Book Review - me, myself and I AM

An intriguing title to this book... though unfortunately my fascination with the concepts I thought could/would be presented in this book was met with (mostly) disappointment. The "authors" of the book, Matthew Peters & Elisa Stanford, have a nice little intro to the book... but after this prologue it is simply a fill-in-the-blank book. There is no description, teaching, encouragement, challenge... it is simply like a fill-in-the-blank "devotional" asking the writer to jot down their personal feelings and thoughts on a range of self-identity areas.

I could see the book being quite beneficial for a youth leader to get a discussion started. Certainly some of the topics and fill-in-the-blank areas are creative. For example, one page (19) asks the reader to choose "the fictional character(s) that fit my image of God when I was growing up:" and then lists various options such as The Abominable Snowman, Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia, The Big Bad Wolf, and others. Another page (37) gives statements about "I have doubted that..." and then lists different beliefs. Both lists, as with many other fill-in-the-blanks pages of the book would be great discussion starters for talks about the character of God, what does it mean to doubt? or what to do when doubts arise? However, the purpose of the book seems to be more of a devotional guide or personal self-exploration tool, rather than providing any actual teaching, correcting, reproof or instruction on these questions. The book may indeed "help you tell the very personal story of you and God"... but it presumes that individuals have a well-informed and correct view of God and the critical thinking skills necessary to self-critique when a view does not truly match the character of God as revealed in His Word.

Again, as a discussion starter, the book could be useful... though my MAJOR concern with me, myself & I AM is that is intends to be a stand-alone; a description of your personal journey that you reflect on with no tools for assessment or correction of an ignornant viewpoint of life, God, or other events, personal or global. Furthermore, the personality of the people drawn to this type of fill-in-the-blank reflection are often the kind of people who would benefit from sharing their journey with other individuals, not simply pondering and writing in isolation.

I believe it is the responsibility of any communicator (teacher, preacher, writer, etc) to only "open" those cans of worms that s/he is willing to deal with or provide the resources to deal with. To me, this book potentially "opens many cans of worms" and provides neither the teaching nor the resources to deal with the issues. Irresponsible? I believe so. Dangerous? Potentially explosive. Thus, I cannot recommend this book as anything more than a discussion starter.