Hear No Evil Giveaway

***Note to the readers: Please be sure to read all the way to the end of this post where you will find details about our Hear No Evil giveaway. And for those of you who can't wait, go ahead and skip to the bottom, the internet police have gone off duty for the evening. :-)  You must follow the rules. Comments that do not qualify will not be counted.

NEWSFLASH: The two winners of this contest have been contacted. Thank you for your comments/entries.

The book:
A collection of wise, compelling, and often uproariously funny essays built around the experience of music as a transformational element in a moment of truth, Hear No Evil mines Matthew Paul Turner’s humorous memories of his evangelical youth and invites readers to groove along on his journey.

From attending forbidden contemporary Christian concerts to moving to “Music City” Nashville, Hear No Evil chronicles Turner’s “life soundtrack” which morphs seamlessly into the stories of people, places, and experiences that have taught the music-editor-turned-author some new things about God, forced him out of his comfort zone, and introduced him to a fresh view of grace along the way.

If you’ve ever had the opening bars of a song transport you back in time or remind you of a pivotal spiritual moment, Matthew Paul Turner’s honest—and frequently hilarious—musings will strike a chord. Straightforward and amusing, Hear No Evil is Turner’s “life soundtrack,” a compilation of engaging personal stories about how music—and music’s ability to transform—has played a key role in his spiritual life.

 The review:
Not every person has the privilege of reviewing a book by Matthew Paul Turner twice in one day. Unfortunately Blogger ate my first post and refused to cough it back up no matter how hard I choked the computer. It was masterful and I continue to mourn it's loss. I'm doubtful that my second attempt will be as good, however, since we will be giving away two copies of the book--you will have an opportunity to read the book and draw your own conclusions. That equals priceless, in my opinion.

 Hear No Evil is the first book that I've read by Matthew Paul Turner. I've followed him on Twitter for quite awhile, although we've rarely if ever had a conversation, and it just so happens that we live within a few miles of each other.

When the opportunity arose for me to be a part of this blog parade I jumped at it for curiosity sake. Well, OK, perhaps I was a little nosy. It's difficult not to have questions when someone's tag line is "Jesus Needs New PR"--especially when we are nearly neighbors. My inquiring mind wanted to know more about where Matthew was coming from.

After reading Hear No Evil, I get it, not totally perhaps but, at least partially. The author grew up in a home so "rigidly religious" that it makes my "strict upbringing" look somewhat like a picnic by comparison.

In this fundamental environment "fear" was the basis for having a relationship with Christ rather than "faith" in God's grace, love, and mercy. Although I'm unsure I could find a quote in the book to substantiate this claim it is one of the conclusions I came to as a reader. With much clearer insight I now understand why Matthew Paul Turner expends his energy, time, talents, and gifts in the way that he does.

I actually read the entire book in one day. Putting it down, only for bathroom breaks and food, it was indeed a marathon reading session. What can I say? The book was very engaging and I found the author's ability to recall stories from his evangelical up-bringing and share them in a humorous way to be very intriguing. Not only did I want to travel with him, intent on not missing a single tale, I was very anxious to see where his journey ultimately would lead.  

Hear No Evil provoked an array of responses from me. I found myself laughing, cringing, gasping in shock on several occasions, reading sections aloud to my husband, praying my 20 year old son doesn't get any ideas from the book, and at times feeling very sad.

 Several times I felt myself sink down deep into the couch as I recalled some of the "religious antics" I had personally experienced. Unfortunately I have yet to find the humor in them which means that they are still very painful wounds.

Matthew, on the other hand, seems to have the skills of a masterful story teller. He has the ability to share truth mixed with humor in a way that disarms it from being overly offensive. Or at least the laughter numbs some of the painful truths. Perhaps it's a little of both.

All in all, I found myself grooving along on the journey. At least until it came to an end. As I finished the last chapter of the book I was not yet ready for trip to be over when suddenly it came to a grinding halt.

In many ways it was like attending an outstanding lecture where you've taken in a great deal and yet find yourself fighting the nagging urge to raise your hand to ask a question. Unfortunately three o'clock in the morning is not a great time to call a stranger with inquiries. Twitter echoes like an empty prison about then. Most people don't answer email in the middle of the night. So I did what seemed the most logical, I visited the author's website.

There I found a partial answer to my question. In Hear No Evil Matthew Paul Turner has done an outstanding job of communicating where he "came from" but I personally had a desire to know more about where he is "coming from" now.

From what I gathered at his website he is spending a great deal of time unlearning some things so that in turn he might learn others. Like what it means to have a loving relationship with a gracious God. I'd like nothing more than to have a discussion with the author over a cup of coffee in order to ask a few questions.

Since that seems highly unlikely, I'm hoping to hear more about this in Matthew's next book. We've all experienced "bad religion." Some of us more than others. I'd love to hear more about the author's present spiritual journey and the avenues he is pursuing in his quest to give Jesus new PR.

 The author:
Matthew Paul Turner is a blogger, speaker, and author of Churched: One Kid’s Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess, The Christian Culture Survival Guide, and several other popular books. After a childhood in rural Maryland, Turner attended Nashville’s Belmont University, where he received a BBA in music business, and was the editor of CCM magazine before leaving to pursue writing as a career. Turner has written for Relevant, HomeLife, Christian Single, and other magazines. He and his wife, Jessica, have one son, and live in Nashville, Tennessee.  

To read an excerpt from Hear No Evil click here.

To purchase your copy of Hear No Evil visit here.

Visit the author's website: http://www.matthewpaulturner.com/.

The giveaway:  
We are delighted to have two copies of Hear No Evil to giveaway to our readers. In an attempt to make this contest both easy and interesting we will give copy #1 to our 10th commenter and copy #2 to our 20th commenter. Feel free to leave comments about your thoughts on the book, tweets and retweets about the giveaway, etc. Be sure to come back and leave a comment with each entry you make and please leave a valid email address so that we can contact the winner's to obtain mailing information.

Clarification:
There appears to be a need to clarify what constitutes an "entry" for this contest. For the purpose of fairness we will explain. We will NOT be including any comments that do not qualify so please keep that in mind.

What will constitute a qualifying comment:
#1-A genuine comment about the book or your desire to read the book.
#2-A comment notifying us that you have tweeted or retweeted about this contest.

Here is an example of what we'll be looking for in our Twitter stream:
@heartcures is giving way 2 copies of @JesusNeedsNewPR 's book "Hear No Evil." Enter here: http://alturl.com/xk5e

You may also use the share button at the bottom of the post for your convenience. Please be sure to come and leave a comment each time you do or add @heartcures to it so that we can verify it.

Most of you already know how these contests work but for some reason there seems to be some confusion. Hopefully we've cleared it up. We are anxious to give these two copies of Matthew Paul Turner's book away but you do need to do something to earn them. Besides, we want to help the author get the word out about his newest book.

Again we remind you to leave your email address so we can contact our #10 commenter and #20 commenter.

Thanks!
 
[This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.]