Hope for the Prodigal: Bringing the Lost, Wandering, and Rebellious Home by Jim Putman with Bill Putman... Sounds like a promising title right? (In addition, as an aside, the wonderful use of the Oxford comma pleases the grammar geek in me.) I wanted to like this book. I really did! I wanted to enjoy it, learn from it, and grow from it. I had high hopes for this book! But I just. could. not. get. into. it!! I think the biggest reason for my struggle with this book was the author's flawed presupposition - believing that a person can lose his/her salvation and then has the opportunity to become resaved. This he speaks of already in the introduction and throughout chapter 1 (at least as far in the chapter as I could get), this theme is the foundation for all his arguments. I was just not able to get past this and see the good that may be apparent in his writing.
There was the odd point that I greatly appreciated. He speaks of how essential it is for parents to model their faith to their children. That, if parents truly believe their faith is important to them, they need to show this importance in their own lives and how they address issues in their children's' lives. Do you skip church to attend that sporting event? Or is church important enough that you are willing to miss the sport and perhaps forego advancement in that sport for the sake of Christ? Do we place the church, our faith, our time with God as the most important in our day to day lives?
So, I suppose this book has the potential to be a good book. I suppose someone might enjoy it very much. However, I, personally, could not enjoy it.
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