Conversations with God : An Uncommon Dialogue (Book 1)

1. An Encounter With A Prophet by C. A. Lewis

2. Life on the Other Side : A Psychic's Tour of the Afterlife by Sylvia Browne, Lindsay Harrison

3. Conversations With God : An Uncommon Dialogue (Book 1) by Neale Donald Walsch


Conversations with the Drunk on the Next Barstool   May 6, 2002
Michael Huggins (Memphis, TN United States)
173 out of 228 found this review helpful

I'm not going to complain that God says "insignias" in this book; after all, they say Latin is a dead language. What pains me are passages like the following:

"In the beginning, that which Is is all there was, and there was nothing else. Yet All That Is could not know itself- because All That Is is all there was, and there was nothing else. And so, All That Is ... was not. For in the absence of something else, All That Is, is not.

....In the absence of that which is not, that which IS, is not.

Do you understand this?

I think so. Keep going.

Alright.

....three elements suddenly existed: that which is here. That which is there. And that which is neither here nor there-but which must exist for here and there to exist....

Can you understand this?

Are you following this?

I think I am, actually. Believe it or not, you have used such a clear illustration that I think I'm actually understanding this."

Now keeping in mind that Walsch was once in advertising, where anything, no matter how off-the-wall, can seem real, perhaps this is an honest statement on his part.

What is certain is that reading this book is like reading the "National Enquirer": it's impossible to satirize because the original is so bad already that any satire sounds like the thing itself.

This book is not merely the Dick, Jane, and Sally of spiritual literature. It's Dick, Jane, and Sally pretending to pass itself off as one of the dialogues of Plato.

It is so abysmally, absurdly bad as to beggar description. If someone has never read the Hebrew or Christian Scriptures, never read any of the Koran, never read any of the discourses of Buddha, never, for that matter, read any of Sartre--such a person might think this book is profound. And that, friend, is pretty darn scary.


Confirmation of Truth   January 9, 1999
134 out of 150 found this review helpful

When I first read Conversations with God by Neal Donald Walsch, I found many of his new concepts about God, while ringing of truth, difficult to fully accept. Recently I received a suggestion from a close friend to read An Encounter With Prophet by C.A. Lewis. Thankfully, I followed my friend's advise....

Reading this second book confirmed what Walsch said and more. These two books read together are strong evidence that God is indeed talking to us now, giving us new information.. Consider for yourself if it is mere coincidence that two books written about the same time by heretofore unknown authors, neither having any formal religious training, residing in different parts of the country having no relationship that I can discern, could both reveal, strikingly similar but previously unheard of concepts about God.

Consider the following startling similarities:

Walsch says God never gave us the ten commandments. Lewis tells us how and why Moses invented the Ten Commandments. Walsch says There are no shoulds or shouldn't. Lewis says God does not recognize our concepts of sin. Walsch says you have assigned devilish characteristics to God. Lewis says God does not have any character defects. Walsch says .God judges and condemns no one and nothing. Lewis says hell does not exist and explains how man came to believe in this concept.

Walsh quoting God says, " I am not pleased with suffering, and whoever says I am does not know me." Lewis tells us how to handle death of a loved one, abortion, incest, perversion, lust, suicide, murder, without experiencing suffering, judgment or guilt.

If you want confirmation of what Walsh says read An Encounter With A Prophet.


Skip this one.   February 28, 2005
Sirené (TX, USA)
82 out of 124 found this review helpful

My sister recommended this book to me many years ago - I wasn't particularly interested at the time, because I was not a Christian. I've recently returned to my Christian faith, however, and I saw this book in Barnes & Noble today, and thought, "Hm... well, she did say it was good, and it does look interesting..." So I purchased it. I will say this, it is very interesting. Or at least, I found it to be. Had I had the chance, I would have read the entire book in one sitting. And it did make me think and consider some things. Overall, I'm still glad I read it. However, I can not agree with Mr. Walsch in his viewpoints - nor do I believe that these are actually words of God.

Let me say right now, I'm not a conservative. In fact, many Christians would even consider me to be too liberal in my views. I am a very open-minded person (although, some people seem to think you must either agree with them or have no opinion to be open-minded). But this book is just completely "out there". It is certainly not a Christian book. I wondered why I found it under the "New Age" section instead of the "Religion" section - now it's completely clear to me why.

In this book, there is no Satan and there is no Hell. In fact, there isn't even really a Heaven. Heaven is a "state of mind". God does not care about what we do one way or the other. God does not believe in "right" or "wrong" at all - in fact, basically, he says we're free to do whatever we want. It's all right as long as it feels right to us. Sin does not exist. At this point, I was like, "Woah, hold it. Sin doesn't exist? Jesus died on the cross for the purpose of saving us from our sins. If sin doesn't exist, what does that say of his sacrifice?" And it just kept getting more and more far-fetched.

There are SO many messages in this book that entirely oppose the Bible. I'm not really one of those that blindly believe every word of the Bible as absolute Truth - I believe that quite a bit of the Bible was influenced by the prejudices and narrow-minded views of its authors. (While it might be God-inspired, the Bible was still written by men.) But there are some core principles in the Bible that must be accepted as "truths" if you are to be a true Christian. For example, this book states that God has absolutely no power to control the happenings of this world. It also says that humans are Gods. Even a non-believer would probably notice something a bit "off" about these statements, wouldn't you think? The "God" in this book says that Christians who believe in the God of the Bible believe in "a lesser" God than he truly is. Well, personally, I believe this book makes him out to be a much lesser God than he is.

The God I know actually does care about me and wants the best for me. He does care about the outcome. He does have the power to answer prayer, and those who ask of Him will receive. (Perhaps not always in the way we hope or think, but He does answer us and always have our best interests at heart.) He does have the power to control the happenings of this world, and He does. To Him, there is a right and a wrong, and He would surely tell you that not all paths lead to Him. In this book, all paths do lead to Him - so, supposedly, even the paths of those who have never known Him will lead to him. Even the paths of those who despise Him and work against His will. But the Bible clearly states that Jesus is the only path to Him.

I have also known Satan - quite well, in fact. I was involved in witchcraft for many years - and although I did not knowingly worship him, I finally realized that that was in fact what I was doing. When I was a witch, I attempted to contact my "spirit guide" (which is something fairly common in some practices of witchcraft), and instead, I got in touch with something very different entirely. I know firsthand what being completely under the deception of Satan is like. And what he does first is gain your trust by telling you the things you want to hear - by telling you things that seem right and good to you, but are in fact harmful to you. He is very much a master of deception and manipulation, and he often does it in subtle ways... in ways we would never expect.

Please, if you are considering reading this book, be cautious. I truly believe that, despite the fact that the author may have had good intentions in writing it, this is a dangerous book. When I began reading, it seemed a bit on the eccentric side, but still acceptable. But as I got further into the book, I recognized that voice, and it is not the voice of God. The voice of this book is Satan. The words are reminiscent of the words he used to deceive me and pull me even further away from God than I already was. The words might seem full of wisdom and love, but they are laced with deceit and cruel intent. I believe that there are many helpful and insightful books on Christianity aside from the Bible (although the Bible is certainly the most authorative source), but this is absolutely not one of them. I do not recommend this book to anyone.