Wednesday, November 8, 2017

All Things New is laborious reading

For some time I’ve had the conviction that eternity with God does not start when we die, but when we die to self. Along the same lines, I have to wonder why everyone talks about heaven as if it’s some magical, mystical, faraway place in the sky. Sometimes I have to wonder if I’m reading a different Bible than the rest of the world, and then John Eldridge writes a book like All Things New: Heaven, Earth and the Restoration of Everything You Love (Nelson Books, 2017)

He talks about heaven in terms that I understand, heaven in terms of the restoration of the original perfection that God created, not as a new location, something that God had to come up with to replace the disaster that mankind has made of Eden.
Theologically I’m with Eldridge on this one, but for my preference, there is just too much going on. Narnia, Middle Earth, camping, mountain climbing, personal tragedies, Colorado Bureau of tourism, and a lot of scripture. It just seemed to be all over the map.  If he had limited the scope, I think the book would have been more readable.
Hardcore Eldridge fans will probably enjoy this book as much as they do some of his other works, but I guess I don’t fit into that category. I had to force myself to finish the book.
I received an advance readers copy in exchange for the review.

3/5

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