I thoroughly enjoy my opportunity as a Booksneeze blogger
and pick book that have topics for which I am greatly interested. Well, Shannon Ethridge’s The Fantasy
Fallacy: Exposing Deeper Meaning Behind Sexual Thoughts is not one of those
books. There is a line at the top of the
front cover that caught my eye – “A Response to the Fifty Shades of Grey
Phenomenon.” I have not read the book due
to the racy content; but I noticed , on a recent business trip, that the 8 women
sitting around me were reading it. With
a quick Google search revealing quite a bit of fuss, I decided that the
Christian response would be an interested read.
The Fantasy Fallacy hits upon some topics that many
in the Puritanical Christian world would never expect to see published by a major
company. Honestly, this book, at times,
is hard to read because it does delve into some dark issues that this counselor
has faced during her career. Yet, these
topics are discussed in an open and forthright manner that point each
individual to God as the source of all comfort and grace.
There were several strong components of this book: (1) a clear argument that any sexual sins are
not to be blamed upon God or the devil – we are the ones to blame; (2) we all
struggle in this battle for our mind and if we try to deny it is just another
lie; (3) God, as the Almighty Sovereign of the Universe, has sufficient grace
to heal any problems that we may have; (4) intimacy should be interpreted in
this way – “in to me see” – meaning that we all seek it whether we acknowledge it
or not; and (5) that intimacy is rooted in seeking a spiritual intimacy with
God. We set the bar too low and try to
fill that void with just about everything except the One and Only
All-Satisfying piece – our Creator, Redeemer, and Friend.
The next to last chapter, “Putting Fantasy in its Place,”
was a strong way to end this sometimes complex and psychological/counseling
work. Ethridge summarized her work
concisely through a personal example of her own and showcased just what a real
loving marriage means (and, conversely, how the world’s offering is so
cheap). The thoughts contained therein
are a challenge to any person that encounters small circumstances that may be
innocent but could lead to a very troubling end.
While the book does deal with some uncomfortable topics, my
greatest discomfort is in the opening and conclusion of Ehtridge’s
manuscript. In those areas, she
describes a dream and offers her interpretation of it. She concludes the work with this statement on
page 200: “God doesn’t just speak to use
through sermons or scriptures….He often speaks to us through dreams while we
are asleep….The main question is, are we listening?” While I believe I may know the author’s
intent, I am not so certain because of the implication – there is
extra-Biblical guidance that God gives to certain and/or all believers. That line of argument could lead to two
problematic issues: (1) since dreams are
personal, we offer their interpretation and remove God from the equation and
(2) since the Bible is not our only source of truth, the defense of Scripture
can then be pushed aside for more relevant experience. In our hyper-relativisitic world,
undercutting the authority of Scripture can be dangerous.
Due to the concerns noted above, and the lack of another
book upon which to compare, I ranked this book as a 3 – solidly in the
middle. This area is not my expertise
and I do not know or understand other Christian scholarship upon it. Absent that knowledge, I cannot give it an outstanding
high mark or an astoundingly low one.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I
received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive
review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in
accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in
Advertising.”
