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Post by Revnola on Dec 7, 2017 7:45:30 GMT -5
As the nickname implies, it was invented by my daughter, I am indeed a Christian Minister. I have thoroughly enjoyed all Wes's books to date and if I have any reservation I share it with Driver54! I agree with John Mead and just have one question. Does Wes know what happened to Bree and Becca's Mother?
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Post by Doug on Dec 7, 2017 9:56:08 GMT -5
Are you going to post for today, or are there other issues?
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Post by AnthonyH on Dec 7, 2017 10:17:31 GMT -5
Revnola
My first reaction to your question is the answer provided in the synopsis for Starting Late "The single mother of two young teenage girls is killed in a strange auto accident" but as you've read about Bree and Becca I assume you've read that and are wanting more about the "suspicious circumstances" and the life of Shannon Gravengood?
Anthony
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Post by Martian on Dec 7, 2017 15:51:24 GMT -5
Always amazed at the degree of paranoia that can be generated by self-described Christians even in a country where most of the population has been intimidated into pretending to believe in their religion. I have to give Wes credit, though, for representing a wide variety of religions in his stories, and also representing a wide variety in how characters relate to their religion. The only way that having a "warning" only on stories featuring Christian characters makes sense to me, is if it is not really a warning at all, but instead a way to tell people who dislike some of his other stories (for not being Christian enough) that this story is one he thinks they will like.
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Post by jokerlove on Dec 7, 2017 16:20:40 GMT -5
Now martian, i agree that yes some people try to force the religion they follow upon others. But i have to say that pretending to follow that faith just to please those folks is the height of folly. i am not nor will i ever say or act like a church\temple\mosk religius person but i do have faith in a greater power i just do not give it a name nor a gender because for me thats foolish as the entity would not need to conform to human idears after all it created us or at-least the universe we live in. So when people say there religion is the one and only true faith, i tell them thats great for you but why do you need to tell me that. most of the time they are sudenly renderd mute. Sometimes they say well if you dont follow my religion you will go to hell or not go to the after life. if they start saying that i start to ignore them but not before saying something about how do they know that, have they died and gone to the after life or hell? Because according to docters i have.
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Post by Wes on Dec 7, 2017 17:14:46 GMT -5
Are you going to post for today, or are there other issues? Oops! After over ten years of Wednesday not being a posting day sometimes it's hard for me to remember that it now is. The chapter is up now. -- Wes
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Post by Ed Greenberg on Dec 8, 2017 6:58:34 GMT -5
First my disclaimer: I'm Jewish. This means that I _could_ be sensitive about being "preached at" in the story, but I'm not feeling that way at all. The story tells of the spiritual growth of spiritual people. That's the nature of it. The problem with it's reception (if any are having a problem) is that Christianity carries the positive commandment to "spread the gospel." Thus, some folks may have had bad experiences with being preached at. I love Nancy. I think she's a great character. We can't read about her without reading about her religious beliefs and growth. Today's chapter (6) was excellent since it let us catch up with many of our friends in the SFL extended family, and I'm glad to see them doing well. Of course, nothing exciting can happen to them unless Wes is writing about them. Perhaps the characters should be praying to Wes instead of the Judeo-Christian deity
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Post by Boyd Percy on Dec 8, 2017 18:08:24 GMT -5
I like the fact that Crystal and Preach named their son, Albert Buck Whittaker. Al Buck is one of Wes' best creations.
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Post by Steve Ogden on Dec 16, 2017 17:43:05 GMT -5
I'm really enjoying this story. Faith is hard for many to comprehend, to be honest I struggle sometimes, but the core of faith within the Nancy stories rings true. For a novelist (or wannabe) keeping the story consistent unto itself and its characters is one of the hardest lessons to learn. Wes learnt this many years ago and so the people in this novel ring true, I have no problem entering their world even if it is one I do not pretend to fully understand.
Steve
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Post by Martian on Dec 18, 2017 21:23:02 GMT -5
So far (chapter 9) I'm enjoying this story, and I liked "Down by the Riverside" pretty well. But I guess I'm not supposed to like them, because I gave up on understanding what people mean by "faith" and "spiritual beliefs" long ago. When I tried to understand, all I could see was people pretending to believe things that they knew were not true. But the question of what it means to live a good life still interests me a lot, and stories about spirituality tend to also be about that. And yet, the story in which Nancy has her Conversion Experience is my least favorite story on the site. At the time, I figured that it was the way religion was presented that was the problem. But now I think it is really that for me, the attempt to put the reader inside the head of a teen-age girl at the end of her rope doesn't work. Wes is just better at characters who are more mature and less desperate. And the other problem with Canyon Fires is that by the time I got to it, I was really tired of reading about trips down the Grand Canyon with the Canyon Tours rafting company.
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Post by Bill on Dec 21, 2017 0:21:28 GMT -5
We are all a Journey through this life. I have been at it longer than most and a member of the clergy for half that time. I have read most if not all os Wes”. Books and find then most refreshing and life affirming. Nanci’s journey through seminary with Sarah has been a trip down memory land. I became a minister by way of a different road than most Ministers. Original goal of becoming a Scientist but circumstances changed that. The first year of college was very Humanistic oriented Then to a Quaker College, Presbyterian seminary Then ordained in another mainliine demination. Spent some time participating in a humastic group in San Francisco. Moved to the buckle of the Bible Belt. Tried to share some of my beliefs many since my youth the result of which I was told I was going to Hell by one of my Colleagues. Which I look to with some pride. So bigotry and short sightedness are not unfamiliar in my experience. Our journey through this life takes many paths. And we carry whatever form of the creative experience takes for us. I believe God (He/She) travels with us regardless of of our belief system laughing at us all the way. If there is any “right” way it is to treat others as I want to be treated.. Not always successful but Lifegoes on.
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Post by Norm on Dec 21, 2017 5:33:51 GMT -5
Love catching up with old friends in a new light, so to speak. Love the way the tale is developing...
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Post by Andrew on Jan 2, 2018 12:43:19 GMT -5
I don't consider the warning to have been necessary when it comes to this story - anyone who sees the "While attending seminary, young woman minister" and does not expect traces of "Christianity, faith, and religion" is beyond redemption. While I was not one of the original complainants when Nanci first had her "Come to Jesus" moment, I was just as surprised as everyone else at that particular twist. We knew that Preach was that way inclined, we knew about Tanisha, Kevin and maybe one or two of the other characters. Nanci's conversion was within the realms of plausibility under the circumstances. The surprise was when Al, Karin, Buddha, Crystal, Jon and whoever else suddenly broke the perceived habits of lifetimes and pretty much held a prayer meeting together - there had not been any hints of this in the previous tales. This is all rather vague because I can't remember the exact passage in the story and don't really have time to look it up at this moment.
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Post by Revnola on Jan 3, 2018 15:24:50 GMT -5
Slight shift in the focus but reading a report about reducing some US National Parks I was taken to a NPS link that included a quote from Theodore Roosevelt at the time he declared the Canyon a National Park:
In the Grand Canyon, Arizona has a natural wonder which is in kind absolutely unparalleled throughout the rest of the world. I want to ask you to keep this great wonder of nature as it now is. I hope you will not have a building of any kind, not a summer cottage, a hotel or anything else, to mar the wonderful grandeur, the sublimity, the great loneliness and beauty of the canyon. Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it.
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Post by PuLSe on Jan 7, 2018 19:45:40 GMT -5
someone who leads by example rather than trying to force their beliefs down my throat while they violate their own rules. For example Roy Moore. You know, I think you may be on to something there. I think the disclaimers seem to be more needed today than say, 30 years ago, because there are more people like Roy Moore around -- extreme Christians. I grew up in a fairly devout Christian household (although I'm mostly lapsed these days), and I don't recall anything like the level of pushing Christianity on other people the way we see it today. As a result, those who want to write about [Christianity/Judaism/Buddhism/Whatever] in a non-judgemental and honest way have to differentiate themselves from the the extremists. In some ways, the warning is less a notice to beware than it is an indicator that the subject is treated in a even-handed manner rather than using a "Christianity is the answer to everything" approach. Wes shows the bad and ugly sides of organized religion as well as the good side, which makes his books more interesting to me.
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