Speaker

The New Testament book, Romans was written by Paul, a saint. Of note is Romans chapter seven, from about verse 15. The King James version has verse 19 as follows: For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Paul is talking about sin, but hits on a real sticky point of human nature in general. Of course! I'm an adult. If i want to do something, i do it! Right? Wrong. And it doesn't just have to do with sin. Sometimes i feel like watching TV, but i just can't get myself to do it. I have the time, the TV, a good DVD, the energy, but... maybe i'll start reading another book instead. No one and no thing is hurt here. It isn't sin.

And though Paul says he was talking about sin, he was really talking about himself. In every translation that i've seen, his grief comes through. He's grieving for his totally out of control, lost, and thoroughly frustrating existence.

And i grieve for him. He wasn't always exactly right, but when he was right like this, every mistake he ever made could be forgiven. You'll recall murder was part of his life before his conversion. There are hints that there were other things too. And i say, No big deal, Paul, thanks for the inspiration.

I've just finished reading a book called Speaker For The Dead, by Orson Scott Card. If you identify with any of the above, you'll love this book. Unfortunately, you'll have to read Ender's Game first. I found this book to be an insightful, deep, nontrivial book as well. But the two books aren't very similar. Even if you really like one, you may not like the other. My advise is this. If you think you'll like Speaker, then suffer through Ender's Game if you must, but get through it. Then, when you've finished Speaker For The Dead it will feel like a blessing. Speaker For The Dead goes well beyond Romans. One of my many reactions is, who is Card that he has something to add to Romans? One answer is also a question - Who does he have to be? Then, i thought, if Card adheres to the writing school: Write what you know, then all of a sudden, i don't want to know much about Card.

I, of course, liked both books.