I have to admit, this book’s been sitting on my shelf for a while, and I just haven’t gotten around to reading it. I requested it from Bethany House in the their blogger program, but then just couldn’t interest myself in it. Probably because we’re not looking at light and fluffy reading here.
 | Love Written in Stone: Finding God's Grace in the Boundaries He Sets |
Dr. Philip Carlson is both a pastor and medical doctor. His writing in Love Written in Stone is an attempt to take a look at what he faces in both forms of his work and compare where we as people are and what we would be if we obeyed God’s commands.
A portion of his effort here seems to be dedicated to helping the reader understand why God commands what He commands in Scripture. The viewpoint is provided that many of these commands are not built out of emptiness or religious duty but are rather a reflection of God’s efforts to drive us to do what is best for us.
With that in mind, Carlson walks through some basics of what is contained in Scripture concerning ideas like rest, commitment, and marriage. The effort is to show that keeping God’s commands is not a legalistic idea, but rather a way to achieve a better life.
In general, his writing is easy to follow. It’s obvious, at least to me, that he learned his presentation style more in seminary than in medical school. He writes like the pastor he is, with bullet points and illustrations. Most of his illustrations are either acquaintances or personal experiences.
This book was not extremely engaging as a read, but it was worth it for the subject matter. I’d recommend it more for a group study then for individual reading.
I did receive a free copy of this book in exchange for the review.
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