Beware the Extreme!

Last month I read The Fourth World War: Diplomacy and Espionage in the Age of Terrorism by Count de Marenches and David Andelman. de Marecnhes was the head of SDECE (France's intelligence agency) from 1970 to 1981 and had a number of very controversial things to say.

Written in 1992, I remember reading this book in 1998 and thinking Marenches was a kook, based in part on statements like this:

"…the very essence of the enemy embodies a new form – which is what makes the Fourth World War so much more deadly, and desperate. Our enemy this time is the theological fanatic. Such a fanatic will never be happy as long as there is one member of his detested opposition left alive. .. it will be the heart of increasingly broader conflicts in the battles of the Fourth World War."

Essentially, Marenches was positing a fourth global conflict (the Cold War being the third) that would pit the West against small groups of deadly and fanatical terrorists and the occasional rogue states that supported them. This, just a few years after the fall of the Berlin wall, the "End of History" and the "Peace Dividend"!

He claimed that Europe and North America were not taking the threat seriously, but was optimistic that this would change. It took nine years, but what looked like alarmist rantings in 1992 look positively astute in light of September 11, 2001:

"My hope for the future enlightenment of the Americans springs from… my certainty that international terrorism will finally find its way to their shores. That is not something I would wish on my most mortal enemy, let alone my friends. But if the terrorist threat has the effect of shaking up the American people and especially their leadership, then it will have had some value. The Americans until now have led a relatively charmed and sheltered existence. Terrorist incidents involving Americans or American property have all happened far from the territory of the United States. "

"Many of the circumstances are changing, though. With international terrorism now nearly two decades old, its leaders have become adept at, even smug about, operating in any type of environment. The FBI is beginning to look no more threatening that France’s DST or Great Britain’s MI5. The Untied States may soon seem a soft and tempting mark. And it will only take one successful terrorist operation there to convince the terrorist international that the United States is a promising new and virtually untapped well of targets for their violence."

I did not take the warnings seriously, and neither did anyone else. Could the events of September 11, 2001 been avoided had the Americans taken seriously de Marenches' call to arms? It's impossible to say, but more vigilence would not have been amiss.

Why have I devoted a post to this book? Simply because it is a lesson to us all to always examine a claim in light of objective truth and not reject it simply because it runs contrary to what "everybody knows" or because it is "extreme". It is a sad commentary on our current culture, that the litmus tests for arguments seems to be not, primarily, whether they are true, but whether they are "extreme" or "offensive". Revolutionary ideas almost always seem extreme and offensive. Jesus’ words to the scribes, Pharisees, sinners and smug, self-righteous, religious nationalists of His day of were both "offensive" and "extreme", but never the less, true and still hold the key to abundant and eternal life.

Things that are extreme or revolutionary are not always true, but neither are they, by definition false. When encountering unfamiliar ideas, may we have discernment and wisdom to be able to look beyond our cultural biases and fear of the "extreme" to see clearly those ideas which are true and revolutionary and may ultimately be for our good.

What I've been reading

From left to right:

The Temple: Its Ministry and Services
Alfred Edersheim

I have really enjoyed reading this book, which is a good overview of the 1st century temple. Though written well over a century ago, the illustrations and Edersheim's descriptions hold up very well. He very carefully goes through the physical aspects of the temple, then the services and practical organization. The footnotes are never distracting and the illustrations are clear and helpful. I appreciated the manner in which he shows how the temple traditions were established: some by God in the Old Testament, some by rabbis and priests through the intervening centuries.

Edersheim also takes great care to demonstrate how Jesus Christ fulfilled the prophecies and symbols of the temple. Best read in several sittings and casually, but certainly worth reading for the depth it adds to our understanding of much of the New Testament. My only caution is that given the age of the book, it does not adequately reflect the research and archeology of the last century.


The Elders of the Church
Lawrence Eyres

This is a book that can be read fairly quickly, but is more than a pamphlet. Eyres is a Presbyterian and it certainly shows in his approach to the ideas of eldership in the church. The early chapters, in which he deals with the more general ideas about eldership (E.g. a church should be governed by a plurality of elders, God calls men to be elders, the qualifications and function of elders), are the best and contain the most biblical evidence. The later chapters (on specific roles and ecclesial issues) are not nearly so well written and, unsurprisingly, contain much less biblical evidence to support his contentions. Despite that short-coming, the final chapters do contain enough good advice (based on years of experience in a local church) that they are worth reading and considering.

If nothing else, his book is a challenge to think biblically and carefully about how and why we select leaders for the local church.

The Fourth World War: Diplomacy and Espionage in the Age of Terrorism
Count de Marenches and David Andelman

I first read this book (in an overview fashion) in 1998 and ignored the claims Marenches was making. He predicted the War on Terror we now find ourselves in and suggested a number of (often immoral) ways of waging it. Still, this book has valuable lessons which I will be addressing in a future post.

King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table
Thomas Mallory (updated and translated by the Illustrated Junior Library)

Read at bedtimes with the children, this book is a relatively faithful adaptation of the Malory version of the Arthurian legends, but sanitized and updated for the 1950 children’s library release. Unfortunately, it combines the worst both worlds: the archaic language of Malory with none of the grandeur or epic feel. So, it was more difficult for the children to understand, but with none of the benefits. Still, the children all enjoyed the book (some more than others).

Also, it was nice to have a children’s version that kept the main elements sweep of the legend (both heroic and tragic). The Pyle version was my first exposure to Arthur, and will always be classic, but its glaring deficiency is the way he ignores or glosses over the less noble aspects of the story.

What I've been reading

From left to right:

Worship by the Book

Edited: Don Carson

Easily the best book currently in print about corporate worship. Carson and his co-authors write thoughtfully and well about the subject. The first chapter alone is worth several times the cover price. It has heavily influenced my own thinking on corporate worship and though this was my third time through, I still gleaned more from it than from almost any other current book on the subject.

Business for the Glory of God

Wayne Grudem

Grudem offers a fairly superficial overview (it's a short book!) of the morality associated with various activities associated with business. He is clearly coming from a distinctive economic perspective, but never the less, challenges the reader to think biblically and clearly about engaging in business activies.

Nine Marks of a Healthy Church

Mark Dever

This is a good, popular level book, clearly written by a Pastor, about the characteristics of a healthy church. It is not a restatement of the classical view of the 'true church', but is rather a practical corrective to many of the features of contemporary churches which distract from the purpose of the church. An easy, but worthwhile read.

What I've Been Reading

Continuing my thoughts from a couple posts ago on reading in Canada and what that means for evangelism and teaching within the church, I thought I would periodically post books I have recently read. I haven't done it this time, but in future, I may include a capsule review. For now, I'll just post the covers. So, here goes:

Gulliver's Travels

Jonathan Swift

1735

The Histories
Herodotus (trans. David Grene)
440 BC (trans. 1987)

Love Rules
Various
2007

Parallels and Paradoxes
Edward Said & Daniel Barenboim
2004

How Shall We Worship?
Marva Dawn
2003

Reading and Teaching in Canada

You don’t have to look far to find articles and essays lamenting the decline of reading in our day. However, things are not as bad in Canada as they might be in other parts of the world. According to the Statistics Canada study, "Reading and Buying Books for Pleasure", only 13% of Canadians have not read a book in the past twelve months. Men and women read about the same amount, but their choice of reading material varies. Women tend to be readers of fiction and literature reading, while men focus on history, science and how-to books.

Reviewing this report made me think about how we share information about the truths of Christianity with our culture (and how I instruct my children in those truths). One thing the study seems to suggest is that, as a group, women value narrative, and infer meaning from it, while men respond to didactic, logical information.

Biblical Theology is an approach to studying God’s revelation that recognizes the progressive nature of God’s self-revelation in the Bible and emphasizes the broader historical context in which different sections of the Bible occur. Biblical theology, in other words, takes the Bible on it’s own terms, and makes sense of any passage in light of how it fits in to the meta-narrative of God’s plan of redemption.

Systematic Theology, on the other hand, takes a more topical, or thematic, approach. Typically beginning with God and seeing what the entire Bible says about Him, systematic theology moves on to other topics and creates an entire philosophical or theological framework in which to understand the Biblical revelation.

So, in light of the Statistics Canada report, I wonder if men are more attuned to systematic theology and women are more inclined to Biblical theology? If that’s so, I pray our approach to teaching and preaching in our churches and in our homes reflects the different inclinations of men and women in Canada, so that "we may present everyone complete in Christ" (Col. 1:28)

Look What Was in My Stocking!

A brief break from the law and gospel discussion to show what was in my Christmas stocking. It was very exciting to receive them (the one by Tom Nettles I have known about but never read, the Michael Haykin book was completely new to me) and, I confess, I struggled to keep my nose out of them while the rest of my family were opening their presents. Perhaps in subsequent posts I'll publish reviews.

Four - Sabbath Worship

I recently read the book “With Reverence and Awe” by D.G. Hart and John Muether. It is an unapologetically Reformed book on corporate worship within the church, and while I can’t unequivocally recommend it, they challenged my thinking in a number of areas, and articulated more clearly than I could have some things I have thought for a while.

One thing that I really appreciated was the chapter on “The Holy Day of Worship”. They begin by saying the rhythm of corporate worship is important; the regular observation of, and preparation for, Sunday worship is an important part of our Christian growth. They continue by saying that we often treat our corporate worship indifferently because we treat Sundays indifferently. The general thrust of their argument is this:

The decline in sabbath-keeping (Note – I prefer the term “Celebrating the Lord’s Day”) and the current unrest and confusion about worship are related. They assert there are two main reasons for this. First, as many churches have become increasingly focused on particular demographics and offered numerous programs to meet felt needs, Sunday worship services have become just one more program, instead of a centre of church life.

Second, the domination of evangelicalism by revivalism (as opposed to revival. See “Evangelicalism Divided” by the always-insightful Iain Murray for a balanced and wide-ranging look at this subject) in the past fifty years has created a thirst for “mountain top” experiences and a consequent distain for the regular cadence of celebrating Sundays by worshipping with God’s people. Without this regular, consistent feeding and nourishment, believers can become spiritually bulimic.

They devote much of the rest of the chapter to offering a Biblical defense for these views as well as how to correct the situation. I will post some more of their comments next week.

It served as a reminder to me of the importance of devoting our Sundays to the Lord, and planning ahead so that we can celebrate Sundays. We try to use Saturday to bring the week to an end and prepare spiritually and physically for Sunday.

All our lives are to be lived to the glory of God and offered as a spiritual sacrifice of worship, but let us not neglect the special and unique blessings that accrue to believers who faithfully devote themselves to keeping Sunday holy. May our Sundays be holy, “set apart”, to help our worship of our holy God be holy as well.