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The Lesbian Polyamory Reader: Open Relationships, Non-monogamy and Casual Sex
Sons Talk About Their Gay Fathers: Life Curves
Lesbian Epiphanies: Women Coming Out in Later Life
Men Who Loved Me
Images in the Dark: Encyclopedia of Gay and Lesbian Film and Video
Gay Men at Midlife: Age Before Beauty
Guy to Goddess: an Intimate Look at Drag Queens
Who Cares?: Institutional Barriers to Health Care for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Persons
Culture Class: Making of Gay Sensibility
Positively Gay: New Approaches to Gay and Lesbian Life
Last Generation: Prose & Poetr
Memoir of a Race Traitor
Sex: Volume 3
Lesbian Sacred Sexuality
Black Men/White Men: a Gay Anthology
Problem in Modern Ethics: Studies in Sexual Inversion, a
Problem in Greek Ethics: Studies in Sexual Inversion, a
A Queer Companion: Rough Guide to Gay Slang
Affirmative Practice: Understanding & Working with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Persons
21st Century Gay
Gay Rights on Trial
Gay and Lesbian Rights (Contemporary World Issues S.)

Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth: An Analysis of More Than 100 Disputed Questions

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reference
Get this book!
no title
FANTASTIC must-read!
How to read the Bible using a

Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth: An Analysis of More Than 100 Disputed Questions
Wayne Grudem
Manufacturer: Multnomah
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Evangelical Feminism: A New Path to Liberalism?
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SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine

ASIN: 157673840X
Release Date: 2004-11-04

Book Description

Egalitarians, or evangelical feminists, consider men's and women's roles in the home and church to be interchangeable. In this helpful book, Bible scholar Wayne Grudem considers over a hundred egalitarian arguments and finds them contrary to the Bible. According to Grudem, the Bible teaches that God values men and women equally. However, their roles in home and church are complementary to each other, not interchangeable. Arguing against both feminism on the left and male chauvinism on the right, his carefully researched handbook is a valuable resource defending the complementarian viewpoint.

Customer Reviews:

reference.......2007-06-11

Excellent source for study. Like his Bible Doctorine, it can be used by looking up points of interest or study. Well written, easily understood and well referenced.

Get this book!.......2007-05-26

The homework is done. The research is remarkably clear and cuts through the jargon of the self-styled "egalitarian" or "evangelical feminist."

Grudem's credentials are difficult to touch. He has put a tremendous amount of time, effort and energy into debunking the statements of those who oppose the authority of God's Word and who have the mendacity to call themselves Christian.

no title.......2007-05-08

I admittedly have not read this book,but as a believer in the complementarian veiw I would just like to make a small point here if I could.Men must always remember to treat their wives with love.Without love we gentleness we do not fulfill our duty as Godly men.To me these women who are willing to submit to God`s gender guidelines(often despite mocking from members of their own gender)walk with a grace and delicate beauty that can inspire the whole church.They can hold their heads up high,and should be honored as the bible says.

FANTASTIC must-read!.......2006-11-13

I am not a theologin, but DEEPLY appreciated this excellent book! It is long, but worth reading, even if that is done in bits and pieces. I loved the format with the claims and then the Biblical answers to the world's claims. VERY well done!

How to read the Bible using a .......2006-04-23

I am a member of Christians for Biblical Equality and my preferred term for myself is Biblical Egalitarian. As Wayne Grade chooses to use the term "Evangelical Feminist" to describe my beliefs while I do not, I can with similar justification claim that I see him as a member of Christians for Biblical Patriarchy; for that is exactly what he sees the Bible teaching, male rulership (which is what patriarchy literally means) in home and church, what he calls 2 point complementarians (apparently as patriarchy has negative connotations and so resorts to euphemism to make his ideas more appealing).

The author proves that it is possible to read the Bible throughout using a male-preference bias, in effect seeing the Bible through a "blue" lens. He has collected every shred of evidence he can find to proclaim that the Bible has a "blue" tint on essentially every page. One recalls that kings and their cohorts read the Bible using a "purple" lens and purportedly showed that there was a divine right of kings and that white slaveholders read the Bible using a (racist) "white" lens and purportedly showed that God intended blacks to be slaves.

He is wise enough to claim that the blue tint does not extend to polygamy, which he sees as sin, without explaining how so many of God's faithful could be polygamists.

He does promote a benign form of patriarchy (for which I am glad), but again this recalls ideas of being a benign king or a benign slaveholder. In Western Democracies, either there is no royalty or it is a (wealthy) figurehead and there are no slaveholders. We now see that the Bible does not teach being a benign slaveholder, it teaches not to be a slaveholder at all. In order to see this clearly, one does need to wade through some proof texts that slaveholders used as justification; but we all realize today it can be done. It is significant that the largest denomination that is 2 point complementarian is the Southern Baptist Convention, which formed in 1845 over the issue of being a Christian and a slaveholder, and for which (thankfully) they repented in 1995.

He provides a service to Biblical egalitarians by taking them to task when they slip up. Iron sharpens iron.

Even though patriarchy has been around for thousands of years, was the dominant paradigm during Bible times, and is still a dominant paradigm in much of the world today, he sees any alternative to his patriarchal understanding of the Bible as a slippery slope to theological liberalism and secularism.

This is an area where one simply MUST study both sides if one is to be a Berean. If any readers here wish to do this, I have some recommendations:

[...]

Finally, as some husbands may not be as benign as suggested in this book, here is a way for a wife to Biblically avoid obeying her husband who believes in Biblical patriarchy. She can simply say that to comply with his request would be sin for her as she cannot do it in faith and she must obey God rather than man. If the husband is truly following Biblical principles, he knows that anything not done in faith is sin. He can try to convince her it is not sin, as might her pastor, but if she is willing to let herself be called weak in faith there is really nothing that they can do to force her to change.

Is He The One?: 101 Questions That Will Lead You to the Truth, Whatever That Is

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Your Romance Coach Recommends... "Are You the One?"
great for thinking about what is important
Buy it for yourself and then buy another for a friend.

Is He The One?: 101 Questions That Will Lead You to the Truth, Whatever That Is
Susan Swimmer
Manufacturer: Andrews McMeel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0740741942

Book Description

So, you think you've found him. The One. But before you decide for sure, you must ask certain questions of yourself-101, to be exact. But this is not a weighty tome outlining a hundred conversations with your partner. In fact, don't even invite him to participate. No, this is the heart-to-heart you must have with yourself.á Is he affectionate' A tender touch, a warm kiss, a gentle rub. These are things you should receive every single day. And you shouldn't have to ask. How does he treat people who wait on him in restaurants' Hopefully with the utmost respect, because anything but that is unacceptable. And a generous tipper never hurts.Written in a girlfriend-to-girlfriend style by a magazine professional with her finger on the pulse of women's lifestyles, Is He the One' is a significant tool that's serious fun.

Customer Reviews:

Your Romance Coach Recommends... "Are You the One?".......2004-10-07

I'm a Romance Coach, so every time I go to a bookstore, I cruise
the "Relationships" section to see what's new and interesting. I look for something "meaty" usually, thick, weighty, and serious, hopefully saying something new that I can add to my toolbox. On my last trip, I impulsively added an unusual choice -- the small, thin, and light-weight looking "Is He the One?" by Susan Swimmer. 6 by 6 inches, only 120 pages, and covered in pastels with a swoony looking cartoon woman asking the question ("Is He the One?" in a balloon over her head), it just didn't grab me, and I read all the books I bought first before even opening it.

Well, was I surprised. Yes, it's simple, and yes, it's a light-
weight and easy read. But Susan Swimmer has come up with some
heavy-weight questions to ask yourself about a prospective mate.
"How will I know if he's the one?" is a question I get asked
regularly, and Swimmer gives us some concrete mini-tests as a way of finding out.

Here are some of my favorites (and ones my Sweetheart would have
passed with flying colors): When he has a piece of news, does he call you first? Will he share his desert at a restaurant? Do you know how much money he has? And the last one, a real
cruncher: Would you marry him even if there were no reception,
not party, no nothing? Which is of course about you and not
him.

So if you wonder how you will KNOW, this might be a good book for you to add to your romance library.

Kathryn Lord, Your Romance Coach
www.Find-a-Sweetheart.com

great for thinking about what is important.......2004-06-28

i'm 30 and this book is really good...me and my girlfriends discussed the questions and they are dead on...not pie in the sky stuff but real things to help you think about whether you've got a keep or one you need to throw back. the stats, myths, and other factoids make this a nice book and worth the money. give it as a gift to a friend who's trying to figure it all out!!

Buy it for yourself and then buy another for a friend........2004-06-11

Whether you're in your early twenties and trying to figure this out for the first time, or you're looking back on a marriage of more than 20 years and trying to figure out what works and what doesn't and why, this insightful little book can h elp you get through to the heart of the matter. If he's the one, Susan Swimmer helps to confirm it. If he's not, she helps you see that for real.

The Simplest Path to Personal and Planetary Awakening, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND: 10 Keys for Unlocking Your Personal Potential, Achieving Spiritual Awakening, ... of Humanity's Ultimate Cosmic Destiny

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A Unique and Inspiring Wake-up Call
Challenge Consensus Reality!
A Simple Cure For What's "Eating Us"

The Simplest Path to Personal and Planetary Awakening, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND: 10 Keys for Unlocking Your Personal Potential, Achieving Spiritual Awakening, ... of Humanity's Ultimate Cosmic Destiny
Vincent Casspriano Jr.
Manufacturer: Lulu.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1847285783

Book Description

The Simplest Path, Step One: Free Your Mind delineates, in one slim volume, a complete system for achieving personal spiritual awakening, along with a straightforward, no-nonsense plan individuals and groups so enlightened can follow to awaken Humanity en masse and positively transform the world. This book contains keys to awakening. Awakening from our personal dream shatters the solid "box" of limitation memes have built around our lives, and frees us to fluidly craft our personalities, environments, relationships, careers, etc. as an artist paints a landscape or a sculptor teases form from formless clay. All of us awakening together from the shared dream of the planet will mark the birth of our species out of our current global nightmare of decline into a limitless future literally beyond our present ability to imagine, even in our "wildest dreams," indeed.

Customer Reviews:

A Unique and Inspiring Wake-up Call.......2007-05-15

This is one of the most clear-headed books I've read in years on the subject of real, nitty gritty, get your hands dirty spiritual development (as opposed to the fru fru New Age variety). So much of what passes for "spirituality" in our time amounts to some author, celebrity, priest, philosopher or self-appointed guru telling us what to "believe," sight unseen, if we want to reach heaven, attain enlightenment, achieve "ascension," etc. Casspriano takes an at times startling opposite approach. For Casspriano, such unquestioned/unquestionable beliefs are not only NOT the path to spiritual awakening, they represent the chief obstacle blocking our realization of higher consciousness. And it's not just religious beliefs ("faith") he's talking about, but all our beliefs about reality, especially those that enclose our thinking in "boxes" that limit our freedom to find solutions to real-world threats like Peak Oil, overpopulation, Global Warming, etc. Though much of the book focuses on individual enlightenment, for Casspriano, these larger planetary issues are "spiritual," as well. Whether the issue is our personal inability to find happiness or Humanity's collective rush toward physical extinction, the cause is the same - our wrong-headed beliefs about what's real. The solution is the same, as well - continuous, deep questioning. Using Richard Dawkins' concept of "memes" as a central metaphor, Casspriano first breaks down the basic process of belief, showing the mechanism in our brains by which beliefs misdirect and control our psyches, then he walks the reader through an exploration of a series of ten "anti-meme questions" aimed at breaking down the walls of our mental "boxes" and setting our minds free. With each question, he supplies an exercise designed to allow the reader to attain a personal taste of reality "beyond the box," especially as flavored by that chapter's "Key Question." For the most part, this formula works very well (with a few rare moments of over-exuberance on the author's part, as already described in other reviews, though as a card carrying vegan environmentalist, I can't say I particularly minded), delivering a cumulative series of death-blows to some of the most basic "pillars" of our present human consensus reality. Beyond the walls those pillars supported lies real reality, where we are all interconnected and interdependent, and, in Casspriano's view, mutually destined for greatness, if we can just wake up and grab the reins of our runaway culture in time. This is not a book for spiritual "feel gooders" seeking soft assurances that they're perfect just they way they are and everything's going to be all right, no matter what. This is a wake up call, a tool kit and a concrete action plan for becoming individually enlightened and collectively saving the world, all rolled up into one. That, I think, is a cause well-worthy of exuberance.

Challenge Consensus Reality!.......2007-05-10

This is a thoughtful book that addresses how we may go about developing a process to question our everyday consensus reality. I suppose if I have learned anything in 49 years of life, it is that all personal and social problems stem from our fundamental views on the nature of reality itself. Vincent Casspriano uses the concept of a "meme" as a fundamental unit of ideas, assumptions, etc. that often block our understanding of reality itself. One such meme, for example, may be that we have to "fight for our freedom" or the world's a "fearful" place and hence, we have to be ready to kill to protect ourselves. I suppose you could also use the word "paradigm" here as well, but the essential point of this book is that we "unconsciously" function in our life with many limited points of view that block our ability to solve problems on both a personal and a social basis.

While Vince Casspriano is to be congradulated for producing a book that presents both a methodology and a motivation for personal transformation, there are a few pitfalls here that the potential reader should be aware of before tackling this material. The author has some rather strong views on fossil fuel consumption, meet consumption, and the role of humans in the cycle of procreation. While I generally agree with his analysis on fossil fuel consumtion and meat consumption (as I have viewed large tracks of deforrested grazing land in developing countries), these viewpoints can distract the reader from the essential point here which is to rigourously question consensus reality. Since I am single, and have no motivation to have children, I definitely disagree with his views on the necessity of human procreation on this planet, but here again, it is important to extract the essential meaning rather than get caught in the specific political/social debates that these issues may spawn.

If you are serious about personal transformation with the potential for changing our global consciousness, than this book can be an invaluable tool. I do agree with the Author that a world population of "high functioning" people can resolve every planetary problem we face today. As we systematically question our consensus reality, we will see our problems in new ways, and with this new perspective, problems can often be quickly resolved or transcended.

A Simple Cure For What's "Eating Us".......2006-11-13

I considered titling this review, "Stop Whining, Wake Up and Get Busy Saving the World," but decided "Eating Us" would be more attention-grabbing - which matters because I believe Vincent Casspriano, Jr.'s "The Simplest Path, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND" is an important book, and I want to do whatever I can to draw your attention to it. Pick the title you like best. Both very fittingly describe what you will find within the pages of this remarkable new release from New Paradigm Press.

I have selected three short quotations to explore in this review that I think best summarize Casspriano's overall message:

From Chapter One, "The Boxes We Dream In":

"Right now, this very moment, you are asleep... Even if you are reading these words in broad daylight - sitting at your desk or beside the kitchen table, your feet firmly planted on the floor, eyes open, senses alert, feeling the weight of this book in your hands as sounds of life rise and fall rhythmically around you - you are deeply asleep, and dreaming furiously"

Now, the idea that Humans are sleeping, and must therefore "awaken," is by no means unique to Casspriano's "Simplest Path" spiritual system, being the root observation underlying pretty much all Eastern religion, and a lot of Western Occultism and New Age metaphysics, as well. In fairness, Casspriano makes no claim to this as an original insight, openly supporting his assessment of the human predicament with quotations taken from Animism, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. He then flows seamlessly into a list of complementary illustrations from the secular realms of Quantum Physics, brain/consciousness research, and most to-the-point, the study of memes and memetics, ala Evolutionary Biologist and world's best-known cheerleader for scientific atheism, Richard Dawkins.

If you've never heard of memes or memetics, a quick Google of those terms will reveal hundreds of serious, information-rich websites devoted to this now thirty-year old science. In a nutshell, a "meme" is a sort of contagious thought-form that spreads between people by way of imitation. Obvious memes in our environment include advertising jingles, fads and fashions, etc. Casspriano somewhat radically extends the concept to include just about everything that makes up the contents of our individual brains and shared human culture. While he resists redefining the word "meme" wholesale, he decidedly expands its definition to make memes and "memeplexes" (what you get when a number of memes band together into an organic, relational unit, like a religion or cultural or political movement) the basic, fundamental building blocks of everything we habitually label "real..."

And then he demonstrates, in at times excruciating detail, the complete emptiness of the "apparent-reality" that is a byproduct of memetic activity in our brains. What we call "real" is not real at all. It's an illusion spun up by our memes. And our memes are not original to us. They are "viral invaders" assailing our minds from without. Worse - and, while even this thought is not wholly unique to Casspriano, he certainly gives it his own very effective spin - memes are by no means mere passive beliefs or simple "harmless ideas." They are, Casspriano believes, actively predatory psychic parasites whose survival depends on our buying into the illusions they create in our minds. Think of illusion (Samsara, Maya, etc.) as a web we're caught in. Memes are the spider. We are the fly. Gotcha.

One thing I like very much about Casspriano's book is that he never asks us to take anything on faith, least of all this rather ugly depiction of the human psychic/spiritual condition. He not only challenges readers to test his hypothesis firsthand in order to experience what is real and true for ourselves, he spends a large chunk of the book outlining specific exercises anyone can do to escape memetic interference and personally experience reality as-it-is. The exercises in Part II of the book are powerful medicine... But this is a digression, so let me return to the point.

Memes are the spider, and we are the fly. A better metaphor might be that memes are the farmer, and we are the cow. Domesticated and docile, we allow memes to milk us daily, to extract from our minds the potent human psychic energy which, if reclaimed by us and put to proper human use, would quickly and positively transform our lives and our world. This transformation is awakening, ascension, enlightenment, metanoia, the Buddha-like change of consciousness most religions and spiritual systems on Earth hint at, but few ever actually deliver to followers. In this analysis, Casspriano's "Simplest Path" is very much in line with Gurdjieff's "Fourth Way," Carlos Castaneda's Toltec sorcery, and a few other well known spiritual practices inhabiting a somewhat darker, though perhaps more realistic corner of the New Age. But unlike most of those other systems, Casspriano's prescription for escaping illusion and awakening to reality is remarkably, well... simple.

From Chapter Three, "Waking Up":

"The simple truth is that we are sleeping because we lack sufficient energy to wake up."

And later in the same chapter:

"The real work that brings about awakening, rather than merely granting the external appearance of "being spiritual," while actually embroiling us ever more deeply in the dream, is a rigorous, daily commitment to the identification and elimination of every self-serving belief from which our personal dream-lives are constructed."

For "belief" in the quotation above, read "meme/memeplex." Casspriano certainly does, treating the terms as largely interchangeable. In the end, this genuinely simple - at least in the sense of being uncomplicated and pragmatic - spiritual practice amounts to discovering reality as-it-actually-is less by searching for a glimpse beyond the illusion, than by systematically withdrawing our participation in, and identification with, the dream. When we disentangle our psyches from memetic illusion, only reality remains. We don't have to chase it; to a meme-free mind, reality just appears. This is "Satori" in Zen Buddhism. This is "stopping the world" in the Toltec sorcery of Castaneda and others. Casspriano's genius lies in his talent for exposing the core mechanism behind such complex and often inscrutable spiritual systems, and for putting into plain language clear instructions for unraveling the dream and achieving personal awakening. The virus-like process by which memes take over and control our human minds, as described by Casspriano is, to my mind, very complicated (but well worth struggling through). What is genuinely simple about "The Simplest Path," however, is Casspriano's prescription for breaking those bonds, once you've made the effort to understand how they are created and maintained. For Casspriano, remaining a victim of spiritual sleep and energetic exploitation by memes is a complex activity in which we unconsciously invest enormous amounts of psychic energy every day of our lives. Awakening is the product of a simple act of withdrawing that investment, which automatically re-energizes of our minds and lives. Or as Casspriano cleverly phrases it when closing Chapter Three, "Waking Up":

"Unweave the tapestry of the dream, and awakening happens."

Anyone can do this. Spiritual awakening, in Casspriano's view, may be hard work, but it is not complicated work. The path to enlightenment is really rather shockingly simple. Fall out of love with the dream. Reclaim your psychic energy. Wake up to reality.

The ten "Key Questions" Casspriano explores in the second section of the book are designed to put the theory laid out in Part I to practical and immediate use. Essentially, I think Casspriano sees these ten issues - why we treat enlightenment as an "airy-fairy" ideal instead of a measurable transformation of brain functioning, the excuses we make for avoiding personal responsibility and integrity along the lines of Castaneda's "impeccability," the fallacy of belief in a "separate self," etc. - as pillars of both our personal and collective human dreams. They are by no means an exhaustive listing of the memes twisting our minds. But they are primary keystones on which layers upon layers of the grand illusion are built. Topple these ten baseline pillars and the larger structure crumbles.

Casspriano explores some "Keys" more successfully than others. One downside to the book is that, especially in the "Keys," Casspriano's own memetic prejudices shine at times rather glaringly through, as when, in his discussion of the American "What Would Jesus Do?" religious fad, he characterizes the Evangelical Christian purveyors of WWJD as, "ultra-conservative, right wing ideologues." Even should the reader personally agree with such pronouncements, its hard to resist thinking, "Hey Vince! Your memes are showing!" But where he nails his point, Casspriano's prose can be downright inspiring, as with the "Key" cosmological study "Is Earth the Center of the Universe?," which explores the gap between what we know, scientifically, about the Universe and what our daily choices and behavior says we really believe, about the cosmos and about ourselves. His closing "Key" "Are We Alone?" so poetically frames the true stakes of our global human predicament - species survival VS extinction - that its hard to imagine anyone keeping their gaze glued squarely to their own self-involved navel in the wake of reading it. Of course we are not alone. There are six and a half billion of us on Planet Earth, and whether we awaken to what's best in us or follow our darkest drives over History's cliff into oblivion, we do so as one. One planet, one fate.

This notion of "oneness" and of a common, intertwined human spiritual and biological destiny is a core theme in The Simplest Path, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND that sets it apart from any spiritual book in recent memory. My final quotation from the book returns us to the opening lines of Chapter One, "The Boxes We Dream In":

"We are all aware of the challenges facing us as we enter together into the 21st Century:

· World oil supplies are running out.

· Global warming is transforming the Earth into a steamy greenhouse.

· Even as our technology connects the world, ideological extremism, terrorism and militarism divide us as never before.

· Headlines bombard us with news of war, famine, pestilence and death until we feel overwhelmed and unable to respond.

· Time is running out..."

Vincent Casspriano, Jr.'s "The Simplest Path to Personal and Planetary Transformation, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND" does not offer easy escape from these very pressing real-world human ills, but rather, a down to Earth, workable prescription for their cure. Yes, we must awaken as individuals, and, rest assured, "The Simplest Path" shows spiritual seekers exactly how to do that. But a prime message of "The Simplest Path" is that, for personal awakening to have meaning, it must occur within the context of a complete re-visioning of global culture, and a mass wrenching away of the wheel of History from the control of viral memes, that we might create a common cosmic human destiny worthy of our highest potential as a species.

Now that's a meme worth feeding.

The Fat-Free Truth: Real Answers to the FItness and Weight-Loss Questions You Wonder About Most

Average customer rating:

The best book I ve read yet on weight loss
The Fat-Free Truth
cuts through all the BS
great info in a useful format
Practical no-nonsense advice

The Fat-Free Truth: Real Answers to the FItness and Weight-Loss Questions You Wonder About Most
Suzanne Schlosberg , and Liz Neporent
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Accessories:

Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor

ASIN: 0618310738

Book Description

Atkins works! Eat grapefruit -- shed weight! Pilates gives you "long, lean muscles -- no bulk!" Each day we are bombarded with conflicting fitness information, promises, and advice -- from the Internet, magazines, books, TV, advertising, experts, trainers, coaches, friends. But how do you know whom you can trust? In The Fat-Free Truth, Liz Neporent and Suzanne Schlosberg cut through the noise, synthesize the literature, and get to the truth by providing 239 accurate, straight-shooting answers to America's most pressing fitness and weight-loss questions. No one understands the excess of misinformation out there better than Liz and Suzanne. For ten years, Suzanne has written Shape's "Weight Loss QandA," the most popular column in the country's largest fitness magazine. Liz fields weekly questions as the "Fit by Friday" columnist for iVillage, the leading Internet site for women's issues. Together they receive more than a thousand questions a month from people nationwide. Frank, funny, and endlessly informative, The Fat-Free Truth assembles in one place everything you really need to know to get fit and stay fit -- and to keep your sanity while doing so.

Customer Reviews:

The best book I ve read yet on weight loss.......2006-07-02

This book compares all the programs and all the different exercise routines and uses actual tests of the diets and excercise programs for evaluation. It is cross referenced, so the reader can check the facts for themselves. I have learned more from this book than any of the other weight loss and diet books I have ever read. The great part is they are not pushing some particular program, just giving you the facts about all the programs. To top it all off, I bought the book for 2 cents used from Amazon. One of the best reads on diet and exercise yet.

The Fat-Free Truth.......2005-12-31

I enjoyed this book greatly. It has a variety (135) different questions with short and to-the-point answers. I was rather impressed. I would feel better if one of the authors was an M.D. or a R.D., however the answers are still accurate.
A really good read!

cuts through all the BS.......2005-05-05

i have high praise for this book, and was impressed by its research, distillation of the facts, easy to read format, and simplicity. the way that every question had a short answer and then a visual break before launching into the science/reporting behind it makes it inexcusable for anyone to not digest or understand what is presented, b/c it was so easy to read, clear, & to the point.

this book is a treasure for everyone to find, as it eliminates the confusion and restores reality to the hype that so readily bloats weight-loss merchandise & the entire industry. i am constantly finding myself annoyed by the proliferation of blatantly false and/or trendy movements/fads/ads/equipment that only makes one company/celebrity spokesmouth rich, and multitudes of consumers feeling cheated, fat, or disappointed.

why it did not get 5 stars despite its excellent value is in the americans-only slant to the advice. when a book is printed in english and marketed in north america, it is shortsighted to address its contents and additional resources to only the south half of north american, IMHO. the regional/lifestyle differences between canada & the US can't be so disparate as to limit info to the american organisations cited in the book. also, the metric system is officially used worldwide except in 4 countries (i think). such an inclusion would have been ideal in getting a valuable message to reach more people.

great info in a useful format.......2005-02-15

At first I wanted to see a review before I bought this book. Then I decided I was really curious about the information and since the book was published this year I wanted to see the most current information on fitness topics. I have been using the workout log by one of the authors for two years so I decided to go ahead and buy it. I'm glad I did, the book is full of good information in an easy to read format. I think it's like fitness 201 - it's more than just the basics but it's not over the top and I like that they include information in case you want to find out more about a particular topic.

Practical no-nonsense advice.......2005-02-14

No matter whether you're struggling with your weight or just trying to improve your fitness level. This book is for you. Informative, no-nonsense, practical advice from these two highly qualified fitness experts guides you out of the ever so confusing maze of weight-loss and fitness.

The Right Questions: Truth, Meaning & Public Debate

Average customer rating:

Yet Another Bitter Rant From A Very Bitter Angry Old Man
My Favorite of All of Johnson's Fantastic Works
Theonomo is right! (Review May 31, 2003)
Right Question Before Aruging Right Answer
The Right Question is Whether Life Was Designed by Intelligence, or Nothing

The Right Questions: Truth, Meaning & Public Debate
Phillip E. Johnson
Manufacturer: InterVarsity Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

The Christian Mind: How Should a Christian Think?
Truth Decay: Defending Christianity Against the Challenges of Postmodernism
Habits of the Mind: Intellectual Life As a Christian Calling
Reason in the Balance: The Case Against Naturalism in Science, Law & Education
The Wedge of Truth: Splitting the Foundations of Naturalism

ASIN: 0830832130

Book Description

Phillip E. Johnson pries the lid off public debate about issues at the core of what contemporary society deems true and meaningful. He outlines the questions we ought to be asking about scientific inquiry, public education, civil liberties, moral choices

Customer Reviews:

Yet Another Bitter Rant From A Very Bitter Angry Old Man.......2007-05-26

Philip Johnson claims in his book, "The Right Questions: Truth, Meaning & Public Debate", that he has the right questions to ask about subjects ranging from the validity of evolution as a scientific theory to the 9/11/01 Al Qaeda terrorist attacks on the United States. As someone who strongly believes in the principles of freedom articulated by America's Founding Fathers, he has every right to ask these questions, even if they are the mere rants of a very bitter angry old man who sees the United States in great moral peril, losing ground not only to Islamofascist terrorists like Al Qaeda, but maybe more importantly, from insidious internal decay brought by a great relaxtion in recognizably decent standards of public and private conduct, for which he blames everything from the 1960s sexual and feminist revolutions to the teaching of Evolution in public schools. Truly this is such sanctimonious nonsense that it isn't really worth a reasonable reply. However, I will note that there have been many instances where the United States was viewed as a great county imperiled by moral decay, starting with the Founding Fathers during the early Federalist period (I strongly recommend the published work of eminent Brown University historian Gordon Wood - who was one of my college professors - among our foremost authorities on this period in our history. If anything, the overall picture of American society in the Federalist period that Wood has depicted in elegant, often mesmerizing, prose, is far bleaker in tone, than anything that Johnson and his ideological fellower travelers on the Christian Right can condemn contemporary American culture and society realistically for, on subjects as diverse as the sexual revolution and the teaching of evolution in schools. I will also note that Johnson demonstrates once more his abysmal ignorance of what constitutes science, and how to distinguish between good and bad science, by stating that science's stature would improve by injecting a supernatural bias into a superb, self-correcting rational enterprise that modern science has become since its emergence during the Renaissance. Regrettably once more Johnson is simply a very bitter angry old man, who is determined to persuade others via yet another bitter, extremely well-written, rant masquerading as a genuine tome of high legal scholarship.

My Favorite of All of Johnson's Fantastic Works.......2007-05-22

This was a fantastic book and the Publisher's Weekly Reviewer clearly had an axe to grind. This is my favorite of all Johnson's books, because he seems to evince true Christian humility finally while retaining all of his ruthless logic. This would be truly a threatening book to the modern magisterium of atheistic professor/priests were it to be placed in the hands of many more naturalist-indoctrinated dumbed-down student-victims of modern atheistic religion/school.
Fifty years from now when evolution is dead, Phillip Johnson will be remembered as the guy who drove the first stake through its heart, the same way we think of what Galileo did for the science of astronomy. Both stood up to sclerotic established orthodoxies and were not appreciated in their time. Fortunately truth and science live longer and outlast the erroneous dogmas of a given era.

Theonomo is right! (Review May 31, 2003).......2006-09-09

This book is clearly written and deals with important issues in the public arena, particularly the wagons circled around Darwinism. Johnson's take on these matters is neither simplistic nor outdated. Some of his observations about the nature of Islam are particularly interesting in light of the Iraq experience since they predate the invasion of Iraq.

The Publisher's Weekly reviewer evidently did not read or did not understand the book. That review mischaracterizes both Johnson's manner and the content of "The Right Questions." It is obvious that the one-star reviewers did not bother to read the book and know very little about the subject matter.

Serious readers, even those firmly committed to evolution, ought to be left wondering why the origin debate, or at least discussion of the philosophical issues surrounding the debate, is a closed subject in our schools.

Right Question Before Aruging Right Answer.......2006-06-27

Johnson is passionate and erudite debater for the principle of asking the right question before answering. Famous for application of this in the area of origin of the universe, here Johnson provides brief but fascinating inquiry into not only the origin issue, but also worldview.

Clearly he provides the strategic impetus for attacking those who hide behind their answers and thwart asking the right question, whether it be in the philosophical or political or educational arena.

How frustrating is it when those in control will not allow true debate? One plays into this the book contends when allowance of the wrong questions to dominate the debate. He has admirably championed the cause of contending not with science but with philosophical naturalism. Not allowing the debate to center on Genesis but on John 1:1 is revolutionary.

His bravery in discussing his own humbling experience with stroke rehab is touching and instructive.

Challenging the question of the most important historical event to date should cause all, but especially educators and culturally elite to consider the factual data rather than philosophical bents. Worldview presuppositions certainly do shape what we allow to be discussed, taught to our young, and be allowed in our culture.

One wise person said that it is significant that one side will always be willing to discuss all options, while it is equally significant when some will allow not all options equal discussion. Johnson certainly is a proponent of all sides having their day in the discussion.

The Right Question is Whether Life Was Designed by Intelligence, or Nothing.......2006-06-22

The Right Questions is the product of an accomplished scholar who is reflecting upon culture and society in light of his other books which provided an extensive scientific critique of naturalistic theories of origins. In this book, Phillip Johnson asks, "What are the right questions" in topics such as logic, the meaning of life, Genesis, and biological origins? It is only by asking the right questions that we will find the appropriate solutions to problems faced by society.

Johnson opens this book with a frank discussion of how his own personal trials and battles over health have renewed his faith. Johnson then reminds us that the key fundamental is not about the precise meaning of this or that passage of Scripture:

"The conflict is primarily not about Genesis, nor does it involve a clash between science and religion, or between science and faith. It would be much more accurate to say that it involves a clash between two religions and two definitions of science." (pg. 60)

Johnson observes, "In every university there are scores of faculty and students who are suffocated by the prevailing dogmas of scientific materialism or political correctness but who almost never get a chance to hear anything else." (pg. 51) Ruling creeds succeed when they keep their followers from exploring alternatives (pg. 73), which is why Darwinists refuse to permit discussion of the controversy over the science of Darwinism.

The right question that must be permitted for discussion in school is therefore, "Did the scientific evidence really support the philosophical conclusion (in a word, naturalism) that the Darwinists wished us to adopt, or could naturalism as a worldview survive only as long as dogmatic philosophical barriers protected it from the evidence that points to a designer?" (pg. 84) Once that question can be asked, Johnson is convinced that the chips will fall where the evidence leads.

Narrative of Sojourner Truth (Penguin Classics)

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Interesting...

Narrative of Sojourner Truth (Penguin Classics)
Sojourner Truth , and Nell Irvin Painter
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

African-American & Black | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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Demography | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Biographies | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Sojourner Truth: Ain't I A Woman (Scholastic Biography)
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave: Written by Himself

ASIN: 0140436782

Customer Reviews:

Interesting..........2005-11-04

I thought this book was written a little differently, but I also found it helpful. It was cool how Sojourner Truth's Book of Life was written inside of it along with a whole separate book. There was a lot of good information in it. I used this book for a school project and it worked out great. The book was useful and interesting to read because there are letters from people she knew that were written to her. I enjoyed reading this also recieved info from it.

Encountering World Religions: Questions of Religious Truth

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Encountering World Religions: Questions of Religious Truth
Geoffrey Parrinder
Manufacturer: Continuum International Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 0567291375

Dissonant Voices: Religious Pluralism and the Question of Truth

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Well-reasoned and incisive critique of religious pluralism
Excellent intro to the questions of religious pluralism

Dissonant Voices: Religious Pluralism and the Question of Truth
Harold A. Netland
Manufacturer: Eerdmans Pub Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Encountering Religious Pluralism: The Challenge to Christian Faith & Mission
A Tapestry of Faiths: The Common Threads Between Christianity & World Religions
Christianity and World Religions
Four Views on Salvation in a Pluralistic World
Wideness in God's Mercy, A

ASIN: 0802806023

Customer Reviews:

Well-reasoned and incisive critique of religious pluralism.......2001-06-07

After reading several different popular level works that deal with the relation of Christianity to other religions, I finally found a good book. This book gave substantive descriptions of different religions and their various claims avoiding charges of caricature.

To define the terms:

Christian exclusivism: exclusivism maintains that the central claims of Christianity are true, and that where the claims of Christianity conflict with those of other religions, the latter are to be rejected as false. (page 9)

Religious pluralism: God is said to be actively revealing himself in all religious traditions. (page 10) All religions are in their own way complex historically and culturally conditioned human responses to the same divine reality. (page 26)

This book discusses religious pluralism and if it is rational and so on. One of the book's great strengths is the recognition that the religions of the world say basically different or contradictory things about three vital religious topics: the nature of the religious ultimate (e.g. Allah, The Holy Trinity, Krishna, Nirvana, Brahman etc..), the nature of the human predicament (e.g. rebellion against a holy and righteous God, ignorance, being locked into a continuous state of reincarnation).

To summarize Netland shows that regarding all religions as the same or saying the same thing requires significant distortion of or radical alternation of the defining beliefs (the beliefs which are essential to any religion being true). The other approach the pluralists use is to argue that these religions do not intend to make ontological claims (or claims about reality) but rather they are mythical, meaningful constructs. At best, this distorts what Buddhists, Christians, Jews, Muslims and others believe.

Two chapters in particular were outstanding in the book:

(4) Religion and Truth

(5) Evaluation Religious Traditions

In (4), Netland looks at the views of liberal contemporary theologians and how they view religious truth. He summarizes the views of many theologians in these two propositions: (1) Personal truth can legitimately be applied to religion whereas propositional truth cannot. (2) Both personal truth and propositional truth can be applied to religion, but personal truth is somehow more basic and fundamental than propositional truth. (page 129)

Netland shows the inadequacy of both of these views. Further on in the same chapter, Netland shows the problems with the ineffable thesis, which asserts that the religious truth is inexpressible or put another way, "Beliefs and doctrines are just inadequate pointers toward what cannot be articulated." (page 133). A modified version of the ineffable thesis is the via negativa which asserts that only negative statements can be made about God (e.g. God is not physical. God is not evil. God is not of limited intelligence. etc). However, to use this method implies that one has positive knowledge about God by which one knows that the negative statements are indeed true.

Then there is the "two-level" conception of truth. This asserts that there is one level of truth (e.g. scientific knowledge, mathematics and philosophical reasoning), which is subject to logic, and then there is the "higher" level of truth, which is not subject to logic. However, in making this assertion, logic is used. The statement, "Logic does not apply to religion," necessarily implies that the contradiction of that statement, "Logic does apply to religion," is false.

Chapter (5) offers 12 criteria by which one can evaluate the TRUTH of a given religious tradition. Netland prefaces this analysis that it is not comprehensive but that it serves as a significant starting point. I wish this chapter were available in small booklet; it is excellent.

The last chapter discusses the ideas of evangelism, dialogue and tolerance. Netland distinguishes between several different forms of dialogue; at a simple level, this simply means coming together to understand one another. However, there are forms of dialogue, which are unacceptable to evangelicals.

This book is one of the best out there. There are extensive footnotes whereby Netland refers the reader to explore topics (such as the objectivity of morality) that space prohibits extensive discussion of. For the person who asserts that all religions teach the same thing or that all religions lead to the same place, submit that belief to logic. This book shows how to do that. For Christians who affirm Christian exclusivism, this book will be of great benefit in defending one of the most hotly debated topics in society.

Excellent intro to the questions of religious pluralism.......1999-06-19

I read the original Eerdman's edition of this book from 1991, and have used it several times in classes on Religious Pluralism at Denver Seminary. It is a well-written, informed, and philosophical treatment. It nicely summarizes the world views of several major religions without caricature. Prof. Netland's critique of John Hick's theories are particularly penetrating. I'm very happy to see this book back in print. It makes an excellent textbook in philosophy and religious studies courses.

Be sure to read his follow-up work as well, Encountering Religious Pluralism (InterVarsity, 2001), which is similarly superb.

Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy Denver Seminary

Naked Truth: Everything You'Ve Always Wanted to Know About the Irsbut Couldn't Afford to Ask-163 Questions and Answers About the IRS

Average customer rating:

Even your odds if an audit is scaring you !

Naked Truth: Everything You'Ve Always Wanted to Know About the Irsbut Couldn't Afford to Ask-163 Questions and Answers About the IRS
Daniel J. Pilla
Manufacturer: Winning Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Taxation | Law | Subjects | Books
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Irs, Taxes & the Beast

ASIN: 0961712406

Customer Reviews:

Even your odds if an audit is scaring you !.......2001-04-16

This book contains 163 questions and indepth answers about the IRS and the law, and should serve as a handbook for dealing with the IRS in nearly every situation you will encounter. Although the IRS is auditing less than before, if you are one of the "lucky and chosen" ones, this book will be a help in understanding the threats and intimidation that the IRS likes to wield on taxpayers. Daniel Pilla is the best author on the subject of the IRS - his books are easy to read, get to the point, and are a real aid to taxpayers.

Ways that are dark: The truth about China

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The Inside Scoop on China?

Ways that are dark: The truth about China
Ralph Townsend
Manufacturer: Barnes Review
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

The Inside Scoop on China?.......2006-05-09

"Ways That Are Dark, the Truth About China" was written by a former diplomat in our foreign service in China in 1933.

The author informs us that the Chinese have a system of values quite different from those prevalent in Western civilization.

For those who would disagree, it must be remembered that the Chinese have a recorded history of 30 or 40 centuries, and these characteristics don't appear to have changed much over that span.

I suppose some would claim that the author's unfavorable observations about Chinese culture are merely proof of his Western racism-but that is illogical because of his overwhelmingly favorable impression of the Japanese.

The author offers his first-hand assessment the 1933 political situation, as well as Japan's 1931 seizure of Manchuria. It's probably unlike anything you've read before.

It's so politically incorrect that the author became one of the defendants in FDR's "sedition" trial. Twenty-eight opponents to FDR's war policies were dragged into a federal court show-trial aimed at silencing Roosevelt's critics.

The "co-conspirators" targeted in this purge had never even met each other, and with the assistance of prominent senators the charges were eventually dropped. However, our author spent a year in federal prison during this ordeal.

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