Category Archives: book reviews

What Color is the Sky? A Book Celebration (and review)

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“It’s a wonderful thing to behold when you see someone take control of their finances AND their life.” – Finley

I finished my 2nd read of “What Color is the Sky” this weekend. What Color is the Sky is the 2nd book by a personal friend of mine, Michael Finley. As I said in the title, this is both a review and a celebration of a great book. I believe it is one of the best investment books available because it delivers useful, actionable, information instead of vague concepts. Because of this I have personally bought and given away over 40 copies of this book to friends and family  (and I hope to give more in the future, and that people read them!). A great feature of this book is that each chapter is 2 pages long and covers 1 topic. The book delivers a wealth of information in a short enough read for the average person. The average person doesn’t want to or have time to read 30 pages about stock market bubbles, timing the market or index investing. Finley delivers concise, precise, useful information that shouldn’t tax your attention span.

There are 5 stages in the book.

Stage 1 is simply Finley giving you a pep talk. He wants you to know that you are able to manage your own investing, or at least that you should be able to find someone to help you along but who won’t screw you (like 95% of financial “advisors” (salesmen) these days).

Stage 2 includes a lot of chapters informing you about what smart investing is NOT.
Smart investing is not trying to guess which one stock will do good each month.
Smart investing is not listening to your uncle who is not educated on investing.
Smart investing is not trying to find the best managed mutual fund and changing it each year or two.
Smart investing is not  investing in something because everyone else is (housing bubble, tech bubble, tulip mania).

Stage 3 includes a many chapters informing you about what smart investing IS.
Smart investing is investing in index funds (or target date funds which are made of index funds).
Smart investing means you are diversified through various classes of investments (US, international, bonds, REITS).
Smart investing is understanding opportunity cost, the rule of 72, taxes and different types of account you can save money in (401k, 403b, 529, IRA, ROTH or traditional).
You could skip right to stage 3 of the book if you are really bursting to get the knowledge of what you should do, but if you do you need to go back and read the start of the book. This whole book needs to be read, by everyone and I will buy it for you, if you need me too. As Mike often mentions in the book, he is not paid by Vanguard to promote their product, he just believes they are doing what they do the best. Similarly, I believe Mike is providing the most unbiased, useful, actionable (helps you actually make investment decisions) advice in an easy to understand format.


Stage 4 builds on stage 3 with more practical actionable advice.
Discusses buy and hold (vs selling constantly to buy “winners”), different asset classes such as large capitalization stocks, small capitalization stocks, REITS and bonds.
Discusses international vs domestic stocks.
It also discusses rebalancing your portfolio, asset allocation as well as one of my favorite topics the 1 and done fund, the Target Date Fund.

Stage 5 is rather short. It encourages you to continue your financial education with recommendations of some good books. It encourages you to seek fee-only advisors if necessary.

Finley also uses a chapter to provide his vision for the future. He speaks about institutional investors, who are collectively losing million of our dollars to fund “managers”. Many large state and company investment funds offer poor funds. He wants to change that. We must demand the change and to do that you must be informed.
Finally, Finley encourages you to share what you have learned. As is his life goal, educating and empowering others to become the best they can be, he encourages the readers to help others learn more about investing and personal growth. That is part of what I am trying to do by writing this blog and this post, teaching others what I have learned in hopes that it will make their lives better and ultimately, make the world a better place. Active fund “managers” are generally providing negative value to the world and we need to stop that, so do your part, learn, become educated, get rich and live a rich, fulfilling life.

You can find Finley’s book here on Amazon (as I said I get nothing from this, he doesn’t even know I wrote this until he will see it on Facebook). I will buy you the book if you don’t think you can afford it. Leave a comment below if you’d like me to buy you a copy. You can’t afford to not read this book and I can’t afford for you to not read this book! Changing the way the whole market operates is in my, your and the world’s best interest. Forward to a better future!

North Korea – Some Thoughts After Reading “The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot”

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I listened to the book  “The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot: The True Story of the Tyrant Who Created North Korea and The Young Lieutenant Who Stole His Way to Freedom”

Let me start by saying that some information I learned listening to this book was shocking and incredible to me. It feels like I have a more concrete grasp of history now, but perhaps if I went back even further I would find something even more shocking that would lead me to rethink the latest revelations even? With that caveat, I will begin.

Today’s North Korea may be the most repressive country to live in today, at least that’s what we are told and I’m rather inclined to believe that. We are told that “If you don’t learn your history you will be forced to repeat it.” While this usually seems to lead to people learning about what happened during a war I think it misses a more important thing, what led to the start of a war. It is a lot harder to find a book that focuses on the causes of any war, likely because there are often a lot of causes and it’s usually pretty complex, which can lead to boring writing.

I decided to listen to the book “The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot” after listening to books about Russia and China. This book seemed to give more history about North Korea than either of the other books did about their respective countries. I actually am looking for a book about what the Chinese government was before Mao and the communists took over. Was it even worse?

The fighter pilot, No Kum-sok, mentioned in the book has a pretty amazing story. He basically pretends to be a communist in North Korea, the whole time plotting to escape to South Korea and when he gets his chance he does. He is still alive and lives in Florida. That is all I will mention about him but his story in fascinating as is the rest of the book. I really recommend it.

The first thing I learned, which may or may not be news to others, was that prior to WWII, between 1905 and 1910, Japan had occupied Korea, at that time one country. It sounds like the Japanese may have invested in some infrastructure there to produce more goods, but it also sounds like most of those goods were exported to Japan, thus taking advantage of the Koreans. The Koreans also were encouraged/made to change their names to Japanese names in 1940.

Because of the occupation, naturally some Koreans were fighting against the Japanese who were occupying their land. One of these Koreans was Kim Il-sung, the Grandfather of current North Korean Leader, Kim Jong Un. As the old saying goes “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” and that is how Kim Il-sung became a friend of the USSR and Chinese Communists.

Kim Il-sung spent his youth being educated in China and performing anti-Japanese military acts in a guerilla group. He later was part of the Soviet Army until the end of WWII.

When the Soviets and the USA divided Korea at the end of WWII Kim was able to maneuver to become leader of North Korea. He was also interested in reuniting with South Korea, which seems like it would make sense since it had originally been part of one Korea.

To me it seems that Korea really got the shaft when it was split up arbitrarily by the Allies (USA and USSR). It also sounded, from the book, like a lot of the fighting on the North Korean side of the Korean War was done by Chinese soldiers and Russian fighter pilots, thus making it even less about the reunification of the Koreas and more a game being played by the USSR and China to mess with America.

My point in this is that I am actually a tiny tiny bit sympathetic to Kim Il-sung. What would you do if your country was occupied by a foreign force (the Japanese)? Surely you’d fight them? And who would you ask for help? Anyone willing to help, which it seems to me is how he got stuck with the Communists. Now if you spend any time with anyone, you are likely to become more like them. My guess is that is how Kim Il-sung learned to be such an effective dictator, by learning from Mao in China and Stalin in the USSR.
I am in no was trying to justify what has happened in North Korea for the last 60+ years, simply trying to understand how we got where we are and how we could make it better for the people who live there. That leads to the next thoughts I have.

As I mentioned we are told that the people of North Korea are some of the most repressed in the world. They have little access to food, electricity or internet. They are forced to believe and support the one political party in their country or they could be shipped to a prison camp where they are likely to die.

Hopefully we all want this insanity to stop. North Korea is currently lead by Kim Jong Un, the grandson of Kim Il-sung. There are varying reports of him killing up to 340 of his own people (publicly, plus all the people in camps) since the start of his holding power in North Korea in 2011 after the death of his father.

One of the latest developments is North Korea working on developing nuclear bombs. They have claimed to have tested up to a 10 kiloton bomb (the Hiroshima bomb was about 15 kilotons). It does make sense why North Korea (or at least Kim Jong-un) would want to develop increased nuclear weapons capabilities and hold the 4th largest army, by people, in the world (and first relative to population). If they believe they are still in a fight with the USA, which the leaders act like they are, it makes sense.

If we really want to get the North Korean people out of the situation they are in how do we do that?

“Assuming Kim wanted to give his people more freedom (which is a big assumption), How would he even go about it?” Is that even possible? Is it possible without him being killed? How could we, the USA or the rest of the world, help him help them? Is it more important to us that we punish Kim Jong-un or provide more freedoms for North Koreans? Why does Kim Jong-un act the way he does, killing people etc? Is it likely a result of how he was brought up? How do we counteract 30+ years of programing to think that America is evil? Is it even possible?

What I am looking for is a win-win situation, the win for Kim Jong-un being that he wouldn’t be killed and for the North Korean people that they would have more freedom to travel, grow their own food, have access to world markets, etc.

Two similar situations that could shed some light on the situation would be China and the USSR. Stalin and Mao were both on par with the Kim family as far as being terrible leaders to their people, repressive, etc. Neither was killed by their people. Subsequent leaders of those countries made them more free. Mikhail Gorbachev was even the last leader of the USSR and he wasn’t killed when it fell so I think there is some hope for the North Koreans and Kim Jong-un. I think it’s this type of win-win thinking that will get us out of these types of situations and smaller conflicts in our daily lives. Here’s hoping that the US government will work in the next 4 years and beyond to help free the North Koreans.

Update 7-8-02017

Scott Adams, who I think is a smart guy, wrote a similar thing with a little more detailed plan on how to make this a win-win situation.

http://blog.dilbert.com/post/162632490866/solving-the-north-korea-situation

 

The Life You Can Save: Acting Now To End World Poverty – A Book Review (of Sorts)

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Here is a link to Peter Singer’s TED talk about effective altruism, which makes a lot of the same points as the book “The Life You Can Save: Acting now to End World Poverty”.

The target we should be setting for ourselves is not halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty, and without enough to eat, but ensuring that no one needs to live permanently in such degrading conditions.

That goal is possible. Here’s a seven point plan that will make you part of the solution to world poverty.

1.Visit www.TheLifeYouCanSave.com and pledge to meet the standard.

(read 2 and 3 in the book yourself)

4. Tell others what you have done. Spread the word in any way you can: talk, text, email, blog, use whatever online connections you have. Try to avoid being self-righteous or preachy, because you’re probably no saint, either, but let people know that they, too, can be part of the solution.

 Peter Singer (page 168 The Life You Can Save)

In writing this post I am trying to do exactly what Peter Singer asks above. The basic premise of the book, if you can’t tell from above, is that “wealthy people” (nearly anyone reading this qualifies as wealthy) only need to give a small percentage of each of their individual incomes to help eliminate world poverty and save the lives of “the extreme poor”. These are people who are dying from diseases that have long been defeated in the “1st world” countries.

Throughout the books he shares examples of how in certain situations if there is a person in trouble right in front of us we are willing to go to extreme lengths to help that person. He then shares how with the prevalence of the internet and the plethora of NGO’s and charities operating in the world we are only a click away from helping thousands of people, even if we don’t make 6 figures a year.

In the chapter “How Much Does It Cost to Save a Life?” he tries to address the often heard excuse that “I don’t know if that charity is actually doing any good or not with my money so I won’t give any.” He discusses both Charity Navigator and also GiveWell. Both groups that try to help individuals understand the effectivity and transparency of various charities in the world. He also shares some calculated numbers of how much it costs to help people through various situations.

“Interplast corrects deformities like cleft palate, and helps burn victims so that they can walk or use their hands again.” “GiveWell calculates that Interplast spends about $500 to $1500 per corrective surgery” (p89)

“We can reasonably believe that the cost of saving a live through one of these charities is somewhere between $200 and $2,000.” (p103)

I believe, as Peter Singer states that “as people become more confident of the cost-effectiveness of charities, they will become more willing to give.” (p93)

After sharing how easy it is to give and how effective charities are these days, Singer discusses how much he thinks each person should give. He shares the story of Zell Kravinsky. Here is a link to an article about the man. He is truly amazing. He has anonymously donated a kidney to a stranger. Some of his charity has caused some internal conflict with his family. His efforts to help others are truly heroic.   The whole point of this book though, is that if we all pulled our own weight in helping others, Zell’s heroic efforts wouldn’t be necessary.

Which is the point of the next chapter, “Asking Too Much?” I can’t say it any better than Singer, “focus instead on the fact that if everyone were doing their fair share, the total amount each of us would need to give in order to wipe out, or at least drastically reduce, large-scale extreme poverty would be in the hundreds, rather than thousands, of dollars per year.” (p144)

In the final chapter Singer finally shares a real number, he proposed 5% of income per person who is “financially comfortable” should be given to charitable causes. He even shares some data about the reverse bell curve of actual giving in the USA currently. You can find that curve here. At least as measured in dollars, the less money you make the more likely you are to give a higher percentage, at least until people are making many hundreds of thousands or millions in income.  

The above statement should drive you to ask “How can I become financially comfortable?”  This should be the first step in helping others. Much like the mantra on a plane “put on your own mask before helping others” if you aren’t stable yourself, or at least feel stable, you shouldn’t be to worried about others. If you eventually figure out the few tricks

  1. The is no true security.
  2. The market always goes up.

You will be feeling quite secure in your future once you have built some assets and understand what they actually are. You can learn more about investing and saving and creating your own security here. You can learn a bit more about investing from a few videos I have created here and here.

You can also learn about security from “The Crazy Man in The Pink Wig” a personal mentor of mine. (I will buy you his book on investing if you won’t buy it yourself, just email me hooglandaxel@gmail.com)

Finally, you can learn from Mr. Money Mustache’s posts, here or here, or just about any post of his.

Once you are stable yourself you can then start focusing on others. You will be in good company as these guys Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway), Bill Gates (Windows), Pierre and Pam Omidyar (Ebay) and Manoj Bhargava (5 Hour Energy) are already leading the charge to change the world for the better.

If you need a few suggestions on charities you can check my page of preferred charities or this post for more information about my 2nd favorite book “The Last Hunger Season” about what I think is a particularly effective charity.

Once you are in a comfortable place yourself, I would encourage you to at least “do your part” by checking in at Singer’s site, https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/ and “becoming a member”. To do that you will just have to tell the site your income and it will recommend how much you should give to charity to “do your part”. I believe that if we do this we will see the end of poverty in our life times. I have calculated the year 02041 as when we will have no more hungry people but I believe it will be much sooner than that based on an exponential rate of reduction of poverty.

Muscle And A Shovel – Book Review

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Review (and thoughts on) “Muscle and a Shovel – By Michael Shank” By Axel Hoogland.

I read the book Muscle and a Shovel on the urgings of a friend. I was asked to read the book for about 6 months (starting August 2013) before I finally bought it around February 2014. Then it took me until October 14th 2014 to start reading it. I was finished by October 25th. Not because it was a great book, but just because that’s the kind of person I am. I hope to finish books in a reasonable amount of time. This was while taking notes and looking up bible verses and doing a bit of reflection. I’m intending to do more reflection as I write this review.

I have decided that it’s beneficial to take notes before reading a book to see how your perceptions and prejudices change as you read. My notes before this book are below and thus begins my book review of Muscle and a Shovel.

“I am going into this book skeptical as it’s written to be promoting the Church of Christ, from what I understand but I am interested to read the story.”

Immediately the book begins with 2 quotes.

“The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you’re inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.” – Morpheus, The Matrix

The 2nd was a quote I had never heard before and is a recurring theme in the book.

“It is easier to believe a lie one has heard a thousand times before than to believe a fact one has never heard before.”

I was definitely influenced by The Matrix quote as I grew up in the era where the Matrix was one of the movies for nerds. I am also Catholic. Some would argue it’s a system. I’m aware of my biases to thinking that that is the one true church of Christ. I tried to check my ego at the beginning of the book and read on.

The next page is basically a challenge to the reader and a warning that their views could be challenged or even changed by this book. I viewed this as basically a way to try to get readers to keep reading when they encounter something they disagree with. Sort of a “bet you can’t do this” challenge which some people fall for. I thought this was a bit childish. Then next page was the blue or red pill scenario from The Matrix again so I was once again content.

The book tells the story of Michael Shank (the author’s) conversion from lukewarm Baptist to baptized Church of Christ member. It starts with him about to be baptized (in March 1988) but then jumps back to tell the story of how he got there starting with him moving with his new wife to Nashville for his new job as an engineering technician for a printer company, starting in August 1987 so the book covers 8 months. He quickly meets the other main character in the book Randall, who works in the shipping department of the same company.

I was already much more interested in the book than when I started it since I could connect with Michael as we’re both engineers and he’s on a journey to find “The Truth”. The book is basically a cycle of questions by Randall, followed by searching for the answers by Michael. Michael usually thinks he finds the answer from some pastor and returns to be corrected later by Randall. The first question from Randall that stuck out to me was “Have you obeyed the gospel of our Lord?” The second was “How were you saved?” These were (and still are) questions that have been in my mind lately. The first has been more phrased as “Who goes to Heaven?”, which leads to “How do you get to Heaven?”, which in my mind leads to “Obey God” which leads to “What does it mean to obey God’s word?” I think this last one is the important one. It seems many people are able to ask the question, but not many are able to answer it. Despite how easy everyone seems to think it is to read the Bible and interpret, I challenge that it’s not inherently easy, partially because I think the Bible is a written in a way that can be difficult to interpret at times. It even mentions this in 2 Peter 3:16 about the writings of Paul

“He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.”

I believe this is because a lot of peoples judgements are clouded by their sin or by others.
The 2nd question “How were you saved?” is interesting because it is a question I hear a lot from those outside the Catholic church, but not often inside.

Chapter 3 is important as it starts discussion on baptism. This is a prevailing theme in the book as it starts with Mike and his wife about to be baptized and ends with their baptism.

The next interesting revelation came at the beginning of chapter 4 from Mike “My friends and I all wore the label of Christian, but there was little difference between my lifestyle and the world around me.” This is a thought that was interesting to me as it’s something that I was confronted with in 2012 by a new friend at the time. It definitely started me moving on a new path, but it has definitely been a bumpy road and I’m still on it.

A page later another revelation, “My ultimate goal was to become a software CEO in the Silicon Valley with a seven-figure salary and stock options.” This by Mike. It spoke to me again as i’m wrestling with my goals. By the end of the book Mike learns that money is not the ultimate satisfier.

Chapter 6 is titled “Am I going to hell?” in my version. From what I understand chapter titles have been removed in newer version of the book. I am very interested in the question above if you reference my thoughts earlier in this post. This is a question I ask often, although usually I ask “Who gets to go to heaven?” One thought a friend pointed out to me was that heaven and hell aren’t referenced often in the bible but the “Kingdom of God” is referenced very often. Interesting.

Next thought “All denominations teach conflicting doctrines”therefore, it isn’t possible that all of them are biblically correct.” is a statement not far into Chapter 6.

Again a profound statement that I’ve thought myself. This is one of the first parts I’d like to propose a question. Not all are biblically correct.This is a nice straightforward way to ask “Do you believe is Sola Scriptura?” At this point in my life, and acknowledging my Catholic upbringing, I have to say no. Referencing this page, #10 “When all is said and done, Protestants who accept sola scriptura as their rule of faith appeal to the Bible. If they are asked why one should believe in their particular denominational teaching rather than another, each will appeal to “the Bible’s clear teaching.” You can read up on Sola Scriptura yourselves and think on it. You know my stance that the Bible isn’t as clear as people act like it is, or we wouldn’t have 30,000 denominations arguing with each other.

Another thought I had on this point was the history of the Bible. It didn’t appear by itself. In fact, the church assembled the bible, picking from many books available and assembling them, guided by the Holy Spirit. Here is an article on the history of the Bible.

Probably the most directly confrontational quote in the book appears at the end of chapter 6. “If you’re a member of any denomination … that Jesus Christ did not establish and buy with His blood, there’s no question that you’re headed toward eternal damnation.” This was from Randall.

I will freely admit that I have not had a ton of conversation with other denomination pastors (although probably more than most people, which would only require one, and I’ve had more than that). In chapter Michael asks a Baptist Pastor who started the Baptist church. The pastor replies, John the Baptist. Michael starts to search for this in the bible but eventually can’t find it, much like the cycle of many things in the book. Now this point was pretty quickly dismissed by Randall as completely false and proven with a quick look through the bible and history to understand that the Baptist church was actually started in the Netherlands in the early 1600’s. So I’m not sure if this was really what some people thought in the 1980’s. Since they didn’t have the magic of the internet it is possible that the pastor was really taught incorrectly so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. With the internet, it should be easy to look up simple facts like this these days, I wish Michael Shank would have done that with some of his facts later in the book.

Skipping some more to chapter 13 “Cutting off the end of the ham” In this chapter Michael’s tells an old story of a wife making a ham who cuts the end of it off and throws it away. The husband asks why and she says because that’s how her mother did it. Eventually it gets around to that the grandmother had a pan that was too small to fit a full size ham. The point of the story is that traditions or “how we’ve always done it” definately need to be questioned at times. If your teacher’s can’t give you a straight answer, maybe it’s time to move on, or ask a more clear pointed question. This was something that I have grown better at by talking with those who have different beliefs than myself. Often if we get in the rut of believing only what were taught, we don’t actually understand why we believe it. Ask questions, it helps you grow.

Chapter 14 “Feelings…Nothing More Than Feelings” brings a few interesting thoughts. First is Michaels confession that he was sure he was saved when he was 8 because he felt a great peace when he said the Sinners Prayer. Randall points out that this could have been a placebo effect of a young boy being told he was saved by those in power or perceived to be in power. Of course you could say it was also the Spirit. Hard to argue things of feelings! The next thought comes shortly after when Michael mentions a personal relationship with Christ. This was another thing that I was not particularly exposed to until much later in life as that’s not something that is often said in the Catholic Church. This article I read while researching to write my post mentions a lot about knowing God but mentions that many people are surprised to hear that “personal relationship with Christ” is not actually found in the bible anywhere. What it does mention is knowing God.

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were in bondage to beings that by nature are no gods; but now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits, whose slaves you want to be once more? (Gal. 4:8-9)

It goes on to discuss the signs that you know God, mentioned how you will act. Works? I will take this opportunity to share James 2:17 “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Repeated throughout the book is the quote “It is easier to believe a lie one has heard a thousand times before than to believe a fact one has never heard before.”

Moving to chapter 17 is the thought “If you know you’re going to be die and be judged, doesn’t it make sense to find out what you’ll be judged by?” Pretty sound advice.

The next important thought in chapter 17 is “There’s some truth in every denomination.”

Randall states that he’s not there to criticize others, but only to refute their false doctrines. This is where the most fatal flaw in the whole book comes in. He points to some of the “beliefs” of the Catholic church and he is very careless with definitions. He says that Catholics see the Pope as God on earth. This is the absolutely most incorrect thing I’ve ever read. It honestly made me question the whole rest of the book and Michael and Randall’s research skills. They undoubtedly had access to a Catholic priest. If they had taken a day to talk to a priest to understand what the Catholic Church teaches they could have had and accurate book instead of one that promotes lies. The Catholic Church does not teach that the Pope is God.

The second practice referred to by Randall is praying to Mary. Now this is something I’ve been investigating lately and here’s what I found. If you look at the definition of prayer it is 2 fold. One involves worship which is prayer to God. The other is a simple request, which is prayer to saints or Mary. The confusion in definitions is what leads to many disagreements between those who would otherwise be on the same side of a discussion. So synopsis. Catholics do pray to Mary and Saints. Catholics do not worship Mary or the Saints.

Which my confidence shattered I considered stopping here. But in keeping with my promise to my friend, in acknowledging that I had already gotten a lot of good out of this book (at least it got me to open my bible to check some verses) and in keeping with the thought that there’s some truth in every denomination, I read on.

A particularly confusing part came in came in chapter 18 when they began to talk about the word baptidzo and it’s translation to english. They contend that the history of baptidzo always means immersion. If you read here that obviously an oversimplification, referencing other parts of scripture. Again, I am becoming uneasy about Michael and Randall’s research abilities.

In chapter 20 Michael has made the decision to leave his current church. He states he is faced with either Catholicism or Protestantism. This is a pretty narrow minded statement.  I’m making an assumption here that when he said Catholic he was referring to the Roman Catholic church, which is the only Catholic church most people in the English speaking world know. He completely ignored the Orthodox Catholic church (more often called the Eastern Orthodox church) which had broken away from the Roman Catholic church earlier than the Protestants, based on Constantinople being the political power of the day and not generally for any reasons dealing with faith.Then he makes a broad statement that “Protestantism” is his other option. With many many different denominations, and more appearing every day based on new divisions, thats not really a bucket. Michael points to the hours he spent at the local library researching different denominations as proof that he was sure Catholicism was wrong. It’s too bad he didn’t save himself that time by talking to a priest for a total of 5 minutes. He could have been set straight on all the things he’s gotten wrong, some of which I pointed out earlier.

A few pages later he brings up a thought on original sin. This is one that makes me pause and think. He states “Children are, until they come to an age whereby they fully understand right from wrong (and are able to choose between the two), innocent and free from the spiritual consequences of sin.” I believe this one is pretty easily disproven by a little biblical research. Romans 5:18 “Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all.” This seems to make it pretty clear that original sin as taught by the Catholic church is real. Read here for further thoughts on the topic.

A funny thing does happen later in chapter 20. Michael is “kicked out” of a bible study for referencing the bible.

I didn’t find much out of the normal discussion on topics until chapter 24 in which Michael asks himself “Why had I never questioned what I’d been taught in religion?”. This is a profound statement. It is one I’ve been embracing laterly. As Michael has found, sometimes you will find there are no answers or as I’ve found, there are answers.

I found another interesting fact in chapter 27. The Church of Christ does not use musical instruments.

Chapter 29 “Killing the One-Man Pastoral System”, is a chapter dedicated to proving that a church having one pastor can lead to rogue pastors. I can agree with him on this topic. There are many one-off churches that people are drawn into because of the charismatic nature of one pastor. When that pastor dies, moves or otherwise stops preaching, the church can wither. This is too bad. In contrast, we have the Catholic church which is fully in communion with the Magisterium, the teaching authority of the Catholic church. If a priest were to go rogue, he’d be reigned in quickly.

Jumping to chapter 38 and near the end Michael makes the decision to turn away from sin. “The pleasures of sin must be sacrificed in order to follow Christ. My smoking, drinking , cursing, lewd jokes, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life – all of these things had to be turned away from in order to follow the One that offered eternal life.”

This is a point that Michael and I can again be reconciled on.
Then he and his wife are baptized, again since they had each been baptized in their youth. This is a point of contention I am still researching.

A final thought of the book was sharing the “secret” of Randall. How he was able to rattle off so many bible verses. He would memorize one verse a year. Write it on a note card and carry it with you and memorize it for a week. Then write another verse the next week. Review the cards periodically and you’ll be far ahead of most people. Practice makes perfect just like any other skill.

My final thoughts on the book are as follows. It was a good book overall in the fact that it challenged me to read my bible more and research more. I commend Michael in his efforts to seek the Truth. I’m not sure of his resolve though. He seems to have done a lot of half research and at some point just accepted what he found or was told. I sympathize with him as just taking the time to write this review was trying on my patience at times. I hope he comes upon this review and it challenges his thoughts. If you read this far in my review you probably understand that I take issue with a lot of what is taught in the book, as you should also based on the fact that there are some blatantly wrong “facts” stated. I hope this challenges you to read farther into your faith. Read this book if you desire. Let it challenge your beliefs. The time you take to research to prove or disprove your beliefs will be the best way to grow.

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Thank you Phil for the cover image.