SIN: THE DISEASE AND THE CURE

A short, intense treatise on the nature of sin and free will.

“Distrust of God is the disease that has infected this human race,” Tank writes in his punchy nonfiction debut. In it, he analyzes some of the paradoxical sources of that distrust, including God’s respect for free will, which allows people to willfully reject him, just as Adam and Eve did in the book of Genesis. Throughout, Tank uses contemporary and biblical examples to illustrate how God is resolute in allowing his creations to make their own decisions. God, the author says, is a “gentleman” who won’t insist on contact if it isn’t sought in return, and the bulk of the book is taken up with the nature of the ensuing connection between God and humankind. Overall, Tank’s prose is energetic and concise throughout. This compensates considerably for occasional erroneous statements, such as that “you cannot find a continent on the planet that isn’t infested with an unacceptable level of human suffering” (which doesn’t take into account Antarctica), or unsupported assertions, such as that the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were “divinely inspired.” However, Tank’s target audience of fellow Christians will concentrate on the personal, compassionate cast of the relationship that he describes: “As our Creator, God can certainly choose any sort of arrangement or relationship with us that he wants,” Tank writes. “He wants friendship. He wants intimacy.” The book goes on to smoothly tie this idea into the earthly mission of Jesus Christ, who also preached that the key to the kingdom of heaven is a close, knowing relationship with God—one that can only be real when it’s personal.

A compact study of God’s close bond with humankind.