Rating: 
Summary: a revelation
Review: Before I had even finished the first page, I thought, "Are there really others out here with the same hunger, the same dissatisfaction and desire for more, as I have?" Curtis and Eldredge cut right to the heart of things in their discussion of our longing to be a part of a larger story that has meaning and purpose. If you feel that the same-old same-old Christian life is losing its luster then this is the book for you--although it is going to take courage to answer some of the deep questions it poses.Contrary to another review the style is NOT bland and circular!! Are you kidding?????????????
Rating: 
Summary: Full of Error
Review: This book is full of error, especially when viewed from a Reformed viewpoint. It is indicative of the sorry state of the Christian world that such a book can gain so great a following. The authors misuse the Bible, equate experience with Scripture, and make God into something He is not. They are mystics, relying on their own thoughts more prominently than Scripture. They rely heavily on other mystics, mainly Catholic, such as C.S. Lewis, St John of the Cross, G.K. Chesterton and Phillip Yancey. The authors have two grave misunderstandings that pollute the entire book. First, they have no understanding of human depravity. Where the Bible says that the heart is deceitful and full of wickedness, the authors believe it to be essentially good as long as we understand the importance of a Sacred Romance. Where the Bible teaches that no one seeks after God, the authors teach that all of us seek after God. They quote G.K. Chesterton who said, 'every man who knocks on the door of a brothel is looking for God.' In their view, all we do, whether good or bad, is really a search for God. We all seek after Him, whether we know it or not. Inside of each of us is the desire to know and experience goodness. The second great misunderstanding is in God's omniscience ' His ability to see everything, whether past, present or future. They teach a form of 'open theism' which says that God can only see certain things in the future, but is unable to see what decisions or choices humans will make. Hence God was surprised when humans rejected Him and did not know that Adam and Eve would sin. Of course this contradicts the Bible which says that God knew who would love Him before the world was even created.
There are literally hundreds of errors in this book but I will focus only on some of the major ones. ' The book is based on the importance of the heart, yet the authors never identify what the heart is. It seems that in their view it represents only good. This blatantly ignores what the Bible teaches about the heart being deceitful and wicked. They teach that it is only wicked when we are outside of the Sacred Romance with God. ' The authors paint God as being sad and heartbroken, hoping against hope that we will choose to love Him. It smacks of Arminian theology taken to its fullest extent and reduces God almost to the extent of making Him sound like a whining child. ' The teaching that is based on the Bible is often dubious or plain wrong. The authors often quote from The Message, relying on that poor paraphrase when it suits their purposes and when the proper translations do not. This shows especially in Ephesians 1 which they use to say God created the world for our purposes, not God's. The authors use The Message to teach that Job lost faith in God when a better translation shows he clearly did not. They also say that in Matthew 24 Jesus tells us that in the Last Days people will have lost the Sacred Romance. This is a ridiculous misinterpretation of this chapter. ' The book paints God and our relationship with Him in sexual terms. This far exceeds what we read in Song of Solomon and other places in the Bible. The portray God as One who seeks to have an almost sexual relationship with us. He 'desires from us ' an intimacy much more sensuous, more exotic than sex itself.' ' 'God is not after obedience, sacrifice or adherence ' He is after us.' Teaching like this downplays the importance of following God's decrees for us. This, of course, is a necessary symptom of teaching that does not follow the Bible. When we rely on our minds more than the Bible this type of teaching is inevitable. ' The authors rely heavily on the teachings of others as well as books and songs, much more so than they do on the Bible. For example, several pages are dedicated to showing how Lieutenant Jim from Forrest Gump was actually discovering the Sacred Romance through drugs, alcohol and sex with prostitutes.
' There is almost no importance placed on studying the Bible or praying. The tools God gives us to be transformed into His image are ignored in favor of just understanding our hearts and God's heart. This is a book dedicated to sanctification ' the process of living as God desires us to live ' that ignores what God Himself teaches about this. ' There is no mention of Jesus coming to atone for our sins. The authors seem to say that Jesus had to come to seeks us out and find us ' not to save us from hell and take our punishment upon Himself. ' A knowledge of God, in the view of the authors, is less important then feeling, experiencing and romanticizing Him. The book bears this out as there is little within it to increase the reader's knowledge of God. Yet classic Christianity teaches that we can best learn God's will for us by having knowledge of Him and what He commands of us. One major annoyance I found with the book was that the authors quoted many sources without citations. This is usually a sign that an author has quoted inaccurately or far out of context. Even many Bible passages are quoted without citations. In the end analysis, the authors have created an inaccurate metaphor for God's relationship towards us, have attempted to prove it with the Bible and being unable to do so have had to rely on poor paraphrases and mysticism (which can be defined as 'trying to know God outside of the Bible'). Their teaching bears only a vague resemblance to the Christianity of the Bible and should be avoided at all costs!
Rating:
Summary: Unequaled
Review: As the budding rose unfolds in the warmth of a summer sun, so does the heart of truth reveal itself in the pages of this book: and its fragrance is unequaled in the gardens of our fallen lives.
Surely the father of lies cowers in fear at such a powerful revelation.
Rating:
Summary: A rarity of insight and beauty.
Review: This is one of those rare and wonderful books that makes you want to go out and buy a copy for everyone you know. Gift wrapping it in the softest of hues and giving it with absolute assurance that it will be held close to the heart for years to come.
Yet, it's intimacy almost demands that you hide it away as yours, and yours alone.
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Summary: Open your eyes and "see" the world for the first time
Review: This is the best book (this side of the Bible) that describes the context of our lives as it really is. The message of life is: God is our creator and longs to be in intimate fellowship with us. Yet the world (and even much of religion) has an alternate message that will do everything possible to blind us to this truth (money, power, self-righteousness). Are you ready to trust God in everything? Do you understand why you should and why He asks that of us? I think that if you are quite comfortable with "working harder" and "being more disciplined" to try and draw near to God, that this book will seem quite perplexing. If you have been down that road and God still seems elusive, then you can be sure that God wants more. He wants your heart. This might be a helpful book in leading you down that "frightening" journey.
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Summary: A unique approach to drawing closer to God
Review: This book is not an intellectual theological exercise and to approach it as such will only lead to disappointment as you can read from other reviews. This book instead offers both the Christian and the non Christian a different perspective of drawing nearer to God by examining our soul to a level that most people are fearful to look at. If you dare to take the challenge of looking at your life seriously and applying the truths that in this book, not only will your relationship with God change, but the way you treat others and yourself will be become more coated with mercy and grace. Take the challenge and make it a goal and prayer to at least pick up just one good thing from the book and you will not be disappointed.
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Summary: zzzzzzzzzzz fustrating and BORING
Review: I read this; or I should say, started this book many times in a small group at church. I can in a week late and had to read two chapters. I love to read; and have excellent skills. I was bored to tear by this book; despite my craveing to get closer to God. Everyone I talked to in our group founf the book dry, boreing, dull and hard to follow none of us realted to it. My group (all the small groups in the church were useing it) made up of graduate students in Ministry studies and young career women gave up on the book as a goup decision. We felt we weeren't being fed, that no matter how hard we struggle alone and as a group we were not finding the gold others saw in the book. I have tried a number of time; based on reviews, and can't get into it, much less though it. zzzzzzzzz
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Summary: Love the Lord with all your heart -- Ever wonder why?
Review: No, this book isn't about the many facets of Christianity. It is not about how we are redeemed. It is about love. It is about heart. It is about the love our Maker has for us. It is about how we were made with a longing for a love relationship with our Maker. It helped me to see this in every day life, in the struggles I see within my own family, in the art forms through which we humans express this desire. After I read this book, I was able to see the need and desire for our God of love in just about everything I saw. This book helped to open my heart to a love relationship with God -- something that had been missing in my Christian walk for 40 years!
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Summary: Sacred Romance
Review: My Bible study group used this book and its accompanying workbook/journal for a group study. Several of us did not like this book at all. It is deficient in scriptural support to a large extent. The authors seem to place all blame for the emotional problems in a believer's life totally on the devil, with little or no mention of Man's own sinful nature, which does not disappear when one is born-again. They seem to spend about 95% of the book wading through the mire of the readers' emotional issues based on perceived past traumas and trying to explain away the Gospel as God sending His Son to earth mainly to tell us all how much He loves us and to further "woo" us back to Him--no mention of the fact that He came as an atoning sacrifice for OUR sins, not the devil's. Way too many pages are spent in in-depth contemplation of this "sacred romance" into which God is trying to draw us, with way too many long and drawn-out analogies and references to pop culture songs and storylines, and not nearly enough space is devoted to scriptural evidence of what is required by Man in this "romance"--faith, reading the Bible, prayer, obedience, etc. There's a huge over-emphasis on "love" and not enough emphasis on "truth" in this book. If you are interested in deep, scriptural contemplation and want to know what God has to say about working through emotional issues and drawing closer to Jesus, read a book such as Kay Arthur's "As Silver Refined", or, better yet, read the Bible itself.
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Summary: Found: The REAL reason for being...
Review: Just as I began to embark on yet another round of religious discipline(s) in an attempt to scratch that restless itch in my heart, I was led to this wonderful book. The First Commandment is to "love YHWH our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength", but most of us have confused this into meaning "do more works" or "be more religious". I haven't finished the book yet, but the deep, tearful joy at finding out what I've found so far has lit a fire within me that I hope I will never again be deceived into attempting to extinguish. THIS IS NOT A BOOK FOR THE HEAD; IT'S A BOOK FOR THE HEART!!
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