The First Ten Focus Group Feedback for God's Plan For Your Future: Purpose, History, and Destiny of Humanity as Revealed in Scripture

Manang Muyang

The title is straightforward: the book's goal is to let the reader know about God's plan for their future, in life and after death. The dove on the cover is the Spirit of God who will teach the reader God's Word. I am a Christian; I would have sampled the book outside of the program to see how it was different from similar others I have read. The author gave the reader clear instructions about the structure of the book in the Note from the Author. I learned many new things from the introductory sections. I would want to know more. The book had some grammatical flaws, though. The more serious ones I noted follow: At 4% of the sample, "The seventeenth century philosopher, Blaise Pascal" should have used a hyphen before "century." Then shortly after, "Pascal" was spelled as "Paschal." At 6%, "the numerous antidotes" seemed to need "anecdotes." The author may need to do another round of editing. The official OBC reviewer found the book inspiring and gave it full marks.

First Ten review added on April 6, 2021, at 4:59 am by Manang Muyang.

Mutai Marshal

The author reckons that the decision to either accept or reject salvation is a personal responsibility. He poses an intriguing question about the reliability of the Bible as a source of truth. Most of the arguments are based on scriptural writings from the Bible. I loved most that the writer provided clarity on how some terms would be used in the book in the preface section. I would have read this book based on the title that hinted at being an inspirational book, a genre I love. Having read the OBC review and sampled the first ten pages, I will buy this book to understand what God demands from humankind. It seems exceptionally edited. I only recommend incorporating page numbers in the table of contents since each chapter seems to address different themes independently. This will guide readers who prefer reading certain segments of the book.

First Ten review added on April 6, 2021, at 4:56 am by Mutai Marshal.

evraealtana

I don't care for books on religious subjects, so I tend to avoid them. I would therefore have never chosen this book based on the title and cover, and secondarily based on the official OBC review, which confirms its unambiguously religious contents. I disagree with the author's argument that teens today make decisions based on peer pressure while teens in the past made decisions based on their faith; peer pressure is not new, and young people of the past were not immune to it, so this argument seems naïve. I liked that the author disclosed which changes he did, and did not, make to the original King James text and why he made the choices that he did. Although many readers will probably skip over that explanation, I liked it because it gave a sense of intentionality and logic to the formatting of the excerpts that would be later presented. Ultimately, I found that the text was not applicable to anyone not already of Christian faith, and therefore did not interest me in the slightest. I will therefore not continue reading. I found only a single error in the first ten pages: a typo reading "Paschal" (in reference to the philosopher Blaise Pascal, whose surname is spelled correctly elsewhere in the same chapter).

First Ten review added on April 6, 2021, at 4:40 am by evraealtana.

Ann Ogochukwu

I sampled this book only because of this program. Neither the cover nor title intrigued me, and I'm not a big nonfiction reader. I did see an OBC official review.

As I expected, I didn't enjoy this book; it simply wasn't my kind of book, so I won't be completing it. I can't pinpoint anything I particularly liked or disliked; although I felt the author could have done more exposition of the Word instead of mere bible quotation.

I think this book was professionally edited, but I noticed a few subtle errors. One of them being an unnecessary comma: "If it feels good, it must be good," or[,] "Everyone is doing it."

First Ten review added on April 6, 2021, at 3:46 am by Ann Ogochukwu.

Rodel Barnachea

After I pored over the book's Amazon page and official OBC review, I opted not to purchase the Christian Studies book. I'm not interested in reading about the author's opinions of the plans God could have made for me. I believe what the author discusses in the book has already been explored in the Bible; I would want to read that from the Bible itself, not from his perspective. Sampling the book failed to change my mind. I wouldn't purchase it for the same reasons I stated above. Also, my initial opinions about the book remained even after I pored over its Amazon sample. The first ten pages include a preface, an introduction, and some pages of Chapter 1: In the Beginning. My favorite part is when the author said he believes the Bible is "inspired" by God and is not always literal since sometimes hyperbole is employed for emphasis. I couldn't identify any errors in the sample. I believe the book is professionally edited. I have nothing to suggest to the author.

First Ten review added on April 5, 2021, at 7:31 pm by Rodel Barnachea.

Mariana Figueira

Before reading the first pages, I wasn't interested in the book because I'm agnostic, this novel seems catered towards Christians, so it's not really my cup of tea. I confirmed my impression after I read the first pages, it has a lot to do with the Bible, which I don't believe in. It seems professionally edited, though the paragraphs are very long, and I feel like that makes the reading more difficult, and it could use some imrpovement. I didn't see anything in particular that I liked. It has an official Online BookClub review.

First Ten review added on April 5, 2021, at 5:52 pm by Mariana Figueira.

xsquare

I don’t usually read books to do with religion, so I wouldn’t have sampled the book based on the blurb, cover and title. The high rating from the official OBC review did not convince me. I like that the author explicitly details the contents of each chapter in the note from the author. I noticed a typo in the following sentence: “Paschal concluded it is better to believe”, where Blaise Pascal’s name is misspelled. I don’t think that there was anything that the author could have done better. Unfortunately, I don’t think this is the book for me – as mentioned, I’m not a fan of books centred on religion.

First Ten review added on April 5, 2021, at 1:06 pm by xsquare.

Mvictoria

After reading the online book club review and the summary, I was intrigued by the idea of this book. I thought it might help to give my life prose and meaning and to help me find what God wants from me. After reading the beginning of the book, however, I found that it was dry and not at all what I expected out of the book. It seems, from the introduction, that this book is not about a plan for our lives, but it is merely a commentary and teaching on the Bible. Even in the note from the author, there is no mention in the summary of chapters of a chapter or section on finding God‘s plan for us. I could maybe see how this would fit into the fifth chapter, which is noted to be about “the interval of time in which we live,” but otherwise, it seems like a commentary on the Bible. Regardless, I enjoyed what I read and found no errors. It seems that the author achieved his stated goal from the preface of organizing biblical passages by topic, but I don’t feel like it explicitly states that it will help reveal a plan for my future. Because I was interested in finding out the biblical plan for my future and because it doesn’t sound like this book would be helpful in that regard, I will not read this book. I found no errors in the text, but I would recommend the author state early on which chapters are devoted to finding life’s purpose for us. I will say that the author states that this book is meant to find purpose, but in the description of the chapters, it sounds more like biblical commentary. I also read the beginning of the first chapter, which the author indicates provides “background” for upcoming chapters, and I enjoyed it very much. The reason I’m not reading this book is because it doesn’t seem to be the work I expected and because I’m not interested in a book about biblical commentary.

First Ten review added on April 5, 2021, at 11:22 am by Mvictoria.

smolbird

Prior to reading the first ten pages, I would have read the entire book based on its title and cover. However, when I read the official OnlineBookClub review, I changed my mind. After reading a few pages of the book, I made the decision to not continue reading. While I am a Christian, I'm not particularly fond of reading books that aim to interpret the Bible as I believe its interpretation will vary with each individual. The book seems to be well-edited as I didn't catch any errors. Although I didn't find anything I liked about the book, I also can't think of anything that it could improve on.

First Ten review added on April 5, 2021, at 9:51 am by smolbird.

Justine Ocsebio

I wouldn’t have sampled this book based on the title, as I’m not into spiritual books.
I like the accurate references to the Bible verses. The book details the important parts in the Bible, from the creation of the universe to the destruction of it. However, I’m not interested in reading books that offer explanations for the Scripture. I’m not going to read the book for this reason. I disliked nothing, and I didn’t see anything that needed improvement. The text is well edited. The official review did not affect my decision.

First Ten review added on April 5, 2021, at 7:18 am by Justine Ocsebio.

Jorge Leon Salazar

The cover is simple and consistent with the title and content. The title is straightforward. I think interested readers may be drawn to this book. It seems proper that from the beginning the author exposes the objective of the book and gives some clarifications that help better understanding.
The book's approach is clearly towards Christians. It is based on the premise that the bible is the Word of God given for our learning. Under this assumption, I believe that little room is left for differing opinions. From what I read on these first ten pages, I was surprised by the encrypted messages based on Hebrew names from Adam to Noah. A significant part of the first pages explores the subject of the creation. There are many references to the books of the Bible. To reinforce some interpretations, the meanings of some words in Hebrew are referenced.
The topic of creation and the Gap Theory seem interesting to me. However, I consider the approach and the interpretations make the book a bit unattainable for the average person in religious knowledge. The official review is favorable and contains several relevant quotes. The editing seems remarkable since I didn't see any errors or typos. In summary, I think I will not read the rest of the book.

First Ten review added on April 4, 2021, at 9:43 pm by Jorge Leon Salazar.

AntonelaMaria

If I haven't read the sample of this book through the First Ten program, I wouldn't have read it otherwise. As a practicing Catholic, I don't find it interesting reading books about Bible retellings. I think I'm already familiar with it. After reading the sample, my decision hasn't changed. I will not read the book, but I appreciate it. It is evident the hard work the author put into it. It must have been a huge task to assemble and catalog everything. I'm sure many readers will enjoy it. I wouldn't change anything about the book. I didn't notice any grammatical errors in the sample. There is an excellent Offical Onlinebookclub review about the book.

First Ten review added on April 4, 2021, at 5:06 pm by AntonelaMaria.

Sonya Nicolaidis

I must say, this is not the kind of book that would capture my attention from a bookshelf. The cover and the title are sufficiently unexciting to make me pass it by. I read the OBC reviewer’s comments which supported this first impression, as there was nothing highlighted in the review that made me think there was anything of interest in this book. Upon reading it, I found the language and writing to be clear and easy to follow. The grammar was excellent, and I saw no errors at all pointing to a professional edit. However, the material was fairly weighty and, as the author says, should be taken in small bites. I most enjoyed the paragraphs dealing with the Fibonacci sequences found in nature and this points, arguably, to the design of the Universe by the creator. There was nothing I specifically didn’t enjoy about this book, but the sample just didn’t grab me. If I were to suggest anything to improve this book, it would be to make the first chapters more structured by introducing some pertinent questions, and then proceeding to provide the answers. I would not read any more of this book.

First Ten review added on April 4, 2021, at 3:33 pm by Sonya Nicolaidis.

Timothy Rucinski

The Official Review, cover, and the sections of the book that I read convinced me that I would never read this book. I don't read religious motivational books that focus on Jesus as God. Nothing of what I read would make me want to change my mind. There isn't anything that I disliked about this book other than the topic. The items that I did like stemmed from the author's assurance that some aspects of faith are nonsensical, such as God being some old man hovering in the sky. Apparently, the book was professionally edited as I found no errors. My one suggestion for improvement would be to use a different typeface as the one used was not pleasing to the eye and appeared compressed on the page, especially given the extra wide margins.

First Ten review added on April 4, 2021, at 1:55 pm by Timothy Rucinski.

Gabrielle Sigaki

God's Plan For Your Future by David Charles Cole is a book that talks about the church's history, God's plan for people's future, and some other aspects. If I didn't sample this book, I wouldn't read it based on its Official OnlineBookClub review because I'm not Christian and I'm not interested in religious books. After sampling it, I didn't change my mind, and I won't read the entire book since its religious theme didn't attract me. However, the book seems professionally edited, there's nothing to be improved in it, and I liked the fact that the author starts inviting the readers to think about their opinions about the Bible, and to see how they change throughout the book, explaining also his perspective about the theme.

First Ten review added on April 4, 2021, at 1:36 pm by Gabrielle Sigaki.

Bertha Jackson

I would not have checked out this book because of the book cover, title, genre, and customer reviews because I am not fond of religious books. The OnlineBookClub review makes the book sound interesting. The first ten pages did not increase my interest in the book, although I believe the author provides an insightful translation of the scriptures. I did not see any errors or anything I would change in the first ten pages. I downloaded the book in order to read the first ten pages, but I will not finish the book. I have many other books on my WTR shelf that I will read before this one. I liked how the story flowed in this book.

First Ten review added on April 4, 2021, at 11:47 am by Bertha Jackson.

Rayah Raouf

I would not have chosen to sample the book due to multiple reasons. I do not read non-fiction or books related to religion. The cover and title did not draw me in because I immediately knew it was about religion. I will not buy and read the whole book. As I mentioned previously, I do not read religious books and this book focuses on readings from the bible. I noticed no grammatical errors in the sample. Therefore, the book seems to be professionally edited. I like the picture on page 5. I believe that religious books with pictures make it a bit more interesting. I cannot think of any improvements to be made. There was an official review, and it did not affect my decision. I still do not want to read the book even though it was rated highly.

First Ten review added on April 4, 2021, at 10:46 am by Rayah Raouf.

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