Yesterday I listed the first half of my favorite reads for 2019 6-10. Today I'll give you my top five.
5. In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors by Doug Stanton. As a Navy veteran and a resident of Indiana I thought this would be an interesting read, especially since I picked it up for a couple of dollars at an auction. It turned out to be an incredible read. The ship was returning from dropping off Little Boy, the first atomic bomb used in warfare, when it was sank by a submarine. Because of the secrecy of its mission few people knew where it was supposed to be and that it was sunk. It is an extraordinary tale of courage on the part of those who survived.
4. DARK AGENDA: The War to Destroy Christian America by David Horowitz. I enjoy everything I read written by Horowitz, a Jewish agnostic. He takes on the new Atheists and all those who want to remove Christianity from the American landscape. He exposes their hatred and intolerance for Christianity and points out the shallowness of their arguments. He is one of the leading conservative writers in America today and deserves to be read by all who are concerned about the direction of our nation.
3. Saving Truth: Finding Meaning and Clarity in a Post-Truth World by Abdu Murray. The author points out that in our post-truth world people prefer their preferences to objective truth. Logic and evidence mean nothing to such people if they contradict their preferences. If you wonder if post-truth is actually a word or a mindset, Oxford Dictionary selected post-truth as its word of the year in 2016. With such a mindset it is no wonder that we have such confusion around sexual issues, ethics, freedom and human dignity. Not only does this book sound a warning about the post-truth mindset it offers practical ways to respond. It was a very good read.
2. Scientism and Secularism: Learning to Respond to a Dangerous Ideology by J. P. Moreland. The author is a respected professor of philosophy at Biola University, a Christian and the author of a number of books. He defines scientism as "the view that the hard sciences alone have the intellectual authority to give us knowledge of reality." He writes that scientism in fact distorts science. Science has never claimed to be the only way to understand reality. Throughout the book he shows how scientism is impacting the church, harming our children, and making it difficult to share our faith. I really enjoyed this book.
1. The Global Public Square: Religious Freedom and the Making of a World Safe for Diversity by Os Guinness. This was actually the last book I read in 2019 but easily became my top book of the year. Guinness points out how divided our world is today and rightly points out the way to overcome this division is to practice soul freedom for all people. He writes that "Soul freedom is the inviolable freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief that alone does full justice to the dictates of our humanity...It best expresses human dignity and agency; it promotes freedom and justice for all; it fosters healthy giving, caring, peaceful and stable societies; and it acts as a bulwark against the countless current abuses of power and the equally countless brutal oppressions of human dignity." This was on page 14, and the remainder of the book fleshes out his thoughts on religious freedom for all. I couldn't help but think that it should be required reading for every college student and should be on everyone's reading list who are concerned about the divisions affecting our nation today.
These are my top 10 books for 2019. In my next post I'll share with you what I'm currently reading.
Happy New Year everyone!
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