REVIEW: Stepping Out in Faith

Stepping Out in Faith: Former Catholics Tell Their Stories by Mark Gilbert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

(Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for free from CrossFocusedReviews.com in exchange for my honest review.)

Being outside a faith community is hard. Being inside a faith community takes work. Switching or leaving a faith community? Ouch!

"Stepping Out in Faith" is a collection of eleven stories of people who were Catholic. To further their walk with God, each felt it necessary to leave the Catholic church. Each story, from a wide variety of individuals (male, female, married, single, widowed, etc) gives a sincere, 'authentic' voice to what can be a very traumatic event (changing faith groups).

I suppose I should say at this point that I have never been Catholic. I've been to a Catholic church once or twice and talked to a priest on one occasion. I consider myself Christian. I consider people who are Catholic to be Christian. Several of the contributors to this book believe Catholics are not Christian in terms of adherence to the Holy Bible. The only thing that 'raised my eyebrow', as it were, was when the authors say the Catholic church claimed it was the only way to God (which the authors did not believe), and then later most or all of them say that what they found was the only way to God.

Overall, I give this four out of five stars. The book can be a valuable tool for someone thinking of switching faith communities or churches. It challenges people not considering switching faiths to practice what they preach as well. This book is well worth the read.

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This book is counting towards the following 2014 Reading Challenges:

• 2014 ARC Reading Challenge
• Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks
• 50/50 Reading/Movie Challenge
• Nonfiction Reading Challenge
• The Mad Reviewer 2014 Reading Challenge
• 2014 Reading Challenge Group (GoodReads)