Dinner with a Perfect Stranger: An Invitation Worth Considering
by David Gregory
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Book Summary Information
Author: David GregoryEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-07-12
ISBN: 1578569052
Number of pages: 112
Publisher: WaterBrook Press
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9781578569052
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Dinner with a Perfect Stranger: An Invitation Worth Considering
Book Review: What if you could spend an evening with Jesus?
Summary: 5 Stars
Sorting through his junk mail, Nick Cominsky almost accidentally tosses an anonymous letter that comes to his office in Cincinnati, Ohio. Strangely it is typed and has no return address, yet it uses Crane paper and a matching envelope. It says, "You are invited to a dinner with Jesus of Nazareth Milano's Restaurant Tuesday, March 24 - Eight o'clock."
The invitation stumps Nick because he cannot figure out who could have possibly sent it. He has no relationship with a church or interest in anything related to organized religion. When Nick calls the restaurant, he can't get any answers about the origin of the invitation. He decides to play it cool and not say anything to anyone but to show up for the invitation.
When Nick walks into the restaurant, the maitre d' leads him to a table where a thirty-something man in a blue business suit is looking over the menu. He introduces himself as Jesus. The encounter begins a modern-day encounter with Jesus Christ through the eyes of a skeptic.
The various events of a dinner form the chapters for this short book, including The Menu, The Appetizer, The Salad, The Main Course, The Dessert, The Coffee, and the Bill. Each section allows Nick to question this stranger about some of the key questions about life, such as pain, faith and doubt.
As in a real spiritual situation, Jesus never pressures Nick but simply is available and patiently answers his questions throughout the meal. The book is like eavesdropping on a back and forth conversation with an unbeliever explaining the reality of Jesus Christ.
Here's an example of their conversation:
Nick says, "Just because you claim to be God doesn't mean that you are."
"No. But it does mean that I wasn't just a good religious teacher. Either I told the truth about who I am, or I lied, or I was insane. Those are the only real options. Good religious teachers don't claim to be God."
He looked off across the room, not seeming to focus on anything in particular. He shook his head almost imperceptibly, then looked back at me. "People distort the truth because they reject the final proof I've already given."
"What's that?"
"That I rose from the dead."
Step by step Jesus answers Nick's big questions about life. Nick moves toward becoming a Christian, yet the ending isn't totally predictable. Hesitant to conclude the evening, Nick wonders if he will ever have another opportunity with Jesus for dinner. He smiles and says it depends on Nick. Then Jesus asks Nick to give him the last business card in his wallet. He scribbles something on the back and returns the card to Nick saying, "That'll tell you how to reach me."
As Nick shakes hands to say goodbye, he notices the scar on his wrists and reluctantly departs. The card simply says "Revelation 3:20." At home, Nick rummages around for a Bible and turns to the Scripture. He learns how he can have dinner with Jesus again.
Every fiction story plays the "What if" game, in which the author sets up a particular character and a trial or problem that hopefully is resolved through the novel. DINNER WITH A PERFECT STRANGER, subtitled "An Invitation Worth Considering," has the central theme of "What if you could spend an evening with Jesus?" While the conversation is imagined, it is realistic in the types of objections raised and how they are patiently answered in the book. While cloaked in fiction, this little book is catching on in the marketplace as a popular tool. The story and format alone become a simple apologetic message for pre-evangelism yet couched in a highly readable format.
I recommend DINNER WITH A PERFECT STRANGER. For Christians, it will sharpen your insight into how to talk about your faith in today's world.
--- Reviewed by W. Terry Whalin, writer and editor in Scottsdale, Arizona. His latest book is BOOK PROPOSALS THAT $ELL, 21 SECRETS TO SPEED YOUR SUCCESS (Write Now Publications). [...]
Summary of Dinner with a Perfect Stranger: An Invitation Worth Considering
You are Invited to a Dinner with Jesus of NazarethThe mysterious envelope arrives on Nick Cominsky?s desk amid a stack of credit card applications and business-related junk mail. Although his seventy-hour workweek has already eaten into his limited family time, Nick can?t pass up the opportunity to see what kind of plot his colleagues have hatched.
The normally confident, cynical Nick soon finds himself thrown off-balance, drawn into an intriguing conversation with a baffling man who appears to be more than comfortable discussing everything from world religions to the existence of heaven and hell. And this man who calls himself Jesus also seems to know a disturbing amount about Nick?s personal life.
????..
"You?re bored, Nick. You were made for more than this. You?re worried about God stealing your fun, but you?ve got it backwards.? There?s no adventure like being joined to the Creator of the universe." He leaned back off the table. "And your first mission would be to let him guide you out of the mess you?re in at work."
????.
As the evening progresses, their conversation touches on life, God, meaning, pain, faith, and doubt?and it seems that having Dinner with a Perfect Stranger may change Nick?s life forever.
In Dinner With a Perfect Stranger, David Gregory relates the story of two men sharing a meal. The point of interest is knowing that one man believes he is Jesus. What will the other man think by the time the evening is through? The conversation begins, as one could imagine, scratching the dry hard surface of skepticism and doubt, but gently and persistently goes deeper and deeper, spiraling in from that starting point until they are eventually talking about the true stuff of life; the career drifting off-track, the marriage experiencing its own kind of strain, the life being lived where the philosophical questions of youth have given way to simply coping with modern day-to-day living.
Gregory's book is a refreshing reminder of what evangelical Christianity is at its very best -- a faith enlivened by the personal relationship between the Creator and the created. In the end, evangelical Christians are focused on who Jesus Christ is, and more specifically, who He is to them. Doctrinal stances, theological conundrums, questions about literal or non-literal Biblical interpretation, these are all beside the point for the certain type of Christian whose central focus is the life and person of Jesus.
In the Narnia series, C.S. Lewis touched on some of the core questions of religion, from the Christian viewpoint (is there a hell? What is heaven like, really? How can other religions be wrong, and just one be right?) Taking his cue from Lewis, Gregory does the same, realizing that questions like these come alive when they're in the context of a story, and we can be the third party, watching with interest while they are put on the table and considered. In the end, Gregory's book succeeds because of his willingness to approach interesting, hard questions like these. He is always, undoubtedly, aiming for the heart, but he realizes that to win the heart one must never forget that the mind has to come along for the ride. --Ed Dobeas
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