The Madness of the Faithful

Book Reviews

Jan 4

The Madness of the Faithful
By: R.H. Williams

Um. I’m not sure what I just read.

Good books explore good ‘what if?’ questions. This book started with one- What if a cataclysmic event caused everyone to lose their faith and everyone was suddenly an atheist?

That’s what originally drew me to this book. I was curious where he would go with that question. Especially because the summary indicated some ‘External Force’ that caused the event and the followers that gathered to hurt people who still showed remnants of any religion.

But I didn’t like this book.

In fact, it mostly just left me with questions about the author. Because it seems to me that this is an expression of his own struggle and questions. Almost a convincing of himself that religion is a lie and he’s better off without it.

Perhaps I’m wrong and I’ve interpreted his intentions incorrectly, but based on my reading of this book, that’s the main takeaway I have from it. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t have a chip on his shoulder.

I have much to respond to about the ‘religion is a lie’ aspect but I’ll save that for the end of the review and I hope you read or scroll that far.

For now I’ll explain my dislike, which means I’m going to have to talk about the entire book, and therefore some spoilers. Not that this is a major thriller with twists— because it’s not.

Before I get into it all I will also that there were a couple writing things that really annoyed me. The author used the word ‘leant’ (which isn’t a word) 29 times, and used the phrase ‘was sat’ or ‘was stood’ a lot! Like ‘She was stood against the wall’ instead of ‘She stood against the wall’ or ‘She was standing against the wall.’ Maybe that’s a British way of writing? I don’t know but it was distracting to me.

So the main character is Paul. He experienced trauma in the military and was a terrible husband to his wife, Eve, who eventually died of lung cancer. He was in a bad place and the church helped him with his grief and depression.

He had found answers, hope, and meaning.

So imagine his internal struggle when what they call ‘the Revelation’ happens.

“He realised that it wasn’t just Eve who’d left him for good. His faith had departed as well. He shook his head in disbelief. He saw through it all— God, Christ, the Bible. Somehow, he knew it now. The whole lot was made up—just myths and fairy tales. None of it was real and he was unable to accept any of it. He had no doubt— it was clear as day and he felt cold and empty.”

Everyone in the world was dealing with this cognitive dissonance. How would they cope with it?

Well, of course, they would form pseudo-religions because humanity was created (I’ll get back to this in a minute) for relationship and community and inevitably seeks to answer big questions like Why am I here? Where did I come from? What is my purpose? What is the meaning of life? What happens when we die? etc.

Surprise, surprise, whether the author intended this or or called it this or not, they formed a new religion. One where they sought to answer these questions.

How you answer these questions is called your worldview. Everyone has one. It’s impossible not to. Atheism is a religion.

As I read this book I wondered where the author was going to take it.

Was he going to expose some sort of External Force that the prior believers were going to battle? Was he going to have another event give people their faith back after a period of life without it? Was the author trying to create a fictional story that would explain how faith is real and how it makes sense and actually explains the world we live in?

“The Force killed your God and showed us its true strength.”

Where did the author take it? Nowhere.

We never find out what happened or how. There is no description of the External Force.

The only conflict is inner turmoil and the violence happening everywhere because either a) people are enraged they’d given their life to a lie and are retaliating to anyone they hold responsible or b) people are organizing as Witnesses to the External Force to go after anyone who tries to resurrect anything resembling religion or faith.

And, no, faith is never restored. It’s just everyone accepting that this is the world now. Even by the end of the book that’s all there is. There’s nothing after death. God was really a lie and the only meaning in the world is how they commune together and support each other.

Being a person of faith it was hard to read the nonsense in here. It felt so empty and depressing. Obviously he has created a fictional world, but if he thought the way he ended the book was supposed to be uplifting and beautiful and meaningful, he majorly missed the mark.

How is this world sufficient? How is it believable? To me it’s not a enough.

To give you an idea of how the characters end up viewing religion after the Revelation, here are some quotes:

“‘Good riddance to organised religion that’s done nothing but rape, murder, and abuse since… forever.’”

“‘My faith was a crutch in recent years.’”

“‘What has [religion] given us? War and genocide; suppression of women; torture of heretics’ and a slew of the more terrible acts committed by humanity.’”

“‘The shackles have been taken off and we have been told to go and live our lives as we see fit, free of their tyranny. Somewhere out there, a benevolent, External Force has liberated us.’”

“‘You’ve eaten only food that God allows, drunk only drinks that God allows, even loved according to what God allows. You’ve lived a life in denial.’”

“‘A need to dominate. Insecure old men preying on the vulnerable and exploiting the weak. It’s what organised religions are built on.’”

Pretty bleak, huh. There are people in real life who have these thoughts. Sadly, because there has been abuse in the church, which is contrary to anything the Bible teaches. And sadly, there has been violence surrounding really all religions.

People view religion, or more specifically Christianity, as a crutch or a cage. But that’s only if it’s not true. What if God is real? What if we are all created with meaning for a divine purpose? What if there is an explanation for the evil we see in the world? What if it’s actually freedom because we are no longer enslaved to our own selfish desires?

I wish people didn’t experience trauma like they do. I wish the Church was perfect. But it’s made up of sinners, just like anything is, and unfortunately we all experience the consequences of others’ or our own sin.

That doesn’t render God or the Bible lies.

They did nothing to talk about the person of Jesus in this book. You won’t find many who deny he existed. Christianity hinges on his birth, life, death, and resurrection.

Plus everyone lives by faith. If faith disappeared did that mean that people lost faith in each other? That people didn’t have faith that people would follow the rules of the road? They lost faith that their bed wouldn’t collapse when they laid down? Or was ‘religious’ faith siphoned off from the rest? And is that possible?

The book basically said ‘It’s all lies, sorry. And there are no answers, you just have to believe this is it.’ Does that sit well with you? That seems like a cop-out, and an unintelligent, unpondered, and unsatisfying one.

Of course, in the book faith is impossible because of this fictional ‘event’ but if this book isn’t a parody of real life then I don’t know what the point of it is, so I’m going to treat it as if the author views the real world and his own life like this.

Here are the answers or explanations given by the character when faced with their new reality:

“‘My point is— isn’t it more powerful-more meaningful- that it all came from nature without a Creator’s hand?’
’I suppose, but that also means all the bad stuff comes from nothing as well. Anything could happen tomorrow and you, me, everyone we know could all be gone.’”

‘Doesn’t it give you fear?'
’Fear of what?’
’A fear that none of it matters— the choices we make and the types of people we decide to be. It’s all aimless.’

‘[We need] somewhere people can flourish. Not dwell on our sins or place our hopes on the doctrines and dogma of texts written millennia ago, but to recognise the honest goodness in humanity, and build bridges from our fears to reason, humility, kindness and, ultimately, other people.’

‘The clarity that your time is all you have is the greatest gift anyone could eve receive. It puts you in absolute control. Without higher power, your fate and destiny are in your own hands. That is true freedom.’

‘Humans have a desperate need to find meaning in their lives. We are trying to help members of this group to find meaning in reason and in our own human story.’

‘It’s hard for many to accept the truth that the universe—nature—all of it is random and driven by chance.’

‘With what we know now, wouldn’t it be great if people started to focus on this moment in time and make it better for all— to fight injustice and ease suffering where we can? That would be how— in my view— we could take control of our own stories and establish an existence full of meaning and purpose.’

All rainbows and butterflies yeah? Everything is random and meaningless and chaos. I’m not sure why they think everyone will just decide to be good and kind and serve one another when there’s not really a point. Their lives are inherently meaningless. Most people will act in their own self-interest when it comes down to it.

The book goes like this: The Revelation rocks everyone’s world. Paul has a mental breakdown. He starts hallucinating his wife, Eve, who is super mean to him and leads him to a town from their memories. He starts to make a life there. The woman he starts to fall in love with has a dad who starts gatherings in the church-turned-community-center giving everyone ‘hope’ and helping them answer life’s questions. The Witnesses to the External Force find out about it and come and hang the dad. Paul finds their hideout and burns them to death in a house. Everyone is sad and wonder why bad things happen. But they will carry out the murdered man’s legacy like he would want them to.

And their ultimate conclusion is this:

“‘The point is, we have each other. Our strength comes from the connections we have with ourselves and others. From supporting one another and from enjoying good things together; the things that make us different from all the other mortal creatures we share this planet with. Life is full of possibilities and endless opportunities for experience. And all of it is so much richer when we share those moments together.’”

“‘You choose the pain, the euphoria, the joy, the sorrow, the glorious chaos of life. Or you choose the painless nonexistence, the return to nothingness.’”

What a choice.

I’m just not really sure what to say about the book. Well I’ve said a lot I suppose, but I’m just very confused about the point of the book and how I was supposed to feel as a reader. The book doesn’t have enough reviews yet for me to see what other people thought, but for me nothing really landed.

The Character Names

One thing I can’t imagine was random are the character names— Paul and Eve.

Paul like the apostle Paul (Saul). Saul was persecuting Christians until he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus. Then he believed and went on to write a good portion of the New Testament defending faith in Christ.

Eve like the first woman who was deceived by the serpent and handed the fruit to her husband who ate of it and sin entered the world.

It’s hard not to wonder why he chose these names. Paul is ironic and Eve’s is somewhat fitting. The hallucination of Eve is trying to deceive character Paul and really acts like the serpent and the Father of Lies, tearing him down and trying to get him to see how terrible he is.

He should have had Paul have a revelation partway through and help others come back to faith. That would have been accurate. Instead he was actually a persecutor of the Witnesses of the External Force.

Again. Confusion about intended meaning.

Real Faith

I said I would come back to the ‘religion is a lie’ basis for this book. I could say a lot, but instead I will just point you to others who have written entire books about it and cover more than I could here.

Is God real? Is Jesus God? What is the point of religion or Christianity? Isn’t religion just a way for people to abuse and enact violence against those who believe different than them? Does any good come from religion?

Here are some great reads that I would highly recommend that will affirm faith in God and following the Bible, and defend the truth. It is not irrational. It is not a crutch. it is not a lie. It is not a myth. It is real. It is true hope, and if you fall prey to the seeming conclusion of this book you will miss out on everything and you will not be better for it.

Don’t just believe me, if you truly seek answers and truly seek God, you will find Him.

Why Believe?: A Reasoned Approach to Christianity by Neil Shenvi (why Christianity is not irrational and how we can believe the Bible and Jesus’s divinity)

Why God Makes Sense in a World that Doesn’t by Gavin Ortlund (looking at why Christianity tells a better story than Naturalism; seeing the goodness and beauty of Christianity)

Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion by Rebecca McLaughlin (covers all the most common questions objecting to Christianity)

Confronting Jesus: 9 Encounters with the Hero of the Gospels by Rebecca McLaughlin (on my TBR for this year)

Surviving Religion 101 by Michael J. Kruger (talks about a lot of the things college professors would challenge about your faith in God and Christianity)

The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Tim Keller (covers common objections to Christianity and presents arguments for God)

Taking God at His Word: Why the Bible is Knowable, Necessary, and Enough, and What that Means for You and Me by Kevin DeYoung (why we can/trust believe the Bible)

Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity by Nabeel Qureshi (a man seeking to disprove Jesus finds that he can’t)