I sometimes look longingly and in vain for fiction that not only tells a good story but offers the glorious Gospel of salvation. Bethany House has gone in the opposite direction with Ann Tatlock's Things We Once Held Dear (2006).
This is a poetic story about a man coming to grips with his history as he returns to his hometown in Ohio where he had fled from a tragedy as a youth.
Unfortunately, instead of the saving Gospel, this otherwise lovely story promotes a universalist message embodied by an old Episcopal minister who is supposed to represent the wise hand of God. This old man tells Neil the protagonist (whose salvation is never clear) that he will meet his loved ones again on the other side. He also tells a family of unbelievers that there will be the chance to ask a deceased man's forgiveness in Paradise (pp. 370-371).
Tatlock also promotes two bar owners as "wonderful good people." The man not only rejected Roman Catholicism (no problem there!), he also completely denies the Christian faith. The book has a scene where this "wonderful good" man is ridiculing the virgin birth, Jesus' return, and hell and calls the faith a "mess" (pp. 290-91) In fact, this stark message of unbelief by a "wonderful good" man only highlights the lack of any clear Biblical message. There is no talk about sin in the story but lots of talk about "grace." At the end Neil feels bathed in "grace" but has shown no real sign of true godly repentance of sin and being born again.
All in all, the book disturbed me greatly. Just one more sign of the times.
This is a poetic story about a man coming to grips with his history as he returns to his hometown in Ohio where he had fled from a tragedy as a youth.
Unfortunately, instead of the saving Gospel, this otherwise lovely story promotes a universalist message embodied by an old Episcopal minister who is supposed to represent the wise hand of God. This old man tells Neil the protagonist (whose salvation is never clear) that he will meet his loved ones again on the other side. He also tells a family of unbelievers that there will be the chance to ask a deceased man's forgiveness in Paradise (pp. 370-371).
Tatlock also promotes two bar owners as "wonderful good people." The man not only rejected Roman Catholicism (no problem there!), he also completely denies the Christian faith. The book has a scene where this "wonderful good" man is ridiculing the virgin birth, Jesus' return, and hell and calls the faith a "mess" (pp. 290-91) In fact, this stark message of unbelief by a "wonderful good" man only highlights the lack of any clear Biblical message. There is no talk about sin in the story but lots of talk about "grace." At the end Neil feels bathed in "grace" but has shown no real sign of true godly repentance of sin and being born again.
All in all, the book disturbed me greatly. Just one more sign of the times.
~ Linda ~
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