Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Reading on a Small Screen

Last week I finished reading "The Prodigal God" by Timothy Keller.
I love Tim Keller's writing style, I love what he is doing in NYC, planting churches with young professionals. I think he is an example worth following.

"The Prodigal God" is based on the parable of the prodigal son, but in the book, Keller explains that the parable isn't primarily about the immoral son, but about his self-righteous older brother. Jesus spoke this parable to the Pharisees, and his point was that both the younger brother, the prodigal son, and the older brother, who stayed at home, and was very upset when the father forgave the prodigal son and received him back, were both sinners - they both were guilty of the same thing: not truly loving the father, but only wanting his wealth, the inheritance. But the older brother - the self-righteous one - was in a more dangerous situation than the younger brother, because he didn't recognize his sin. And the irony of the story, is that at the end of it, the "good" brother is outside of the father's house, whilst the "bad" brother is in the father's house, sharing in the feast, because he repented of his actions and sought out his father.
Essentially, in the book, Keller is pointing out the heart of man - that all men are sinful, even the "good" moral ones, as well as the heart of God - that he is loving and forgiving and receives those who humble themselves and seek him.
I really liked the book a lot; it was a quick read, but had a very powerful message.

This was also the first book I've read on my iPod.
I wanted to buy a copy of this book last time I was in the states, but didn't like the $20 price tag - but the other day I was looking at Amazon.com's Kindle program for iPhone/iPod and Windows, and noticed that the Kindle version of "The Prodigal God" was only $10, and no shipping, so I tried it out.
I actually didn't expect to like reading books on my iPod - I hate reading PDF books on my computer, but I found that I actually liked it. I ended up reading at times I wouldn't usually pull out an actually printed book, like when waiting in line at the post office, or before bed, and I ended up not minding the small screen at all. Kindle is set up really well, with lots of options, and it was nice to use.

So, since that went so well, I downloaded another Timothy Keller book - "Counterfeit Gods" on Kindle too, which I have also really been enjoying.

4 comments:

  1. Gondolom, nincs meg magyarul (ez se...).

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  2. :( Sajnos... Szerintem a Kindle-nek sincsenek magyar könyvei. :(

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  3. I just finished the book on the plane over here. I loved it! Counterfeit Gods is also a great read & inside into modern western society.

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  4. Kyle - Right on. Have you read The Reason for God? It was a totally different type of book - more of an apologetic - but I really liked that too.

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