Tag, your it

I have been tagged by EMC and since I have never cheated in a game of tag I don't want to spoil my perfect record, so, as Cosmo Kramer would say, giddyup.
1. One book that changed your life:
I think most of the people answering this could put the Bible for 1-3, so we'll go for the #2 choices. For this question I would have to say Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship. I first read it in high school and it was like the St. Crispin Day's speech in Henry V. It told me, if I want something easy or something to make me feel warm and cozy, following Jesus was not the place for me. If, however, I wanted something that would require, and be worth, everything that was in me every day for the rest of my life, then this was the place.

2. One book that you've read more than once.
There are a number, but the first one to come in mind is Ellul's Violence. It showed me that you didn't have to be a Pollyanna about human nature or an ostirch about the realities of politics in order to be a pacifist.

3. One book that you'd want on a desert island:
A tough one, but I would say The brothers Karamazov. It has theology, great characters, and Dostoyevsky's incredibly passionate writing that I never get enough of. When people talk of Christian fiction , I wish they were talking about books like this rather than the Left Behindseries.

4. One book that made you laugh:

Again a tough one, but the most recent would beThe Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks, Mel Brooks son. The title and author says it all.

5. One book that made you cry:
Like some other respondents, books don't make me cry. David Lynch's Elephant Man or Mahler's Kindertotenlieder are another thing.

6. One book that you wish you had written:

In checking the various sources and using my best text critical methods, the red ping pong ball goes to this as the original version of question 6. I would feel a bit awkward saying something like Calvin's Institutes or Crime and Punishment, so I will say Reflected Glory by Thomas Smail. It's about 20 years old but its still the best book I've read that reflects an affirmstion of all the NT spiritual gifts being at work today set frimly in the context of classic reformed theology.

7. One book that you wish had never been written:
Aside from obvious ones like Mein Kampf, I would say Hal Lindsey's The Late, Great Planet Earth. I saw him on his TV program a few weeks ago saying that the prisoners at Guantanamo should be grateful that they are living in such a tropical paradise (he was serious). If he hadn't written that first book, maybe he would have become an accountant or an anchor on ESPN predicting splits on college hoops instead of the second coming.

8. One book you're currently readying:
William Morris's The Well at the World's End.
C. S. Lewis described it best: "Can a man...possibly find a series of events which really catch and bring home to us all that we grasp on merely hearing these six words? Morris came near enough to make the book worth many readings."

9. One book you've been meaning to read:
Again quite a few, but I think the one that's been on the list the longest would be
Les Miserables. This dates from even before the musical, but one of these days...

10. Now tag five people:

I'm new at this blogging stuff so I don't have five, but I do have three:
Dan, alli, miss sara

The Nate and Melissa test

My kids have a test that they use to determine whether a relationship, particularly a potentially romantic one, is worth pursuing. They bring the person to our house and see how they respond to Nate and Melissa. Nathan is 21 and has a dual diagnosis of Down Syndrome and autism. Melissa is 17 and has Down Syndrome. Melissa is your typical person with Down Syndrome, loves to hug, loves to laugh. She is quite articulate and, once she gets over her initial shyness, will plop down next to you and start up a conversation. Nate, on the other hand, is much more reserved. He will probably say hello, but is not much of a hugger. He has his quirky 'autistic' tics and his speech is hard to understand if you aren't used to it. Some people just don't feel comfortable being this close to people with disabilities but,as far as the rest of their siblings feel, if someone can't accept Nate and Melissa, that's it.
Sadly, my denomination (PCUSA), as well as many others, flunk the Nate and Melissa test. Oh, they say they are inclusive and have staff people who focus on disability rights, but they also say that their disability could makes it "morally justifiable" to take their life before they are born. I am sorry, but you can have all the Accessibility Sunday's you want, but if you feel that an unborn child with my kids' disability makes it possible for someone to decide that it would be better off if they weren't born, that's not much of a welcome.