So What's the Difference?

Rating:
Summary: Looking for Objective, Factual Information? Look Elsewhere!
Review: Looking for objective, factual information about the world's major religions as I was? Look elsewhere!

The title, "So what's the Difference?" is completely misleading. This is not a book of objective, factual information, but a book about the author's personal religious beliefs. If that isn't bad enough, I found the tone and content of the author's writing highly offensive. You will find complete intolerance and strident ridicule for the world's other major religions (as well as several major Christian denominations). Plain and simply, this is a book written by a bigot.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Witnessing tool!
Review: So What's The Difference compares orthodox Christianity to major religions and cults. I loved the book because it's really easy to read and understand. It contains a lot of relevant and important information as well. The summaries are very useful. It's a great witnessing tool. I recommend reading it yourself and lending it to anyone who wants to know "So, what's the difference?"

Rating:
Summary: Straightforward Answers
Review: Succinct, unbiased, logical explanations of the major cults and religions and how they differ form orthodox Christianity. A very useful tool in understanding the different faiths of the world and what you believe. I recommend it to anyone.

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Summary: Correpted Rescources, Non Factual, and Biased!!
Review: The review on the sleeve of this book states, " a non critical look at the different religons." That was far from what I found it to be. I was immediatly turned off when I opened up to the table of contents and found the quips under each title that seemed to belittle or make jokes out of the other religons. The heading for the New Age religons said that they critisized, put down, or challenged Biblical Christianity. I see this as impossible because they don't believe in the Bible. I disagree with the author's perception that if another person believes differently than you do they are putting down your beliefs. The section on Wicca is an attempt to scare parents of their children becoming involved with this religon and has no real summary of the core beliefs. Also he takes his facts from a Christian source on Wicca and not the actually Wiccan books. In the title he states that it explains how they are different but all I have found was how he states that they are "wrong". If this book was marketed correctly as how the author feels that Christianity is supreme to these other religons I would have never bought the book in the first place.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful - a must for every Christian
Review: This book explains religions in a concise way and compares them to Christianity. It is extremely good to help beginning Christians avoid pitfalls when trying to find a church. It is also useful to have information on other religions to be informed about their doctrines and have an answer for people who are seeking God. It has information on cults, Catholicism vs. Protestantism, Christian Science and Mormonism. I highly recommend this to everyone seeking answers.

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Summary: How does biblical Christianity differ from other faiths?
Review: This book explores this contemporary concern in a straightforward, non-critical comparison. Fritz Ridenour expounds on the Christian beliefs and practices as found in the Bible to help Christians better understand their own beliefs.

With more than 800,000 copies in print since it was first published in 1967, So What's the Difference? now appears in this updated and enlarged edition.

Fritz Ridenour is one of America's best-selling authors. He has written more than a dozen books which have sold millions of copies. He has written this book for adults as well as for youth to answer their questions about Christianity.

Rating:
Summary: Contains Helpful Charts
Review: This book is very short, and because of its length it really isn't able to go into depth on any one of the religions discussed. It does cover a lot of territory though, and if you're just looking for a good overview of the main differences between Evangelical Christianity and other religions, then this book is really helpful. Especially helpful are the charts included for each religion which lay out the main things the religion believes about Jesus, the resurrection, salvation, etc. It covers many of the ways other religions intersect or blatantly disagree with Evangelical Christianity, but it leaves out everything about the religions that do not have something to do with their relation to Evangelicalism. So this book is definitely helpful to gain a little bit of knowledge on a wide range, but much more research would be required in order to be able to have a full understanding of the main world religions.

Rating:
Summary: Now we know why liberals are evil.
Review: This book paints in broad strokes, characterizing religions quickly and melodramatically for the short-attention-span reader who wants to make a judgement call without excessive strain. For Ridenhour, there's Orthodox Christianity, followed by 4 major religions, followed by 4 major cults, with Unitarianism foremost among them. The reader who accepts the premise that Unitarianism is a cult may have greater difficulty swallowing the author's claim that "those who remain in Christian churches while holding [Unitarian] views are called 'Liberals'." Moreover, liberals "do not believe that the Bible is the Word of God" and also "deny the Christian doctrines."

So now we understand why the "L" word ranks only with the "N" word as a known but unmentionable word in the English language (though Ridenour's characterization of godless "humanists" may create a third taboo: the "H" word). If the author were less zealous about covertly judging other religions, he might be in a position to make a compelling case for the "invisible" church founded on a God whose power and grace are made manifest in a lowly manger.

The most engaging aspect of this "obvious," biased book is trying to determine the author's personal religious agenda. No major Protestant religions are discussed, but Luther comes off so well as a reformer and a man of integrity and faith that I'm going to guess the author is Lutheran (Mo. Synod or further to the right). It becomes clear that he's no fan of all of the sacraments, creeds, and dogma of Roman Catholicism, yet he comes down strong on the side of one true catholic (the small "c" version of many Lutheran creeds) Christian faith.

Three stars is overly generous, but my middle name is Luther.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent for mainstream Christians...
Review: This book provides good, albeit limited information on some of the major religions, cults, theologies. But it is written from a mainstream Protestant perspective and any one who is not a protestant, is unlikely to enjoy this book. The book is somewhat simplistic and biased at times but a good read for average, Joe Schmo Christian.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent for mainstream Christians...
Review: This book provides good, albeit limited information on some of the major religions, cults, theologies. But it is written from a mainstream Protestant perspective and any one who is not a protestant, is unlikely to enjoy this book. The book is somewhat simplistic and biased at times but a good read for average, Joe Schmo Christian.