20 Comments
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Sue Erdman's avatar

His book, "If God Is Love, Don't Be a Jerk" is well worth the read.

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Jenny Lee's avatar

What does "well worth" mean? It makes it sound like you don't believe that reading is a pleasure unto itself.

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Sue Erdman's avatar

Those who aren't familiar with Pavlovitz might not be inclined to delve further into this book and the title might seem off-putting.... the book is anything but. So well worth essentially means go ahead and be curious and check this one out. None of us can read everything out there.

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Jenny Lee's avatar

Extremely poor choice of words. For example: a colonoscopy is "well worth" the discomfort and humiliation because of the obvious preventive screening benefits. You make it sound as if you went through something unpleasant by reading his book, but that it was "well worth" it.

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Dina's avatar

Oh, ffs, it's simply a turn of phrase that means "recommendation," not some pedantic comparison.

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Diane's avatar

Quit being so snarky, the first comment was a recomendation given with heart. I don't care about the words because the ISSUES we are all facing are more important. Thank you Sue for reminding us to be curious. Jenny, take a deep breath and be cool, you can't be a bad person if you like reading.

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Kim Alexander's avatar

He is definitely the real deal.

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Maude's avatar

I'm an atheist but I believe in John Pavlovitz. My in laws are God botherers, and they don't like anything John says. Why? Because he speaks the truth!

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Mark Josephson's avatar

None of us are perfect. But he is worth reading.

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Mim Eisenberg (NYer now in GA)'s avatar

"John Pavlovitz isn’t perfect." None of us are. But he is passionate and compassionate and is a very good writer who encourages his readers to be the best people they can be in these fraught times.

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Chuck Dickens's avatar

As a North Carolina person, I appreciate how JP pinpoints a very particular kind of faux Christian bigotry that we have around here (probably descended from antebellum days) and skewers the hypocrisy that so much of it is built on.

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Monica Roland's avatar

What a perfect description of John Pavlovitz. He's the real-deal pastor.

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Jenny Lee's avatar

John's column is where American empaths go for sanctuary and validation.

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Donna McKeever's avatar

I love John Pavlovitz! ♥️ He’s truly a beautiful soul and a true blessing. 🙏

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Coffee and Chaos's avatar

I've been following Pavlovitz for a couple of years. I am so pleased that you have featured him here. He's sharp like a stiletto that pokes you with the most loving intent. Many thanks!

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Kris Otto's avatar

I first “met” John P. right after the election in November.

I read his article discussing the horrible results and his emotions about it.

It was my only light in such darkness.

Since then, I have followed him.

He makes me find hope that there’s still empathy out there.

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Wendy Leigh's avatar

He’s been with us for a long time now. Great man.

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Martha Ture's avatar

What do I do to try to change things? I write. https://substack.com/home/post/p-165655884. I ask people with more connections than I have to help me contact GOP governors, senators, congressmembers and ask them to come out against the mad king. I explain how things work to friends who don't know but want to know. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0261379413001522. And I look things in the eye. Genocide. Ecocide. Democricide. I work locally too. But mostly, I fail to foster any change, as has been the case since 1968.

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Pamela J Detwiler's avatar

I've followed him for a long time, and yes, he's the real thing.

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Anne Gourley's avatar

Thank you for your Substack posts. I am always uplifted by reading them, in this dark time.

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