This month we are reviewing the six books below:

  1. “Jesus’ Mysterious Space-Time Universe” (76 pages, paperback, 2017) by Gerald Paul Kooyers: After we read “Fourfold Kingdom of God” (239 pages, paperback, 2020) by “Gerald Paul Paul Kooyers” last month and gave it a negative review I thought I would give Kooyers another chance. Unfortunately, there is nothing new in this short book. Maybe because it was written before “Fourfold”? And no, it is not double Paul as I reported last month; that seems to be an Amazon artifact.

On page 29 he states that there is no reference to God hating sin in the bible?

Here are several examples of scripture that says God hates sin (first six of over one hundred at the link):

Proverbs 6:16-19 ESV

There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

Psalm 5:5 ESV

The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.

Psalm 97:10 ESV

O you who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

Psalm 11:5 ESV

The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

Proverbs 8:13 ESV

The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.

Revelation 2:6 ESV

Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

  1. “The Other Half of Church” (240 pages, paperback, 2020) by Jim Wilder and Michel Hendricks: This book was mentioned during Pastor Tim’s (Christ Greenfield Church) The premise of the book is that our brains are wired left half/right half being equivalent to rational/relational or thinking/feeling. Modern church has become mostly left half/rational/thinking as opposed to the opposite. To advance, we need to bring the right half back. I’ve read the first few chapters and am impressed. One of the principal arguments is that we have lost the “joy” of the right half. I agree with that; both personally and for ‘modern’ man. Video coming soon.
  1. “Moving Beyond Anxiety: 12 Practical Strategies to Renew Your Mind” (192 pages, paperback, 2020) by David Chadwick: I picked this up in the Charlotte, North Carolina airport to read on the trip back from our soon-to-be son-in-law’s graduation from Army Basic Combat Training. It turns out it was written by a couple local to Charlotte. I read through half on the plane, and it is outstanding. Might even be life changing with the chapter on “Casting”.

  1. “Odd Magics” (131 pages, paperback, 2022) by Sarah Hoyt: She is a prolific author writing in almost all genres; especially science fiction, fantasy, blogging and more. I read her comments on Instapundit and resonate with her world view. While I am not a short story fan, I thought I would take a chance on these updated fairy tales. And I am glad that I did.

Here’s Jon’s ‘accountability partner’, Pop Tart that I mentioned in the video. Jon wrote his TMP story “My Monopoly Project – The Jon Johnson Story”.

  1. “Genesis and the Big Bang” (224 pages, paperback, 1991) by Gerald Schroeder: He is a physicist and a Jewish theologian. In this 1991 book he attempts to reconcile the age of the universe, about 13.8 billion years, according to our current physics knowledge known as the Big Bang Theory and the Biblical (all in the Old Testament book of Genesis) record of “six (or seven) days plus about 5,700 years” calculated by adding the 14 plus 14 plus 14 generations from Adam to Jesus Christ. The insight, that according to Special and General Relativity, time passes differently for different observers, might explain the 13.8B versus six or seven days. I was disappointed though, that he did not quantify the argument. But all in all, a very interesting observation and it is plausible. Video coming soon.
  2. “Entrepeneur RX” (208 pages, paperback, 2021) by John Shufeldt: A friend of mine is starting medical school and I came across this book and thought of him. Here’s the Amazon intro blurb, “Being a physician is challenging. So is starting your own business. In Entrepreneur Rx, physician and serial entrepreneur, Dr. John Shufeldt, shares time-tested insights and knowledge for building a thriving startup while maintaining your practice.” I’ve read about half the book and have two initial observations: one, the doctor is interesting, impressive and knows his (business) stuff; and two, disappointment that he doesn’t make the case of why a doctor should be entrepreneurial and especially what fields would he benefit the most from that background/knowledge/experience/skill set. Watch to the end to see the sunset and our neighbor Rick on his sailboat.

Shufeldt has a concise section on how to write effectively. It reminded me of Scott Adams’ “The Day You Became a Better Writer”:

“I went from being a bad writer to a good writer after taking a one-day course in “business writing.” I couldn’t believe how simple it was. I’ll tell you the main tricks here so you don’t have to waste a day in class.

Business writing is about clarity and persuasion. The main technique is keeping things simple. Simple writing is persuasive. A good argument in five sentences will sway more people than a brilliant argument in a hundred sentences. Don’t fight it.

Simple means getting rid of extra words. Don’t write, “He was very happy” when you can write “He was happy.” You think the word “very” adds something. It doesn’t. Prune your sentences.

Humor writing is a lot like business writing. It needs to be simple. The main difference is in the choice of words. For humor, don’t say “drink” when you can say “swill.”

Your first sentence needs to grab the reader. Go back and read my first sentence to this post. I rewrote it a dozen times. It makes you curious. That’s the key.

Write short sentences. Avoid putting multiple thoughts in one sentence. Readers aren’t as smart as you’d think.

Learn how brains organize ideas. Readers comprehend “the boy hit the ball” quicker than “the ball was hit by the boy.” Both sentences mean the same, but it’s easier to imagine the object (the boy) before the action (the hitting). All brains work that way. (Notice I didn’t say, “That is the way all brains work”?)

That’s it. You just learned 80% of the rules of good writing. You’re welcome.

Scott

Here’s a video presentation of Scott going over the points of good writing:

You might also note that I do not follow Scott’s rules of good writing. I admit it. I write like I do, even if it is not as effective.