Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Christian Fiction Book Club: Pearl in the Sand

 Hosted this month by Gina at Hott Books.
Discussion (Review coming later):

First I wanted to say that I really liked this book and there is a positive review coming for it! Next it was hard limiting myself to only a few questions because if I tried to answer all 24, this would have been the longest blog post ever.  But I think I chose some good ones and I can't wait to see what other people thought!

9. What made Rahab willing to risk her life in order to save the Jewish spies?
 The way Rahab was able to sense God and act on it was why she was willing to risk her life.  Without knowing really anything about Him, she sensed that he was protecting His people and she wanted to be with Him.  Furthermore by meeting the spies, she had a connection to the Jewish camp and the opportunity to learn more about their God.

11. In Chapter Eight, Joshua accuses Salmone of growing judgmental in his attempt to become righteous. What do you think that means?
Salmone wants to be a righteous man of God but he seems to think that means letting people know when they're wrong and judging them for their sins.  Instead of being of God, he's trying to be God in the sense that he is taking on the role of judgment which is not his.  Furthermore it is much easier to judge other people than to look deep into the face of our own sin and humans frequently choose to do the easy thing.

15. In Chapter Twenty-One, Salmone calls Rahab his Jericho. What does he mean?
Rahab has built high walls around her heart due to the many wounds inflicted upon her in her early life just as Jericho had high walls that protected them from their enemies. But with God, Jericho's walls came tumbling down. Similarly God leads Salmone to love his wife and will tear down those walls so that they may come together as husband and wife are meant to.

24. What are some of God's qualities discussed in this story that touched your heart? Why?
The answer to this question is why I love Christian fiction-the ways that it can simply illuminate the truth of the Lord is why I keep coming back to it.  Reading the Bible is still something I struggle with due to language and cultural elements but Christian fiction is often written in a more direct fashion with words I understand better.  The main quality of God that just led me to cry while reading this is how He loves me.  I know that I am loved and I am so blessed in my earthly family from my parents and sister to my family in Christ.  But His capacity to love me and to just cover me in His love is always overwhelming and awesome.

5 comments:

  1. I love your thoughts. This is just a fantastic book. The portrayal of God's mercy and grace is beautiful.

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  2. I agree that this book was a great reminder of God's awesome love! I'm always amazed that He sees all that is in my heart, the hopes, dreams, failures, and pettiness, and loves me in spite of it all! This was a great story!

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  3. I am not familiar with the book, so I may not have known exactly what your answers referred to.:) But, I love your answer to Q. 24. I love your perception of God and His love and I agree with you. Great answer! I don't read a lot of Christian fiction, but what I've read so far was good and I'm looking forward to your review of this book.

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  4. Amen on 11! So very true.

    As for 24, I could not agree more.

    Awesome post :)

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  5. I agree your answers were extremely perceptive. This book brought out so very much emotion! It was a constant reminder that God is here with me - no matter what I've done. I loved the author's ability to make me part of the story and to call out from the very beginning that 'this is fiction but...'.
    Longest post ever? Did you read mine? Too long, isn't it?
    I'm glad you enjoyed reading with us! See you next month!

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Thank you for commenting-I love to read your thoughts! Feel free to leave a link to your latest post so I can stop by!

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