With that said though I do not feel they took away from the book. I believe they served an important role. The reality is those illustrations ARE reality. They are the real issues we unfortunately have to deal with. I do not believe we can sanitize this world as Christians. When you deal with hard topics you get hard illustrations. (Just think if we sanitized the Bible itself of graphic illustrations. We’d lose multitudes of pages!)

Now did they trouble me? Yes. Did they stick with me? Most definitely. I believe the reason for them though is what matters…did they help me? Yes, yes they did. I do not believe the book would have been the same with simple, sappy illustrations.

That’s just my two cents.

I could possibly understand some questioning the use of the movie “A Time to Kill” for various reasons.

I also agree that it is encouraging to see your humble response to his criticisms.

I really appreciate your view concerning the conversation that is a book, and your ability to read and absorb various reviews is commendable. We tend to get very attached to what we write, but it is the ability to separate and receive feedback that enhances the “conversation.”

Theologically speaking, since God is sovereign, we must take a deep breath and learn what He’s teaching us from the most difficult situations in life.

Use extreme examples. The extremes are sometimes real life for some people and helpful for bringing perspective to less extreme situations.

Thank you for posting this review.

For whatever it is worth, the illustrations worked for me. Mr. Walker is right to say that some of the examples were very “harrowing” to read. However, I feel they served an important purpose. On a personal level, it assured me that the teacher who was asking me to line up biblical truth with my experience understood that my experience was just that – “extreme” and “unpleasant”. On this topic, where so much of the teaching out there is trivial and superficial, the examples helped me to trust that the author had “complex” and “deep” in mind. So, to that extent, I felt the illustrative points were not just value added but necessary.

As a victim of a violent crime, I tend to avoid reading the situations you described as a way of protecting my mind, but I found them helpful in UF for two reasons: 1)I was reminded that if the Christians involved in those situations could forgive and/or be forgiven, then so could I, and 2) I was convicted regarding those “superficial sleights” when compared to the deep and painful wounds in far more intense situations.

JMHO. But if the description of these situations are too offensive to some, maybe a disclosure up front would be helpful.

Let me take this opportunity to once again thank you for writing this book, Chris. I thought I had a good understanding of Biblical forgiveness until I read UF. Not only did I resolve a few issues I had buried as we worked through UF with our small group, but I have had multiple opportunities to use what I learned in my relationships since.