The Box Top to Life's Puzzle

Examining the Mystery of Life

Non-Fiction - Religion/Philosophy
Kindle Edition
Reviewed on 07/15/2019
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Author Biography

While traversing this road of life, I have pursued inner peace, a sense of worth, and the truth about life.
Instead of pursuing higher education by usual means, I have relied on God to teach me what I need to know in life. Sometimes God's lessons are painful and scary. (I found He generally teaches lessons by presenting challenges in life and then offering help to work through them.) But it has been worth it; He has never let me down, and He has always given me what it took to get my “homework” done.
I did locate the inner peace I was seeking. And I sense I have found a measure of truthfulness in many areas of life. Over the years, I have also collected a handful of problem-reaped knowledge that I endeavor to share, along with the problem story behind it, to help other folks glean some tips.
In addition to The Box Top to Life’s Puzzle, I have written a handful of poems and short articles for various publications.
Over the years, I have taught two terms of school and spend a year on staff at Red Rock Refuge. (Red Rock is a home for troubled teenage boys.) I've also had the opportunity to travel around the lower 48 states. I currently administrate a small workshop for blind and mentally handicapped boys, with a side job of installing flooring.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Mamta Madhavan for Readers' Favorite

The Box Top to Life's Puzzle: Examining the Mystery of Life by Marcus Hurst is an insightful book that tries to solve the mysteries surrounding life and look at the big picture in which the existence of the universe and explanations for life trace their views to evolution and intelligent design. The book gives answers to a lot of unanswered questions about God and life and gives readers a new perspective on how to view the complexities of life. The book is concise, communicates the truth, and gives readers a meaning and purpose to life. Accepting the concepts in the book may be intimidating at times but the author does a great job in helping readers understand the power of God and how they can function best when they maintain a relationship with him.

The author helps readers open their minds to a lot of new possibilities when it comes to solving the puzzle of life. Hurst also speaks in detail about his relationship with God and Satan and his allegiance to God. The book also gives some insights on what happens to the soul after the physical body dies. There are many quotes from the Bible and reading this book will help readers believe that God loves them unconditionally, Jesus Christ died for their sins and rose from the dead, God has the power to forgive and forget, and he will forgive everybody's sins if they ask him. The question and answer session after each chapter is helpful when it comes to finding answers to the questions. This book can be used in Bible classes to help readers get a clearer idea about the truth of life.

Jessica Barbosa

Marcus Hurst’s The Box Top to Life’s Puzzle: Examining the Mystery of Life centers around the author’s insights, experiences, and the conclusions he reaches regarding some of life’s big questions: What are we expected to get out of life? What does it mean to have a soul? Why are we here? It pursues the truth with Hurst’s experiences and the Holy Bible as the foundations and delves into the relationship a person has with God, whether they believe in him or not. This piece of literature gives scenarios and logic to support Hurst’s answers to life’s questions, focusing mostly on topics relating to Christianity, God’s family, our relationship with God, a person’s soul, and life’s big picture.

Everyone has different beliefs in life because we were all raised differently and experienced life differently. We all have different answers to life’s questions. Sometimes we don’t even have answers at all and that’s where The Box Top to Life’s Puzzle comes in. Marcus Hurst generously shares his outlook and philosophy when it comes to life and Christianity. As I read through the questions and answers Hurst has come up with in his decades of living in this world, I was given the choice to agree or disagree with him on his viewpoints. As written by Hurst, “God chose to give us the independence of making our own choices.” Hurst was never forceful in his beliefs or his answers; it was simply a question, an answer, and why and how he came up with such an answer. To me, it felt like I was reading a wonderful person’s philosophy on why he believes things are the way they are, all without being pressured to answer or to agree. This made the book even more appealing to me. I was able to see and understand life and God in a new, refreshing way. Hurst has a unique, convincing way of explaining and supporting his answers when it comes to life’s big questions and it helps bolster me through my own confusion and trials in life.

Rabia Tanveer

The Box Top to Life's Puzzle: Examining the Mystery of Life by Marcus Hurst answers some very thought-provoking questions that humans have been asking for centuries. Everyone wants to know the answers to the big questions about what life is, what they have to do, what is going to be there when they die? These are the questions that have been asked frequently, yet no one seems to have the answers to them. While there are many explanations for what we are supposed to do, no one can be sure as to what is the purpose of life. In this book, the author shares some insightful thoughts and ideas that might point readers in the right direction.

The questions answered in this book are so easy, yet so difficult. The author tried his best to not only give an answer but also offer a solution. What I loved most about this book was how the author gave a presentation with his words. The information was given in small segments and in bursts so that it remained interesting and digestible. He paints a clear picture of the reality and gives the reader a lot to think about, but nothing is forced on them. The author gave the information without being too aggressive; it was really up to me what I wanted to do with this information. The simple yet powerful expressions, the choice of words and the way the words were written made it a very poignant read. A fascinating book that will do wonders for people who are looking for answers!

Vincent Dublado

In The Box Top to Life’s Puzzle, Marcus Hurst recounts his personal experience on how he found answers to life’s big questions. One of the things he discovered was that pride is our biggest hindrance when searching for the truth. He mentions pride throughout the book as he lays out his blanket invitation on how to complete life’s puzzle. This book on religion fused with philosophy tackles the power of the open mind when it comes to accepting the truth. In the beginning pages, Mr. Hurst waxes inspirational as he lures us into the enlightening experience that culminated in his arrival at the truth. He then proceeds to offer a comparative discourse between creationism and naturalism. As to how he handles this age-old clash of perspectives, he says, “I do not mean to criticize or belittle anyone that believes evolution to be a fact. I acknowledge, if I would have grown up in the environment they grew up in, I probably would believe it too.” The book is “truth” as he knows it, and he claims to speak from experience.

Mr. Hurst is a staunch defender of the faith. His approach to religious and philosophical experience becomes so intertwined, but his identity is toward a particular leaning on biblical abstractions. He celebrates our capacity to find profound answers through the architecture of a High Power, and that our suffering, for whatever it’s worth, is a concomitant to the sturdiness of our faith. We can let ourselves walk with Mr. Hurst by reading The Box Top to Life’s Puzzle, allow ourselves to enter into self-assessment and analyze his claim to truth. With the Bible as his primary source of information and a few inspirational and spiritual references listed in the bibliography, this book will cater to like-minded keepers of the faith.

K.C. Finn

The Box Top to Life’s Puzzle: Examining the Mystery of Life is a work of non-fiction focused on self-help, self-discovery and religious themes, and was penned by author Marcus Hurst. With a particular focus on locating the notion of truth and trying not to live in falsehoods, this exploratory and religiously philosophical guidebook attempts to produce a concise approach to the puzzle of life. The work is separated into sections which slowly progress from the truths and lies we tell ourselves every day into an explanation of life according to the Christian faith and a life lived according to the works of the Bible.

For Christians who are perhaps in a phase of doubting their faith or fearing the answers to important questions of existence and the afterlife, author Marcus Hurst provides a stringent and concise guide to re-establish the principles of your faith. Connecting the spiritual life to the modern ways of living, Hurst makes some cogent points about the nature of life in contemporary times, and the trials that it can provide for modern day Christians attempting to continue on the path of God. The prose is well constructed and suitably complex for the issues discussed, with an overall air of confidence and professionalism that is sure to inspire others. I found the added personal elements, where Hurst discusses his own witnessing of ‘acts of God’, to be particularly intriguing and heartfelt too. Overall, The Box Top to Life’s Puzzle: Examining the Mystery of Life works well as an affirmation read for anyone seeking the reassurance of their faith.