Book Review: No god But God, by Reza Aslan

No god But God is an extremely well-written introduction to the history and development of the Muslim faith. The author, Iranian religion scholar Reza Aslan, traces the key developments in the evolution of Islam, and also offers an alternative explanation to thesis that Islam is at war with Western Civilization.

A Biblical View of Competition

I love to compete. Whether it is a friendly game of Trivial Pursuit, a fierce battle of ping pong, or a barbershop singing contest, I love the rush of adrenalin that comes from matching wits and skill with someone else. But I also love the Lord, and His word is clear that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). Taking delight in crushing someone else hardly seems consistent with the selflessness to which Christ calls His people. So how should Christians view competition? Is it possible to reconcile the competitive spirit with the Holy Spirit?

Excellent Lecture by Ben Witherington

Take a moment to check out the lecture by Ben Witherington posted on his blog about the proper way to evaluate the historicity of the gospels. Great response to "fundamentalist skepticism."

http://www.patheos.com/community/bibleandculture/

The English Standard Version vs the New American Standard Bible

In the winter of 2004/2005 I was debating switching from the New American Standard Bible to the English Standard Version. After some comparison, I decided to make the switch. Here is my review from six years ago explaining why.

In 2001 Crossway released a new translation, the English Standard Version (ESV). The purpose of this translation is to be more literal than the New International Version (NIV) -

Restoration and Expository Preaching

Last week I attended the lectureship at my old school, Florida College, which was on the theme of Restoration. The lessons were based out of the books from the period of Israel's restoration from Babylonian Captivity (Ezra-Esther, Haggai-Malachi). This theme was chosen because of its relevance to the modern effort to restore New Testament Christianity.

The concept of restoration is a simple one. Each generation has the obligation to challenge its assumptions, beliefs and practices by the standard of Scripture, and align itself to the will of God. This is a challenging task - it is a lot easier to settle for the status quo of tradition.

One of the great dangers of restorationism is that it can easily degenerate into a purely reactionary posture in which the entire focus of preaching and teaching is on what is wrong with current religious practice. As a result the sum of truth is contracted down to a few key passages which relate to the areas in question. This leads to sermons and classes that the unquestionably biblical (they focus on the meaning of biblical texts), but which is not fully truthful because so much of what God's revealed will teaches is minimized, abbreviated, or neglected.

There may be other ways to avoid this pitfall, but the only way that I know to steer clear of reaction while seeking restoration is expository preaching. In my experience as a listener and a preacher, the vast majority of sermons have been topical. In this style of preaching various verses from throughout Scripture are marshaled together to make a point. This is not inherently wrong (take a look at Acts 2 or Hebrews 1 for instance). But it is all to easy to selects topics that fall into the reactionary pattern of preaching, which in turn means that the only verses that are selected for study and preaching are those that are relevant to that topic. Not only does this style make it easy to snatch verses completely out of context and distort their meaning to score points on a pet issue, but even worse, it makes it easy to ignore much of the Bible.

Expository preaching systematically works through books of the Bible, and it forces the preacher and the listener to carefully consider each verse of God's word. This kind of preaching lets the Bible dictate the agenda of our study, rather than the other way around. Of course it is possible to pretend to do expository preaching while in fact imposing the same sort of reactionary concerns on the text that topical preaching does. But hopefully this will be easier to spot on the part of the listener.

Expository preaches done correctly demands that you study and apply all of God's will, not just the select verses that apply to the controversial issues of the day. It affords opportunity to make corrections when relevant to the meaning of the text, but it keeps preachers from veering into the rut of reaction, a ditch it is easy to skid into but difficult to emerge from.

Book Review: Who Speaks for Islam?

"I learned everything I need to know about Islam from 9-11."

Someone actually said this to me during a discussion about Islam, and sadly reflects how little Americans know about Islam. Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think is a fascinating report on the most extensive polling ever done of Muslims around the world. I encourage all Christians to read this book to understand more about Islam, to avoid the grossly unfair stereotypes reflected in the media, particularly talk radio.

Between 2001-2007 Gallup conducted tens of thousands of hour long, face to face interviews with residents of 35 nations that are predominantly or substantially Muslim. Two appendices (169-184) explain methodology in detail. The book explores how incredibly diverse the Muslim world really is, and the nature of Muslims grievances with the West.

According to the authors (John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed), the most important insight from this polling is that "conflict between the Muslim and Western communities is far from inevitable.” (xi)

Here is a chapter-by-chapter look at the book.

Chapter 1: Who Are Muslims?

The first chapter explores the great diversity among Muslims. Only 1 in 5 Muslims are Arab. The largest communities in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Nigeria. There are two major schools Islam (Sunni represents 85% of Muslims, Shia 15%), and there are vast differences among Muslims in terms of how to interpret Islam.

Chapter 2: Democracy or Theocracy?

The second chapter addresses the issue of democracy, and particularly the extent to which Muslims desire Sharia (Muslims principles of faith) to direct laws. Majorities in most Muslim countries (women as well as men) want Sharia as at least a source of Law. In the same poll 46% of Americans said the Bible should be a source of legislation. And just as in the case of Americans, Muslims differ wide in terms of how the principles of Sharia should be applied in civil government.

For instance, contrary to the popular belief in America that Sharia law inherently oppresses women, majorities in most Muslims countries believe women should have:

-the same legal rights as men

-the right to vote

-the right to hold any job outside home they are qualified for

-the right to hold leadership in government

“Muslims who want to see Sharia as a source of law in constitutions therefore have very different visions of how that would manifest…some expect full implementation of classical or medieval Islamic law; others want a more restricted approach, like prohibiting alcohol, requiring the head of state to be a Muslim, or creating Sharia courts to hear cases involving Muslim family law…" (p. 53)

Further, while it is popular to claim that Muslims hate the freedom we have in America, it is actually one of the thing Muslims admire the most. And it is the reason many Muslims believe there is a double standard in US foreign policy, supporting authoritarian regimes that oppress Muslims (p. 58).

What can the West do to improve relations with the Muslim world, Muslims typically responded:

-Demonstrate more respect; more consideration toward Muslim countries.

-Do not underestimate the status of Arab/Muslim countries.

-Demonstrate more understanding of Islam, do not downgrade what it stands for.

In response to the question of what the US could do to improve life in your country, Muslims responded most frequently:

-Reduce unemployment and improve infrastructure

-Stop interfering in the internal affairs of Arab/Islamic states

-Stop imposing your beliefs

-Respect our political rights and stop controlling us

Chapter 3: What Makes a Radical?

This chapter was the saddest in many ways because it demonstrated what a sharp contrast there is between how we in America view ourselves versus how Muslims perceive America. We are not the good guys fighting for democracy in the eyes of most Muslims. “Majorities in virtually every nation with majority or sizable Muslim populations disagree that the United States is serious about the establishment of democratic systems in the region.” (p. 83)

In 10 predominantly Muslim countries here were the attributes associated with US:

-ruthless 68%

-advanced 68%

-aggressive 66%

-conceited 65%

-morally decadent 64%

If we are going to effectively understand radical Islam, we are going to have to do a better job of understanding the root causes that fuel radicalism, and these causes are American foreign policy. Whether that policy is correct is a matter for debate, of course, but we cannot dismiss radicalism as mere anger against "how good we are."

This chapter also dealt with the issue of violence. Shockingly, more Americans said that attacks intentionally aimed at civilians were completely justified than did Muslims (US 6%, Lebanon and Iran 2%, Saudi Arabia 4%). Attacks intentionally aimed at civilians are “never justified” according to 46% of Americans, 74% in Indonesia, 86% in Pakistan, 80% in Iran.

(As an aside - this is the reason many Muslims refused to believe Islamic terrorists were behind 9-11; the attacks violated sacred principles of Islam).

Chapter 4: What Do Women Want?

This chapter reiterated information from earlier in the book, and explained that many Muslims believe women in the West are far more exploited and oppressed than in Muslim culture because of the way women are used as sex objects.

Chapter 5: Clash or Coexistence?

It is common to hear pundits simply blame Islam for violence.

“But blaming Islam is a simple answer, easier and less controversial than re-examining the core political issues and grievances that resonate in much of the Muslim world: the failures of many Muslim governments and societies, some aspects of U.S. foreign policy representing intervention and dominance, Western support for authoritarian regimes, the invasion and occupation of Iraq, or support for Israel’s military battles with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.” (p. 136-137)

“The primary cause of broad-based anger and anti-Americanism is not a clash of civilizations but the perceived effect of U.S. foreign policy in the Muslim world.” (p. 156)

Final Thoughts

This book provided an illuminating window into the diverse world of Islam. It is an uncomfortable book to read as an American because it is clear that our government's policies, though well-intentioned, have created a tremendous backlash all across the Muslim world. I don't know in the current state of political discourse if Americans are open to serious self-examination of these policies.

As a Christian, I found the information in this book extremely helpful in terms of thinking of ways to build bridges in order to share the gospel with these sons of Abraham.

Bragging on God

In Romans 5:2 Paul says, "Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Then in 5:3 he says, "More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings." And in verse 11, "More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."

The word translated rejoice in these verses is kauchaomai. It means "boast, glory, pride in oneself, brag." It is the same word he used in Rom. 2:17 and 2:23 when he spoke to Jews who boasted in their possession of the Law of Moses. There is no ground for boasting on the basis of the Law, since as Paul shows in Romans, the Jews failed to keep the Law and could only find condemnation on the basis of the Law.

But through the death of Jesus we can have peace with God (Rom. 5:1), and it is on the basis of the work of Christ that we can rejoice/boast. We don't have anything to brag about in ourselves - but we do have a great Savior, and He is worthy of bragging on! Later in Romans Paul strings together a series of boasts about God:

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. (Rom. 8:31-33)

Even when Paul says in 5:3 that we rejoice/boast in our sufferings, it is not because of any human achievement, but rather because suffering leads to hope, "and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (5:5). We rejoice/boast "in hope of the glory of God" (5:2).

The late pitcher Dizzy Dean once said, "It ain't bragging if you can do it!" Christians can brag on
God because He has done it, and He will do it.