Timothy

I was skeptical of this book. I thought, how dare someone write their own version of events?! But I decided to have an open mind, after all, I absolutely loved "A Dirty Job". So, here's Biff & Josh (Jesus) growing up in Jerusalem. They have a typical childhood, just two young boys growing up in Roman controlled Israel. Getting into typical little boy mischief with the Roman guards, going to school together, and both having a crush on the same girl (Mary of Magdalen) ; with the exception that Josh must deal with being The Messiah. He knows he's The Messiah, because his Mother won't let him forget, being the stereo-typical Jewish Mother that she is.
Finally Josh and Biff come of age, and it's time for Josh to figure out what exactly a Messiah is supposed to do. So, off they go to find The Three Wise Men. Along the way, they learn the ways of the Buddhists, Hindu's and even walk into a cult sacrifice ceremony, before finally returning home.
I have to say here, that through out all of their adventures, Josh remains true to who and what he is. The one thing I liked most about this book is the believability. Reading the Bible, many of the Gospels are almost surreal, and the speech difficult to understand. Moore brings everything down to Earth, gives Jesus errrr I mean Josh, a personality that fits, just a down to earth man who happens to be the Son of God, and can heal the sick, raise the dead, etc... Even conversations that took place in The Bible are brought down to earth, and written in such a manner that allows one to actually believe that is the way they would have gone down. So, was the book Blasphemous, or righteous? Well, since it never really deviated from actual events, I would have to say righteous. One just need to keep an open mind while reading, or listening as the case may be.

While the story was predictable, the telling of it was fun to listen to and I found it quite entertaining. I especially enjoyed the character creations. I found Bartemaeus to be a delightfully sarcastic demon. I could almost envision Robin Williams' Djinni from the movie 'Aladdins Lamp' as I was listening. I was a bit disappointed with Nathanials development however. I didn't care for his pompousness and disregard for other people, but at least you know that deep down he does have a good heart.
I was also a bit confused by the chronolgy of the book. In one section they are talking about the War with the American colonies, and then later make references to people like Stalin, Lincoln and Churchill. In alot of ways the author was all over the place.
But; like I said, all of that aside, I still found it to be very entertaining and all in all I gave it four out of five stars.