Title: What God Is and Is Not
Author: Lloyd E. McIlveen
Publisher: Trafford; Illustrated Edition
ISBN: 978-1490707624
Pages: 176
Genre: Self-Help
Reviewed by: Anthony Avina
Hollywood Book Reviews
It goes without saying that religion and faith have played a prominent role in our society since the dawn of mankind’s first major civilization. Whether it is the gods of old or the modern faiths and their worship of one divine God, or even atheism and the absence of faith in general, the question of spirituality and religion have come into every major society’s discussion at one point or another. Yet how we define these aspects of life is crucial, as it hones in on what “God” is and is not, and shows that our understanding of these aspects is based on human assumptions and belief. As Steve Earle once said, “To me, religion is an agreement between a group of people about what God is. Spirituality is a one-on-one relationship.”
In author Lloyd E. McIlveen’s What God Is and Is Not, the author explores the true definition of what “God” and spirituality truly mean. Expanding upon the divides that exist between God, spirituality, and atheism thanks to human perception of what these paths truly mean, the path to expanding our understanding of spirituality and God has become limited. Only through broadening one’s scope and exploring the discoveries which have been made in this arena can one truly gain a better understanding of what God is and what God isn’t.
The author did a fantastic job of providing a striking balance of guidance and exploration with the philosophical and thought-provoking ideas. The way the author delved into so many facets of both modern life and our world’s past, including the beliefs held once for pantheons of various gods, was very open-minded and well-researched. It was amazingly detailed and did an amazing job of taking readers out of the typical biblical-referenced arguments many other books have implored throughout the years and instead focused on humanity itself and our understanding of spirituality and ourselves in the process, and how we process the information around us.
This is the perfect read for those who enjoy spiritual-based nonfiction reads, especially those which take a philosophical approach and create thought-provoking conversations amongst readers. As someone who is interested in spirituality as a whole, it was refreshing to see an author take such an open-minded approach to the subject and explore multiple avenues of this topic.
Well-researched, thoughtful in its approach, and engaging, author Lloyd E. McIlveen’s What God Is and Is Notis a must-read non-fiction self-help and religious book. The open-ended exploration of spirituality as a whole and diving into what God means in that sense rather than a narrow-focused viewpoint opened this read up to a much wider audience. Many intriguing and brilliant conversations sparked by this will hopefully open up more people’s minds to exploring the world around us in a new way.