{This is the first part of the actual review. The introduction can be found here. I plan on at least four parts to this review, because of the nature of the book.}
In the first part of the book, Martindale deal with seven common myths concerning heaven. He shows that these are misconceptions based on a LOT of factors, including an attitude that any physical pleasure is inherantly sinful, so we won't have any fun in heaven. We tend to get so focused on how much we enjoy life here that we think we won't enjoy heaven. We forget that "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1:17 ESV)" If we enjoy life here on earth, how much more will we enjoy life in heaven!

Martindale refers to Lewis' Space Trilogy quite a bit in this section. Clearly, I've missed out in not reading this trilogy, so it's been put on my list. Unfortunately, I have no idea whether Martindale's comparisons are accurate in this regard -- but the man is a Lewis scholar of some reknown, so I trust his opinions until I have reason to do otherwise.

The book thus far is very well written -- it's not written on a scholarly, academic level, so it's accessible to anyone. The only annoying aspect is the use of "Lewis's" as the posessive. I've been told that that form is now accepable, and since Martindale is an English teacher, I would think he would know about correct usage, but it's annoying to me. Very minor thing, and it won't spoil my enjoyment of this book.

In my next review post, I'll take a look at the section on the myths about Hell -- another nice thing about this book is that you can read the sections out of sequence if you choose to. And I choose to, if for no other reason than it's different.

Posted by: Warren Kelly at 06:12 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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