The Biggest Lie in the History of Christianity: How Modern Culture Is Robbing Billions of People of Happiness

by Matthew Kelly

Paperback, 2018

Barcode

7353

Call number

248.482 KEL

Status

Available

Call number

248.482 KEL

Other editions

The Biggest Lie in the History of Christianity: How Modern Culture Is Robbing Billions of People of Happiness by Matthew Kelly (Hardcover)

Pages

114

Description

Do you believe it's possible to be happier than you have ever been before? Not for fleeting moments, but consistently? Bestselling author Matthew Kelly believes it is possible--and in his latest book, The Biggest Lie, he explains how. We all want to be happy and live life to the fullest, but the answer isn't found in the world's definition of happiness. Modern culture is constantly feeding us lies, and these lies affect you more than you know. The lies that affect you the most, however, are the ones you tell yourself. These lies steal your joy, sap your energy, and cause you to lose hope. They prevent you from discovering the kind of vibrant faith the first Christians experienced. But as Kelly shows, we've arrived at a crucial moment in history. People are disillusioned with what the world offers. The world is in desperate need of change, and no one is in a better position to effect that change than Christians. We have an incredible opportunity to dispel the lies and cut through the confusion and false promises around us. This book provides the practical tools necessary to help you regain your fervor and leave your mark on the world--and experience more happiness than you thought possible. Together we can change the course of history--with humility, generosity, kindness, and joy, one Holy Moment at a time.… (more)

Publication

Wellspring (2018), 114 pages

ISBN

1635820502 / 9781635820508

Collection

Living Your Faith

Rating

½ (22 ratings; 3.8)

User reviews

LibraryThing member smilez4u1390

This book has an amazing message and is a truly wonderful call to action. The message and content is deserving of 5 stars, however, the writing style was so repetitive that it made it more difficult to read than it should have been.

3 more

LibraryThing member gregdehler

A fast read with a big message: small acts of kindness and humility can change the world. If you are religious, pray to God for transformation. Kelly refers to these acts of kindness as holiness. But I think it is equally powerful if you are not a believer; either way, don't be a jerk!

LibraryThing member DeaconBernie

This is an intriguing book. Where one might expect a very elaborate amplification of the title, what one finds is quite simple. Archimedes said if he could find a large enough lever, he could move the world. Perhaps. Kelly offers an alternative method of moving the world ... Holy Moments, which can

be defined as similar to good deeds but of even lesser stature. A gentle zephyr of thinking about God can be a Holy Moment. As a kid, I worked as a soda jerk in my Dad's drug store. An ice cream soda was quite an event requiring a very tall and wide glass into which was placed the chosen syrup flavor or fresh fruit. This was expanded to fill the glass with a spurt of the high-velocity soda water spigot. Ice cream was added, more soda water but at ordinary velocity, whip cream and, perhaps, a cherry. The thing is the high-velocity soda water created a huge amount of bubbles -- something like if you could put Holy Moments in a glass that is what it would look like.
But, of course, you don't put Holy Moments in a glass. I believe the current Covid pandemic is producing Holy Moments in each of us like nothing before.

Show Less

LibraryThing member JalenV

The Biggest Lie in the History of Christianity was a 2018 Christmas gift from my church to each family of parishioners. We've been given other books by Matthew Kelly before. I let my copy sit, forgotten, until I decided to make it my religious book to read one chapter of each Sunday in January of

2021. There are only 15 chapters, so I finished it in April.

This book is about what we need to do to find lasting happiness. It's no surprise that the answer is not striving to acquire whatever is proclaimed to be a'"must have'. Nor is living only for our own pleasure. The big lie is that holiness is not possible for ordinary persons.

Chapter seven tells us how to create a holy moment -- just a moment. Once you've created that one holy moment, you will be able to create more. As the author points out, even those persons whom we believe to have led holy lives, weren't being holy all the time. They had their own holy and unholy moments.

We are given stories about persons whose first holy moment started to change their lives for the better. Then we are told about how we, as Christians, can use the simplicity of Christianity's core values of goodness, beauty (for holy moments are things of beauty), and hope to transform our world. Mr. Kelly uses mathematics to show how if each person who has absorbed the concept and habit of creating holy moments converts just three other persons to do the same, the entire world could be changed.

Is it possible? As my late father used to tell me, you'll never know if you don't try.

Show Less

Fewer