Official Review: The Open Door by Gary Luitjens
Posted: 24 Jan 2020, 10:54
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Open Door" by Gary Luitjens.]
Are you a Christian who wishes to live more like Christ? Do you also want to know what God has in store for you as you work towards salvation? If you answered yes to these questions, then Gary Dean Luitjens has written the ideal book for you. The Open Door is a Christian non-fiction book specifically written for anyone who is searching for God and wants to know how to serve Him well and wholeheartedly.
I appreciated the author's honesty when he reflected on his personal struggles with faith and how these pushed him to work on his relationship with God. For example, he wrote candidly about the challenges he faced and continues to face as a father and as a husband. Luitjens also substantiated parts of his testimony with relevant Biblical scriptures. The inclusion of Bible verses made it easy for me to see how the Word can work in a person's life.
Unfortunately, there are quite a few things I also disliked about The Open Door. I doubt the book was professionally edited because I came across a number of errors when I was only a few pages in. The rate of errors did not decrease as I read on. I noticed multiple instances of missing words and other grammatical errors.
Structurally, the book could also do with some improvements. More than once, I found myself wondering what lesson I was supposed to learn from what I was reading. The author was long-winded in his delivery, which made the book a tad tiring to get through. For example, the author would quote a story from the Bible and then retell it in his own words. Quoting the relevant verse(s) and then simply expanding on the lessons to be learned would have sufficed.
While his advice was theoretically sound, Luitjens didn't always explain how one can put it into practice. For instance, he wrote a lot about how misleading the doctrines taught in many of today's churches can be. However, he didn't provide practical steps a believer should take to protect him/herself from these false teachings. Must I stop going to church? Do I approach the preacher about my concerns? These are the types of questions I often found myself asking.
As a result, I rate The Open Door 2 out of 4 stars. I deducted a star because the book needs another round of editing. The other star I took away because I found parts of the book confusing and unnecessarily tedious. Despite these issues, I'd still recommend the book to Christians who are interested in improving their walk with Christ. The book does not contain any profanity or writing of a sexual nature, making it appropriate for a wide range of Christian readers.
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The Open Door
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Are you a Christian who wishes to live more like Christ? Do you also want to know what God has in store for you as you work towards salvation? If you answered yes to these questions, then Gary Dean Luitjens has written the ideal book for you. The Open Door is a Christian non-fiction book specifically written for anyone who is searching for God and wants to know how to serve Him well and wholeheartedly.
I appreciated the author's honesty when he reflected on his personal struggles with faith and how these pushed him to work on his relationship with God. For example, he wrote candidly about the challenges he faced and continues to face as a father and as a husband. Luitjens also substantiated parts of his testimony with relevant Biblical scriptures. The inclusion of Bible verses made it easy for me to see how the Word can work in a person's life.
Unfortunately, there are quite a few things I also disliked about The Open Door. I doubt the book was professionally edited because I came across a number of errors when I was only a few pages in. The rate of errors did not decrease as I read on. I noticed multiple instances of missing words and other grammatical errors.
Structurally, the book could also do with some improvements. More than once, I found myself wondering what lesson I was supposed to learn from what I was reading. The author was long-winded in his delivery, which made the book a tad tiring to get through. For example, the author would quote a story from the Bible and then retell it in his own words. Quoting the relevant verse(s) and then simply expanding on the lessons to be learned would have sufficed.
While his advice was theoretically sound, Luitjens didn't always explain how one can put it into practice. For instance, he wrote a lot about how misleading the doctrines taught in many of today's churches can be. However, he didn't provide practical steps a believer should take to protect him/herself from these false teachings. Must I stop going to church? Do I approach the preacher about my concerns? These are the types of questions I often found myself asking.
As a result, I rate The Open Door 2 out of 4 stars. I deducted a star because the book needs another round of editing. The other star I took away because I found parts of the book confusing and unnecessarily tedious. Despite these issues, I'd still recommend the book to Christians who are interested in improving their walk with Christ. The book does not contain any profanity or writing of a sexual nature, making it appropriate for a wide range of Christian readers.
******
The Open Door
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
