[BWF] It's Not Supposed to Be This Way, etc by Lysa TerKeurst 1 star

[Karin]

I really wanted to like this book, but even though she discloses very personal things and shares intense, real moments of pain, her theology and teaching are very watered down and self-serving. I'm going to be perfectly frank here; I was searching for Christian books shelved 5-stars which is NOT the best way to find strong books in this line. It's a good way to find what's popular, though. I do empathize with her personal sufferings, but I've heard so very many testimonies that that in and of itself doesn't impress me.

She is the president of a large ministry but her understanding of the Bible appears to be very superficial. I can't say that she didn't bring up anything that was good, but her theology was contradictory at times.*

Another problem is that she uses the NIV (New International Version aka "Nearly Inspired Version") where there are many things in the NT "translated" with a clear evangelistic theological bent that are not backed up by any Greek next nor the Aramaic Peshitta text. I own a copy of the NIV and have read it because there are no perfect translations, but it's too easy to go down a slippery slope and I have sat there with reference books to see. My family have not been Catholic for centuries, but I have to say that they do less of that sort of stuff because they aren't sola scriptura.)

* (view spoiler)[eg first she says, correctly, that God didn't make her sick, but later she incorrectly states that we suffer because it's God's plan for us. There is not one verse in scripture in context that backs this up, but there are plenty that say who stands against us! That is pure private interpretation some churches spew out and a lack of sound biblical hermenuetics. We're never all going to agree, but some things just don't make Biblical sense. (hide spoiler)]