instruction:
In this task, you are given books product reviews in English language. The goal is to classify the review as "POS" if the overall sentiment of the review is positive or as "NEG" if the overall sentiment of the review is negative.
question:
A great book for me at this time in my life . I am in the infant stages of my conversion to Judaism, and this book really cemented my conviction that this is the right decision for me.  I felt that Rabbi Kushner clearly explained what Judaism is all about to him and, in many instances, to me as well.  The chapter dealing with the dietary laws I found particularly helpful and enlightening, as this is one of the most intimidating factors for me in converting to Judaism and living as an observant Jew.  Rabbi Kushner's explanations helped me understand the dietary laws in a different way, as allowing the sacred to enter into mealtimes -- which takes the focus off food -- and I immediately began "keeping kosher" to an extent.      I didn't feel that this book slammed Christianity, but I'm not a Christian so my perspective is decidedly one-sided.  I did feel that this is a book about Judaism, not about Christianity.  There are places where Rabbi Kushner compares and contrasts the two religions, but I didn't get the sense that he was saying, "Our way is better than your way."  I DID get the sense that he is a man who feels deeply connected to God, and sees his religion as the source of that connection.  While it's likely that a (relatively) small number Christians would read this book, it seems to be intended for Jews -- a book for Jews about Judaism, written by a Jew.  The references to Christianity did not seem to be an instruction guide on Christianity so much as a way for Jews to understand their own religion within the context of modern American society, which is predominantly Christian.    If you are interested in learning more about Judaism -- what do Jews believe? what is the Jewish religion all about? -- then I think this is a very good introduction.  Rabbi Kushner's explanations are easy to read and understand and at the same time very enlightening.  Don't let this be the extent of your studies into Judaism, but it is a fine place to start
answer:
POS


question:
The Great Falling Away . A more appropriate title for this book would have been: "Transformed Away From The Truth...The Liberalization of the Worldwide Church of God; The Remarkable Story Of A Church's Journey From the Religion OF Jesus to a Religion ABOUT Jesus".    Love him or hate him...the lectures, broadcasts, published books and magazine articles of Herbert W. Armstrong brought many thousands of people all over the world to the knowledge and acceptance of Jesus Christ as personal saviour...many of whom had never even considered attending a church before!   This was no pop culture 'plastic Jesus', but the Christ of the Bible...whose actual teachings would still be much in disfavor in today's supposedly 'enlightened' Evangelical world.  Yet, the author of this book vainly tries to insist that the Worldwide Church of God under the direction of Armstrong was more hung up on the 'Law of Moses' and the 7th Day Sabbath, rather than the "grace" of Jesus...and thus relegated Him (Jesus) to background status behind God the Father, and Bible Prophecy.     In 1976 the WCG published perhaps the best book written to date about the life, person and teachings of Jesus Christ, "The Real Jesus" by Garner Ted Armstrong who, at the time was a high ranking Minister in the denomination.   This, along with all the other Christocentric books and articles published by Armstrong over the decades since 1927, are all strangely ignored...as if Armstrong himself, never gave Christ as much as a passing thought!   Joseph Tkach Jr. goes on to largely bear 'false witness,' as it were, against the Church; its teachings; its mission; and its founder and late Pastor General H.W. Armstrong. He takes Armstrong to task over having the audacity to actually think that God would use him, to start a new era in the chronology of Church history....yet he himself mulls over the same thing, in his own role in the destruction of the denomination, which ironically he sees as a new beginning 'under grace'...whatever that means, since he's gone on to disfellowship entire congregations in various parts of the country...for continuing on in the traditional faith and worship practices, and for refusing to adopt his new 'tupperware party' style of pop-worship service.    About the most interesting thing in the book, were the charts tracing all the breakaway conferences, or 'splinter groups' as he calls them...however, the biggest irony is that the largest breakaway group, "United Church of God" now has more members than the WCG under the Tkach regime!   Another shortcoming of the book is the total lack of comment on, or concern for the victims of the Church's meltdown; the divided families; the fired long-time Ministers and other employees, and the total disruption of the Colleges. Perhaps the Church's new leaders need to write and sell books to make an income; since over 100,000 members picked up and left the organization since Tkach and Feazell took over the reins. Make no mistake about it...he (Tkach) has his fans, who view him as a 'liberator', while his detractors suspiciously view him as the possible end-time 'Man of Sin sitting in the seat of Moses', mentioned in Revelation!  Christ did say "Ye will know them by their fruits..." Thus far the fruits of Tkach's leadership have resulted in a bitter harvest
answer:
NEG


question:
Disappointing and Overly Optimistic . Well, I'd love to read a good book by that title and one might even copy the blurb texts and the table of contets of Woodhouse's book - all its weaknesses are in the fine print, so to say. The paradigm wars the title  refers to are meant to take place between &quot;traditional&quot;  (mechanistic, etc.) science and &quot;new age&quot; (holistic, etc.) world  views, which present levels of complexity not available to the traditional  approaches. No doubt such a war takes place presently... (1) It's an  obvious problem that the &quot;new&quot; paradigm is conceptualized as  being open and unfinished - together with the author's desire to  appropriate all nice and interesting recent scientific developments for his  side, one may at times wonder what the &quot;new paradigm&quot; is and what  limits it necessarily must have. (2) Woodhouse limits is attention more or  less to academic debate - but that's not primarily where the wars are being  fought. (Does he think it really matters? The climate in academic  institutions may depend on quite a number of factors beside rational  arguments...) The bullets fly right in our everyday life situatios - when  we see our physician and argue about a treatment (which may or may not be  paid by health insurance depending on the influence that &quot;traditional  scientists&quot; (aka drug manufacturers and their lackeys) have on the  insurance firm). It also takes place in firms striving for enhanced  effectiveness in the form of the question &quot;will it be possible to make  our employees work harder - or should we consider something new  altogether?&quot;. And it takes many more forms one does not even find  mentioned in this book. (3) On the fronts of these wars I know, the  situation looks rather bleak for new approaches. traditional doctrines are  well entrenched and have lots of powerful allies - economic shorttermism  advocating &quot;tried and true&quot; measures, traditional health  providers, genetic engineering firms, religious institutions producing cult  scares from time to time, etc. If you advocate divergent paradigms, you  need a lot of patience - and you're also faced with some serious problems  Woodhouse does not mention. Let me point here only to the fact that while  publicly recognized &quot;sciences&quot; have something like a memory in  terms of libraries and institutional continuity, &quot;new age  thought&quot; all to often starts all over again, repeats its standard  arguments and, in sum, doesn't get anywhere for lack of such a continuity,  for lack of references one could build on. Altogether, I'm sorry for the  money and for the time I spent on this book. Still, someone should write a  better one... - it's a worthy project, just a faulty implementation
answer:

NEG