The best Christian Poetry: Reddit reviews

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

You should read Bill Porter's book Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits.

https://www.amazon.com/Road-Heaven-Encounters-Chinese-Hermits/dp/1582435235

Most are members of a Buddhist or Daoist lineage that help support them. They also usually have some land they use for growing vegetables. They will go down and buy supplies from a village, too. Most 'hermits' live in networks where they support each other.

In addressing the problem of pain and suffering consider checking out the following video by Fr Mike Schmitz.

Why Does God Let Bad Things Happen? https://youtu.be/0NOTU1g0Z8w

Additionally, there is the book A Grief Observed by former atheist C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity is also excellent) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060652381/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_QNNCE1F1SS0SDB5YVM7Z

Lastly, Making Sense Out of Suffering by Dr Peter Kreeft (professor of Philosophy at Boston College).

I highly recommend this book The Next Place (Amazon). It was really a solid way to give myself a alternative. It took me several years to be able to get through it without sobbing (reading aloud to our kids) but I read it a lot.

The Next Place https://www.amazon.com/dp/0931674328/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_D07P3Y7HPFCWTTMW6NXP

I guess that's up to your own reading of the text to convince you who's correct.

The fact that Genesis 1 is poetically written is seemingly universal amongst Christians of all stripes and is the academic consensus (whether Jew, Pagan, atheist, Christian, etc.) All one has to do is pick up a study Bible, like The HarperCollins Study Bible or The New Oxford Annotated Bible and read the openings of each book or the footnotes of the text.

It's difficult to not rest on anything. Here take this sword that kills and gives life.

I don’t have any advice on how to tell your 3 yr old. What I can share is this book “The Next Place” You don’t have to believe In Heaven or anything, but it can certainly be heaven. It just paints a really beautiful, easy to understand and imagine place that is next on our journey. I am So sorry for your loss.

Not sure about Watts, but check out "A Grief Observed" by C.S. Lewis. That one helped me after losing my dad.

https://www.amazon.com/Grief-Observed-C-S-Lewis/dp/0060652381

Bro just look at these types of books going around by these schmucks. These people are believing in some nutty “end-times” type prophecy with this mango head.

https://www.amazon.com/God-Trump-2020-Election-Christians/dp/1629996653

I find that Buddhism,stoicism,cynicism, and Epicureanism play well together...different focuses, but not opposed.

In the book https://www.amazon.com/Road-Heaven-Encounters-Chinese-Hermits/dp/1582435235 my favorite quote from an old Taoist hermit is “the Buddhists probably meditate better than us, but I like the Tao- I use some things I’ve learned from monks”

What you’re asking is a huge question - basically the central question of all ethics. More than I can explain in a comment... so I’ll point you to some books.

For my money the best takes on this question come from Kant and Christ. Pick your poison

For Kant’s take on the golden rule - see

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundwork_of_the_Metaphysic_of_Morals

For the same idea through a specifically Christian lens - https://www.amazon.com/Sermon-Mount-Key-Success-Life/dp/0060628626

If you don't understand the saying, I recommend this book, which dives into the metaphysical and philosophical meaning behind it

https://www.amazon.com/Sermon-Mount-Key-Success-Life/dp/0060628626

There was a religious writer name CS Lewis who married late in life. His wife developed Cancer soon after the marriage and she passed within 3 years. He wrote a book on his experience called A Grief Observed. It has religious undertones but it is basically his musing about that event.

You are still in shock but when you have time, I would recommend you read it. I also recommend I Wasn't Ready to Say Goodbye.

So sorry for your loss. May you find the strength.

We received this book from a friend when my beloved FIL died. My older two were 4 and 2 at the time. It took me a looong time to read it to them without crying.

You did great. It’s so hard explaining death to kids so young.

Spoiler: “the next place” isn’t religious. It’s about how your “being” isn’t on earth and doesn’t have to feel emotions anymore and is therefore at peace.

https://www.amazon.com/Next-Place-Warren-Hanson/dp/0931674328

The Other Bible - The Other Bible gathers in one comprehensive volume ancient, esoteric holy texts from Judeo–Christian tradition that were excluded from the official canon of the Old and New Testaments, including the Gnostic Gospels, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Kabbalah, and several more.

Awesome! I did not know this existed. Thank you!

I'm glad I'm not in a real science. I feel for you, although I can't really imagine how you feel. If it's any consolation, my cat died too just as I started my program and I cried for months. This book helped me deal with some of the complex emotions that came up, e.g. staring into the void, hating god--if such a thing exists. I would listen to the audio book on my coffee breaks. https://www.amazon.com/Grief-Observed-C-S-Lewis/dp/0060652381

The blue cliff records has some expressions like that, specially this translation of it: https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Cliff-Record-Thomas-Cleary/dp/159030232X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1532789492&sr=8-1&keywords=blue+cliff+records+cleary

There is this book called Road to heaven you should check it out. Some of those people have lived alone for longer than you've been alive.

Yaunwu lectured and provided commentary for The Blue Cliff Record. He was a Zen master from the Linji school, and was the teacher of Dahui.

Others have already pointed out the RSV2CE and the NABRE, which are both excellent Catholic translations.

To help your search, you might like the NRSV. It is perhaps the most "ecumenical" translation. (It's used in Mainline Protestant and Secular academic circles).

In particular, picking up a solid Study Bible with accompanying notes from top scholars of multiple faith traditions like the Harper Collins Study Bible or the New Oxford Annotated Bible might also be helpful. Those also both contain the Deuterocanon, but place them in a separate section between the OT and NT (so, they won't quite appear in the Catholic order, but they're all there to be studied, and with lots of notes about their composition, canonicity, etc.).

My Dad passed away months ago.

Allow yourself to be sad, allow yourself to be angry. Surround yourself with people that will let you cry, won't try to push their happiness on you but instead will try to comfort you.

There is a difference between comfort and cheering up, and I've started to understand that as I've been going through the grieving process.

Reminders of your grandfather to keep around will be great.

If you can find a therapist to talk to.

This book really helped me when things were tough too.

Make sure to take care of yourself (eat right, exercise, even when you feel like doing nothing, even when you feel like crying).

I can recommend you look into "Road to Heaven" book. Bill Porter interviewed various hermit practitioners of Zen, Dao and Buddhism. It will shine the light and answer most of your questions.

I have gotten a lot out of this kind of information from the HarperCollins Study Bible. If you follow its footnotes throughout Esther, for example, the editors constantly point out to you why the story probably isn't an actual historical account. The footnotes in Genesis explain all the different text sources (Priestly, Yahwist, Elohist). I haven't perused Exodus yet, but I'd put my money on a good honest historical contextualization.

This is the book I'm talking about. I can't recommend it highly enough.

My recommendation is the Mandelbaum translation. Besides being a great and accurate translation, it has the Italian on the facing page, it's an incredibly cheap edition, and the translator's notes are excellent.

This is by far my personal favorite translation of Inferno. I've tried a couple of other translations, they just weren't as poetic. I also like that this has the original Italian side-by-side with the English, and the illustrations are interesting.