinner, or nursing the youngest or home schooling the big kids? Activities in a Bag is a great solution!

I first heard of their bag activities and swaps when a friend hosted a swap. Everyone gathered at her house, got an explanation of how the swap would work, picked a bag to assemble for everyone and then a few weeks later we gathered again and exchanged. We all went home with a box full of bags full of small learning activities to keep little hands busy.

I loved the idea and efficiency of one box full of many individual activities all made from inexpensive supplies and stored in Ziploc bags so much that I wanted to check out some of the new swap books offered. I decided to host a Science Experiments in a Bag swap for my local home school co-op friends. We already meet at a park weekly, so the date was set, all I had to do was email everyone to see who wanted to participate and print out instructions on how to assemble each bag activity.

We met,  each mom picked out an activity to assemble, then we took our instructions home, gathered supplies and assembled bags, one for each of the participants.

Here's an example:

One mom assembled 12 bags of the Anitfreeze experiment pictured below. Each bag contains  two 6oz cups, one T of salt, a plastic spoon, an experiment log, and an answer sheet. This project illustrates how salt makes it harder for water to freeze.

All the bags are easy to put together and the supplies are inexpensive. Each individual bag is designed to cost about $1 to assemble.

We gathered and distributed our bags so all the participants went home with 16 different science experiments in Ziploc bags. (We had 12 participants, but some of us made more than one activity.)

Now there will be no need to run around the house searching for random small objects when it comes time for science experiments. They will all be in one nicely organized tote all ready to go!

Activity Bags offers books of "recipes" for swaps on reading games, travel activities, math games, preschool activities, or you could assemble the bags yourself too! Check out their website for sample pages of each book, for a summary of the experiments, and activities at a glance.

Thanks, Activity Bags, for the free e-book and the opportunity to review your product!

The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns

The Hole in Our Gospel is not an easy read. It speaks of something more that needs to be done, something given that we often want to keep to ourselves, something difficult that must be faced. It outlines teachings from scripture on poverty, wealth, justice and oppression to which we've paid little attention. We may as well take a scissor and cut a hole in our gospel.

We are rich Americans and we're not sharing.

You think you're not rich? This book will convince you otherwise.

"We don't believe we are wealthy, so we don't see it as our responsibility to help the poor. We are deceived" (p 216).


It's the book I was afraid to read. Afraid because I knew it could possibly change my life. Or at least challenge me to change a few things about the way I live. But I knew I must. Sometimes God compels us to read or do a particular thing to pursue growth. It's to growth we are called and required. And so I picked it up and plodded through.

He practices what he preaches. Richard Stearns shares his struggle to leave his position as an affluent CEO to president of World Vision. He himself sponsors a dozen or so children and gives generously to those in need. He challenges each of us to take the same journey in our own way, using our own God-given time, talent and treasure.

"We have, in fact, reduced the gospel to a mere transaction involving the right beliefs rather than seeing in it the power to change the world" (p 243).

This isn't just about money and giving more. Change begins as we pray the prayer of World Vision founder, Bob Pierce,

"Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God."

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255