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Title: The Life of Our Lord: Written for His Children During the Years 1846 to 1849
ISBN: 0684865378
Author:
Charles Dickens
Gerald Charles Dickens
Publicate Date: 1999-11-09
Publish: 1999-11-09
List Price: $14.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $4.79
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.01
Amazon Merchant Price: $10.17
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Written so they understand
One of the greatest authors of our time, writing the greatest story of our time, so that children can read it and understand the greatest love and sacrifice of all time.
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2: Excellent Testimonial from Charles Dickens
This is an excellent book for teaching children, ourselves, or anyone who wants to know about Christ in simple terms. My wife gave a copy to each of our married children.
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3: NOT the Gospel!
I made the big mistake of borrowing this book from a friend at church, and starting to read it to my children. From page one, Dickens shows his hand as a liberal Christian of the moralist stripe. In reading three chapters, and scanning the rest of the book, I could find no indication that Dickens believed that Jesus was actually divine; literally the son of God.
Read the "Search Inside!" excerpt, and you can see for yourself. Page 18 (second page of the narrative) Dickens says "His father's name was Joseph, and His mother's name was Mary." No mention of the virgin birth, conception by the Holy Spirit, or any hint of divine genesis. At the bottom of the same page, the angels announce: "There is a child born to-day in the city of Bethlehem near here, who will grow up to be so good that God will love Him as His own Son." Over and over, Dickens throws out these creepy euphemisms that seem to avoid any assertion that Jesus is God incarnate.
I searched the end of the book, and could find no connection between the cross and forgiveness; although Dickens narrates the Passion and Resurrection, the closest (I could find) to an understanding of WHY, is that the Pharisees wanted to kill him because they were jealous of his following.
"Search Inside!" this book for "sin" (rest assured, there are very few occurrences), and you will get to the last page, where you will find this entirely unhelpful definition:
"Remember! -- It is Christianity TO DO GOOD always -- even to those who do evil to us. It is Christianity to love our neighbors as ourself, and to do to all men as we would have them do to us. It is Christianity to be gentle, merciful, and forgiving, and to keep those qualities quiet in our own hearts, and never make a boast of them, or of our prayers or of our love of God, but always to show that we love Him by humbly trying to do right in everything. If we do this, and remember the life and lessons of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and try to act up to them, we may confidently hope that God will forgive us our sins and mistakes, and enable us to live and die in peace."
In other words, Dickens' definition of Christianity is "If you try hard (enough), God will forgive you for your shortcomings." Check this out: the word "sin" appears 5 times in the whole book, three of which are simply quoting Jesus." The word "faith" appears a grand total of ZERO times! The only two occurrences that show up are from the Front Flap and Front Matter (i.e. not part of what Dickens himself wrote)!
I don't know how anybody could think they have defined Christianity without ever using the word "faith", but I'm pretty sure that any such attempt would be "another gospel", and it should be anathematized.
So if you don't believe that the co-eternal Son of God is the word made flesh; if you think it is silly to believe in conception by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin birth; if you don't want to focus on sin and redemption; if you just want your kids to think of Jesus as a good man, good teacher, and good example, then by all means buy this book.
But if you're a Christian, stay away.
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4: Another Dickens Masterpiece!
I never knew of this book's existence until a friend of mine, a fellow book lover, told me about it. What I love most about the book is that Dickens wrote it for his children--not for the public at large. How many fathers would write a book just for their children? Dickens seems like such a tender hearted person. And you can sense that there is a lot of love put into this book.
It's nice to have the gospel of the Savior unfold in such a smooth narrative, in a language that is closer to modern English than the language of the King James Bible. Of course, Dickens fills in a few gaps, and puts his own spin on things--but all in all he is very faithfull to the four gospels.
I am thankful to my friend for telling me about this wonderful book!
Other great holiday reads:
Christmas Gifts, Christmas Voices--a story that is both gut wrenching and (thankfully) heartwarming.
Finding Noel: A Novel--yet another marvelous Evans book!
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5: The Life of Our Lord : Written for His Children During the Years 1846 to 1849
I liked it because you can tell that it wasn't proofed and edited before printing. It gave me an insight to Charles Dickens that I had not had before. It would be best not to sit down to "read" the book in one setting. Really enjoyed it.
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