What are YOU currently reading? (8)

[Eryk]

The Coming Prince: The Marvelous Prophecy of Daniel's Seventy Weeks Concerning the Antichrist by Sir Robert Anderson

 

[morse86]

Dissolving Illusions: Disease, Vaccines, and The Forgotten History by Suzanne Humphries

 

[Ada Lovelace]

I'm heading to South Africa soon, and my current reading is equipping me with facts and insight about the country and what I'll be doing there. I'll be spending part of the time learning from the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation and the University of Cape Town Faculty of Health Sciences about their intervention programs for youth living with HIV. Then I'm going to a Zulu settlement called Embo that has one of the highest rates of HIV in the world, as well as dismayingly large number of people afflicted with tuberculosis to help teach a HIV and vaccination education program. I have a very rare disease called Addison's Disease; mine was caused by chickenpox-induced sepsis when I was an infant too young to be vaccinated (but the unvaccinated older child who infected me was not), but in Embo it's primarily due to TB that destroys the adrenal gland. I'm also going to be teaching about Addison's, since even many of the medical professionals there are unfamiliar with it.

One of the reasons HIV is so pervasive there is a lack of knowledge about how it is contracted and transmitted. There's also myths about vaccines, and historically there was a lack of access to them. Thank God a Christian organization has stepped in to provide medical care, including the life-saving vaccinations. I've never been more grateful for anything in my life than to have the opportunity to assist them.

Anyways, so I took a cover of the travel book I checked out because it's so adorable it makes me smile. Then I just took pictures of the other books I'm reading this week instead of listing them:

 

[Eryk]

The Rising by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins

 

[fantascey]

Robin Hobb (so far i love her books, so i am reading as many as i can.)

 

[HereIStand]

Recently finished The Bible and Homosexual Practice by Robert Gagnon, and wrote the following review on Amazon:

Gagnon provides an exhaustive defense of Scripture's proscription against homosexual sex. He makes it clear throughout that the Bible doesn't oppose the impulse to have same-sex intercourse, but the act itself. His study of Old Testament texts offers an informative look at male temple prostitutes. For a fee, they would allow themselves to be penetrated by men. They would dress like women and even castrate themselves in some cases. The men penetrating them were thought to receive a pagan blessing.

Gagnon's study of New Testament texts is equally informative. Here undercuts various attempts to silence Scripture's warnings against homosexual sex, such as Paul was only concerned with exploitive forms of homosexuality, not stable relationships. Using both biblical and pagan texts, Gagnon shows that although there were exploitive forms of homosexuality in the Ancient World, pederasty was thought to be a noble pursuit, and stable relationships between young boys and men were common. Gagnon also undercuts popular attempts to justify gay sex within the church based on the church's willingness to tolerate divorce. He clearly shows that homosexual sex is never permitted in the Bible under any circumstances, but divorce is permitted in some circumstances.

Also, Gagnon shows the health consequences for individuals and society, especially for homosexual men. Depression, AIDS, and suicidal thoughts are the risks associated with the gay population. Yet, gay activists want to make having multiple partners normative for the gay community.

Written in 2001, Gagnon was prescient with regard to the normalization of transgenderism. He also anticipated the labeling of those with a moral opposition to gay intercourse as bigots (akin to racists) and the threat to their careers. Gagnon himself has recently left his long-time professorship at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, largely (it seems) due to the seminary's unhappiness with this biblical beliefs against homosexual practice.

Gagnon did a great service for the church in writing this book. It can not be recommended more highly.

 

[Bumble Bee]

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult

 

[saved24]

I just finished a book called The Guilt Trip by Hal Lindsey
"The more we let God down, the more we assume His anger, until such alienation sets into our minds that it is virtually impossible for us to enjoy a vital fellowship with God. And the pitiful tragedy is that all this is just in our minds, God isn't mad at us!"
"I, even i, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins." The Lord Isaiah 43:25

 

[Bumble Bee]

The British Way of Death

 

[Billy Bob]

This book here. I really like it so far. Very exciting

Rapture: The Moment After https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075X3PGG9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_dkJYzbJDXMGPT

 

[Earatha]

Finished IT by Stephen King, loved the book. It's rare to see those things written about so well. I legitimately got scared reading that. Now I'm reading Carrie. Yuck. Just yuck.

Also reading the American Institute of Steel Construction manual. Because you can never know too much about steel construction. Yes, reading that for fun.

 

[SistrNChrist]

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

 

[amateursuperhero]

Not Yet Married: The Pursuit of Joy in Singleness and Dating by Marshall Segal

 

[ForeverEternal]

Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan.

Such an amazing series, can't wait to finish the whole thing! =D

 

[quietbloke]

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

 

[Athanasius7]

Most recently, Five Proofs of the Existence of God, by Edward Feser.

 

[Blessed Each Day]

I just started "The Anxious Christian", by Rhett Smith. Shout-out to @NurseAbigail for the recommendation

 

[NIrelandGillian]

Stanfordella, you might be interested in ‘The Man With the Key Has Gone’ by Ian Clarke. The book deals with the massive Aids problem in Uganda.

HereIstand, thanks for the recommendation - sounds like a very interesting and helpful book.

Almost finished reading the story of Robert Murray McCheyne, a Scottish minister who died aged 29, but had a powerful ministry in his short life.

Gillian

 

[crixus]

San Jose State University - An Interpretive History 1950-2000 by: James P. Walsh (published in 2003)

I saw this book online and bought it because I went to college there back in the 80's. It turns out that this is a very detailed and great read. I had no idea so many interesting things happened at SJSU during that era. The old saying "don't judge a book by it's cover" really applies here. The cover is bland and boring, but it's what's inside that counts. And I think anyone who likes history will enjoy this book.

 

[saved24]

I am reading God's Workmanship (The energy of the indwelling spirit of God working in those who are ready to walk in His name) by Oswald Chambers. His writing sure helps one to grow in the Lord. (Ephesians 2:8 -10)