The Lost Scroll and the Secret of Life

Cover of The Lost Scroll and the Secret of LifeThe Lost Scroll and the Secret of Life by Tom Jankovic looked to be an interesting story when I saw it on Amazon.com when looking for books to download on my Kindle.  It had several positive reviews on the Amazon website.  Interestingly, now that I have finished the book, it no longer shows as being available for Kindle, though it is available in paperback.

The author of the book has quite an impressive background.  He has studied Christianity, Buddhism, Gnosticism, Vedanta, and Quantum Physics.  The book is an attempt to create a fictional story tying all of his fields of study into a compelling adventure for the search of a lost scroll that will reveal to the seeker the secret of life.

The concept of the story itself had great potential.  Unfortunately, the story itself fell kind of flat for me.  The characters themselves have a fairly superficial development.  The dialogue between the characters was also fairly flat.  The plot of the book was not very believable. The main character has a chance encounter with a stranger then uproots his lifestyle to search the quest.

Without revealing too much of the plot, the protagonist of the story discovers lessons along the way that challenge the traditional belief as espoused by the Western church.  He discovers that when the Roman Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire, he established a committee to determine which teachings of Jesus would be allowed in the Bible and which would be destroyed.  In this manner, the Church would maintain control of the masses.

The story goes on to discuss the theories of quantum physics and how everything in the world is interconnected, no matter how seemingly disparate they appear.  The author touches upon the belief of some that Jesus traveled and studied in the East learning from master teachers.  Our hero discovers that through Buddhism, Gnosticism, and Vedanta, that Jesus was teaching that the secret of life is within each of us and that there is truth from all of the various faiths and all flow from a single Source of life.

While the story itself was lacking, I did learn a few things from reading it.  It made me curious enough to want to learn more about some of the other faith practices mentioned in the book.  I already read a lot of Christianity and some Buddhism, but now I am interested in delving more into the Gnostics and the ancient faith of Vendanta.

Related articles

• The Gnostic Gospel of John (1) (vridar.wordpress.com)
• James VanderKam on the Scrolls and the Bible (zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com)
• Pre-Christian Christ Gnosticism: 1 (vridar.wordpress.com)

done.: what most religions don't tell you about the Bible

I am constantly on the lookout for books to read on my Kindle.  I have to confess, that I am extremely frugal, so on a regular basis I scour the Amazon Kindle store looking for free or inexpensive books to download.  I have found some very enjoyable books over the last 9 months since I bought my Kindle.

There are a couple genres of books that I look to download.  I have recently gotten back into reading fiction.  Brad Thor and his Scot Harvath series is my current favorite.  I have also enjoyed the Dan Brown books.  Occasionally, I read some conservative politics.  The one genre that I tend to gravitate towards is books about the Christian religion and spirituality.

Even though I am not active in a church these days, I still am on the lookout for good books on the Christian faith.  I gravitate towards books that really dig deep and make you think, and consequently grow.  That is why I was intrigued when I saw the book done.: what most religions don't tell you about the Bible by Cary Schmidt.

I have to say that I was pretty disappointed in the book overall.  I was hopeful that the author would delve deeper into the Bible and provide me with something deeper.  Instead, I felt like I was reading something more like an expanded Bible tract delivering a simple salvation message.  It really did not provide me with anything new or thought provoking.

The author says there are basically two religions with a lot of variations among the two.  There are those that fall in the "DO" category. These religions provide you with a list of activities that you need to do to "earn" your salvation before God.  Then there is the "DONE" religion, which emphasizes the finished work of Jesus Christ and the gift of salvation to reconcile yourself to God.

Usually, I can find something about a book that I like.  The message itself was fine, as there is always something to like about the gospel message of salvation.  The delivery of the message left something to be desired.  The author constantly addressed the reader as "friend," as in "Friend, do you know where you will spend eternity?"  It got a bit annoying after a while.

To be honest, I actually considered putting the book aside and begin reading something else.  The good thing is it is a relatively short book.  Thankfully, it was one of those free books that I found on Amazon.  I would have been really disappointed had I spent money on it.  On a positive note, it would be a decent book for a new believer or seeker, but not for somebody looking for something a little deeper. 

Black Friday

Today was Black Friday, the day when retailers try to lure customers in with killer deals to kick off the Christmas holiday selling season.  Generally speaking, I tend to avoid the shopping centers on this day.  I definitely do not go for any of the early morning, door buster specials.  I just don't like the crowds and traffic that go with the Black Friday frenzy.

That is not to say that I didn't try to take advantage of some Black Friday specials.  I have been debating for some time about buying a Kindle or Nook ebook reader.  I had been reluctant to go with the Kindle because I didn't want to be tied to only buying ebooks from Amazon, however, Amazon.com almost helped me make up my mind.  One of their Black Friday specials was a Kindle for only $89, a full $100 off the regular price.

This particular "Lightning Sale" was schedule to begin today at noon my time.  I checked out the Amazon website to see how to take advantage of the Lightning Sales.  As soon as the link was active to purchase the Kindle, I clicked on it.  Several thousand other folks had the same plan.  It took a couple minutes for the site to update, but I was unable to take advantage of the sale.  So for now, it is back to regular old fashioned books with paper pages.

I do like the convenience of shopping online, my disappointment at missing out on the Kindle promotion not withstanding.  One of my favorite sites to shop at online is Mr. Rebates. Mr. Rebates is a portal that gives you access to hundreds of online stores. Several major retailers can be found there like Best Buy and Barnes & Noble.

Once you have accumulated $10 in rebates, you can easily collect your rebates through PayPal.  I don't do a whole lot of shopping online, but since becoming a member of Mr. Rebates, I have received three payouts into my PayPal account.  I am only a few dollars away from being able to cash out again.  If you do any shopping online, you really should check out Mr. Rebates.

As a matter of full disclosure, Mr. Rebates does have a referral program.  If you happen to sign up for Mr. Rebates through one of the links on this blog, I would get a referral commission on any rebates that you would get through the program.  However, it in no way would impact the rebates you would earn had you signed up without using the links.