There are lots of ways to deny the existence God. In this novel, Butler’s protagonist tries to convince those around her that God doesn’t exist, and their best option for survival is to impact or shape the one thing she sees as all powerful, “Change.” The antagonists in the story are, ironically, worshiping the same process, and attempting to shape Change for their own benefit, which leads to societal collapse . . . and yet that’s what Butler tries to convince us is the solution.
I’d propose the opposite. We must devote ourselves to study the living and loving God, so that He may shape us. Then, we are better positioned to impact the world for His will–not our own.
Parable of the Sower is one of the more depressing and hopeless books I’ve read in a while. As many anti-Christian books do, it capitalizes on a Christian theme or passage, and twist it into a non-Christian tale. In the story, our protagonist leads a group of survivors through a desolate, dangerous, and dystopian modern day California. The world is Godless, and the characters double down on living the same way, while justifying it. “We only kill people who threaten us.” “We only steal from other people.” “God is Change”…and we “try to shape God.” While there is some creativity, sharing people’s pain, a pyro drug that makes people want to start fires, Butler avoids much descriptive language, writing as desolate as the premise itself. Nonetheless, there were a a handful of interesting lines that were worth posting about. Long to short, I don’t recommend the book, unless you’re after a depressing, soulless, dystopian novel. Equally depressing is the number of people who rated it highly in GoodReads. You can see some of those in GoodReads. I guess I prefer hope and faith.
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