Books by Lewis Tagliaferre

This book is a memoir of one Christian man's struggle to survive the ultimate form of suffering when he realized it was God causing his suffering. After growing beyond the lifestyle of his immigrant parents, his life collapsed watching his wife die untimely at age fifty-two. Death of a spouse is rated the highest stressor on the Holmes-Rahe scale of stress, a primary predictor of pending illness related to losses and other life changes. Although the resulting grief is considered to be a normal human reaction, it can be life-threatening. Unless you have watched your spouse die, it is almost impossible to explain in words how it makes you feel. When the traditional faith of his family provided no comfort, he searched for a new belief that could make life worth living when it seemed there was no reason to go on. Although he was a deacon and Sunday school teacher, this widower had to reach beyond the church to find a pathway through depression to serenity and contentment when his traditional life was destroyed. In our culture, widowers are expected to absorb their loss and to go on with life as though nothing happened. He wants readers to know that something great happened and how it changed his life. His struggle to live when life was not worth living led him through career challenges, loves and losses on the way to discovery of a new belief system that accommodates the world as it is. His journey to recovery may be unusual and his conclusion may be shocking, but it could help other widowers to know there can be resurrection from hell.

With all the books available about the Bible, why another one? Well, it must be necessary, or it would not exist. Why you found this book and whether you read it or not can only be explained as the will of God. That is the conclusion offered in this review and commentary which combines bible history and content without interpretation that, although possibly not unique or even original, are easily read to help disclose the danger in proof texting scriptures. It presents the story of the Bible through scriptures and commentary not likely to be discussed in churches or Sunday School classes.What this book does is give you a concise, but fairly complete, summary of the evidence presented in the scriptures themselves, unvarnished, with no proof texting or cherry picking, without any specific church dogma that may be distorting or hiding the truth. The appendices include commandments by Jesus and instructions of Apostle Paul, scriptures very few churches feel comfortable discussing. However, you're not left dangling in space with no firm ground underneath your feet. Scripture says the truth will make you free.Since the Bible obviously contains contradictions and needs a better editor, there must be inferred some omnipotent power in the universe sustaining its interest and church expansion through two millennia. If you are skeptical or critical about church teachings, you may have found the solution to your concerns here in the discussion of Theofatalism, i.e., the GOD above gods, the prime force in the universe. With this belief, you can feel good inside no matter what happens outside if you work it. The conclusion may be quite a shock, but it definitely is a soft landing.

Better Living, Better DyingReconciling Freedom and Surrender in AgingThe aging baby boomer generation born from 1945 to 1965 poses a real challenge in aging services for themselves and their families. Many of them are not well prepared for the challenges coming their way. Neither are their children. Most people are so busy being human "doings" they have overlooked developing as human beings. You are never too old to begin the adult self-development lessons in this book, but it becomes more important during the second half of life. Maybe it is true that you cannot put young heads on old shoulders but perhaps you can put older heads on old shoulders. Eventually, freedom must transition to surrender as the inevitable changes during aging take over. It takes special resilience to walk through the final portal to whatever comes after, and these instructions help to pave the way. Each person must take the walk of life they are given, but if you begin with the end in mind the trip can be a grand adventure with a happier ending. This book is chock-full of information and instruction for lifelong self-care based on professional research and therapy compiled by an accomplished senior who also is an experienced researcher and writer. As such, the work is more practical and less theoretical, although it is based in many professional sources. Organized into lessons and homework assignments, it goes far beyond the usual content of most self-help books dealing with aging and mortality. They address needs of the whole person that you are: physical, spiritual, mental, emotional and social. With this lifelong self-development, you can feel better inside no matter what happens outside right up until the end. Now, who would not want that?