I read to help myself think and thinking is enjoyable to me. For these reasons, I found Dan DeWitt’s new book an interesting journey to think deeply about life in a fallen world…how we got here and how we navigate it and thrive in it. This is my first read from this author, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I found his writing very honest, interesting, and hopeful. I especially liked his illustrations. One of my favorites was his use of an example from A Christmas Carol where Scrooge meets two children produced from his meanness called Ignorance and Want. He then uses that idea to show us two children which are the offspring of humanity’s evil called Guilt and Shame. He describes the “children”:
To liken Guilt and Shame to the children in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Guilt is the girl and Shame is the boy. And as the ghost says, “Beware of them both, but most of all beware the boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom.” What Guilt begins, Shame expands. Doom is written on his forehead.
No one can share in your guilt, but many can share in your shame. The child whose father is imprisoned, the wife whose husband is unfaithful, the daughter with an abusive mother— they all share in the shame. They feel as though their self- worth is lessened. Shame wraps its arms around their ankles tightly—allowing them to walk, but never to run.
Good stuff. I recommend this book…it is an easy read as the chapters are fairly concise. I think it will encourage you to follow Jesus in a fallen world.