Separating Quacks from the real deal

It was a quiet day, most of the fun people went home. :( Did not meet any celebrities or embarrass myself, so I suppose it was a good day.

I rescued my new friend and long lost cousin Chip from the clutches of evil and we did a turn about the floor for a few minutes. He asked me if I was "into" all this stuff. Truly, the conference was fun. Mostly because I got to hang with my old friends and make new ones. I found a lot of good books. But here is what I told Chip. There are a lot of quacks there, marketing spirituality as truth, when in reality, it's just garbage. BUT there are also some really good books out there, and what will take a lot of prayer, discernment, and time in Scripture, is figuring out which is which.

For example, I met a lady signing a book on a topic very near and dear to my heart-forgiveness. We sat and chatted about it for a while, and she gave me what I thought was a very good model. Well, tonight on the phone with a good friend, I told her about it, and she says, "Danica, that's not Biblical." Huh? So we went through some of it, dug in some Scripture, and well, before I make any decisions on the value of this book, I'm going to have to do some more digging. BUT, as I told her, the value may be in the time I take to figure it out, because I'll still be digging in truth.

See, I think sometimes, we fool ourselves into thinking we've got it all figured out. That these authors penning great works are on a pedastal of having things figured out. They don't. And if they say they do, they're morons and you need to run away as fast as you can.

Some quacks are obvious. Chip and I rather smugly (but in a very funny way) could pick out a few right off the bat. Others, though, hide their lies behind cool covers, great marketing, and catchy titles.

So take the time to figure it out. You won't have it all figured out, but in the figuring, you'll find answers to some of your questions, as well as questions you never had, and realize that there is so much more out there to learn. The fun of it, though, is figuring it out for yourself. I think here in America, despite the whole freedom and supposed independent thinking we have, we're all too content to let others do the thinking for us. Because you know, I don't have the market on truth. Maybe folks read what I have to say and think I'm a quack. That's fine. Just make sure it's because you've thought it through, dug into some Scripture, and know from whence you speak.

Going to step off the soapbox now so I can go to bed and do it all again tomorrow. Tomorrow will be fun, though-I'm going to the Captivating mini conference, and as some of you know, I read the book and rather enjoyed it. Camy has some interesting thoughts on the book. I'd link now, but I'm tired and lazy, so I'll do it tomorrow in my summary. If I remember to talk about Captivating and am not distracting by a funny, embarrassing, or otherwise notable event.