Philip GulleyReseñas
Autor de Home to Harmony
Reseñas
If Grace is True: Why God Will Save Every Person por Philip Gulley
The author believes and makes the claim that every person will be saved, even after death, because God's grace never ends. This belief violates many verses in Scripture. God's grace is wonderful, but the Bible teaches that when a person dies, he will face the judgment. I believe the author's greatest error in this belief is that "every person" is a child of God. Every person is a created being by the Creator of the universe, but nowhere does the Bible claim that every person is a child of God. You enter into God's family by being adopted into His family through a personal relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ.
*Note: I totally disagree with Gulley and Mulholland's view of salvation (universalism), but I do like Gulley's downhome spun in his several fictional series.
***February 6, 2024***
This, the second in the Harmony series, continues the story of the Quaker community of the midwestern town in Indiana. In this tome, Pastor Sam Gardner must regain his spiritual vitality after doubting God's hand in the work at Harmony, Wayne and Sally reunite after the sad news of their separation is revealed, and Asa and Jessie Peacock make an unbelievable decision that will change their lives forever. Wonderful and inspirational stories continue in this series of books. Highly recommend.
***November 9, 2023***
This is the first in the Harmony series, written by Philip Gulley. The author has a unique and homespun way of developing the storyline with a inspirational thought at the end of almost every chapter. He shares the various and unique blend of characters in the small community of Harmony and their local church- Harmony Friends Meeting. Wonderful! Highly recommend.
***June 15, 2023***
And after two series, having a feel for the particular kinds of characters this author creates, I can see how there likely wouldn't have been much more to do with the characters after this book. I mean, the technical details of next events in their lives could be different, but I suspect the overall tone and quality to them would feel redundant, with the author sending the same basic messages through them, probably. Illustrations that have already been drawn in both series.
Yet...I was still quite entertained reading this novel. Exhausted and entertained simultaneously. I had a nice share of laughs, including a few big ones, and I'm not sorry I at least satisfied my curiosity to get a look at Sam's life after Harmony.
While I'd personally have little reason to reread the Hope series, I may return to the Harmony series sometime. Even with its own share of frustrating characters and scenarios, I got something warmer out of it on the whole.
As much as Sam's small-town, familial, and Quakerful experiences do give me literal laugh-out-loud moments, I don't find all of his violent thoughts funny. I mean, thinking about how you'd wring a nursing home resident's "scrawny little neck" because she left your church a generous gift y'all don't know how to handle? Nothing about the visual of a middle-aged man strangling an infirm, elderly woman makes me laugh. And certain jokes about Alzheimer's disease, death, and Hitler pinched some of my bones rather than tickling my funny one.
There's also a comedic marriage proposal I disliked because it's a bad idea to get engaged or married to someone because you were prodded into it to make other people more comfortable with your romantic relationship. Yes, I know the characters' situation is meant to be funny here, but... (*Sigh.*) It wasn't clear to me whether she really loves him, the person, or if she just goes along with his impromptu proposal because she wants a family, he says he loves her, and his people put the two of them on the spot.
On the other hand, I laughed at what wasn't a minimal number of underwear jokes in the novel. So I'm not impossible to please.
In other news, I don't know why a certain character who started off single and then had a momentous wedding in the previous series, Deena, is making moves in this series like a single woman, with absolutely no mention of her husband or marriage. Did the author forget that he once married her off? Or did something happen to Deena's husband in the previous series and I missed it? Even if the missing is on my part and her husband died or they got divorced or something, it doesn't make sense to me that this book wouldn't mention that fact at all.
Also, speaking of missing...I do miss Harmony. While enough of the main church members there are a pain, certain aspects of that town and its townsfolk do have their own quirky charm. And even with the Harmony series' touches of irreverence and all the irony in the stories, the overall makeup seemed warmer to me, especially in some particular books. Here, despite one pleasant moment when Sam feels like a "wealthy man" for being a pastor, I rather get the impression that the only reason he doesn't resign and do something else with his life is because he's in his fifties and pastoring is all he knows. It's all he's professionally employable for.
Yet, even if that is the truth about Sam, it wouldn't be unrealistic. And I'd find it more problematic if he were depicted as a clerical angel, with his spiritual situation painted over in convenient, rosy religious tones.
Besides, I did still enjoy the overall easy reading, seeing the progression of Sam's family and having some laughs. I'll likely go on and pick up the last book sooner than later.
And I wonder about the appearances of the character Deena Morrison in this book, with no mention of the man she married in the last series. Was that an oversight on the author's part? Or did something happen to Deena's husband late in the previous series and I just forgot?
Anyhow. Yeah, it was kind of sad for me to see Sam leaving Harmony. Yet, I was drawn by the thought of him, in the midst of uncertainty about his future, finding Hope.
I've gotten so used to the town that this novel was a comfortable read for me, even with a good number of the townsfolk getting on my nerves, including Sam for a while. But it was great seeing that the reckoning he came to a few books ago wouldn't go to waste, plot wise.
I'll admit it felt a little strange to see brand new blood arrive on the scene in the last book of the series. Still, the town could use the shake-up, and I'd rather a series close with a shake-up instead of merely coasting to a weak stop, as if its run out of ideas.
While I'm a little sad to be bidding fairly homey, sometimes aggravating, and often hilarious Harmony adieu for now, it'd be nice to revisit the books sometime. And I peeked and saw that Sam's adventures continue in an additional series, so it looks like I'll be reading three more books that feature him.
Gee. Some of the Harmonians go through it this year, some of their trials being of their own making and others just being...life.
But I was glad to see evidence of Sam making some progress after his personal reckoning in the previous book. And in the midst of the townspeople's various virtues and flaws and quirks, some changes of heart among them gave a bona fide tug or two on my own.
I'm kinda sad I've only got one more Harmony novel left to read. I don't think I'll put off reading it for long, though.
Why? Because of the way Sam seriously has to face himself in this one, to consider what the heck he's been doing as a pastor since his early days in the ministry. While I'd say the aftermath of his reckoning eventually comes to an open-ended fizzle-out in a way, that particular door is indeed open now. So it'll be all the more interesting if it leads to a difference in the following novels.
Like every other Harmony book, this one had me laughing out loud plenty of times. And the ending is a heartbreakingly beautiful one.
In Harmonious fashion, there's an engrossing mix of the laughable and the serious as the townsfolk deal with their individual challenges, successes, tragedies, and joys. And though some of the characters' downright hilarious (and sometimes downright frustrating!) attributes and doings tend toward the outrageous, they're based on recognizable reality—which is what makes these novels compelling.
Granted, this story's narration gets rather blatant and heavy-handed in its commentary at times. But at least it remains consistent with the characters.
I've thought about trying to space out my reading of these books more than I have so far, to prolong the enjoyment. But, um—humph. Oh well. I can always read the series over again sometime after I finish it.
Not unlike other books in the Harmony series, this one is ironic. A tad irreverent in a spot or two (but not vulgar). Downright hilarious. And it has a poignant thread running through it that, doggone it, left me with a bona fide tear in my eye.
Now, also like one other book in the series so far, Sam's first-person narration is fine for himself, but it doesn't really make sense when he starts narrating about other people and somehow knows their thoughts. There's also a bit of trouble with verb tenses, when the narration of one event or another will switch from present to past tense or vise versa.
Nevertheless, I found it to be such a satisfying read, not limited to the warm sentiments reflected in the lovely cover but altogether warm (and hilarious!) and lovely just the same.
(And it was a smart move to switch to third-person narration for this book. Sam's first-person narration in the previous novel was all right in the scenes involving him, but it didn't make sense that he somehow had the omniscient knowledge to also narrate the scenes about the other townsfolk's lives.)
Granted, given my frame of mind, I didn't chuckle as much this time, what with my frustration with several of the characters. It's a laughable but crying shame how much the satirical picture the author paints does indeed reflect the church—how certain professing Christians, confident that they're doing great services/favors for the Lord, have really just made a religion out of being indifferent, ignorant, or straight-up horrible to other people, in the (misappropriated) name of "righteousness."
Eeesh. It was an utter relief at one point to finally encounter a little compassion and kindness from a particular cluster of characters.
Now, in light of one repeated idea in a main thread of the novel, I just gotta give my take: If you're dealing with a crumbling marriage, you don't try to rebuild it because "you owe it to the kids." Kids, even as important as they are, are third parties. They aren't the basis of a marriage relationship. The kids didn't make the marriage vows and sign the marriage license or contract, and in a few years, once they grow up and go off to lead their own lives, you'll be left with the person you're married to. Hence, if you're looking to heal your marriage at the root, you and the person you're married to should be the two key people you're doing it for.
Also in light of the story, I'd say similar sentiments can apply if you base your relationship with God on third parties. But anyhow.
Having the chance to process some frustration may be the reason I actually enjoyed this book as much as the first. Fiction serves various purposes, after all. I'm looking forward to continuing the series.
Unlike that holiday tale, this novel doesn't have a central plot with a problem and a resolution. Rather, this is more a collection of small-town vignettes, most of them ending with "moral of the story" reflections from Sam with a sense of regret here, nostalgia there, and hope overall. The book with its hodgepodge of flawed folks has got plenty of funny moments with some poignant ones mixed in, one which almost made me cry.
The delightfulness of the read can make you forgive the fact that the method of storytelling doesn't always make sense. Sam narrates in first person, but while he's telling stories about his fellow townsfolk, he's more of an omniscient narrator in their lives. Somehow, he knows their thoughts and feelings and can convey major and minor details about the characters' personal/private moments to the reader, as if Sam is sitting right there in other people's heads and seeing what they see in every scene, during years past and present.
Maybe you're supposed to assume the townsfolk gave Sam all of these details at some point after they happened? He doesn't say so.
Nevertheless, the humor and the evident, relatable understanding of human nature here makes this easy reading worthwhile. I definitely plan on continuing the series.
I thoroughly enjoyed this holiday novella. I found the style a little old-fashioned and slightly storybookish when I started, but it didn't take long for me to get into the everyday small-town feel.
I also adjusted from my mode of taking stuff seriously (except when it came to a couple of jokey "Nazi" references in the book), as I didn't know beforehand how comedic this story would be. Everyday small-town-ness mixed with a bunch of small-town folks' quirks. I chuckled plenty along the way, but more than once, this book cracked me up so hard, I had to put it down.
Quirky, Christmassy, and laugh-out-loud hilarious for me. I'll certainly be checking out more of the Harmony books.
At his best, he shows the power of critical thinking combined with introspection and how a close reading of the Bible changed the narrative of his youth. His God has transformed from wrathful and guilt-inducing to a God of love and compassion.
Recommended for travelers on faith's journey.
a great into to Quakers
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