Dinner with a Perfect Stranger

After watching the movie, "The Perfect Stranger," I decided to read the book upon which it was based: Dinner with a Perfect Stranger: An Invitation Worth Considering. I was motivated to do so because the movie contained what I felt was the clearest, most straight-forward presentation of the gospel message without being offensive or emotionally charged. I was actually going to transcribe the dialog until I found out that the movie was based on the book, and the book was available at Amazon. The picture of the author, David Gregory, on the inside back cover also drew me in because he looks like a pretty ordinary guy.

This book answers the question, "What would you discuss over dinner with Jesus?" The setting of the book is in an Italian restaurant where the main character, successful businessman Nick Cominsky, meets Jesus of Nazareth for dinner. Intriguing. The meal unfolds as Jesus waxes philosophically and answers Nick's many questions about life. For example, on the topic of the truth of a belief system, Jesus states, "What people believed worked for them, to a point, even though it wasn't true [referring to the belief in a flat Earth in Copernicus' day]. But at some critical juncture it ceased to work anymore."

Nick replies, "What you're saying is that even if a belief system seems to work for someone, if it's false, eventually it will break down." Jesus replies with, "And you don't want what you're ultimately trusting in to be wrong." The book sets up these exchanges much better than I can in a short blog, but suffice it to say that the book is full of common sense dialog like this that disarms many of the topics that scare us as believers.

I'd love to talk over this book over a cup of coffee with someone else who's read it. It's full of ideas about faith, sharing it, and listening to the questions and comments those that are looking for answers might ask. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'll give it a 9.