STRESS FAMILY ROBINSON 2: the birthday party
By Adrian Plass
Marshall Pickering. £5.99
ISBN 0 551 03108 5
Kathy Robinson is a middle-aged housewife and mother of three. Her husband infuriates her, one of her sons sends her into a rage every time he speaks, and her sparkling best friend carries a long-hidden guilty secret. This book tells the story of nine days in her life.
Through a process of much psychologising, and many 'deep and meaningfuls', she and her husband fall back in love, and her friend's burden is shared. Even her son manages to be nice to her.
Kathy also has a relationship with God. That is, he pops the occasional useful idea into her head, heals hurt emotions and generally approves of her and everyone else. This is all meant to be spiritually comforting for the reader. However, with no great help from the Bible, no devotional life, no real sense of sin as offending God, nor need of the cross, nor of desire to please God, this is actually a sad and empty spirituality.
How would this book help you? By reassuring you that yours isn't the only 'Stress family'; reminding you that relationships matter; giving you a 'happy ending' feel-good glow. To 'grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ'? Not a lot.
When their teaching is healthy, but their behaviour isn't
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