Demon - A Memoir

It's been a very long time since I have done anything similar to a book report - and hopefully - this doesn't come anywhere close to being one.  However, I recently completed a book titled: Demon: A Memoir written by Tosca Lee.   I will admit that I approached this book with some sceptisim given the approach taken in writing this book - but it is a very good read and one that I found - I couldn't put down.

The story revolves around a character named Clay.  Clay is - more or less - just an ordinary guy.  He's been throught a divorce, has more than he can handle at work and is really searching for answers.   Things pick up when a mysterious meeting invite shows up in Clay's email.  This is where Lucian - the demon - enters the story.  Lucian has chosen Clay to tell his story to and expects Clay to write it down and publish it. 

It's from here that the story really takes off - and I don't want to spoil it for anyone.  However, Lucian does appear to Clay in several forms to tell the "demon's side of the story."  Tosca Lee keeps this book tied to scripture and at the end of the story provides the scriptures she used as a basis for many of the areas discussed in the book.  These areas cover the the time before the creation story, the fall of satan and his demons, the crucifiction, and a few other areas. 

On a side note - I did want to follow up on a point I was attempting to make in my prior posting.  In it, I was trying to express why God doesn't want us to live in fear of jugement and last night I was reading a book on Angels written by Billy Graham.  In this book, I have found exactly the point that I was trying to express.  To quote it: "Do you fear the judgement of God?  Or do you know that Christ has taken your judgment upon Himself by His death on the cross?  When you know Christ, you need not fear God's judgement, for He has full purchased your salvation."   I thought this point summed things up perfectly.  To know Christ is to know peace.  That doesn't mean that we as christians are perfect - far from it, but it does mean that we are covered by God's grace and that is enough. 

If anyone is interested which book from Billy Graham I'm talking about it's titled Angel's God's Agents in Judgement.

How do we see God?

My family and I had a rare chance to attend a church service on Christmas Eve this year.  This is something that we’ve only had an opportunity to do a few times and is – admittedly – something I’ve only done a very few number of times.   The subject of the service was about barriers and the various reasons people use as excuses to keep from attending church or getting to know God/Jesus.  Among these reasons/excuses are:

1.      I’m not perfect and church is only for those who are perfect

2.      I don’t want to be like the rest of the hypocrites who attend church

3.      I’ve done too much.  There’s no way God could forgive me

4.      Church is too far away

5.      I’m too busy

and many others.  I could likely write a blog entry for most of the above, and may in the future, but the thing that got me thinking during this service was a question the pastor asked at the end of the service.   It was something similar to “How do you see God?  Is it as an almighty judge who is just waiting to bring judgment when we step out of line OR is at as a loving father?”

I’ve spent a good bit of time thinking about this question the last couple of days and have determined the answer to this question has a large impact on how we view our relationship with God.   For example, if you see God as an almighty judge who is waiting to bring judgment any time we “step out of line,” then we likely only doing the right things out of fear.  We tend to follow the “rules” because we are afraid of angering Him and being punished.  This living in constant fear can lead us to think that we are never good enough – that we could do something so terribly wrong that we are destined to Hell with no way to return.

However, if we see God as a loving father, then we realize that He knows we aren’t perfect and we are going to mess up.   We can then go through life do the best we can to live a moral life and get to know him.  We can take comfort in knowing that He will forgive us.  This is the God that Jesus spoke of in the New Testament and is one that knows you and provides comfort.   He loves you regardless of your shortcomings and is interested and loves each of us individually.  From this point of view, you live out your faith freely and without fear.

I think God wants us all to see Him as the loving Father.   This is the one area that – as a parent – I understand more as each day goes by.  Regardless of how much my kids “screw up” or “don’t follow the rules,” I will always love them and will forgive them.  Just as God does me.  We know that regardless of how hard they try, our kids will make mistakes as they grow up and mature.   I think that God knows the same thing about us.   Regardless of how hard we try, we are imperfect and will make mistakes as we grow and mature in our faith. 

God wants us to live a life that demonstrates and responds to His love not live in fear of punishment.