Andy Andrews' The Lost Choice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Perhaps you are not old enough to remember Norman Vincent Peale's classic. The Power of Positive Thinking,\u00a0\u00a0even my grandfather was impressed with it and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Andy Andrews' The Lost Choice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Perhaps you are not old enough to remember Norman Vincent Peale's classic. 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{"id":59573,"date":"2023-09-15T01:39:10","date_gmt":"2023-09-15T05:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?p=59573"},"modified":"2023-08-29T12:05:44","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T16:05:44","slug":"andy-andrews-the-lost-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2023\/09\/15\/andy-andrews-the-lost-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Andrews’ The Lost Choice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

Perhaps you are not old enough to remember Norman Vincent Peale\u2019s classic. The Power of Positive Thinking,\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>even my grandfather was impressed with it and included bits in it in his Sunday school lessons.\u00a0 Peale and his book are the pre-cursory to motivational speakers\u00a0 like Zig Zigler and also Andy Andrews.\u00a0 The basic message is that the power to change the world exists in every person, if only they make the right choices to act on what they take to be their purpose or raison d\u2019etre<\/em> in life. The assumption is even ordinary folk can do extraordinary things if they just make the right choices and act upon them.\u00a0 And of course, there is some truth in this.<\/p>\n

In this particular novel Andrews focuses on George Washington Carver, Oskar Schindler, Joan of Arc, John Adams, the President of Tuskegee Institute, Alfred Vanderbilt, and others.\u00a0 \u00a0While the novel is not antithetical to Christianity, indeed one of the central historical characters,\u00a0 Carver and one of the main fictional characters, \u2018Mae Mae\u2019 the centenarian are devoted Christians, the question the novel raises is \u2018how typical are the historical figures focused on in this novel\u2019, or are they in fact exceptions which prove a very different truth\u2014 namely that most people can\u2019t and haven\u2019t changed the world even with the best of intentions and the hardest of efforts to realize their intentions.\u00a0 Inquiring minds want to know.<\/p>\n

This novel is a quick read, and in fact a fun read as pleasant beach reading at 250 or so pages.\u00a0 The idea that all these historical figures were somehow connected by a rather magical but fragmented stone (cup?) that empowers people to make right and life changing choices that do indeed change some aspects of human history is far fetched. it stretches credulity past the breaking point.\u00a0 Full marks to Andrews\u2019 descriptive powers as he is able to flesh out a good story line about each of these historical figures especially George Washington Carver and Alfred Vanderbilt.\u00a0 I agree with the reviewers who find the central fictional characters\u2014 Mark, Dorry, Abby and Dylan as rather mundane and not very exciting. Indiana Jones these folks are not.<\/p>\n

I was once at a Pentecostal worship<\/a> service in Moscow in which an Israeli Christian had been invited in as a motivational speaker to address these listeners, and his message was another form of Peale\u2019s message\u2014 if you only have enough faith, you can name and claim wealth, health, fame for yourself and your loved ones.\u00a0 Alas, the vast majority of the audience had little or no hope of material excess or even high end prosperity because they did not live in a free market, democratic society. Instead they lived in an autocratic society where rags to riches stories go to die.\u00a0 The social setting and culture affect whether even the most gifted of persons can succeed in life or make a difference.\u00a0 \u00a0Andrews message might work in America or Europe in some cases, but how about in an oppressive country like Afghanistan with its barbaric treatment of women?<\/p>\n

In the end, there is only one person who could, did, and can change world\u00a0regardless of circumstances or cultural settings.\u00a0<\/em> That person is Jesus Christ, and he has and is doing just that, if you have eyes to see and ears to hear.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"