| I bought this book hoping to learn more about Christianity. I won`t lie, it was very informative and obviously we all know that the Bible is very important. The bone I have with this is that Christ doesn`t even come into the picture until you`ve read well more than half of the book! It`s a difficult read. It goes from very easy stories at the beginning to very boring geneaologies of people that go on for pages and pages. I don`t think it`s so important to know the names of 50 consecutive generations of father-son, going down the family tree to finally get to someone who is only a minor character.. Some of the songs are quite interesting, especially when you think of how old they are and how they have been encorporated and revised into modern songs. Reading over some of the stories I learnt as a kid (Noah`s ark) for example, are much better in this book than the vague remembrances I have. It`s a difficult book with a lot of contradictions. Lots of killing and war, then on the other hand you`ll have anti-war messages. The Old Testament comes across as a kind of chronology of events, most of them mythical. The New Testament seems to speak more to the reader, yet the same events are told over again, sometimes several times. The "Revelations" part is quite interesting in its imagery yet it can be frightening knowing that some people take this as fact. I wouldn`t want to run into some of the things mentioned in this chapter nor people that are convinced that this is a literal description of our destined future. I agree with Jesus` underlying message, and for that I recommend the book, but on the other hand this book leads people to really believe in certain things with uncontrolled zeal which I think is dangerous. This book helped me get through some tough times in high school, knowing that other people too have stepped back and viewed life from a participating, yet distant perspective. Take it as you will. If your inclined to read this sort of book, I would also suggest meditation, a good starter being "The Relaxation Response." Meditation in combination with reading this book would be much better than simply just reading this book due to some sort of obligation. Enjoy! | 
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