The book that changed your life

The Bible.

Plain and Simple.

joyforjesus said:

The Bible.

Plain and Simple.

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Psssst: take a look at the OP...

Support Your Local Wizard by Diane Duane- it's the first three books of the Young Wizards series bound in one volume. The book can function as simply well-written fantasy, but as I've reread it over the years I've noticed far more wisdom about love and sacrifice; there's a good bit of Christian symbolism tucked away, but it doesn't become the focal point of the story.

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

This book is amazing. I don't know how to describe how much it made me think about things I had just accepted in new ways.

Though others would be Dune by Frank Herbert, Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien, Searching for God Knows What by Daniel Miller, 1984 by George Orwell, and The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan

I would have to say the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. I read them when I was eight years old, and if I had to define one moment that made me want to be an author, it was reading those books. They just really opened up my imagination and I admire they way that C.S. Lewis was able to create a world with such depth in such little description.

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

Nienor did you read his other books My Ishmael and Story of B? They were just as good if not better.

Daysleeper said:

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

Nienor did you read his other books My Ishmael and Story of B? They were just as good if not better.

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I haven't made it to My Ishmael yet, but I really have enjoyed Story of B and After Dachau (even though it isn't in the series, it's a really good read ) He is just such an amazing author

But I'm glad to see someone else on here reading his stuff, glad I'm not the only one

The picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)...I'm not sure if it changed my life, but it changed my point of view on many thinks...and it's actually my favorite book...it really opened my mind.

It used to be that I'd say Steppenwolf without really thinking about it. At this point I think that there are a lot of books that have changed my life more than that one. Some that come to mind (from all periods of my life) are Future on Fire (anthology edited by Orson Scott Card, dipped in it the first time when I was probably too young, came back to it recently and it was an interesting experience), Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville (I don't know why but that one has stuck with me), various stories by HP Lovecraft (most particularly the Randolph Carter ones), Lewis's Space Trilogy (they seem silly at first (in that we know that the other planets can't be like that), but there's so much good stuff in there, like the depiction of the unman in Perelandra or the description of the moon in That Hideous Strength), A Canticle for Leibowitz by Miller (which really could have been written today, for the themes it deals with) and others that I'm forgetting.

But a disproportionate number of them are probably by Hesse, like his all-to-close-to-home themes in Peter Carmenzind and Beneath the Wheel, to the mysticism of The Glass Bead Game or The Journey to the East, or even the simple poetry of Wandering. And Steppenwolf brought me to Hesse, the author who really speaks to me in my own voice. And I do like the Magic Theater sequence. In any case Hesse said it's an old man's book, and I'm far from being an old man, so maybe I'm just realizing that I don't understand the book quite yet, though I am aware of its significance.

Ok--and old one called World Aflame by Billy Graham. Picked it up on a lark, and it led me the Christ!

"The Way of the Master" by Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort.
It changed the way I witness to people.
I think every born-again believer should read it.

Kirk Cameron? Ray Comfort? Aren't those the notorious banana guys with their "atheist's worst nightmare"?

Perfect entertainment! (Albeit unintentionally)

Bible it makes me a better person

followed by left behind by Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins
it reopened my eyes to God when i started to go astray

Jane_the_Bane said:

Kirk Cameron? Ray Comfort? Aren't those the notorious banana guys with their "atheist's worst nightmare"?

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I wasn't familiar with that, but I just now looked it up, and found this, which I assume is what you're referring to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8Z4oCss_bI

Unfortunately, the sound on my computer doesn't work anymore (grrrr), so I can't hear it; therefore, I don't know what its about.

Live4HimAndLoveOthers said:

"The Way of the Master" by Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort.
It changed the way I witness to people.
I think every born-again believer should read it.

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I agree. It definitely shows the shortcomings of modern evangelism techniques.

You might also want to check out Tell the Truth: The Whole Gospel to the Whole Person by Whole People, by Will Metzger.

Jane_the_Bane said:

Kirk Cameron? Ray Comfort? Aren't those the notorious banana guys with their "atheist's worst nightmare"?

Perfect entertainment! (Albeit unintentionally)

Click to expand...

All I can say is that even the best of us mess up once in a while, right?

I'd probably say when I first read 'The Chapel Perilous' by Dorothy Hewett a couple years ago.

The right thing. At the right time.

She's still one of my favourite playwrights.

GrinningDwarf said:

You might also want to check out Tell the Truth: The Whole Gospel to the Whole Person by Whole People, by Will Metzger.

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Thanks, GrinningDwarf! I'll make a note of that!

I also read (and highly recommend) "One Thing You Can't Do In Heaven" by Mark Cahill, an easy read which is excellent for motivating and inspiring Christians for evangelism, whereas "The Way of the Master" is, of course, more technique-oriented. And Mark Cahill actually uses the techniques presented in "The Way of the Master."

As a reference to who I'm talking about, Cahill's website is: http://www.markcahill.org/

I also watched a DVD of his, where he went to a Gay Pride Festival and witnessed to people, coming up to homosexuals and talking to them one-on-one or a few at a time, in a very casual, friendly fashion. That's the kind of attitude that Christians should have when telling people the Good News of salvation through Christ.

The DVD I'm talking about is here:
http://www.markcahill.org/resource.html

The casual talking sounds great- right now there's a very rude preacher on campus who keeps implying that all the girls are harlots if they're not wearing ankle-length skirts.