What is the best/life changing spiritual book you have read.?

Question

Apart from one, all books these days from self proclaimed enlightened teachers promising everything, seem to be unable to deliver .

Thanks for replies but obvious ones like bible, Celestine prphecy, Tolle, Robbins, etc I have read and found of no value. I mean what made a huge difference to your life and how.

Answer 1

Anthony Robbins, any of them.

Answer 2

" You Can Heal Your Life " (Louise Hay)
" Mind Power Into the 21st Century " (John Kehoe)
" A Little Light On the Spiritual Laws " (Diana Cooper)

I have followed the ideas on these books, and they DO make a difference. Each writer has a gift for inspiring and enlightening.

Word to the wise though, you are right when you say that a lot of these types of books are unable to deliver. I have found some great books, but I have also come across some really rubbish ones too. Books which are poorly or lazily written, or which just waffle on about this and that and never really get to the point. Books which are full of cranky 'exercises' which take ages to do, and actually master.

There are also some which contain some quite negative 'suggestions' and guilt trips, or governessy tellings-off - as if this ever inspired or enlightened anyone! If you are going to buy a life-changing spiritual book, have a good flick through the pages first. Check the way it is written and what the author puts across. Check the index to see if it really covers the subjects you are interested in.

Be a bit discerning. A spiritual 'truth' may make perfect sense to one person, but no sense to another. What one writer says is the 'truth' might also seem a load of rubbish to you. If a book makes sense to you, or resonates with you then buy it; if not, simply leave it on the shelf.

Answer 3

The Psalms in the Bible. I prefer the Good News translation.

Aside from that, two books on tape that have been very significant to me are Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking (it's very spiritual), this is also available as a book, but I like a couple ofr the audio versions best, and The Aladdin Factor by Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield. The tape version of the Aladdin factor is different than the book by that name, so buy or borrow (library or interlibrary loan) the audio cassettee/cd's. Get the full set, not an abridged one.

Answer 4

The bible? Oh what an answer...As if ppl had only one reading in their lives... ANd what may you expect from a nevrosis suffering "god"? Also an angry one and so on? You may as well listen to any of your neighbors for teaching you "spirituality , "the" path etc....

There are a few books that are worth to read, for I read hundreds in that matter & have 3000 or so and even own diplomas on those matters. Perhaps I will speak about them later if ppl are really interested. But for gods sake (pause for laffs) forget the bible, this is really too difficult to undertstand and look how most "christains" behave...Wanna know how "bible reading" affetc MOST of ppl (excepting the so-called Saints i infinitively respect) ? Look around you all those hypocrites & look also how the world is going while ruled by those sunday-is-church-day-and-be-well-dressed:-((

Answer 5

"What's So Amazing About Grace" by Philip Yancey. This truly, honestly changed my life. I grew up in the church and yet I never fully understood grace until I read this book. I felt like a veil had been lifted.

After I read Yancey, some months later I read a book called "The Sacred Romance," by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge. I felt like I truly could see things that before had been just beyond my reach. Again I felt an unveiling of my soul.

Answer 6

You can read it on line @ http://www.pcconline.org/Naioth/JudgmentOnline.htm

The Judgment Seat of Christ
by Rick C. Howard

Author’s Preface

It was a humid spring evening in Memphis, Tennessee. I had fallen asleep in my small studio apartment, still dressed in my street clothes, too exhausted emotionally and physically to change for bed.

Suddenly I was completely awake, my heart pounding fiercely and my clothes plastered to my body by perspiration! My eyes were wide open - as in a moment of terror - and I was crying!

I had just seen a vision of Jesus Christ for which I’d had no preparation. There was no “octave” or precedent in my life or study to truly understand what I had seen. Furthermore, the circumstances of the vision had struck me with fear: I was left shaken and afraid.

I knew where I had been! I knew what I had seen, and it was not the result of weariness or hunger. The place was Christ’s bema, or Judgment Seat!

For reasons I will explain later, I had just spent four days studying every scripture and teaching I could find on that subject, and I knew the description of the place well. But I was completely unprepared for the drama and the terror of that moment.

The Christ I saw had flaming eyes of fire, and hair as refined, fuller-white wool. He bore no resemblance to the “gentle Jesus, meek and mild” whose picture had hung in my childhood bedroom.

But even more awesome and startling than His appearance was His presence. It evoked fear! This was a place of terror!

I lay awake, my mind racing down many corridors of memory, afraid to move or lose the thought. This experience produced questions which demanded answers: Was such a picture of the Christ scriptural? Would there ever be such a moment for true believers - a specific time when they would stand before the Lord and experience such a moment, which could only be described as “terror”?

Those questions, my friend, are worth our research. They demand biblical answers, and they are the focus of the thesis of this book.

Answer 7

The Bible

Answer 8

The Bible

Answer 9

Power for Abundant Living by Victor Paul Weirwille, although there are some discrepencies in it, it does have a great amount of truth. Others are Books by E W Bullinger like 'the witness of the stars'. But I do have to say that the most profound book must be (sorry) the Bible, especially when you work it in the origianl Greek and Hebrew and throw away mans theories. Then it has a very profound effect, especially when you see the truths it contains coming to pass in your life, like healing, deliverance etc.
Apart from that though, have you checked out any of George Mullers books? He was a man of great believing who established several childrens homes for thousands of children by simply believing and trusting God. It truly is inspirational to read his works. One that comes to mind is 'delighted in God by believing'.

Answer 10

"Meanings of Life" by Roy Baumeister.

This book is not an attempt to tell us what the "meanings of life" are, just what we think they are and why we sometimes find our "meanings" inadequate. It helps to understand what all the self proclaimed enlightened teachers are doing and why.

He suggests that the need for meaning is based on four things: purpose (having goals and making progress toward them), value (having a value base that justifies your beliefs), efficacy (having a sense of control over yourself and your environment), and self-worth.

Relative to these needs, he looks at various aspects of our lives- the meaning of identity, work, love and relationships, religion, happiness, suffering, death.

What would be especially useful for you is how people change the meaning in their lives (which he argues will happen on average 5 times in a person's life).

Answer 11

Jonathan Livingston Seagull