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Based on a True Story

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Submitted By jbcedeno95
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Reading Response to Based on a True Story
James Choung clearly writes how to improve our damaged world in his book Based on a True Story. Choung focuses on four actions that offer a solution to the disasters of the world that are parallel to the teachings of Christianity and the Bible. The first action Choung mentions is the fact that we are designed for good. The second is the notion that the world was destroyed by evil. The third idea Choung writes on is that the world was restored for the better. Finally, the last action is the concept that Christians were sent to heal the broken world. Choung analyzes each action by explaining three ways Christians are to react to each situation. Choung highlights the way we handle the world around us, the way we interact with other people, and our relationship with God.

Choung excellently describes his main ideas and outlines them plainly in order for them to be readable. From the beginning, Choung identifies a central barrier in Christianity, which is that instead of Christianity being focused on “...getting into heaven”, it is about a revolution of love, service, and justice (Choung, 5). Because Choung identifies this from the outset, it is clear that his central argument is stating the solution in order to transform this damaged world. Another strong argument of Choung’s is his point on the removal of evil from the world after Jesus’ death. Choung states that all evil in the world and damage caused by us died when Jesus died. He also mentions that the damage that we cause keeps us from an intimate relationship with God. Because of Jesus’ death, our connection with God was restored. While Choung highlighted many strong points, he also had a weaker argument. When speaking on the process of forgiveness, he writes that “...followers of Jesus have more power to forgive” (Choung, 18). However, man has no power to forgive sins, only Jesus does. We can forgive each other for wronging each other (Ephesians 4:32), but we have no power to pardon another’s sins. Choung is not very clear in determining whether he is speaking of forgiving another person or pardoning one’s sins completely. Another weakness in Choung’s argument is his idea of repentance. Choung states that “... ‘repent’ merely means to have a ‘change of mind.’” (Choung, 22). However, if we only change our minds regarding an action, we still have the power and ability to perform the same action again. Repentance involves turning away from a particular sin and working towards refraining from sinning again.

Many of Choung’s points relate to my personal life, but the one that stood out the most was the mention of our true Savior. Choung makes the case that many people do not truly believe that God loves the world because of the state that it is in. One question Chung asks is, “If [God’s] so good and loving, why doesn’t he do something about all of this?” (Choung, 13). Choung then answers his question by explaining that God has given a solution, and that solution is Jesus Christ. Many times it is easy for me to blame God for the hurt and pain in the world. The true reality is that God has given us an answer if we only choose to accept him. Instead of accusing God for the injustice, it is helpful to look towards him for the answers instead, and know that he is in control of total restoration. Questions I have from the reading are, Do we agree with Choung when he says that we have to decide (29), or has our destiny already been chosen by God’s plan? Why is it so difficult for us to reach out and help others? Does pride outweigh the benefits of serving others?

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