Book Notes: "Something Other Than God", by Jennifer Fulwiler

I've been a fan of Jennifer's blog for such a long time, but her book, "Something Other Than God", just hits it out of the park.

I read this book so quickly. It just flew by and putting it down - even when I really ought to have been sleeping - was really hard.

Most of you are probably familiar with Jenn's blog, Conversion Diary. I've read it for years, and I'm here to say: this book is not a regurgitation of her blog content. It's not a bunch of blog posts crammed together into a print volume; it's a real live book.

Yet, at the same time, it's Jenn's voice, the voice I've grown to love as I've read her blog over the years.

You know how Jenn is so straight-forward and blunt, and yet so honest and (when it's called for) absolutely, appropriately, gushy about how God works in our lives? Yeah, that's this book. ("Gushy" is not a diss. She's so smart, and researches so well. I'm just saying that, when it's right to be emotionally moved, she doesn't hide the fact that she's emotionally moved. I love that.)

It's no secret that I'm not a Roman Catholic, and so it's no secret that I disagree with some of the theology in this book. Nonetheless, her story about how God draws her near, defeats her human protests against his power, and makes clear to her that He is who He says He is?  That felt so familiar.

Great book. I'm glad I bought it, and I look forward to rereading it.


Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

This post contains Amazon affiliate links. (See full disclosure on sidebar of my blog.)

Weekend Links: Perelandra, the Pope, and more!

"Evil Isn't Private (and Neither Is Good)":

But if you look hard enough at any immoral act, you will see it rippling outward into the community. Sin is sin not because it breaks the law, but because it damages the body of Christ. All sin does.

"100 Songs for Advent! – An Advent Worship playlist": wow! talk about comprehensive!

"The Praise of Perelandra":

If I told you that a Christian novelist wrote a book about Adam and Eve in space, and that after the plot is resolved he devotes a whole chapter to the characters having a church service where they praise God, many of you would vomit. If I told you the chapter where they sang praises was the best chapter, you might be polite, but in your heart you’d question my literary judgment. But it’s the truth. Imagine that: every word of it is true.

"Pope Francis Conservative":

Pope Francis affirms all the historic teachings of the Faith that are being attacked in the West, but he is a global Christian and knows that Western foibles and decadence are not the story for most of the world’s Christians. He refuses to allow Western media elites to set the agenda for the papacy. He denies dying Western parishes the right to dictate the agenda or discussions of the Church simply because they still give most of the money.

"Writing a Continuity": This link explains how multiple authors work together to write a linked series of novels. Cool behind-the-scenes look at the writing industry!

"On parenting teens":

5. Well before their teen years, subtly guide them toward an interest or two that you share (e.g., birding or carpentry or flying or whatever). This way, no matter what, you’ll have something in common.

Finally, to make you smile:

Links: prayer, American Catholics, "The Casual Vacancy", and more!

"Praying With Children":

Its so important to pray with children, just like it is to do other hard things with them like Cook and Eat Dinner, Carry on a Conversation, Fold a Single Solitary Basket of Laundry, Pick Up the Blocks, Remember What It Was You Came Into This Room For Will You Stop Screaming So I Can Think For A Minute. And so on and so forth. Prayer, as many of us might remember, is a foundational part of the Christian Life and children should be included in it, even if it kills you.

"Where I'm Coming From":

But now the shadows of the past are looming large over Catholics in America again, and the battle to redefine marriage has become the weapon of choice for those who would really prefer it if Catholics went back to their little Catholic ghettos and didn't mix much with the "real" Americans, or expect to be able to hold certain public offices (anything pertaining to marriage, for instance) or jobs (anything where you have to sign a "diversity statement" that is actually a denial of your faith) or own businesses (anything where you have to maintain the fiction that two men or two women are a "marriage") or run adoption agencies or charities where they will be forced to repeat the lie that it is bigoted and hateful to claim that marriage is one man and one woman or that children need a mother and a father...

...and pointing any of this out at all is "uncivil," or so I'm told.

 "J. K. Rowling's 'The Casual Vacancy'":

The catalyst of the story is the death of a good man. He leaves a vacancy. His death is the casual vacancy, which is a phrase used to describe the opening created by the death of a local councilor. The book is about the void left by the death of a man who was his brother’s keeper, and the story shows that the main reason others can’t fill the void he leaves is because they don’t love like he did.

"10 Questions a Pro-Choice Candidate Is Never Asked by the Media":

4. If you do not believe that human life begins at conception, when do you believe it begins? At what stage of development should an unborn child have human rights?

5. Currently, when genetic testing reveals an unborn child has Down Syndrome, most women choose to abort. How do you answer the charge that this phenomenon resembles the “eugenics” movement a century ago – the slow, but deliberate “weeding out” of those our society would deem “unfit” to live?

"A Beautiful Testimony from a Christian About His Wife’s Death":

Was this a good life, NO. But this is what God had prepared for us to go through together. 

"How I Went From Writing 2,000 Words a Day to 10,000 Words a Day":

When I told people at ConCarolinas that I'd gone from writing 2k to 10k per day, I got a huge response. Everyone wanted to know how I'd done it, and I finally got so sick of telling the same story over and over again that I decided to write it down here.

So, once and for all, here's the story of how I went from writing 500 words an hour to over 1500, and (hopefully) how you can too

"Beer for beginners, part VII: Stouts and other British stuff":

I tried Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout and liked that very much. It seemed almost thick and viscous. "It's not, and you should know better," scolded Mark, "the viscosity of beer can't possibly be much different from water. It's not like it has a significant fraction of polymer suspended in it or something."

"Then what makes it that way?" I asked. "I can see when I pour it that it's not obviously viscous, but it feels that way in the mouth. Like cream." I took another pull and thought. "Could it be the bubbles?" I asked, beginning to ponder the Stokes-Einstein equation, but mostly I just wanted to drink the beer.

Links: Bible Memorization, Roman Catholic Ethics, Intellectual Property Rights, and more!

"The Easiest Way to Memorize the Bible: What I Learned from Dr. John Mitchell" - this one's what it says, and well worth the read.

"Writer, Professional, Good" - John Scalzi's take on when you make it into each of these categories.

RC Bishops Distribute Letter to All Congregations: “We Will Not Comply” - A response to the attempt to force Catholic employers to pay for their employees' birth control methods and abortions. You know, though I agree with the Catholic church's stance on abortion, I don't entirely agree with their stance on birth control. All the same, despite my disagreement, I still think they should not be forced to pay for procedures that they believe are wrong. And I would hope that people that disagree with them on both counts can still see how wrong it is to try to force them to violate their consciences. There needs to be room for conscientious objection. There really, really does. (And yes, that might mean they need to stop accepting gov't money for their charities. But as long as they're willing to forgo gov't aid, they ought to be allowed to not pay for things that they believe are wrong.)

Yarrr. - I offer the following link with a couple of disclaimers. One, it's got a lot of language. Two, I don't actually agree with her solution, i.e., I don't think piracy's a good thing, even if content providers are slow off the mark. But this link does do a good job of highlighting the problem of facing consumers who want to pay the artist for their product but can't because of out-dated business models.

Easy 15-Minute Workout - I tried this last week, and loved it! I wouldn't call it "easy", but it's a very thorough workout, and all body-weight exercises (i.e., no equipment needed, save a chair for the triceps dips). If you're looking for something simple on days when you don't have a lot of time, this is it.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Links! - Marie Curie's daughters, a Dutch superbus and a gospel-sharing priest

Just a few links today!

I remember reading a biography of Marie Curie when I was young, but I'd never heard about her daughters. Wow, what a story!

I want a Dutch superbus! This think is like the Batmobile meets and 24-passenger van (is there such a thing as a 24-passenger van?); it's amazing.

This story about an evangelical (as in, evangelizing) Catholic priest is inspiring! I think Father Tony has the right idea! We should all share our Lord's love as easily and as cheerfully. (Hat tip to Conversion Diary for the link.)

I am a mean writer

MEEEEEEEEEAN.  I swear I am. I am about to do something horrible to my main characters. In fact, I've already started. Seriously, the scene is about 500 words from done. 

But why is it taking me such a long time to actually pull the trigger? I swear, I am cruel enough to do it. I am.  They're going to suffer, and I'm the one who's going to make it happen. Suffering. Loss. Sadness. As soon as I can make myself type out the words. 

In other (possibly unrelated) news, why is it that even though I'm not Catholic, when I'm slightly depressed all I want to do is listen to "Ave Maria" on repeat? It lifts me out of the depression. It does. As long as it's still on. 

I don't get it. Anyway, here's a beautiful rendition of Schubert's Ave Maria. I like Josh Groban's best, but Bocelli's is also lovely.

peace of Christ to you,

Jessica Snell

Why I'm not a Roman Catholic

I mentioned in a post awhile ago that while I wish I could convert to Catholicism, I can’t with a good conscience. A kind reader inquired why, and I thought it was about time I got around to answering her question.

Before I do, I’d like to firmly state that it’s not because I think Roman Catholics are not Christians. While I’m sure some aren’t, I’m also sure some Protestants aren’t. I think most probably are. The reason I can’t become Catholic is because if I were Catholic, I’d be a bad Catholic. I’d be a bad Catholic because I disagree with so many of their particular beliefs. If I were to convert, I’d want to be a good Catholic, and I’m not going to convert while that is impossible for me.

Anyway.

So, what is it that I disagree with? Well, it’s mostly the usual suspects: prayer to the saints, the theology of Mary, the primacy of the Pope, the doctrine of Purgatory, the position on birth control. There are other issues I’m not certain about, like transubstantiation and paedobaptism, but I’m not philosopher enough to really argue those. I find transubstantiation unlikely, and I’ll leave it at that. Paedobaptism is something my own church practices, and though I think it’s not best, it doesn’t seem hideously harmful.

I’d also like to say: I have read the Catholic arguments on each of these points. And I will continue to read them. There are so many Catholic writers that I respect and admire that I would be hypocritical to ignore them when they write on these issues. I figure if I’m willing to hear their wisdom on the devotional life, I should also be willing to hear their wisdom on the position of the Pope.

So far, they haven’t convinced me. But I’ll continue to read their arguments as I come across them, in case there is something I’ve missed, or considered incorrectly. In other words, I’m not a Protestant who plugs her ears and sings “La, La, LA” when someone from Rome opens his mouth. :)

I’ll take the points one at a time, and, though I don’t promise an exhaustive catalogue of my disagreements, I’ll try to give a good summary of each. (In other words, this is the short version.)

1) prayer to the saints: The very best thing ever said on this was, I think, said by George Herbert in his poem “To All Angels and Saints” which I would urge you all to read. He basically argues that though he greatly loves the saints, he may not act where he is not commanded to act, and the Bible urges no such communication with those who have gone before us. He further argues that all praise is due to God, and it is not his right to take from what is God’s and offer it to any “inferior power”.
On my own, I’d offer a few other points:
I think you can make a pretty convincing case from scripture against it. I’d start with the Old Testament command that we’re not to try to talk to the dead. It’s obviously possible (see Saul and Samuel), but not exactly encouraged.
I’d further argue a practical point: we humans tend to worship and fear (and fear and worship) what we can’t see. I’d argue that it’s dangerous for embodied spirits (like us) to talk to unembodied spirits – or at least spirits with bodies we can’t perceive – because we tend to worship them. Perhaps there are some very holy people that aren’t tempted to this, but I think most of us tend to worship entities we are talking to when we can’t physically sense them. When you ask your earthly friend to pray for you, all her bodiliness will remind you that she’s just human. When you ask St. Francis to pray for you, his lack of physical presence might keep you from remembering that he’s just as human as you. You might tend to think of him more highly than you ought.
2) the position of Mary: Yes, Protestants tend to make too little of her. Her “may it be unto me as you have said” is the exact pattern of the proper response of every Christian to God, and we’d all do well to meditate on it.
However, I think there isn’t any scriptural warrant for the Catholic doctrine of thinking her sinless. In fact, it seems unbiblical to me, as we are assured that Jesus alone was the only human being ever without fault.
Also, again, I think there is a very human tendency, when praying to Mary, to worship.
Finally, I think that the Catholic devotion to Mary does lead people away from devotion to God. Not always, but often. I also think, from the scriptural depiction of Mary, that this is the last thing she herself would want. She points us toward the mercy of God, and if we look at her too long, we might forget to look where she is looking: to her Son.
3) the primacy of the Pope: Yes, yes, I repeat myself: no scriptural warrant. :) I would also point to Paul’s correction of Peter as proof that the bishop of Rome was not, from the earliest of days, infallible.
4) the doctrine of Purgatory: Here I quibble a bit. Yes, it does seem obvious that something happens in between death and heaven. Somehow, the mortal is made immortal, the sinful becomes the sinless. However, the idea that this process is actually a place seems a bit imaginative to me.
5) NFP: The Catholic church argues that every form of birth control except for NFP is bad.
Okay. However, in the Bible, Paul tells us that husband and wife are not to abstain except for the purpose of prayer. And . . . trying to avoid having children is not prayer. It seems, therefore, that abstaining in order to avoid conception is directly violating Paul’s admonition. Which seems enough to start with.


Alright, hopefully I haven’t alienated my Catholic readers! I also am not writing this for the purpose of discouraging you, or persuading you away from your faith. Rather, I’m very aware that all of us, Protestant, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox alike, are all suffering from being part of a divided church. One day, surely, Christ will return, and make our divisions cease. We'll each learn where we were right and where we were wrong. Until then, it seems to behoove us to love one another, and try to understand one another, and to obey. And to try to disagree honestly and charitably. I’m well aware that there are things that the Catholic church does better than the Protestant church, and I am very grateful for its witness to the world. But for now, it seems to me that the Protestants have it most right of the three branches. (Again, I don't think we have it all right.)

But I did want to answer the question, and I hope that it helps any of my readers who wanted to understand where I’m coming from.

It seems like a good thing to be able to say, “Here is where we really agree. Here is where we really disagree,” and to not lie about either one. There won’t be any common ground if we don’t tell the truth about the uncommon ground. And I do believe that what we have in common (i.e., everything in the Nicene creed) is much, much greater than what we don’t have in common. Until our Lord returns, may we each serve Him faithfully in the places where He has led us.

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snells