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Saturday, June 28, 2008
Deception
I've been reading the
Bible for 75 years, but I've just become intrigued by the multitude of stories of deception we find in it. For instance, in
the book of Genesis there are 15 such stories. They include the serpent's deception of Adam and Eve, Abram's
deception of Pharaoh, Abraham's deception of Abimilech, Isaac's deception of the same Abimilech, Rebekah's and
Jacob's deception of Isaac and Esau, Laban's decption of Jacob regarding his wife, Laban's decption of Jacob regarding
his wages, Jacob's deception of Laban, Rachel's deception of Laban, Jacob's sons' deception of the Shechemites,
Joseph's brothers' deception of Jacob, Tamar's deception of Judah, Potiphar's wife's deception of Potiphar,
Joseph's first deception of his brothers, and Joseph's second deception of his brothers. It seems like
everybody is deceiving everybody else!
What are we to make of this?
Is the Bible condoning deception? Actually, no. In most of the instances cited above the Bible protrays the incident
negatively. But in three of the instances the deception is clearly approved. So it appears that deception is not
always wrong. If that is so, how can we judge when it is right or wrong to deceive someone. Michael Williams, a professor
at Calvin Seminary, offers this three-fold criterion. (1) the deception must be limited to the person who caused the original
wrong; (2) the deception must not disadvantage the deceived person; and (3) the deception must not advantage the deceiver
beyond his or her status prior to what it was before suffering the original wrong.
Given these benchmarks it become clear that in most of the Genesis stories they are not met. But in three, they are.
I will relate only the story of Tamar deceiving Judah. Judah had introduced a wrong by not giving the widow Tamar his son
Shelah to carry on her husband's line, as was the custom in those days. When Tamar deceives Judah by posing as a
prostitute and getting pregnant by Judah, she does not harm or disadvantage him. Nor does she advance her own status
beyond what she deserved by custom. At the end of the deception all that has occurred is that her deceased husband's
line is continued, which is as it should be. In this sense her deception has restored shalom.
3:36 pm edt
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
The Shack
 As
you doubtless already know -- I'm not always up on these matters -- The Shack has been #1 on best seller lists
this whole month of June. For a Christian novel, that is certainly a "first," at least in my memory. It's
author, William Paul Young, is a former office manager and night clerk in Salem, Oregon, and a devout Christian. I haven't
read the book yet, and probably won't; my plate is full at this time. But it seems to be an intriguing
piece of writing. God is an African-American woman who calls herself "Papa." Jesus is a Jewish workman.
Sarayu is an Asian woman who is the Holy Spirit. The Shack itself is a metaphor for "the house you build out of your
own pain." Speaking to reporter Motoko Rich, Young said he began writing the book to show how he had been healed
by forging a new relationship with God. "I don't believe God is Gandalf [Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings]
with an attitude, or Zeus who wants to blast you for any imperfection you exhibit," Young avers. I agree.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Dobson vs Obama
Georgia usually has the
kitchen radio on in the morning. She doesn't necessarily listen to it closely -- she just likes to have a little
noise in the room. This morning the evangelical James Dobson was on, criticizing remarks Barack Obama had made on religion
in the public square. Citing differences between portions of the Mosaic law and Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, Obama
had said, "Even we exported every non-Christian from America, and had only Christians left to vote and to govern, which
Christian view should prevail?" Apparently he had said this in support of his own argument that anti-abortion and
abortion policy should not be made from a single religious vantage point. Dobson was protesting that Obama was confusing
apples and oranges -- Old Testament and New -- and that Obama was in effect saying that Christians shouldn't stand up
and fight for what they believe, regardly of whether their views coincide with other Christian views or not. Dobson has a
point. It was the early Tertullian who claimed that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."
On the other hand, Obama was not denying that. He was doing what he has been doing from the beginning, trying to find an elusive
center from which to transcend the major issues that divide Americans. He too has a point. America is diversity
if it is anything. The career of any political leader or would-be leader will be short-lived if he lays down a one-sided
agenda. Remember Newt Gingrich? Barry Goldwater?
3:54 pm edt
Monday, June 23, 2008
Open Minds
The latest Pew Foundation
religious survey has turned up surprising results. It's not surprising, of course, that nine out of ten Americans believe
in God. It is surprising, though, that three-quarters of all Americans believe that
religions other than Christianity lead to eternal life. Even more surprising is that this includes a majority (57 percent)
of evangelicals.
One of the subjects I am writing about in my
latest book, still in its first draft and entitled The Renewal of All Things, deals with this very phenomenon.
What is the role of non-Christian religions in "God's plan of salvation"? Are they to be rejected outright?
Do they carry some truth, though partial and inadequate for salvation? Or are they actually part and parcel of
God's provision for eternal life? Or are all religions irrelevant? Historically, Christians have opted for the position
that "there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved," meaning that Jesus is the only way, truth,
and life, and that no one comes to the Father except through Jesus.
So indeed it is surprising to read that Christians, including evangelicals, are open to alternative readings of Scripture.
As I have written before in this space, I believe that all persons who have ever lived, or who ever will live, will be saved.
The question is: do the world religions play a part in this? In what respect is Christianity different, if at all, from
other religions? Did Jesus come to found a new religion called Christianity? I personally do not believe he did. So
what significance does Christianity have in the final analysis -- or Hinduism or Buddhism, for that matter? I discuss
these issues, and more, in Chapter 10, "Missiological Reflection," of The Renewal of All Things.
8:22 pm edt
Friday, June 20, 2008
Malthus Redux
 Thomas
Robert Malthus, left, was an Anglican country parson and noted mathemetician, economist and demographer around the beginning
of the 19th century. He wrote a famous essay on population which during my lifetime has been largely dismissed, but
which, nevertheless, continues to provoke thought. In particular, I think about it often. According to Malthus,
populations grow geometrically, while food production grows arithmetically. Consequently severe famines occur at regular
intervals. They are occuring again today. All over the world people are starving. The New York Times carried
a horrifying photo recently of scores of Haitians scouring a dump site in search of anything to eat. Such photos could
be taken in many parts of the globe. Rice-bowl countries such as China, India, and Indonesia have restricted rice exports
and rice is being shipped internally under armed guard. Actually, enough grain (rice, wheat, corn, barley, etc.) is
being grown annual to feed ten million people. But much of it is being fed to cattle, which in turn are eaten by the
world's wealthy, notably those of us in the USA. Rising oil prices add to the cost of shipping and this in turn keeps
food out of the reach of those who need it most. Nobody really buys Malthus' doomsday scenario, but clearly we have
some major problems we are not addressing with enough urgency.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Father's Day
 This is -- or was -- my father. He died in an accident at the relatively young age of 53. I'm posting
it less for myself than for my children, who perhaps will appreciate this reminder of their grandfather. What did my
father bequeath to me? Not money -- he was employed by the Missouri Pacific railroad as a rail yard foreman. He
passed on to me the drive for personal self improvement -- he was always enrolled in correspondence courses; the value
of hard work and perseverance -- often he worked two shifts a day and walked the three miles to and from work; and
the obligation to take spiritual life seriously -- when I informed him that I had committed my life to Christ, he replied,
"We'll see." He was stern, but not a harsh disciplinarian. He recognized early that I was not cut
out to be a "laboring man" like himself and encouraged me to get a university education. He lived to see his
first two grandchildren, Melody and Cheryl, and was enormously fond of them. Unfortunately, he was gone before they
ever got to know him well.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Bad Weather
 I grew
up on the Great Plains, in Omaha, Nebraska, to be precise. We saw plenty of extreme weather there -- bitterly cold winters,
scorching summers -- but nothing like what Midwesterners are experiencing this summer. Dave and Mary Jean
Carlstedt, my good friends from Macalester College days live in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, whose City Hall is located on the island
in the middle of the river that you see at left. Thousands of homes have been flooded out in Cedar Rapids, though not
my friends' home. And along the Missouri River valley just north of Omaha a horrific tornado killed four teenage
Boy Scouts yesterday. They never had a chance. My wife Georgia attributes all this action to global warming.
I'm not so sure, but maybe she has a point.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Marvels of the Internet Age
As the news of the deaths of Navigators Roy Robertson and Harvey Oslund got out, people began to search the Web for the obituaries.
As a result, I have begun to hear from a number of long-lost friends who happened upon my personal web site, since I had written
about both men. One such old friend was Gerald Beavan, left. Jerry is not 89 years old and still mentally
sharp as ever. The photo was taken nearly sixty years ago when Jerry was Billy Graham's right-hand man at Northwestern
Schools. (Graham was the Schools' youthful president at the time, and I was a freshman enrollee; this was back in
1949.) Later in life our paths crossed again: once, when I was the Navigators' Pacific Areas Director in the late
1960s, and again when I was President of American Leprosy Missions in the early 1980s and Jerry was a member of ALM's
Board of Directors. There are some serious bad things going on in the Internet, but there are some awfully good things
as well, and this ability to re-connect is one of them.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Passing
 Harvey
Oslund, at left with his wife, Maydelle, passed peacefully into the presence of God a couple of days ago. This may not
mean much to many of my readers, but it is significant to me. Harv and I go "way back" -- back to the fall
of 1954, when we worked together at the newly-purchased Glen Eyrie. I had just returned from a two-year assignment in
Cyprus; Harv had come to Glen Eyrie from the Navy. The founder of the Navigators, Dawson Trotman, had asked me to head
up a large scale printing project for Theodore Epp's Back to the Bible program. It involved tens of thousands of
Trotman's Born to Reproduce booklet, or a set of Bible study materials -- I forget which. Harv was a master
printer and led the production. Georgia and I spent an afternoon with Harv and Maydelle at their home
in Maryland two years ago. He was struggling with a set of physical problems then, but was very upbeat, as always.
Harv's life work was to invest in the lives of other men. Scores of men -- hundreds, most likely -- looked to Harv
as their spiritual mentor. He will be missed.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Muslim-Evangelical Dialogue
Although I frequently find
myself at odds with my evangelical colleagues, I sometimes find myself unexpectedly impressed, favorably. The current
occasion concerns a formal letter the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA, of which I was once its secretary general) has published.
It is entitled "We Too Want to Live in Love, Peace, Freedom and Justice," and it is a response to the public letter
a group of Muslim scholars and other leaders published a few months ago urging dialogue and mutual striving for peace between
Muslims and Christians.
I am favorably impressed for several reasons.
One is the tone of the letter. It is evangelist, but not belligerent or confrontational, as has been the case with two
many efforts of evangelicals to engage Muslims. The letter emphasizes New Testament concerns for peacemaking and gives
a brief but exposition of how evangelicals understand "love."
The second reason I am favorably impressed is that the letter forthrightly raises a number of questions that evangelicals
are said to have about relating to Muslims. Among these are the issues of religious freedom or the lack thereof
for Christians living in Muslim states; the need to distinguish between Christianity and Western culture, which some Muslims
fail to do; and the assertion made by some Muslims that Christians are "waging war" against Muslim, a charge denied
by the WEA.
Overall, the letter strikes me as an unusually mature
response. I hope the Muslim group returns the favor in the same spirit. I have no reason to think they will not.
3:58 pm edt
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Iraqi Jews
One of the great traumas in Jewish history was their Exile to Babylon in the sixth century before Christ. After 70 years
those who wished to return to their homeland were granted leave to do so. But many peferred to stay in what is now the
country we call Iraq. The photo at left shows the tomb of the prophet Ezekiel, who was born in Iraq during the Exile
and prophecied to his Jewish compatriots there. Perhaps the best known of his prophecies foretold the "resurrection"
of his people, a prophecy some Christians today believe has been fulfilled in the establishment of the modern nation of Israel
(1948). For 25 centuries there has always been a notable Jewish presence in Iraq. As recently as 1948 more than
100,000 Jews resided in Iraq, most of them in Baghdad. But after the state of Israel came into being the majority left,
relocating to Israel or dispersing to other parts of the world. Today there are fewer than ten Jewish families left
in Baghdad -- not enough to provide the minimum of ten men required to conduct official services in the local synagogue.
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