The Shack

“Does that mean,” asked Mack, “that all roads will lead to You?”
“Not at all,” smiled Jesus…”Most roads don’t lead anywhere. What it does mean is that I will travel any road to find you.”
William P. Young – The Shack

The Shack is a fiction novel by William P. Young, with one million copies sold as of June 2008, and became USA Today Bestseller. The title of the book, The Shack, is a metaphor for “the house you build out of your own pain”, it is for the place where you feel stuck, or damaged… the place where shame or hurt is centered.

At first, I don’t want to read this book, because I am not interested to read any religious things, but since it already lent to me, and I do have some curiosity why such a book become best seller, so I force myself read it lazily.
And wow… I am surprised..

This book “different” than what I imagine. Not about doctrinal lectures about what/who is right or wrong, not about rules to obey and sin consequences, and totally not about soul being save because of a religion. On contrary, it reveal familiar arguments within our heart, about all we might questions about God.. If God is good, why He/She (I guess doesn’t matter whether God is He or She, rite?) let people feel suffer, let young people die, let crime and injustice happen? Of course, God would be perfect to be blame. And speaking of love, does He love everyone including “bad” people? And since when human having right to decide good or bad?

If you still questioning, struggling, and if you need refreshing paradigm of God, try to read this book, you might be surprised as I did, and hopefully you’ll find some answer you’ve been search for. And if not.. well, don’t have to believe anything you read, its only fiction after all! Happy reading!

Jesus: “Remember, the people who know me are the ones who are free to live and love without any agenda”

References:
Wikipedia The Shack
The Shack favorite quotes

HP Pavilion DV 3627 TX

This type of notebook was quite popular when being introduced at Jakarta “Festival Komputer Indonesia” in the mid of 2009. I think this is one of HP best selling notebook, because of the exquisite design, an adequate specs, and interesting promotion price.

HP Pavilion DV 3627 TX specification:

• Processor: Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4200 (2 GHz, FSB 800, Cache 1 MB)
• Memory: 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM PC-5300
• Video Type: NVIDIA GeForce 9300 GS 512MB Dedicated
• Display Size: 13.3″ WXGA
• Audio: Altec Lansing Speakers, SRS Premium Sound
• Hard Drive: HP ProtectSmart 160GB
• Optical Drive: Supermulti DVD+RW
• Connectivity: WiFi WLAN 802.11 b/g; Bluetooth
• I/O Ports: USB 2.0 Port; 5 in 1 Media Card Reader; HP Webcam;
• O/S Provided: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
• Software Includes: HP MediaSmart, Software Bundle
• Weight: 2.02 kg

60 Milyar Merah Putih

Wow.. wow… Satu lagi film Indonesia yang lumayan neh.
Saya jadi langsung semangat untuk menulis tentang film ini. Ceritanya mengambil setting sejarah Indonesia di tahun 1947 saat Agresi Militer Belanda. Beberapa pemuda dengan latar belakang berbeda2, baik agama, suku, maupun status sosial, berkumpul dalam satu sekolah tentara rakyat. Di sanalah, terjadi konflik… Konflik yang menarik untuk diangkat, karena menunjukkan realita yang sederhana, bahwa berbeda2 pada kenyataannya tidak bisa langsung jadi bersatu… melainkan melalui sebuah proses kedewasaan. Saya ingin men-Quote salah satu dialognya yang menarik:

JAWA melawan MENADO… siapa yang menang? BELANDA!!!

Angels & Demons

When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad.
That’s my religion.
Abraham Lincoln – President of United States (1809 – 1865)

 

“Angels & Demons” adalah buku prequel dari “The Da Vinci Code”, bercerita tentang simbolog Robert Langdon, setahun sebelum peristiwa di Louvre. Seperti biasa, tulisan Dan Brown sarat dengan unsur-unsur misteri, sejarah, mitos, fakta dan gereja katolik tentunya. Pada buku ini, titik berat cerita adalah mengenai pertentangan antara agama dan ilmu pengetahuan.

Yang membuat saya tertarik untuk membaca bukunya, meski telah menonton filmnya, adalah karena ucapan yang dilontarkan oleh Cardinal Strauss pada akhir film, “Religion —not God— is flawed, but only because man is flawed.”

Ucapan yang menarik. Dan ternyata setelah membaca, ada beberapa fakta menarik yang bisa ditemukan dalam buku fiksi ini: