Customer Reviews

The Sermon on the Mount: The Key to Success in Life and The Lord's prayer, an Interpretation

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Extremely popular with early members of Alcoholics Anonymous (who derived their philosophies from The Oxford Groups, a Christian sect around the turn of the century). I can recommend this book to Christians who welcome a fresh insight into some of Christ's teachings, as well as to (we) non-Christians who wish to benefit from the wisdom found in the Beatitudes and Lord's Prayer without feeling shut out because we do not profess to accept Christ as savior. Readers may recognize the influence and some of the terms of Christian Science and other beliefs popular at the time this book was written; they can be a little unfamiliar, but this book is truly a treasure.

Emmet fox was one of the great spiritualists of our time. The funny thing was he was not of our time. He was not of my time anyway. This was written in the thirties and I still had to grow up with the dualism of common Christianity. This book shares with us what we know in our heats to be true about the teachings of Christ. That is follow his teachings and you will experience the kingdom of God within you. Not because your going to go to hell if you don't. I always wrestled with the idea of a God who needed to be worshiped. A God who was an unconditional all loving God but would condemn and send us to eternal pain and suffering. Emmet helps us understand that our birthright is the power of God and that we have the free will to accept it. If we had to accept it or go to hell then I don't quite see the free will in that. For all who are struggling with a religion that teaches fear of God you will find hope in this book.

This is the most wonderful interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount I have yet found. I have read this small book many years ago, but its words have become engraved on my mind and in my heart and it has had a profound impact upon my life.

It deals with spiritual truths, which many people recite through prayer daily, but don't give it much thought. This little book points out in a very clear way, all the elements of not only praying in a way that the prayers are answered, but of creating a successful life - and developing attitude, character and consciousness that brings about that success.

This book has in its own way changed the way I looked upon my relationship with God and my relationship with abundance and one's "daily bread". It has also kept me aware that if one desires to open the way, before the person even begins to pray, the person first needs to cleanse his mind and heart, and forgive anyone toward whom he holds any form of unforgiveness (including himself).

I have highlighted just about every paragraph in this book. It opens your spirit and you will see the splendor of life as it is intended to be lived and experienced. I read this book while I was experiencing the death of my young nephew. I don't know where I would have been without it, I constantly keep the inner thoughts of love within me. I would recommend this book to anyone that truly wants the "key to success in life" and are willing to change, cast out those old ideas of religion we were told to believe, this book is the gateway to something surely divine.

I rate this book as one star because it is both true and false. I was first given this book fifty years ago when I was a newcommer in AA. At that time I thought it was the most wonderful book I had ever read because it liberated me from incorrect sterotype concepts of religion.

Until then, I thought of religion as some almost impossible rules set by an unforgiving God who was watching my behavior with plans to eternally punish me for any and all of my transgressions - and I had many of those.

So, Emmet Fox came to my rescue and taught me that spirituality and religious rules are different. He rightly said we are governed by our attitudes and Jesus teaches us right thinking. This opened my mind to the idea that God does good things for his creatures. He is not simply looking for reasons to punish us.

So, I would give the book five stars for that. But as life went on, and I reviewed the total message, Fox's metaphysical errors emerged. Fox tells us that we always get what we visualize. If we keep our desires in our mind, those desires will materialize. Here he slips down to minus one star.

What we clearly learn in Step Three of the Twelve-Step program is that our self-will is the root of all human problems. Self-will is the key to the next disappointment that leads to the next drunk.

In Step Three, we are instructed to seek only God's will for our lives, regardless of what that may turn out to be. In Step Eleven, we are told to make that our lifetime goal. We must trust God and be content with his grace, be it great or small. See the "Serenity Prayer."

We quickly learn we cannot cause things to happen by our visualization. That idea leads us astray and leaves us in confusion and disappointment.

The rule is this, seek first the will of God and all good things will be added to you. God does the adding, our desires do not. Said another way, this is "Let Go and let God." We need to tell God we do not want to miss anything he has for us. So, we want his will done in our lives, not our own. There is where Fox ends up in a ditch and contradicts the 12 step program.

When I realized that God wanted to plan my trip through life, but would allow me to do the driving if he directed, marvelous things happened. Things happened that I would have missed if I was doing the planning and still was telling God what I wanted. What he wants for me always is better than anything I can imagine. [...]

As a person who has been in recovery for 24 years, I have read this book over 4 times and still am in awe of what Emmet Fox writes. Incredible book as he cuts to the chase of what being a Christian means.
Phil W. Roatan and Aspen

I never realized the magnificent power of prayer! The power of our thoughts is unimaginable. This books helps explain it all. What a wonderful guide!

This book changed my life. Emmet Fox is a superb writer and teacher. In a time when I had so many questions, this book made perfect sense and answered many of them.

This book changed my life. I read it every day and its' wording got me through many a tough time in my life. The daily inspirational words resonate with meaningful truths that get my day going in the right direction, I couldn't be without it.

Contains daily "sermons" and a summary of short "prayers" at the end of the book.

Possibly the best I've ever read. Timely, comforting, easy to understand interpretation of Jesus' most inspired teaching. I never understood the Sermon on the Mount until I read this book.