By Ted Dekker
| It took me a couple of chapters to get warmed up to this one, only because I’m not really interested in video games / virtual reality. But the book isn’t really about games, so much as another way of revealing to the reader that the spiritual realm is actually more real than the material world! I find it interesting that atheists think that science is the answer to everything and that matter / form / what we can see, hear, touch, taste and smell is basically all that is “real.” Ted brilliantly points out just how Spiritual science is! He delves into quantum physics and how all matter is actually vibration / energy. It’s not really solid and, in fact, it is pliable by thought, belief, the eye of the beholder. Science is now proving that the world is a very spiritual place, made of relationships influenced by the observer. Rob Bell talks about this in “everything is spiritual.” Rob & Teds books are very complimentary!! The other thing Ted delves into theologically is that judgment is almost like the opposite of love. If we really understand the unconditional love of God, we don’t need to judge anyone as being right or wrong; we forgive, release & transcend by loving unconditionally. Jesus died for grace, peace, forgiveness. I used to believe this and I think it is a vital part of our faith, that we learn to be less negative in our judgment, less harsh, more grace based and unconditionally loving. What changed for me is that I eventually came to realize some things do need to be judged. Not people, but systems. Ted actually mentions the eradication of racism in the book! The human race finally sees racism to be nonsense and stops acting according to this discrimination. But the only way we can truly get there is to JUDGE racism as wrong. I would argue that homophobia is equally nonsensical. But so many Christians still judge identifying as GLBTIQA to be “sin.” In my judgment, being born white is no different than being born gay or being born with down syndrome. These aren’t sins. But notice I had to make a JUDGMENT call. And Ted has skirted the GLBTIQA “issue” in all the books I’ve read, yet it is a prominent issue in our world today. He says let’s approach all mankind with no judgment, with only love, and I agree. But it doesn’t change the fact that the collective conscience of the human race is headed toward the equal rights of GLBTIQA people. This is a positive judgment that I thank God for. On the other hand, I judge sex-slavery, pedophilia & rape as abhorrently wrong. I want to approach the abuser or perpetrator with grace as Ted would agree. Punishing rapists doesn’t teach them not to rape. They need to be loved deep in their core and changed from the inside out. But to say that they didn’t do something WRONG bothers me. Because there are people who have suffered abuse who are hurting and they also need deep healing. And more than that, the behavior of the abuser needs to stop. The sex slave trade needs to be stopped. This requires a judgment that there is something wrong with it… I think that Ted contradicts himself a little bit by judging racism as wrong but then saying judgment is a problem. I’ve done it too. I think this topic is difficult to put into words because I agree that punishing individual sins is pretty useless. Telling someone they are wrong or bad, promoting guilt and shame, is unhelpful. And yet there somehow needs to be a revelation of what is healthy and what is not, without the heaping of guilt and shame. With the heaping of forgiveness & love. So, when I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars, I was really rating the theology and grappling with it. The storyline is entertaining, sometimes surprising and fast paced. Ted is an excellent writer, to be sure. I just hope the world not only becomes more grace based, but also makes healthy judgment calls about detrimental systems in our world. |