Eli Pb Book

I read Eli a few years back. I've never been a huge fan of Christian fiction, but I found it at the local Goodwill and figured it looked interesting. Never would I have imagined that I'd still be referencing it some ten years later.

I can't really speak to the writing style of the author, as some folks have. I've always been of the mind that an author's job is to connect with the reader. Do that effectively, and the reader will forgive any number of literary sins. Do it poorly, and it won't matter how eloquent they write -- the story will fall flat.

I found Eli very easy to read, and quite engrossing. Sure, there are concepts that I didn't really care for, but consider the story being told. This is Jesus, in Jesus' time, with that time being today. Jesus had a bit of a following before the Crucifixion, but it was small potatoes compared to what He had just forty days later, let alone at the formation of the canon, some 350 years later. Jesus changed the whole world... but not during His earthly lifetime. In His day, very few realized the full significance of His coming.

So it is with Eli. He had a profound impact on those close to him, but we don't follow his story long enough for him to "change the world". We only know that it's coming because we knew how it happened for Christ.

The thing that sticks with me about the story is this one revelation that I'm sure I'd thought a thousand times, but never really considered it directly. It's the seemingly contradictory nature of God's interaction with man. God is absolutely, infinitely holy, so His sense of justice cannot be compromised. By the same token, God is absolutely, infinitely loving and merciful, so His sense of love cannot be compromised. With the advent of sin, these two natures would seem to conflict. God CAN'T simply forgive -- that would compromise His holiness. But neither can He simply sit in judgment -- that would compromise His mercy. So we're at an impasse.

Enter Jesus, who PERFECTLY satisfies BOTH His holiness AND His mercy. In Jesus, God passes a holy, righteous, unflinching, merciless judgment... and then satisfies it Himself. God demands the Lamb, then provides Himself AS the Lamb.

The revelation of this concept, and the way Bill Myers describes it at the climax of the book, is well worth reading whatever imperfections the rest of the book contains. Myers does this masterfully :)