Van Til Tool

TILL WE HAVE FACES – WHAT DID C.S. LEWIS MEAN BY THIS??

2011-12-27T13:51:00.001-05:00

TILL WE HAVE FACES

WHAT DID C. S. LEWIS MEAN BY THIS??

A GLANCE AT THE ANSWER PROVIDED BY PETER SCHAKEL

By Forrest W. Schultz

Probably the deepest of all of C. S. Lewis's fiction was his Till We Have Faces. One of the puzzlers in it is exactly what Lewis meant by the phrase which is both the title and the last four words in the story. When I brought this up in a C.S. Lewis email discussion group which I recently joined, I was referred to a book published by Eerdmans in 1984 written by Peter Schakel, titled Reason and Imagination in C. S. Lewis: A Study of "Till We Have Faces". I recommend reading this book not only for the discussion it provides on this question but also for the huge amount of helpful information on Lewis which it provides.

The pages in Schakel's book which deal explicity with the question and which I believe are most helpful are 79, 85, 118, and 173. Schakel shows there that if we are to "have faces" in order to meet God "face to face", that we need to be personal (rather than impersonal), that we need to freely offer ourselves to His view, be willing and able to meet and accept God's face, and we must divest ourselves of all masks and veils and pretenses and defensiveness. Schakel also refers to other writings of Lewis which involve this principle. One of the most dramatic is the pastor in Pilgrim's Regress who puts on a mask when he talks about God – a dramatic example of what NOT to do!

THE REAL CHRISTIAN RECONSTRUCTION FROM THE WORDS OF ITS FOUNDER, R. J. RUSHDOONY

2011-12-06T12:48:00.001-05:00

THE REAL CHRISTIAN RECONSTRUCTION

FROM THE WORDS OF ITS FOUNDER

R. J. RUSHDOONY

There was a popular song back in the sixties which had this repeating refrain,

"When Will They Ever Learn???"

I am sick and tired of hearing both from some who claim to be Christian Reconstructionists and from some who claim to be opposing Christian Reconstruction the radically false notion that Christian Reconstruction means ramming Biblical Law down the throats of a recalcitrant populace. Over and over again in many places in his writings Rushdoony made it clear that Christian Reconstruction can only be produced by a godly God-centered people.

And the organization which Rushdoony founded, the Chalcedon Foundation, has reiterated this also many times. In its monthly letter for November 2011 the current President, Mark Rushdoony, makes this point once again, this time by quoting from his father's book Roots of Reconstruction:

"It is my purpose to promote the basic capitalization of society, out of which all else flows, spiritual capital. Without the spiritual capital of a God-centered and Biblical faith, we are spiritually and materially bankrupt." (p. 593)

Look at that again – it is SPIRITUAL capital which is the foundation out of which all else flows. Therefore Christian Reconstruction cannot be forced upon unwilling people. It is something which is spontaneously produced by those whose hearts and minds have been renewed by God's salvation. Our society will NOT be renewed economically and politically and culturally unless it is renewed spiritually. AMEN !!

Sincerely,

Forrest Schultz

EXOTIC INGREDIENTS COMBINED TO PRODUCE THE CRYSTAL PORTAL FEAST: REVIEW OF A FANTASY BY TRAVIS PERRY AND MIKE LYNCH

2011-11-16T13:38:00.002-05:00

Exotic Ingredients Combined To Produce The Crystal Portal Feast

A review of

Travis Perry & Mike Lynch The Crystal Portal (Splashdown Books, 2011)

318 pp $13.98 ISBN-10: 0986451789 ISBN-13: 978-0986451782

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

The best talk on literary craftsmanship I have ever heard was the one presented to our local writers group a decade ago. This speaker compared the author's creation of a story to a cook's preparation of a meal. For instance, just as a good chef will use fresh ingredients, so a good author will use fresh ideas. For me, the most striking feature of The Crystal Portal is the variety of exotic ingredients used to concoct this interesting tale. A list of these ideas and how the authors used them could be a topic for an English Professor to assign to his students.

I am hard pressed to decide which of these ingredients is the most exotic: the people with bodies of crystal, the intelligent worms, the "hollow Earth" location or the sun which turns itself off each day to provide night time for the inhabitants! A rather fantastic brew but quite appropriate for a fantasy novel! And, although when you think about them, these features sound incredible, the authors write about them with a verisimilitude which causes the reader to accept them as natural. And the action and dialogues are well paced, which carry the reader along.

Woven into the story are also some interesting spiritual insights and some fun with languages, which is to be expected since the authors are Christians and one of them is knowledgeable in Greek and Hebrew. Like the other sophisticated Christian fiction being written today, in this one the spiritual principles are foundational and interwoven into the story, not presented in a sermonic fashion. Biographical information on the authors is provided at the end of the book. More can also be learned by visiting their websites www.mikelynchbooks.com and http://travisbigidea.blogspot.com and the publishers website www.splahdownbooks.com.

About the only criticism I have is that the hollow Earth is wrongly compared to a Dyson's Sphere, which is not a space habitat, but an array of solar energy collectors. However, this is not too serious since it is only space professionals and space activists who know what a Dyson's Sphere is!

I highly commend this book and wish the authors the best success in producing more of the same!

AMISH FICTION IN THE DALE CRAMER STYLE: REVIEW OF THE CAPTIVE HEART

2011-10-31T11:15:00.001-05:00

Southside Book Reviews

Reviews Of Books Recently Written By Southside Authors

Compiled by: Forrest W. Schultz 770-583-3258 schultz_forrest@yahoo.com

November 1, 2011

Amish Fiction in The Dale Cramer Style

A review of

Dale Cramer The Captive Heart, Book 2 of The Daughters of Caleb Bender (Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethany House, 2011)

217 pp $14.99 ISBN: 978-0-7642-0839-3 Advance Reading Copy

Reviewer: Forrest Wayne Schultz

I am told that there is a lot of Amish fiction being written now but I have read none of it except for the first two books in Dale Cramer's trilogy. These two books are excellent stories, which is not suprising since they are written in the Dale Cramer style. Therefore, if you liked Cramer's previous books, you will like this one also.

You will find the Dale Cramer style in his portrayal of the struggles of the Ohio Amish who have recently founded the Paradise Valley colony in Mexico where they are fighting to maintain their lives and their pacifistic principles when attacked by vicious Mexican bandits, and where one of their young women is struggling to know what to do when she falls in love with a Mexican Indian. Now there have been many stories containing the elements of attacks by outlaw gangs on settlers and of forbidden love, but few of them have been as well written and interesting as Dale Cramer's account in the book under review here. And, as a bonus you will probably learn some things about the Amish, which are realistically portrayed, which is not surprising because Cramer himself is descended from them.

And there is an important story element which needs to be emphasized because it could be overlooked, and that is the view of the Amish people and the Amish God which is gradually formed in the mind of Domingo, a Mexican Indian, as he comes to know the Amish in the course of the story. As I pondered this, I was reminded of that great line from one of the finest poems of Bobby Burns referring to what a great gift it is "to see ourselves as others see us". It is also interesting to note how he contrasts the way of life of the Amish with the way he learned among his Indian tribe, and the Amishman's God with the Indian gods.

The scheduled release date for The Captive Heart is December 1st. The third and final volume of the trilogy is expected to be published in December 2012. Information on the author is available at www.dalecramer.com.

THE THUNDER KING: THE PLOT THICKENS; REVIEW OF LEE DUIGON’S THIRD BOOK IN THE BELL MOUNTAIN SERIES

2011-09-30T10:59:00.001-05:00

The Thunder King: The Plot Thickens

A review of

Lee Duigon The Thunder King (Vallecito, CA: Storehouse Press, 2011)

$14.00 289 pp ISBN: 978-1-891375-56-9

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

Like the second book, the third one in the Bell Mountain saga adds more plot elements to the mix and provides deeper discussions of their significance. Perhaps there are some critics who may judge the result to be too advanced for a juvenile reader, but, in the immortal words of Mortimer Adler, "We need something over our heads to lift us up!".

We learn more about the significance of the ringing of the Bell and about the decadence of the Temple, especially that of its First Prester, who is first in wickedness, not in piety. And we see ever more clearly the parallel between the teaching in the Secret Scrolls and the doctrines in the Bible, and between the history of Obann and the history or Israel and the Church.

But it needs to be borne in mind that the story is a fantasy -- a story in its own right -- not an allegory. As the biographical sketch of the author on the rear jacket makes clear, Lee Duigon loves both fantasy literature and sound theology. And, contra much of popular opinion, there is no discord between the two because, after all, God is the greatest story-writer of all -- history is His Story, because it is His fantasy that became reality when He created the world. Amen!

September 30, 2011

A SENSIBLE VIEW OF THE SENSES

2011-09-27T12:11:00.001-05:00

A Sensible View Of The Senses

A review of

Tammy B. Melton Loving God With All Five Senses rev. ed. (On Assignment Publishing, 2010)

$15.99 276 pp ISBN-10: 0984242848 ISBN-13: 978-0984242849

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

Tammy Melton claims that we can know God through each of our five senses, which are good gifts from God which bring blessing when used wisely (and harm when used foolishly). Her book contains doctrinal teaching and practical advice and prayers, all aimed at showing how the five senses can assist the Christian in developing a more intimate walk with God. This material pertains both to the five senses themselves -- taste, touch, sight, hearing, and smell -- and the spiritual analogies of these senses.

This book has a sensible view of the senses because it is based on the Biblical world-view, and therefore avoids the nonsensical notions about the body which have confused the thinking of many (including Christians) into supposing that the body leads us away from God. In contrast to this fallacy stands the slogan of this book found at the top of its rear jacket -- "COME TO YOUR SENSES...AND DRAW CLOSER TO GOD!".

This book is also sensible in its writing style, which is clear, fresh, direct, succinct, and alive (unlike so many christian books which are a drudgery to read).

Tammy Melton has a rich legacy to draw upon in the lives of her parents, grandparents, and other relatives and ancestors. I suppose this is why she named her Fayetteville-based organization "Legacy Ministries For Christ". Her book is one of the latest contributions to the burgeoning literary scene in the Southside counties and is another indication of the growing trend of Christians getting involved in the writing of books.

Published Via:

Southside Book Reviews

Reviews Of Books Recently Written By Southside Authors

Compiled by: Forrest W. Schultz 770-583-3258 schultz_forrest@yahoo.com

LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE !! Review of Peter Dudek’s Debut Novel

2011-08-29T12:03:00.001-05:00

Let Your Light Shine !!!

A Review of

Peter J. Dudek Forsaken Kingdom: City of Prophecy (Alliance, Ohio: Carnation City Press, 2011) 311pp ISBN: 978-0-615-23201-0

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

Peter Dudek enjoys reading Tolkien, his model for the writing of his own fantasy stories. If you liked The Lord of the Rings you will also like City of Prophecy, Dudek's debut novel and the first book of his Forsaken Kingdom series about the world of Arvalast.

I am a fan of Tolkien and I like Dudek's story but am dissatisfied with the title for its failure to indicate the light-versus-darkness conflict, which constitutes the prominent motif of the story. This prominence soon becomes apparent to the reader of the story, and is also indicated by the book's jacket: the front cover displays a picture of the Illumina and the rear jacket blurb begins with these words in large bold face type -- The days have grown dark.

This blurb -- which is an excellent synopsis of the story, by the way -- tells us that these Illumina are "phials of holy, pure light that Arvalast citizens carry with them". The blurb and the story itself both show that darkness encroaches ever more upon the land as the light in the Illuminas grows dimmer as the people's faith in their righteous King grows ever weaker. The light in a man's Illumina indicates the strength of the spiritual light in his heart and also serves as a potent physical weapon against demonic-like attackers. If you think a laser is powerful, then you need to learn about what a white-hot Illumina can do, which you will find out when you read the story!

The light-versus-darkness conflict is especially dramatic in the lives of Woodend Governor Willerdon and his wife and his son and his daughter, who are four of the main characters in the book. And their spiritual struggles -- both in their hearts and their Illuminas -- are crucial to the unfolding of the story. And the spiritual conflicts in the other characters are also depicted in terms of the battle of light against darkness.

The reason the Kingdom has become forsaken is because the darkness has been more and more overpowering the light. And the prophecy refers to great spiritual warriors who will soon begin arriving on the scene to turn the tide of battle against the darkness and toward a victory for the light.

This apocalyptic battle will NOT be won until the citizens proclaim and follow this motto: LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE!!

The next book in this series, entitled Harrowing Memories is expected to be published soon.

Information on Peter Dudek and his novels is found on his website, www.forsakenkingdom.net.

Review of Yvonne Anderson Stars Novel

2011-08-09T13:26:00.001-05:00

Feisty Heroine Dassa Enters SF Scene

Via Yvonne Anderson's Debut "Stars" Novel

A review of

Yvonne Anderson The Story in the Stars (Beaverton, OR: Risen Books, 2011)

281 pp $16.99 ISBN-13: 978-1-936835-04-1 ISBN-10: 1936835045

Reviewed by: Forrest W. Schultz

Today's literary scene is filled with fesity female characters, some of whom accomplish very heroic feats. Very few of these women have ever had to deal with the kind of Herculean challenge facing Yvonne Anderson's character Dassa. Dassa's namesake -- Hadassah (Esther) -- exhibited heroism as she took the steps which resulted in saving her people from destruction. Dassa confronts a far worse situation: she is the sole survivor of a plague which has killed every other person on her planet, Gannah. And to top it off, the other planets regard Gannahians as bloodthirtly villains! As if this were not enough, God then gives Dassa the task of returning to Gannah to repopulate it!!

As a Christian Yvonne Anderson believes that God can do miracles and still does them today. But in her story she uses miracles sparingly and never in a deus ex machina manner. Anderson belongs to the new breed of Christian writers having a strong concern for realism in their stories, which they do not wish to have associated with the kind of christian fiction of the past which has often been (whether rightly or wrongly) regarded as unrealistic.

I shall not argue with anyone who claims that the concept of all by one person on a planet being annihilated is unrealistic. I will merely point out that this same concept was found in one of the best SF works of the twentieth century (Ender's Game) authored by one of its best writers (Orson Scott Card).

-1-

One thing that is incontestable is that Dassa is a very interesting, very well-developed character, whom I would love to meet -- provided that she was not mad at me! Also well-developed, especially regarding his surprising maturation during the story, is the Karkarian Dr. Pik, the physician employed by the League of Planets, who traveled in a special spaceship to Gannah, arriving just in time to save Dassa, but none of the other Gannahians. The most succinct description of Anderson's character development -- depth with subtely -- was supplied by Gina Holmes. Anderson's characters and story also have a very strong verissimilitude: the reader really gets into the story and becomes ever more engrossed and interested as the tale unfolds.

I recommend Anderson's debut novel The Story in the Stars to anyone wishing to keep up with the best in new science fiction writing. The story is book one of the Gateway to Gannah series. She has recently completed book two, which will probably be published near the end of the year. She is now working on book 3, which will probably be published next year. Information about the author and her book is available on these websites:

www.RisenFiction.com and www.yswords.com. For anyone interested in becoming acquainted with the "new breed" of christian writer referred to here, I suggest the Lost Genre Guild, which is where I became learnd of Yvonne Anderson and her book.

According to the Auhtor's note at the rear of the book, the title refers to the concept that the constellations originally were intended to tell the Biblical creation/fall/salvation drama, which is found in the book Anderson used as her source, Joseph A, Seiss's book The Gospel in the Stars published by Kregel.

-2-

Winter: A Supernatural Chiller That Is Way Cool

2011-06-08T15:49:00.001-05:00

Winter: A Supernatural Chiller That Is Way Cool

A review of

Keven Newsome Winter (North Shore, New Zealand: Splashdown Books, 2011)

324 pp $13.98 ISBN: 978-0-9876531-0-9

Reviewed by: Forrest W. Schultz

Keven Newsome is a seminary student majoring in Supernatural Theology. Ergo, it is not surprising that his debut novel, Winter, is a supernatural story, i.e. one featuring paranormal events.

But, things are not always the way they seem. A long time ago in church I heard a wise man say this about today's Christians: "We have been sub-normal for so long, that if someone begins acting normal, we think he is abnormal" (or, I could add, paranormal) According to this man's perspective, normal Christian living includes the paranormal; or, to put it another way, God's natural way of working in the lives of His people includes the supernatural.

This appears to be the perspective of the author concerning the New Testament spiritual gift of prophecy. His central character, Winter Maesson, has been given this gift, and its exercise is essential for defeating the evil designs of the villain, a demon-possessed man, who is intent on destroying the christian college in which Winter has just enrolled as a freshman student. This college is Tishbe University, named for the Israelite city which was the home town of the exemplary Old Testament prophet, Elijah the Tishbite.

One thing many people do not know about Elijah is that he was concerned about logic [he accuses the Israelites of being illogical] and that the contest with the prophets of Baal was actually what today we would call a scientific experiment. And, one thing which is known, but not much commented on, is that Elijah had a lot of fun mocking the prophets of Baal. So, Elijah, the exemplary OT prophet, was a logician, scientist, and humorist -- a portrait that has escaped the notice of the pietistically inclined. Now, in light of this, it is interesting to see how Winter exhibits these same qualities -- careful thinking and mocking the villain. Newsome has crafted his character very carefully.

Another striking literary device is the contrast between Winter and her college roommate Summer. Winter is one of the tough new woman who has had a rough life and who dresses in Goth style, while Summer likes pink and frilly clothing and decor. The resulting interpersonal dynamics clash makes for interesting reading. And, of course, the Summer versus Winter imagery contrast provides a great topic for the literature professor to lecture on in a classroom or to assign to the student as a topic for an essay or a question on an examination.

In addition to this and other personality conflicts, such as the one with her English teacher Prichett, Winter faces her internal spiritual struggles and the external ones against the villainous Xaphan.

The novel's depiction of the phenomena of the gift of prophecy are a great feat of the imagination, as are the finely crafted characters and the twists and turns of the tale. There are different views, of course, pertaining to the nature of prophecy and to whether or not God bestows the gift today, but one thing I can say is that this story definitely has verisimilitude -- you really get into it and believe it is happening, and you also would really like to personally meet Winter -- at least I know I would.

The excellent cover art depicts Winter in Goth mode, her usual attire. There is also discussion here and there in the story about the significance of Goth and whether or not it is suitable attire for a Christian.

Another reviewer has recommended that this novel be made into a film. I concur. In the meantime one can view the trailer on the author's website, www.kevennewsome.com.

Newsome is a member of the Lost Genre Guild, which is an email discussion group of Christians writing what is now being called "Speculative Fiction", which includes the science fiction, fantasy, horror, and supernatural genres. His debut story is a good example of the kind of quality work which this group is promoting and encouraging. Newsome himself has also founded a group of new authors,

http://newauthors.wordpress.com , which can be consulted for more information.

Newsome is now working on a sequel to Winter. I am looking forward to it. It will be good to see Winter again. As the saying goes, she is "way cool"!

NEW CHRISTIAN FANTASY AUTHOR DYLAN HIGGINS'S DEBUT NOVEL

2011-05-27T11:51:00.004-05:00

A Look At New Christian Fantasy Author Dylan Higgins Debut Novel

by Forrest Schultz

Ever more christians are getting involved in writing fantasy novels. I have posted here some reviews of these books being written by christian authors here and there all over the contry. Now, lo and behold, there are some right here in the counties on the Southside of Atlanta. This is what the "Southside" in "Southside Book Reviews" refers to. Dylan Higgins is a teacher at a christian school called The Campus, which is located in Fayette County, the county directly to the east of the one I live in, Coweta. I met him and his band at the New Writers Night at the Barnes and Noble in Coweta's Ashley Park mall last month. Below is the review of his debut book. I will also be reviewing the second one, which will be coming out soon.

Forrest

Southside Book Reviews
Reviews Of Books Recently Written By Southside Authors
Compiled by: Forrest W. Schultz 770-583-3258 schultz_forrest@yahoo.com

April 26, 2011

Fayette Author Dylan Higgins Debuts With YA Fantasy Awakening

A review of

Dylan Higgins Awakening, Book One of The Emblem & The Lantern (Create Space, 2010)
310 pp $12.99 ISBN-10: 1453702989 ISBN-13: 978-1453702987

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

The nationwide surge in the publication of works of fantasy is now in evidence in the Southside. esp. among brand new authors. One example is the Young Adult Fantasy published last year by Fayette educator Dylan Higgins. Awakening is Book One of his tetrology titled The Emblem & The Lantern. Book Two, Stirring, will be released later this year.

Suppose that when you were twelve years old your parents told you that one of your favorite fairy tales had really happened! And, suppose you were also told that the hero of the story was your distant ancestor, and that his magic lantern was a family heirloom hidden right here in the house. This is what happens to the two central characters in the book under review here: the twins Ethan and Eisley Lambent, who are named after two of the author's children. The result?? Ethan and Eisley decide to sneak away and repeat their ancestor Riley's adventure, which was a journey to a land of everlasting and total darkness in which his only source of illumination was this lantern.

The story is a classic fantasy quest, but is by no means a crass copying of any story with which I am familiar, and fantasy and science fiction are my favorite genres both as a reader and writer. The story, characters, and lands are all interesting and well depicted, and the reader is carried along both with the external events and with the struggles within the characters. The magic lantern and the light versus darkness motif, both literally and symbolically, are central to the story. If the other three books are as good as this one, this could prove to be one of the major fantasy works of our time.

One puzzling thing is the name of the land of perpetual and complete darkness, Gloam. The name appears to be a cognate of the gloaming, which is a Scottish word for dusk. Therefore it is a surprising term to employ to indicate total darkness. The opposite name, Glaem, which apparently is the archaic form of "Gleam", however, is an excellent term, and its antiquity is further indicated by compressing the "a" and "e" into a diphthong.

Higgins is an educator at The Campus, a private school in Fayette County. He is also a musician who has formed a band, Sleepy Turtles, named after a mountain range in the story, which performs songs based on the story. Information is available at http://www.emblemandlantern.com/.

SOUTHERN BAPTISTS THEN AND NOW

2011-05-27T11:37:00.004-05:00

Southern Baptists Then and Now

I remember a noteworthy thing said by Francis Schaeffer in answer to a question of
"what should we do??" One of the answers he gave was : Pray for the Southern Baptists! Well, maybe someone has been praying because look at what is going on in the SBC now. See my review of a recently published book by one of them.

Forrest

P.S. The word "Southside" below means the counties directly south of Atlanta, which form what it sometimes called The Southern Arc, which includes Carroll, Coweta, Fayette, Spalding, Henry, and Clayton Counties. I have lived in Coweta for the past twenty years

Forrest

Southside Book Reviews
Reviews Of Books Recently Written By Southside Authors
Compiled by: Forrest W. Schultz 770-583-3258 schultz_forrest@yahoo.com

March 31, 2011

Southern Baptists Are Now Self-Critical About Their Local Churches:
SBC Evangelist/Teacher Donald Ledbetter Speaks Out

A review of
Donald Ledbetter Satan, Deception, and Scriptural Misconceptions (Xulon Press, 2010)
$25.99 244 pp ISBN-10: 1609579674 ISBN-13: 978-1609579678

Donald Ledbetter Deacon Relationships Through The Body of Christ (Xulon Press, 2009)
$15.99 232 pp ISBN-10: 1607917106 ISBN-13: 978-1607917106

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

It was not too long ago that a self-critical Southern Baptist was a rarity. Back then SBC missionary magazines not only contained no self-criticism but they also acted as though no one else was even doing any missions! In recent years this smugness has been replaced with some of the most creative thinking in missiology, which has led to several SBC missiologists having articles published in the prestigious Mission Frontiers magazine. During the past several decades Southern Baptists have also devoted a great deal of attention to their various theological deficiences, which are now being remedied -- so much so that they have installed into the presidency of one of their major theological seminaries Dr. Albert Mohler, whose high calibre has been recognized nationwide by such organizations as Crossway Books and the Institute for Creation Research.

There is still much to be done at the top but the major need is for reform at the grass roots level in the SBC's local congregations. And here also there has been a good deal of self-criticism. This examination states that most SBC local churches are in serious trouble. The two books under review are a good example of this SBC self-examination at the local level. The author, Dr. Donald Ledbetter is very well qualified to speak to this issue and to perform the necessary SBC self-criticism at the local level. He served as a pastor in several SBC churches at the beginning of his ministry, and since 1984 he has traveled to over 700 SBC churches ministering to them either as an evangelist or as a speaker on various crucial topics.

The deficiencies in the local SBC churches are not new nor are criticisms of these deficiencies new. What is new -- or fairly new -- is that we now find Southern Baptists themselves making these criticisms of themselves. Many others have seen these problems for a long time -- now Southern Baptists are admitting that they have these problems. Ledbetter himself notes that self-examination is a difficult task but is a necessary one if Christians and their churches are to be revived and to become what God commands.

One of the books speaks of the array of various maladies afflicting the churches, and does so from the perspective of Satan's work aiming at producing these maladies. As its title implies, the Devil's main weapon is producing false thinking and confused thinking in the minds of Christians, many of them in the form of misconceptions about the meaning of Holy Scripture. The other book focuses on the malaise in the deacons in the SBC churches and recommends a teaching and training program as a corrective. Ledbetter in writing this book draws upon his own experience in the teaching and training of deacons he has done in his travels to many SBC churches.

Ledbetter's books are not only significant as an example of SBC self-criticism, they are also important as one of the most recent examples of the burgeoning literary scene in the Southside counties. And Ledbetter is also one of the latest examples of the increasing number of Christians on the Southside who are authoring and publishing books.

If anyone wishes to know what is going on in today's SBC churches, I recommend these books by Ledbetter. Information on the man and his ministry is available at http://www.donledbetter.org/.

MY REVIEW OF TERRI MAIN’S PARMENTERS WAGER: WHO IS THE REAL HUMAN HERE ???

2011-04-22T11:06:00.001-05:00

Who Is The Real Human Here ???

A review of Terri Main's short story "Parmenters Wager"

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

CAUTION: BECAUSE OF ITS HIGHLY ANALYTICAL NATURE, THIS "GIVES AWAY" THE STORY. BEST TO READ IT AFTER READING THE STORY.

First of all, I believe that one of the marks of an excellent writer is the ability to create a character whom the reader would like to meet. Erica Lincoln is such a character. I really, really would like to meet her!! Wow!! (It is hard to put this into words!) Why? The answer is extremely important for the review It can be summed up by saying that she is by far the most human of all the characters in this story, which is really funny because the story is about this church which is debating whether she is really a person or not, whether she has a soul or not. The reason the question is raised is that they have just learned that Erica is a human clone! What can really throw the reader off, unless he is careful in his thinking, is that the story begins when Erica herself asks Pastor Parmenter, "Do I have a soul?".

The reason for the confusion is the failure to recognize the all-important fact that it is ONLY someone who has a soul who would ask this question! It is only a person who worries about whether he may be acting impersonally or may be losing his humanity. Such questioning, such concern is a SIGN of personhood!! What is so funny and so ironic is that the people who are debating whether or not Erica has a soul, is a person are much less personal than she is!! Since she is so much more human than they are, it is the height of ludicrosity for them to be debating whether she is human or not!! It is almost like some of those satirical stories about a church's pastoral search committee turning down the Apostle Paul because he did not graduate from the denomination's seminary!

The title of this short story refers to the pastor's very inept attempt to deal with the situation by wagering that she has a soul, by betting that she is human. He is not sure -- boy, how blind can you be!! -- so he decides to take a gamble that she is and he talks the congregation into doing likewise. Erica very much wants to be accepted in this church so that she very graciously accepts this, even though it is grossly insulting. She is really the one who is being gracious, not the church or Parmenter. But Parmeter's heart is in the right place, as is most of the congregation. They actually know Erica is human but are prejudiced because of the false notions about human clones in their society.

-1-

The pastor in his musings notes how little concern there has been for logic in theology. But he himself is no better. His "wager" presupposes that Erica is human because it says that even if we are wrong about her having a soul, that if we accept her we will continue to benefit from her ministry among us and she will benefit by having a community of believers with whom to share her life. What he apparently fails to realize is that this can happen only if Erica is human, only if Erica has a soul. If she is not human, does not have a soul, is not a christian, then there can be no ministry and no fellowship. Because there is so little concern for logic among Christians, this portrayal of Parmenter and his congregation is very realistic. And as you read and get into the story you do have the feeling of how real the whole thing is. This is not a caricature. This is the real deal.

Parmenter's Wager is a take-off on the famous Pascal's Wager, which is noted in the story. Pascal's Wager is also illogical, as I have shown in a lengthy paper which can be found on my blog, http://vantiltool.blogspot.com for those interested. It is too lengthy to summarize here.

In the review copy I have, the term "mitochondrial" was not spelled correctly.

-2-

Quinquicentennial of the Birth of Perre Viret

2011-03-18T09:39:00.002-05:00

I planned for some time the short recent posts here on the Quadricentennial of the KJV and the Fiftieth Anniversay of The Genesis Flood, whose great importance were long familiar to me.

But it was not until the March/April issue of Faith For All Of Life (FFAOL) magazine that I had ever heard of Pierre Viret and that 2011 is the quinquicentennial of his birth (1511). Most of the articles in the magazine deal with Viret, and the front cover sports an excellent painting of him. For me the most noteworthy thing was that the academy at Geneva for which Calvin was famous was begun by Viret in Lausanne, and then moved from there to Geneva when the stupid governmental authorities in Bern kicked Viret out. Calvin took it over after Viret left Geneva to minister in southern France. This and many more interesting facts are discussed in this issue. I found the article on Viret's view of war to be very good, and dealing with issues often omitted in Reformed discussions of this topic.

While I am on the subject of FFAOL, let me encourage any of you who are not familiar with it to check it out. It was founded by Rushdoony and is now run by his son Mark and Martin Selbrede. For info on the magazine and the other activities of The Chalcedon Foundation, go to www.chalcedon.edu.

Sincerely,

Forrest

Fiftieth Anniversary of The Genesis Flood

2011-03-02T12:08:00.003-05:00

FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GENESIS FLOOD !!!

by Forrest W. Schultz

In 1961 an extremely significant book was published, Whitcomb & Morris's The Genesis Flood, which conclusively demonstrated both from Scripture and from the facts and laws of science that the Genesis Account of The Creation and The Flood really happened. I first heard of this remarkable book in a lecture given in 1963 near Philadelphia by Dr. Gary Parker, who then was a biology professor at what was then Eastern Baptist College at St. Davids, PA and who later traveled all over the place delivering the message of that Earth-shaking book. I was so astonished I went up and spoke with him afterward and copied down the exact info on the book so I could purchase it, which I did several days later, and WOW, what an experience -- WHAT an eye-opener that was!!

I could go on and on but I need to get off the computer now, so I will refer you for further info to the magazine of the Institute for Creation Research, Acts & Facts, their February 2011 issue which features a special article on the subject and notes a new book which updates TGF.

Info on ICR is available at www.icr.org.

Sincerely,

Forrest

Peter Lilback's GEORGE WASHINGTON'S SACRED FIRE -- a few remarks

2011-03-01T11:44:00.002-05:00

A Few Remarks on

Peter Lilback's George Washington's Sacred Fire

by Forrest Schultz

I am in too much of a hurry for a book review, so I will just quickly say what I want to say.

I intended to read this book right after it was published in 2006, ,but just now finally got around to it.

In my judgment, Lilback has proven his thesis that Washington was a Christian, not a Deist.

However, it needs to be made plain, as Lilback does, that the term "Christian" does not mean all of the things associated with the term today by fundamentalists and evangelicals. Washington was an 18th century orthodox Episcopalian, which needs to be kept in mind

Another distinction which needs to be made, which Lilback makes, concerns the term "Enlightenment". According to the way we usually use the term today to mean Humanism, Washington was not an Enlightenment man. But the term Enlightenment sometimes is used in a broader sense in which genuine christians are included. In that sense there are two kinds of Enlightenment -- a christian one and a humanist one, and Washington was an enlightenment man in the christian version of the enlightenment.

There is also lots and lots of great info in the book, including a chapter about the Masons.

READ IT !!

Sincerely,

Forrest

REVIEW OF BOOK 2 OF “THE GIFTED”: “COMING OF AGE” BY STEVE WILSON

2011-02-25T12:49:00.001-05:00

The "Coming of Age" of Super-Heroes And Author In The Gifted

A review of

Steve Wilson The Gifted, Book 2: Coming of Age (Create Space, 2011)

$10.00 204 pp ISBN: 9781456574994

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

One of the toughest stages in the human maturation process is the transition from adolescence to adulthood. The focus in the book under review here is a group of teens for whom this transition is more difficult than usual because they also need to mature in their usage of the super-powers with which they have been endowed. This super-hero maturation involves not only mastery of the technical skills involved in using these powers but also the development of an ethical concern to be certain they are used for good and not for evil.

This ethical development is complicated by the fact that there is still a lot of mystery concerning who all was involved in the bestowal of these super-gifts and what their purposes were and are. Perhaps the most immediate pressing concern involves one of the main characters in the story, General Raines. Can he be trusted? Is he working for the good guys or the bad guys? And exactly who are the good guys and the bad guys anyway? And these guys involve not only humans but extraterrestrials as well, which appear to be what is ultimately behind the bestowal of the super-powers.

The teens mentioned are "The Gifted" and the "Coming of Age" refers to the maturation discussed above.

As I noted in my review of Book 1 of this series, there is a resemblance between "The Gifted" and the television series "Heroes". Speaking of that, I feel, with what I know at this point, that The Gifted would be far easier to make as a movie or television series than as a series of books. The author should seriously consider making this into a film or series of films. I believe this would be helpful not only in displaying these superpowers but also in making the characters more memorable. These powers are easily shown on screen; showing them on the printed page is not easy. The characters in Heroes were so memorable not just because of their development by the writers but especially because of the really great way they were portrayed on film. So far, the characters in The Gifted are not nearly as well developed as, for instance, Claire the Cheerleader -- you know the one for whom the slogan "Save The Cheerleader: Save The World" was coined. I have a feeling that some of the characters in The Gifted have such a potential but it has so far not been realized: at this point we only see hints of it.

-1-

One of the greatest experiences of a novel reader is seeing a character there who is so memorable you would like to meet him or her. The challenge the author faces is developing his characters so that they have that effect on the reader. I see a potential here but it is not yet reached. In the Heroes I would love to meet Claire and those two funny Japanese guys and some of the others. So far, I cannot say that about any of the characters in The Gifted. Maybe in the future books we will see a Coming of Age in this character development!

As to the story line, it is hard to know what to say without knowing what is really going on behind the scenes, esp. with the ETs. I find that frustrating but it is clearly part of the story and we shall have to wait for the future books to find out what is going on. But I do not wish to say more about this now because my real concern is with the characters.

This author clearly has potential. I shall look to see its development in the future stories. I really want to see someone like Claire The Cheerleader emerge -- wouldn't that be exciting. Sooo, stay tuned!

February 25, 2011

-2-

KUDOS TO THE KING JAMES VERSION !!! - A Review of Leland Ryken’s “The Legacy of the King James Bible”

2011-02-04T11:52:00.001-05:00

Kudos To The KJV !!

A review of

Leland Ryken The Leagcy of the King James Bible: Celebrating 400 Years of the Most Influential English Translation (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010) $15.99 265 pp ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-1388-6

Reviewer: Forrest Wayne Schultz

A lifetime of scholarship in English literature and Bible translation has led Leland Ryken to become an ardent admirer of the King James Version both as a translation and as a work of literature. Ryken has honed his writing skills, which he has used to author a number of important books which, like the Bible itself, are readible both by laymen and scholars. Therefore it is not surprising that Crossway chose Ryken to write a volume celebrating the Quadricentennial of the KJV. Yes, is is now 400 years old: 1611 + 400 = 2011 !

The purpose of the book is to show: (1). how and why the KJV became an excellent translation and literary work; (2). the nature of this excellence; and (3). how the KJV influenced the religion, Bible translation, language, education, culture, and literature of English speaking peoples. As the author indicates, this book is to be regarded as a summary. Each chapter recommends several books for further reading, to which could be added some of the works mentioned in the footnotes.

As in his previous writings, Ryken contrasts the essentially literal translation methdology of the King James Version with the dynamic equivalence method (used in such modern translations as the NIV), explaining the inferiority of the latter. He also contrasts the modern versions which sound like newspapers with the language of the KJV, which uses ordinary English words to produce a work of elegance and majesty.

The Afterword sums up the great harm produced by the turn away from the KJV to the plethora of modern inferior translations. In light of what great historians like Toynbee and Spengler have shown, such decadence is the not-to-be-unexpected expected result of The Decline of The West, something which Ryken surprisingly fails to mention.

In what Ryken does say I am in agreement except for his failure to see the erroneousness of the Westcott & Hort Theory, which turned away from the Textus Receptus, an egregious blunder which is both out of accord with the data and in violation of the Doctrine of the Providential Preservation of the Biblical Text set forth in the Westminster Confession of Faith. Aside from that, I recommend Ryken's book.

Martin Selbrede recently called upon Christians to strive for excellence, using Bach as an example in music. I agree and would suggest we use the KJV as our example in literature.

A VERY UNUSUAL BOY – AND – HIS – DOG STORY (REVIEW OF “A DOG’S PURPOSE”)

2010-12-30T16:07:00.001-05:00

A Very Unusual Boy – And – His – Dog Story

A review of

W. Bruce Cameron A Dog's Purpose (NY: Tom Doherty Assocs., 2010)

314 pp ISBN: 978-0-7653-2626-3

Reviewed by: Forrest W. Schultz

Stories of a boy and his dog have always been among my favorites. One of the best of these stories I have ever read – and the most unusual – is Bruce Cameron's recently published A Dog's Purpose. The title is well chosen because this is a story of a dog telling us how he found his purpose in life. Or perhaps I should say "lives", because this dog had to live several lives before he learned and achieved his purpose.

This story is the best one I have ever read showing how things look from a dog's perspective. As this dog narrates his experiences we find ourselves empathizing with him. The experiences range all the way from the mundane to the poignant to the humorous. The story is so captivating and so well-written that it is difficult to put down. I highly recommend it.

THE INKLINGS IN A NOVEL: A REVIEW OF DAVID DOWNING’S “INKLING NOVEL”

2010-12-28T15:08:00.001-05:00

THE INKLINGS IN A NOVEL

A Review Of

David C. Downing Looking for the King: An Inklings Novel (San Francisco, CA:

Ignatius Press, 2010) 285 pp ISBN: 978-1-58617-514-6

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien and Charles Williams are well knows as authors of stories; and many books have been written about their stories. But, as far as I know, David Downing's recently published book is the first time these men have been characters
in a story. Downing rightly regards this as so important that he subtitles his book "An Inklings Novel". The Inklings were friends of C. S. Lewis (including Tolkien and Williams) who met regularly in Lewis's home.

Although Downing's book is a work of fiction, the ideas expressed in it by these three Inklings are truly theirs. This can be easily verified because Downing has placed in the back of the book a Notes section indicating the sources of these ideas. This is unusual for a novel but is not surprising when we consider the fact that Downing has been a scholar of Inklings lore for many years and has authored four award-winning books on C. S. Lewis.

The focus of Looking for the King is aspiring scholar Tom McCord's quest for historical evidence to prove the existence of King Arthur. McCord is soon joined by another young American visiting England in 1940 – Laura Hartman, who is searching for the meaning of her mysterious dreams. Their adventures soon morph into another quest – finding the fabled Spear of Longinus. In their conversations with the Inklings, Tom and Laura not only receive help for their quests but also discussions of the relationships of the quests to matters of eternal import.

Like almost all quest stories, this one includes sinister forces; but, unlike most of these stories, this one has no gunfightes, no fisticuffs, no car crashes, and no "woo-woo" stuff. There is sophistication not only in the story's dialogues, but also in its action.

I concur with Thomas Howard when he says that "…Lewis, Tolkien, and Williams would be mightily pleased with Looking for the King. All Inklings lovers will be highly delighted." (from rear jacket) I also believe that this story will provide a good introduction to the Inklings for those who have not yet made their acquaintance. It will give those readers at least an "inkling" of what these men were like.

REVIEW OF “THE GIFTED” BY NEW CHRISTIAN SF AUTHOR STEVEN WILSON

2010-12-23T12:54:00.001-05:00

A Christian Fiction Version of "Heroes"

A review of

Stephen R. Wilson The Gifted, Book 1: In The Beginning (self-published, 2010)

$12.00 314 pp ISBN: 978-0-615-40421-9

Reviewed by: Forrest Schultz

The book under review here immediately reminded me of the television series "Heroes". I do not want to say much more about the comparison than that because I never got around to watching all the shows in the series. The main parallel I would like to draw is the mystery of how these "heroes" received their supernatural gifts and why.

In The Gifted we are told that the gifts were given to these people by an extraterrestrial civilization intending to use them in its war against another ET civilization. This we learn at the beginning and the end of the book. But that does not completely solve the mystery because of the ambiguity of the exact nature of this group. A few of their names sound like Biblical ones -- Trinity and Zedek Kessed; but most of the names are those of the ancient Greek deities: Zeus and Hermes and Dionysus and Athena and Apollo. And the comments on the rear jacket of the book indicate that whatever plans for these gifted children which these extraterrestrials do have may be oveturned by "Someone" (presumably referring to God) who "has entirely different plans for them".

This is not to be unexpected when we consider that the author, Stephen Wilson, is a Pastor and the book is a work of Christian Fiction. Wilson, in fact, is so concerned about Christian Fiction, that he not only is writing his own, but also does a lot of reviewing of Christian Fiction, and that he is an active member of The Lost Genre Guild, whose members are Christian authors of science fiction and fantasy (and other types of "speculative" fiction). Information about him and his writing activities is available at http://thegiftedbookseries.webs.com.

The characters in Wilson's story are interesting and well-developed and the action is fast paced and holds the reader's attention. But, frankly, I did NOT like the inordinate amount of jumping back and forth in time. It was not really needed for the story and tends to confuse the reader.

Book 1 ends with The Gifted, now adolescents, being brought together and readied for transport to their destiny in outer space. I intend to read the following books in the series to discover what awaits these superheroes there: will they boldly go where no man has gone before?? What will they do and how will God overrule the plans the ETs have for them. This I am anxious to discover in the rest of the series.

Review of Lee Duigon’s Second Bell Mountain Book

2010-12-08T11:20:00.001-05:00

The Bell Mountain Saga Continues:

The Quest For The Secret Scrolls

A Review of

Lee Duigon The Cellar Beneath The Cellar (Vallecito, CA: Storehouse Press, 2010)

287 pp $ ISBN: 978-1-891375-55-2

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

The quests of each of the first two books in Lee Duigon's children's fantasy series pertain to legacies of the renowned King Ozias which must be activated by two children, Jack and Ellayne. Book One ends with the inaugation of a new age produced when Jack fulfills the first quest by ringing the Bell of Ozias on the summit of Bell Mountain. The second quest is retrieving the secret scrolls of Ozias by descending deep underground into a secret cellar.

The second book opens with a shocker. The Temple official Martis, who was sent forth to assassinate the children now becomes their protector and guide in fulfilling the second quest. This is the first of many plot twists, whose telling could be regarded as a narrative of surprising conversions. The story is also filled with characters and creatures with strange roles. Some of these existed in the first book, and some are new ones introduced in Book Two.

The narration provides insighful portrayals of the "heathen" tribes in the story which enables us to understand how they think, and to give us some idea of the enemy against which the children and the other heroes are fighting. And the depiction of the decadence of the offical Temple religion, which was begun in Book One is continued here. This official religion is analogous to Israel and the Church during their degenerate periods.

There is no indication of how many more books will be forthcoming. However many there are,, they will be welcomed if they are as good as the first two.

REVIEW OF EARTHBOW VOLUME 2

2010-11-12T12:37:00.001-05:00

Advanced Enchantmentology Plus A Feast Of Surprises

A Review of:

Sherry Thompson Earthbow, Vol. 2 (Grayson, GA: Gryphonwood Press, 2010)

$9.99 266 pp ISBN-10:
0982508786 ISBN-13:
978-0982508787

Reviewed by: Forrest W. Schultz

I began my review of Earthbow, Volume I by expressing my great surprise that its hero was not a new character worthy of following in the train of Cara, the Hero of the First Tumult, but was an already existing (not-that-special) character, Harone, who was only able to accomplish his mission because Cara's influence upon him was so strong. In Earthbow, Volume 2, which recounts the remainder of the Second Tumult, the surprises multiply, becoming so numerous that it would be tedious to even list them here, let alone discuss them.

These surprises pertain not just to the characters and the story but to the very principles of enchantment, which are revealed as being of a very complex nature. To mention just one example: the transformation of a magical device from good to evil, and from evil to good is not a simple matter such as touching it with a piece of "Reverse Wood" (as is done in Piers Anthony's Xanth stories).

Sherry Thompson's books are not only intellectually stimulating, they are also ethically and spiritually challenging. This is especially true of the book under review here, which abounds with horrifying depictions of despicably wicked people inflicting horrendously excruciating suffering upon other people. The resulting violence is by no means "gratuitous" but is shown as the inevitable result of the wickedness of the perpetrators. This realistic depiction of hellishness may cause the reader to want to put the book down, and in that sense, "unputdownable" is not a complimentary term! Wickedness is repulsive and it is natural to want to turn away from it, so this is the effect which will be produced by a well-written book. But the book IS unputdownable in the sense that we want to find out what will happen and we know it will be a "good read".

Getting back to the subject of surprises, let me conclude, as the book does, with the super surprise, the biggest of all the surprises and that is that the hero of this book, Sandy, does NOT need to cease being Sand-The-Bland to become the hero, but is actually SUITED for the form of heroism needed because he IS bland! You see, it turns out that his heroic act is very easy and simple: ONLY a bland person would be suited for and satisfied with this. You see, your typical hero would be insulted by being given such an easy task, and, like Naaman in the Bible getting mad at Elisha, he would have demanded that he be assigned "some great thing" to do. Sooo, Thompson comes through once again fooling us all. By the way, long ago I learned from Jose Ortega y Gassett that the real meaning of heroism is doing whatever you are supposed to do whether it is easy or difficult. So, Sandy is heroic in this true sense, though not, of course, in the popular sense of heroism.

The story is much longer than the 266 pages noted because each page contains more words than usual because of the very narrow margins.

AN INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN META-THINKING: A REVIEW OF JOHN PIPER'S "MIND"

2010-10-30T10:54:00.000-05:00

An Introduction To Christian Meta-Thinking

A review of
John Piper Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God (Wheaton, Il: Crossway, 2010)
223 pp $19.99 ISBN-10: 1-4335-2071-0 ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-2071-6
Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

Thinking was very important in the process by which I became a Christian fifty years ago; and thinking has continued to be important in my life; and the Christian thinkers I have followed have been among those who champion straight thinking and who lament the continuing widespread lack of concern for it among evangelicalism. The church will not be straightened out without straight thinking about all subjects, including thinking itself. This meta-thinking, i.e. thinking about thinking, is the subject of John Piper’s latest book, which is the reason I chose to read and review it.
As the book’s subtitle indicates, an especial emphasis is given by Piper to demonstrating the strong connection which Christian thinking has to the love of God. He continually shows throughout the book the vital interdependency of loving God and thinking about God. Far from being rivals, the right kind of thinking about God and the right kind of love for God are in harmony and are inextricably intertwined and mutually reinforcing.
Piper wisely chooses for his mentor in this subject the thinker who has dealt with it most profoundly – Jonathan Edwards, who is also the best example in history of the fusion of profound theological thought and vital personal piety. Piper laments the fact that this union of theology and piety found in Edwards has since his time “disappeared or is very rare. I hope this book will encourage some to pursue that union.” (p. 14) A very commendable goal!
My assessment is that Piper has written a good introduction to this subject in his book. I concur with Albert Mohler’s appraisal that “This book is a primer for Christian thinking that is urgently needed in our time.” (jacket) It is solidly based on Scripture and shows how popular misunderstandings of certain Scriptures are fallacious. Good refutations of relativism and anti-intellectualism are also presented.

-1-
In addition to the elements usually found in treatments of this subject, Piper includes some unexpected discussions. One of these is the importance of careful observation. Another one of these – a very useful one – is the importance of careful reading; and he recommends an excellent text for that purpose: Mortimer Adler’s How To Read a Book. A related discussion pertains to the matter of Scriptures which are difficult to understand. Piper claims that God purposely includes these in His Word for the purpose of prodding us into thinking! It is interesting to observe, something Piper fails to mention, that Adler also notes that we need books which are “over our heads” in order to lift us up! This is a refreshing riposte to the modern desire to make everything quick and easy to understand.
In this regard, if you are looking for a book discussing Edwards’s thought which will probably be “over your heads” and will probably be helpful in “lifting you up”, I would recommend Roland Andre’ Delattre’s Beauty and Sensibility in the Thought of Jonathan Edwards (Yale University Press, 1968). And, speaking of Yale, if you want to do research into Edwards online, I would suggest visiting Yale’s newly created website for this purpose www.edwards.yale.edu.

-2-

AN UPDATE OF THE CULTURE WAR -- REVIEW OF KAREN GUSHTA’S BOOK

2010-09-09T14:08:00.001-05:00

An Update On The Culture War

A review of:

Karen Gushta The War On Children (Coral Ridge Ministries, 2009)

$15.00 222 pp ISBN-10: 1929626592 ISBN-13: 978-1929626595

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

The book under review here is a well-written, thoughtful, and well-researched discussion of America's "culture war", especially as it pertains to the deleterious influence of contemporary education and entertainment upon our children. It is useful either as an introduction to this subject for those who are unfamiliar with it or as an update for those like myself who have known about it for a long time but who have not been keeping au courant with recent developments.

Gushta's book includes inputs from many scholars -- both those who have been frequented cited on this subject for many years (George Barna, C. S. Lewis, Henry Van Til, Cornelius Van Til, R. J. Rushdoony, Gary DeMar, D. James Kennedy, Allan Bloom) as well as new voices (Bruce Shortt, Ben Shapiro, Diana West, Robert Knight, Peter Gibbon, Colleen Carroll Campbell, David Horowitz, Sam Kastenschmidt). Those wishing for further study of therse writers will find ample footnoting providing the sources, which are mostly printed works plus some electronic ones.

Gushta encourages Christians to fight in this culture war both negatively (e.g. attempting to repeal bad laws and court decisions) and positively (through establishing godly families, churches, and schools). There is a lot of discussion of the negative battles, including many victories as well as losses, but little discussion of the results of the positive side of the battle: about the only thing noted here is Gary DeMar's remark that most Christians are still not in favor of Christian schools and Gushta's own comment that America's largest denomination (a veiled reference to the Southern Baptist Convention) has never supported Christian schools. This indicates the huge battle ahead of us, to put it as mildly and kindly as possible!

As noted, although Gushta notes the existence of the spiritual warfare needed against the ungodly ideas and practices within the christian community, the emphasis of her book is upon the warfare against the Humanistic ideas and practices in the public square, especially as these harm our children. These two warfares, of course, are closely related because there have been many people who have gravitated toward Humanism in reaction against the decadence in the churches. And, as Peter Gay pointed out in The Enlightenment, the decadent Renaissance Church originated Humanism and the decadent 18th & 19th century churches compromised with it. Because of this close interconnection between these two warfares -- the external and the internal -- it is clear that the key to winning the external warfare is for the internal warfare to be won by the revival of the church, for which reason Gushta not only notes the need for the Christian community to build godly families, churches, and schools, but she also begins her book by noting prayers for revival in church history.

Dr. Karen L. Gushta is the Research Co-ordinator at Coral Ridge Ministries of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church which Dr. D. James Kennedy pastored for many years until his recent decease. She is also the grand-niece of Dr. Cornelius Van Til, from whose Essays in Christian Education she quotes in the dramatic finale of her book. Although Gushta has edited many other books, The War on Children is the first book of which she is the author.

REVIEW OF BOOK BY DR. KAREN L. GUSHTA, GRAND-NIECE OF CORNELIUS VAN TIL

2010-09-09T13:56:00.003-05:00

Hey, everyone!

Been a little while since I have said anything here or posted anything here.

I recently made the acquaintance, on line, of Dr. Karen L. Gushta, who is a grand-niece of Van Til! I have just finished reading her book and written the review of it posted below.

Forrest

D. A. CARSON -- DEFENSOR SCRIPTURAE (A REVIEW OF HIS COLLECTED WRITINGS ON SCRIPTURE)

2010-08-20T10:15:00.002-05:00

D. A. CARSON -- DEFENSOR SCRIPTURAE

A Review of

D. A. Carson Collected Writings On Scripture (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010)
335 pp $27.99 ISBN-10: 1-4335-1441-9 ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-1441-8

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

Before discussing the book's writings themselves, a caveat is in order concerning the need to read the book's Preface (and Permissions Page [321-322]), which indicates how long ago most of the material in it was written. Chapters 2, 3, 4, & 6 are found in books published all the way back in 1983; Chapter 1 is in a book published in 1994; and Chapter 5 is in a book published in 1997. This needs to be kept in mind, especially when one reads there about such matters as the "New" Hermeneutic, a term which was already out of date back in 1983!

Carson in the essays in the book also notes that many supposedly new ideas are really not new at all. The so-called New Hermeneutic is a case in point. As we read what Carson says about it, it is clear that it is simply subjectivistic relativism epistemology applied to the New Testament writings, i.e. it is claimed that the NT texts have no inherent meaning in themselves, so that the only meanings which can be studied are the different meanings they have for different readers. This and other related ideas in postmodernism are frequently dealt with in Carons's writings, including the ones in this book, which shows how long postmodernism has been around -- it is definitely not something new!

Because there are so many fallacious notions about Scripture in published books in our time, Carson's critiques are, of necessity, filled with refutations of these false views, which need to be exposed and contrasted with the true nature of Scripture, which is the written Word of God. Thus, of necessity, through his many writings on the subject, Carson has become well-known as a defender of the Scripture.

And, because there has been so much compromise and confusion for such a long time in so many individuals and churches in evangelicalism, many of these false views are being propounded by "conservatives". Liberals are not the only ones confused today, which Carson's critiques make quite clear.

The number of topics and the number of writers critqued by Carson in this volume are too great and too various to be summarized in any neat way. Perhaps one of the most important of these should be mentioned, namely confusion about the relationship between unity and diversity, about which Carson makes some helpful remarks, but concerning which he states that more study is needed to deal with the matter adequately. His remarks do not include any mention of the all important principle of the equal ultimacy of the unity and the diversity, which is essential for handling this subject, and which has already been discussed in the writings of Cornelius Van Til. It is unclear from his remarks whether he is unfamiliar with Van Til's study of this or not. It is worth pointing out that the great accomplishments of R. J. Rushdoony are largely attributable to his following this Van Tillian principle.

Regarding the matter of rationality, Carson's treatment is also mixed. He rightly sees the all important point that God is the ultimate standard for rationality, but then he turns around and calls God "supra-rational", (p. 148) thereby regarding man's rationality as the standard! The consistent position is to say that God is the standard for rationality, and if we fall below this standard we are being sub-rational.

There are some helpful remarks by Carson here and there about other topics, such as inerrancy, inspiration, and perspicuity, and some reviews of books on Scripture which we may not have heard about. I found his discussion of Peter Enns to be the most helpful I have ever seen. His discussion of N. T. Wright's ecclesiocentrism with respect to the authority of God to be a very interesting parallel to his better known ecclesiocentrism with respect to justification, which will be of especial interest to those concerned with refuting the Federal Vision notions.

I was very disappointed to see Carson reviewing James Barr's worthless 1980 book instead of his very helpful 1977 book, which provided an excellent analysis of Fundamentalism's view of Scripture, which was immensely helpful and is still relevant today.

I was also disappointed to see Carson taking up a whole chapter of the book on Formgeschichte and redaction criticism, which are totally worthless. The only value this chapter had was in showing these notions have no value. He should have just said that, and then relegated the chapter itself to an Appendix.

Carson receives very high praise from his colleague John Woodbridge and from other prominent scholars and church leaders, some of whom even go so far as to regard him as doing for our day what Warfield did for his.

I concur. BUT, then it needs to be noted that Warfield was good but not good enough. He lacked the knowledge we now have in the Van Til Persective. Thinking and living in our day is tough and we need all the help we can get. It could be argued that Warfield was good enough for the 19th century, I don't know. But I am sure that we will not fare very well in the 21st century without the Van Til tool, which Warfield did not have!

REVIEW OF "LOVING THE CHURCH" BY JOHN CROTTS

2010-08-02T15:25:00.000-05:00

Review of Loving The Church by John Crotts

Ecclesiology 101
What You Need To Know About The Church

A review of
John Crotts Loving The Church (Wapwallopen, PA: Shepherd Press, 2010)
138 pp $13.95 ISBN: 978-0-9824387-4-9

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

This book is an ecclesiology 101 course presented to any individual or family trying to decide which church to join. After first establishing that the church is an essential feature of the christian life, not an option, the author proceeds to set forth from Scripture the criteria by which one can determine which churches are to be regarded as authentic. While there have been debates concerning certain ecclesiological matters, for the most part the Scriptural position is clear as to what the church is supposed to be and do. The problem is that so many churches have deviated from these Biblical criteria.
Crotts advises his readers not to join a defective church with the goal of trying to straighten it out. Rather, he advises us to join a church which meets the Biblical standards. If there is no such church nearby, Crotts recommends that we either work with some likeminded brethren to establish an authentic church nearby or else to move to where an authentic church already exists. And he exhorts us to make our decision concerning church membership a matter of careful thinking and prayer, and to seek godly counsel for this decision. Church membership must be regarded as a very serious thing.
The book has a very interesting format. Each chapter begins with the members of a coffee klatsch discussing a problem they are having with their churches. The rest of the chapter then seeks to provide answers for the problem.
Because this book provides only an elementary treatment of these matters, the author adds a final chapter conssisting of a list of books he recommends for additional study. The one which I found to be of greatest interest and which is probably the one of greatest relevance is Mark Dever's 9 Marks of a Healthy Church, which is a book I have been intending to read for a long time and a book whose principles are becoming widely known in Reformed circles. We need books like those of Dever and Crotts to learn of all the marks of a true church, which are many more than the old Reformed notion that the only marks of the church were the preaching of right doctrine and right administration of the sacraments.
Crotts has written this book in the same style as his marriage book. It is practical and easy to read and understand and is addressed to all christians. And, as the title and subtitle indicate, its purpose is to promote the right kind of involvement in the right kind of churches so that the believer will come to love the church and to flourish within it. The church is not to be regarded as an organization to be run, but as God's family, a highly personal community in which we live and of which we are a vital and integral part. In short, living in community with other christians is an essential feature of the life of a christian, not something in addition to it. When this is realized in our lives, we will come to experience the joy God has intended for us to have.
Information on the author, John Crotts, is available on his author's page on www.Amazon.com and on his church website www.faithbiblechurch,us.

FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

2010-08-02T15:09:00.003-05:00

Fortieth Anniversary Of The Institute For Creation Research

(1970 -- 2010)

In their August 2010 issue the Institute For Creation Research announced that they will be celebrating their 4oth anniversary with a Banquet at which the Keynote Speaker will be

Dr. R. Albert Mohler, the President of the Southern Baptist Seminary, a man thoroughly committed to Scripture, which is why he is a creationist and why he is Reformed in theology, and has become a leader in leading a significant number of Southern Baptist toward more Scriptural thinking. As such he is an excellent choice for speaking at the ICR 40th anniversary celebration.

Information on ICR is available on their website www.icr.org. Banquet info is found at www.icr.org/banquet.

It is worthy of note that R. J. Rushdoony, one of the leaders in promoting Van Tillian thought in the 20th century, was the one who encouraged the head of the P & R Pub. Co. to publish the book which is widely credited with launching the creationist movement, The Genesis Flood, one of whose authors was Henry M. Morris, the founder of ICR. TGF was published in 1961, so that its fiftieth anniversary will be next year, 2011. In a personal conversation, Rushdoony told me he also was a friend of Morris and knew him well. At that time they both lived in California.

Sincerely,

Forrest

REVIEW OF CROSSWAY BOOK REFUTING BAUER -- EHRMAN THESIS

2010-07-14T13:51:00.000-05:00

Christianity Reaffirmed:

A Refutation Of The Bauer – Ehrman Thesis

A review of

Andreas J. Kostenberg & Michael Kruger The Heresy Of Orthodoxy (Wheaton, IL:
Crossway Books, 2010)
$17.99 250 pp ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-0143 ISBN-10: 1-4335-0143-0

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

Although the facts concerning the birth and growth of the Early Church have been known for a very long time, there are still many Christians and many educated people who do not have (or accept) this knowledge. For this reason sundry fallacious notions on the subject continue to be concocted and accepted. This reminds me of the line in that old folk song: “When will they ever learn??!!”.

The book under reviews here amply refutes one of the latest of these fallacious notions – the Bauer-Ehrman Thesis – which has gained a lot of notoriety by its outrageous proclamation of “the heresy of orthodoxy”: thus the title of the book

The “Bauer” of this thesis is the 20th century Walter Bauer, who is not to be confused with the 19th century Ferdinand Christian Baur, although it is very interesting (something this book surprisingly fails to point out!) that there is a parallel between the two. Just as F. C. Baur’s notion of the church resulting from a Hegelian synthesis of a supposed clash between “Petrine” and “Pauline” factions was popular in the Hegelian Zeitgeist of his day, so Walter Bauer’s notion of orthodoxy as the winner of a power struggle among competing “Christianities” is popular in the postmodernist ethos of our day.

[By the way, this is not the only example of this sort of thing happening. There is another parallel I can cite, this one between two Episcopalian bishops, both named Robinson. Fifty years ago in ENGLAND Bishop JOHN Robinson scandalized that nation with his notions, just as today in NEW ENGLAND Bishop GENE Robinson is scandalizing our nation with his!]

Although most of the book under review here is a restatement of the aforementioned long known facts about the New Testament and the Early Church, there is some new material presented. For example, the authors note a fact I was hitherto unaware of, namely that Rudolph Bultmann accepted Bauer’s idea. But this, of course, is to be expected due to the similarity of the existentialism of that time with the postmodernism of ours – something which the authors surprisingly fail to mention!
Another addition is the book’s discussion of the diversity matter. A careful distinction is drawn between “legitimate” diversity and “illegitimate” diversity. For example, the attempt to make heresy acceptable is an example of illegitimate diversity. Although what is said in the book is true and helpful, it does not go far enough. It fails to mention, let alone discuss, the all important foundational principle of the equal ultimacy of the unity and the diversity in the nature of God, which was discussed at great extent in the 20th century by Francis Schaeffer and Cornelius Van Til. This right kind of unity/diversity relationship in God stands in sharp contrast to the false notions of unity/diversity relationship in the Bauer-Ehrman thesis and in postmodernism. It is extremely important to set this truth of God into antithetic contrast with the falsehood of postmodernism. It is also needed to refute the idea in many people’s minds that orthodoxy and God are somehow associated with a stifling narrowness. The precise opposite is the case when we consider the enormous abundance of variety found in God’s creatures – f or example the millions of biological species. This foundational material needs to be included for a thorough refutation of the false notions noted and for a right understanding of what orthodoxy means.

There seems to be a pattern here in this book. The book keeps omitting important stuff that should be included for a thorough treatment of the subject. Here is another example of this kind of omission in the book: the way they handle refuting the notion that the Roman church stamped out all the diversity and imposed its version, which was then called orthodoxy. The book does rightly point out that this did not happen in the Early Church. BUT it totally ignores the all important fact that LATER in church history the Roman Church DID impose its notion of orthodoxy (which was partly orthodox and partly heterodox) on everyone else. We need to be very concerned about this LATER tyranny, which can then be contrasted and seen as evil by contrasting it to what happened in the Early Church. It is also directly relevant to the matter at hand because one of the reasons a lot of modern people are being attracted to postmodernism is due to their concern about the horrifying tyranny of the Roman Church in later church history. Therefore, a discussion of this is needed for completeness here if we want to get to the bottom of what draws people into postmodernism.

The third section of the book, dealing with the text of the New Testament, is very well done and is one of the best treatments I have seen of the subject. It is both an excellent introduction to the topic and also contains good critiques of Bauer and Ehrman in light of the actual facts brought to light by textual studies. It also contains a good discussion of the Christian book publishing industry in the first and second centuries, which apparently was much greater than normally supposed, if it is thought of at all!

The discussion of what is commonly called the canon is quite good also, but it should be pointed out, which the book fails to do, that the term canon, as defined by Irenaeus, which is the correct definition, refers to the truth-system proclaimed by the apostles in their preaching and their writings. The canon is NOT the list of books in the Bible. It is the truth system taught in these books. This point needs special stress in drawing the contrast between the objective truth of orthodoxy (which means “straight” thinking) and the subjectivistic notions of “truth” found in postmodernism and the Bauer-Ehrman Thesis.

This book should be read by anyone concerned with this subject. However, due to the omissions noted, it should not be regarded as a complete treatment until those lacunae are filled.

REVIEWS OF "BELL MOUNTAIN" & "HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT"

2010-07-13T15:24:00.003-05:00

CHALCEDON'S STOREHOUSE PRESS BEGINS PUBLISHING FICTION

The Chalcedon Foundation, which has established Storehouse Press as its book publishing arm, has begun to publish works of fiction. Below are my reviews of their first two:

1. Lee Duigon's children's fantasy, Bell Mountain and

2. Martin Selbrede's adult science fiction Hidden In Plain Sight

1. Bell Mountain

Will The Bell Toll ??

A review of Lee Duigon Bell Mountain (Vallecito, CA: Storehouse Press, 2010)
288 pp $14.00

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

Lee Duigon's Bell Mountain is set in a fantasy world in which the survivors of the collapse of a technologically advanced society have fallen back to a civilizational level comparable to that of our Middle Ages. And this world has a religion similar to the one in power in our medieval period, i.e. it had degenerated from the pristine original and its clergy tyrranize the people. Its top official, the First Prester, similar to a Pope, believes that religion's purpose is to prop up the state! That is just one example of its decadence that could be cited!

The only thing the reader is told about what God intends to do to remedy the situation is to send a boy and a girl -- Jack and Ellayne -- to the top of Bell Mountain where they are to ring the Bell placed there in days of yore by the renowned King Ozias. Jack and Ellayne prepare their supplies and then sneak out of town to set forth on their journey where they encounter all kinds of strange beasts and strange people along the way, including the assassin sent forth by the First Prester to terminate them.

Like any good adventure story written for children, this is one which adults will appreciate even more. Lee Duigon has thus far been known for his thoughtful magazine articles. If he continues to write literature such as the book under review here, he will soon become known as a storyteller as well.

2. Hidden In Plain Sight

Selbrede's Debut Science Fiction Story

A review of

M. G. Selbrede Hidden In Plain Sight (Vallecito, CA: Storehouse Press, 2010)
$15.00 334 pp ISBN: 978-1891375514

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

Martin Selbrede's debut novel is one of the most interesting science fiction stories I have read for some time. And it is the only one I know of which includes dialogues in which the gist of the Van Til Perspective is found. This is not surprising when we consider the fact that Selbrede is one of the leaders of the Chalcedon Foundation established by the late R. J. Rushdoony, a distinguished follower of Van Til, who did more in his writings than anyone else to apply the Van Til Perspective to all areas of life.

Although the scientific discovery made by the central character -- the young physicist Dr. Jenna Wilkes -- is the focus of the book, the story itself is about the conflicts it precipitates, which involve some of the nation's leading figures in business, science, academia, and the military. It is these conflicts and what they reveal about the consciences of the participants that constitute the actual story, which consequently overshadows the science of the discovery. And even the science itself is seen as important mainly for the purpose of showing that God is running the Universe. So while the science is interesting and important, the story's purpose is to show us things about God and about ourselves.

In fact, relatively little attention is given to explaining just what was discovered, so that sometimes the reader is not sure precisely what it was. It is clear that the basis of Jenna's experiment was the stopping of time in the core of a device called an isolator which she invented. It is also stated that this means that this isolator core has become a "neutrino shield" because it will stop neutrinos from passing through it, because for any neutrinos which enter it, time will stop for them also. But then at another place it is said that this time stopping actually meant that the matter in this isolator core was cut off and sent into the past, which makes us wonder how it could then serve as a neutrino shield. But it is clear that if that isolator core matter had been cut out of the present and sent into the past that then the present universe would have that much less mass and energy in it. Therefore it is understandable why there is reference to God making up the lost energy, but what does not make sense is why this did not just happen once but is happening continuously, as the book claims!

-1-
However, since Hidden In Plain Sight is only the first volume of a trilogy, we cannot claim that it contains contradictions, as appears to be the case, because future volumes may provide explanatory data. In short, some of what is hidden here is NOT in plain sight! At least not for now. There are clear indications that more will be shown in the future volumes. In fact, this first volume ends with Jenna claiming she will proceed to yet more sophisticated scientific work, which will disprove Einstein's General Relativity Theory!

Now we need to elaborate on what the story says about the relationship between Jenna's experiment and the christian philosophy of science. After pointing out the misleading ideas associated with the usage of the term "supernatural" to refer to God, the point is made that we really should say that God is "infranatural", i.e. that He is the foundation needed for the universe to exist and function, and that we should search for an ultimate scientific law which would prove that God is running the Universe. However, the book takes no note of the fact that there have been claims in the past that such a law already exists. For instance, it has been argued that the Principle of Least Action (discovered in 1764) is such an ultimate scientific law for physics, and that Godel's Theorem (discovered in 1931) is such an ultimate scientific law for mathematics. Therefore what Selbrede needs to do is to set forth the criteria for this ultimate scientific law such that it will exclude these two but include Jenna's law, or else the story's raison d' etre falls to the ground. Another point which needs clarification is the usage of the word "infranatural" because it appears to be making the universe rather than God the ultimate reference point, which violates vantillian principles.

For readers who like symbolism it is should be interesting to speculate whether the cane given to Jenna may symbolize for her what Moses's staff was to him. Especially in light of the dramatic public spectacle near the conclusion of the book.

I have stated that in this work of science fiction that the science is presented in the context of the story, which is paramount. The story is not contrived for the sake of presenting the science, as, for example, in B. F. Skinner's Walden Two. Likewise, I also now state that in this work of Christian fiction, that the theology and ethics are presented in the context of the story, i.e. as an integral part of the story, rather than the story being contrived as a propaganda vehicle for Christianity.

Well, this volume is a good start and we shall look forward to reading Volumes 2 and 3 in the near future. It will be interesting to seeing how Jenna will refute General Relativity and I am hoping for more information which will put into plain sight exactly what happened in Jenna’s first experiment.

-2-

TEXTBOOKS ON CIVIL WAR EMPHASIZING PRIMARY SOURCE MATERIALS

2010-07-02T12:23:00.001-05:00

The review I recently wrote below indicates why I favor using these textbooks.

Sincerely,

Forrest

Southside Book Reviews
Reviews Of Books Recently Written By Southside Authors
Compiled by: Forrest W. Schultz 770-583-3258 schultz_forrest@yahoo.com
June 16, 2010

Civil War History Books Which Emphasize Primary Source Materials

A Review of

Carole Marsh The Student's Civil War -- 6 books (Peachtree City, GA: Gallopade, 2010)
Each book has 36 pp and costs $9.99 PaperBack and $24.99 Library Bound

1st Book: Who Were the Key Players in the Civil War?
ISBN: 978-0-636-07639-7 (PB) 978-0-635-07645-8 (LB)

2nd Book: What Was The Civil War All About, Anyway?
ISBN: 978-0-635-07640-3 (PB) 978-0-635-07646-5 (LB)

3rd Book: When Did It Happen in the Civil War?
ISBN: 978-0-635-07641-0 (PB) 978-0-635-07647-2 (LB)

4th Book: Where Did the Civil War Happen?
ISBN: 978-0-635-07642-7 (PB) 978-0-635-07648-9 (LB)

5th Book: Civil War Trivia
ISBN: 978-0-635-07643-4 (PB) 978-0-635-07649-6 (LB)

6th Book: Civil War Resource Book
ISBN: 978-0-635-07644-1 (PB) 978-0-635-07650-2 (LB)

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

Perhaps the greatest challenge in teaching history is to show the student that history is interesting. Although there have been history teachers and history textbooks which have been boring, this is not because history itself is boring.

If there are any history teachers out there looking for a way to show that the Civil War is interesting, I highly recommend the six books written by Carole Marsh noted above which are collectively called The Students Civil War. Their release in September is timely because April of 2011 marks the 150th Anniversay of the beginning of the Civil War. There are already several states which have established Civil War Sesquicentennial Commissions, so that schools will doubtless be encouraged to place special emphasis on teaching about the Civil War during the coming academic year. The books are designed for use in history classrooms for an age range of students from 9 through 14.

The author and illustrator, Carole Marsh, has not only had a lifelong interest in the Civil War and in American history in general, but she has also been informally teaching a good bit of history through her series of kids mystery stories set in various locations throughout the United States, which work a lot of historical knowledge into the stories. Those who have been delighted by these stories will find the same pizzazz in the Civil War books under review here.

A great deal of the space in her Civil War books is given over to direct quotations from the various particpants in the Civil War and from letters and newspaper articles and proclamations of the time. This puts the student directly in touch with primary source material, which is usually much more interesting to read than the attempted summaries of these which are found in most textbooks. There are also interesting exercises for the student. One of them, for example, shows a list of all the different names people have given to the Civil War and then asks the student to see if any of these are biased toward one side or the other.

There are also thought-provoking facts presented, such as the one about Robert E. Lee being opposed both the slavery and secession but returning to the South because he did not wish to fight against his fellow Virginians. There also interesting facts about the various weapons and about new inventions such as a submarine which was sunk and was not recovered under 1995 by Clive Cussler!!

Carole Marsh is doing in print what Frank Wildhorn's The Civil War does on stage -- showing us what the Civil War was like through direct contact with the participants. In Wildhorn's case the primary source material is acted out on stage and presented in song. In Marsh's case the primary source material is presented through quotations in her books In neither case is there any agenda, such as trying to prove some point or argue some thesis. The idea in both cases is to show the observer what happened and allow him to draw his own conclusions.

THE MEANING OF ELDERSHIP

2010-07-01T11:19:00.000-05:00

The Meaning Of Eldership

By Forrest Wayne Schultz

One of the greatest obstacles hindering Christian reconstruction is the prevalence of false meanings of words. Before we can even begin to know what should be done we first need to have in hand the correct definitions of the relevant terms. In this short paper I shall deal with a very crucial word which has been widely misunderstood for a very long time, the term "elder". The reconstruction of the church cannot be accomplished until the reigning spurious conception of eldership is replaced by the true meaning, which is taught in the Bible and which was embodied in the life and ministry of the early church. And, by the way, speaking of the correct definitions, the term "Christian reconstruction" is all inclusive in scope: it pertains to the church as well as to the various societal spheres.

The real meaning of eldership is so easy to state and is so easy to understand and is so obviously true that it is surprising that there should be any misconceptions or confusion about it. In fact, I am almost afraid to set forth the real meaning of eldership here lest anyone think I am being simplistic. Eldership simply means maturity. The elders in a congregation are those members of that congregation who are mature, i.e. those who have walked with the Lord long enough and have grown in Grace in that walk to the point where they are wise and righteous and loving enough to help others and serve as an example to others and to be able to participate in providing the godly counsel needed for the church to make wise decisions about the important matters it faces.

In short, the term "elder" does not refer to an office in the church. It refers to a reality in the man's life. If a man is spiritually mature he is an elder whether or not he bears the title of elder or presbyter (the Greek word meaning elder). Now a church which is wise (or even one which has just a little bit of common sense) will do two things about this: (1). it will discern those in the congregation who are elders and (2). it will publicly recognize their eldership by calling them elders and by placing them onto the board of elders, who oversee the life and functioning of the congregation. This, by the way, is the true definition of the verb "ordain". To "ordain" someone as an elder does not mean making him an elder. It means discerning that he is in fact an elder and then publicly stating this fact. It is analogous to placing the name of a great baseball player into the Baseball Hall of Fame. This act does not make him a great baseball player; it acknowledges that he is such.

Now let us look at the meaning of the terms "bishop" and "pastor". The terms "bishop" and "pastor" are synonymous and they mean one who oversees, rules, leads, cares for. A bishop, in the New Testament usage, meant the same thing as a pastor: it did not mean a pastor who rules over other pastors.

Now let us look at the relationship between the terms "elder" and "bishop". Contrary to popular opinion and traditional ecclesiastical practice, elders and bishops are the same persons! The distinction is this: the term "elder" refers to what they are; the term "bishop" refers to what they do. In short, in the New Testament, which sets forth God's way the church should be run, the leaders (bishops) of the church are those who are mature (elders).

CHRISTOLOGICAL ANALOGIES IN TOLKIEN'S LORD OF THE RINGS

2010-07-01T11:06:00.000-05:00

CHRISTOLOGICAL ANALOGIES IN THE LORD OF THE RINGS

By Forrest W. Schultz

I. INTRODUCTORY BACKGROUND

The Vocation and Criterion of Christian Fiction

The vocation of the Christian fictional author is similar to, yet distinct from, that of the Christian theologian. The Christian theologian has a calling from God to teach us the Christian world-view, i.e. to tell us what life means and how it ought to be lived. The Christian fictional author has a calling from God to write stories which embody the Christian world-view, i.e. stories which show us what life means and how it ought to be lived. To fulfill his calling the Christian storywriter must have a clear understanding of the truth about life and he must become a skilled literary craftsman in order to compose well written stories to show us that truth. That is the vocation and criterion of Christian fiction.

It is a high calling. Stories can have a profound influence upon us. Stories are also ubiquitous: everyone reads stories; few read the writings of theologians. Finally, stories are important for their own sake, not only as a vehicle for showing us truth, because, after all, life itself is a story and God is its author. The ability to write stories is just one of the many ways in which man is “a finite analogue of God”, to use the Van Tillian phraseology.

Christian Fantasy

Now, let us look specifically at fantasy, the genre in which The Lord of the Rings is written. In addition to creating an imaginary world having verisimilitude (truthlikeness) and creating imaginary beings with whom the reader can empathize, the Christian fantasy author faces the additional challenge of appropriately expressing certain features of the Christian world-view in an indirect way by means of imaginary beings and objects which are analogies of their real-world counterparts. Let us use the Devil as an illustrative example of what I mean. Unless the writer wants to have Satan himself as a character in the story, he will need to create a being who is an analogy of Satan. For instance, in C. S. Lewis” Narnia world The White Witch is the analogy of Satan, and in Tolkien’s Middle Earth world Sauron is the analogy of Satan.

-1-

The Basis For Inter-World Analogies

The only valid basis for drawing an analogy between the real world and a fantasy world is if both worlds function in accord with the same world-view. Since the real world – God’s creation – functions in accord with the Christian world-view, this means that analogies between the real world and a fantasy world can only be validly drawn if the fantasy world also functions in accord with the Christian world-view.

Since C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien were authors who expressed the Christian world-view in their fantasies, this means that analogies can be drawn between the real world and their fantasy worlds (Narnia, Middle Earth). That The Lord of the Rings expresses the Christian world-view is clear not only from the many studies that have been done on Tolkien’s life and thought, but also from Tolkien’s own explicit statements in his essay “On Fairy Stories” (found in The Tolkien Reader), which is a seminal article on the topic of Christian fantasy.

In contrast, inter-world analogies may not be validly drawn if the fantasy world is an expression of a false world-view. Consider, for instance, the character “Lord Foul” in Stephen Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant books, which express an existentialistic world-view. Donaldson’s Lord Foul is similar, in some superficial respects, to Tolkien’s Sauron, but is radically different because he is not a person but a mere personification of the evil part of Thomas Covenant. When, near the conclusion of Donaldson’s story (at the end of Volume III of the second trilogy), Covenant’s good side gains ever more victory over his evil side, Lord Foul shrinks in size. This is clearly not analogous to what happens in the real world. When a Christian gains victory over his depravity, Satan does not shrink; and when the Christian’s depravity is annihilated during his glorification, Satan does not disappear.

Analogy, Not Allegory

Now that we have established the basis for the drawing of analogies between the world of Middle Earth and the real world, namely that they both express the Christian world-view, it needs to be clearly understood that these inter-world analogies are indeed analogous, not allegorical. Tolkien explicitly stated in the preface that his story was not to be considered as an allegory, and the internal evidence of the work itself bears this out. This can be readily demonstrated by contrasting The Lord of the Rings with an allegory such as John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.

-2-

Exegesis, Not Eisegesis

The terms “exegesis” and “eisegesis” apply not only to the Bible, but to any written work. Applying them to the object under discussion, we state that analogies between the real world and Tolkien’s world can only be correctly drawn by means of exegesis (i.e. drawing them “out of” Tolkien’s world), never by means of eisegesis (i.e. reading them “into” Tolkien’s world). [The Greek preposition “ex” means “out of”; the Greek preposition “eis” means “into”.]

In short, we must use our minds to discern the analogies that are intrinsically there in Middle Earth and then draw them out. We must not put there what we might like to find there to support some idea or some cause, as, for instance, some opponents of nuclear warfare have done by interpreting The Ring as the atomic bomb. On the other hand, we must not suppose that the fact that Tolkien did not spell out for us what these analogies are means that there are none. Tolkien is too sophisticated a person for us to expect any such “spoonfeeding” from him. He expects us to figure out these analogies for ourselves and to do so respecting the integrity of his world.

Analogy, Not Confusion

The next and final point in this Introductory Background section is that since things in the fantasy world belong in the fantasy world and not in the real world, it is improper to expect to see them in the real world or to try to bring them into the real world. For example, we should not expect to see hobbits and orcs in the real world. What we see is analogies of hobbits and orcs in the real world, i.e. we see humble people following the Lord and wicked people following Satan. And we should not try to bring the fantasy world into the real world by means of fantasy role playing games. [These games not only involve the “playing with fire” danger noted by Gary North and others, but they also trivialize the fantasy world. Serious matters are involved here: it’s not a game. What we are supposed to do is apply here on this real Earth the lessons embodied in the characters and story of Middle Earth.] This principle of the separation of worlds also means that we are not supposed to try and escape from this world into the fantasy world. We are to sojourn for a while in the fantasy world and then come back to live in the real world empowered for service to God here in the real world by the edification we have received from reading about the fantasy world. There are analogies between the two worlds but these worlds are also separate and must not be confused.

-3-

II. THE CHRISTOLOGICAL ANALOGIES IN MIDDLE EARTH

The Concept of a “Christ-Figure”

One of the greatest challenges of Christian fantasy concerns how Jesus Christ will be involved in the story. Unless the writer wants to restrict his story to the surface level (with Christ present only as an implicit presupposition), he will face a choice of either having Christ Himself as a character or else having an analogy of Christ as a character. Such an analogy of Christ in Christian fantasy is sometimes called a “Christ-figure”. For instance, in Lewis’ Narnia the Christ-figure is Aslan. This raises the question which is our subject here: is there a Christ-figure in Middle Earth, and, if so, who is it?

Three Partial Christ-Figures

Those who have sought for a Christ-figure in The Lord of the Rings have done so unsuccessfully, either failing to find one or disagreeing as to the identity of the one. This is because there is no one Christ-figure there. Rather there are three partial Christ-figures, each, embodying some of the attributes of Christ, who work together and jointly accomplish in Middle Earth the analogy of Christ’s ministry. These three are (1). Gandalf as prophet and teacher, (2). Frodo as suffering servant and sin bearer, and (3). Strider-Aragorn as returning King and Messiah. These three correspond to Christ’s three offices of prophet, priest, and king, respectively. Let us now look at each of these in turn.

Gandalf As Prophet

The Old Testament prophets were distinguished by two salient characteristics: (1). they spoke on behalf of God, bringing guidance at crucial times in history; and (2). they often possessed miraculous powers to authenticate their prophetic office and to help carry forward God’s will. Christ was The Prophet because He embodied both of these traits par excellence. Gandalf functioned as the prophet in Middle Earth because he invariably appeared at the critical times in the unfolding of the story to guide and direct the actions of the various characters who have critical roles to play. Like the Old Testament prophets and like Christ, Gandalf could and did employ miracles to authenticate his office and to help accomplish his mission.

-4-

Frodo As Priest

Frodo was the analogy of the “suffering servant” and the “bearer-destroyer of sin” aspects of the ministry of Christ. Like Christ, he was meek and lowly in outward appearance and came from an obscure rustic location, the Shire (Cf. Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee). The Ring was a real burden to Frodo which weighed him down and his task, as did Christ’s, involved an intense amount of anguish, pain, suffering, and personal sacrifice. He alone could bear the Ring, just as Christ alone could bear our sins. To destroy the Ring Frodo had to enter Sauron’s (Cf. Satan’s) territory and be abused by his minions. By the time he neared his destination Frodo was so weak that Sam had to carry him up Mt. Doom, just as Christ became so weak prior to the crucifixion that someone else had to carry the Cross up Mt. Calvary. The destruction of the Ring in the fires of Mt. Doom (Cf. sin consumed by the fire of God’s wrath on Mt. Calvary) defeated Sauron, just as Christ on the Cross defeated Satan. Like Christ’s, Frodo’s mission was a vicarious sacrifice, i.e. he did it on behalf of others, and his body bore the wounds incurred in his work (the shoulder wound from the Nazgul’s dart, the sting in the neck from Shelob, and the finger severed by Gollum) just as Christ’s body bore the stigmata. In all these ways Frodo’s role was analogous to Christ’s priestly office.

Aragorn As King

Strider-Aragorn was the Returning King and Messiah in Middle Earth in a manner strikingly similar to the royal office of Jesus Christ. Like Jesus, Strider was the direct descendant in a regal lineage which had ceased to occupy the throne ever since a time of decadence in the nation’s past. Like Israel, Gondor possessed a literature which prophesied a national deliverer who would appear at a critical time to reunite the nation, occupy the vacant throne, defeat the nation’s enemies, and restore the nation’s grandeur. Like Jesus, Aragorn’s identity was known at first only to a few, but became more clearly discernable to more and more people as the day approached. It is very significant that one of the distinguishing characteristics of Gondor’s King-Messiah, like Israel’s, was the ability to heal illnesses. As soon as Aragorn began his healings in Minas Tirith, the word spread rapidly that the King had returned, just as many people in Israel believed in Jesus’ Messiahship when they witnessed the healings He performed in Galilee and Judea.

-5-

Analogies of Israel

Tolkien’s three partial Christ-figures typology is meshed with an imaginative analogous portrayal of what might have happened if after the Resurrection the leaders and people of Israel had received Jesus Christ as King instead of spurning Him. The contrast between what actually happened in Israel and what could have happened is seen in the contrast between Gondor’s stewards Denethor and Faramir. Gondor’s old steward Denethor had an attitude toward Aragorn similar to that which the first century Jewish leaders had toward Christ. Denethor loved his own power and detested the thought of turning it over to another. He also resisted Gandalf (Cf. OT prophets and Christ), stumbled at the “foolishness” of Frodogoing to Mordor to destroy the Ring (Cf. the “foolishness” of the Cross), and rejected the kingship of Aragorn. His thoughts were influenced by Sauron; they proved to be suicidal. In striking contrast was the attitude of the new steward, Faramir. He had a high regard for Gandalf and later developed a high regard for Frodo when he met him, as a result of which he assisted him in his plan to enter Mordor. Later, he was healed by the king and his nation was saved by the king. In gratitude he welcomed the king. And at the Coronation, he followed Aragorn’s instructions as to how the ceremony was to be performed. This will be analogous to the attitude of the repentant Jews in the future who will fulfill Zech 12:10ff.

Christlike Traits

Four traits of Jesus Christ were common to all three partial Christ-figures: (1). their ministry was absolutely essential for the triumph of good over evil; (2). each was “elected” for his role, i.e. they did not decide on their own initiative to save Middle Earth, but accepted the lot that was chosen for them; (3). they were motivated by a sacrificial love and duty rather than personal pleasure and expediency; and (4). they all had to pass through “death” and “Hell” emerging victorious and raised to new heights of power. Gandalf the Grey arose and became Gandalf the White after descending into the depths of Moria to defeat the Balrog. Frodo entered Mordor to defeat Sauron and was “resurrected”, as it were, by the eagle. Strider passed through The Paths of the Dead victorious over death.

-6-

The Symbolic Actions of Gandalf and Frodo at Aragorn’s Coronation

All of the parallels noted above between the Gandalf-Frodo-Strider team and the threefold office of Christ should amply serve to demonstrate the point that each of the three is a partial Christ-figure. But there is one incident which dramatically depicts this point and with it I close my case. This incident is the climactic moment of the crowning of Aragorn as king. Aragorn returns the crown to Faramir and explains that the Ring-bearer Frodo must bring the crown to him and that Gandalf must place it upon his head; and thus it was done. This beautifully and poignantly drives home the all important truths that the path to the Crown lies through the Cross, and that both the Cross and the Crown are only attainable in accord with the wisdom and plan of God. Neither Frodo nor Strider could have accomplished their offices without the guidance of Gandalf. This is why Strider insisted that it be Gandalf who place the crown upon his head because Gandalf “…has been the mover of all that has been accomplished and this is his victory.”

Sauron

Except for a few hints to the contrary, the text of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings appears to depict Sauron as the analogy of Satan, and, for simplicity’s sake, that is the way I treated the subject above. But the matter is not that simple because of Tolkien’s other stories about Middle-Earth, chiefly The Silmarillion (which Tolkien did not complete and thus remain unpublished until after his death), which portray a character named Morgoth as the analogy of Satan , and Sauron as one of his lieutenants. Strictly speaking, therefore, Sauron is not the analogy of Satan but of one of Satan’s chief demons.

-7-

Typology

Unlike most fantasy worlds, Middle Earth is portrayed as our Earth in an imaginary remote past. [Here and there in the story we are provided with reasons why we do not see these fantasy beings anymore, e.g. the elves sailed away to their true home or forsook their immortality and became like men.] From this perspective it is clear that the three partial Christ-figures – Gandalf, Frodo, and Aragorn – are not only analogies of Christ, but are also types of Christ. To be more specific and accurate, each of these three is a type of one of the offices of Christ: prophet, priest, and king.

In this way Tolkien’s Christological analogy framework differs from that of C. S. Lewis. Narnia is not the past of Earth, but is an entirely distinct world which coexists in time with Earth. Aslan in Narnia is the analogy of Christ en toto, i.e. Aslan is an incarnation of God in a creature, and, consequently is sinless, doesn’t make mistakes, provides atonement for sin and complete salvation, and wins a complete and final victory over evil. But in Middle Earth the partial Christ-figures (Gandalf, Frodo, Aragorn) are conjointly only types of Christ, i.e. they prefigure what Christ Himself will do in the future when He comes. They, like the Old Testament types of Christ, are not divine, are not sinless, can & do make mistakes, and do not provide a full and complete salvation and victory over evil, but only provide a very limited salvation and victory, which foreshadows the complete salvation and victory which Christ will provide in the future.

Everything I have said here in this section must be seen from this typological perspective. Gandalf and Frodo and Strider are respectively, adumbrations of the offices of Christ: prophet, priest, and king. They do not and cannot do the work of Christ Himself because, unlike Aslan in a different world, they are in this world in a remote imaginary past and therefore can only prefigure, typologically, what Christ will do in the future. Middle Earth is a fantasy world. But it is portrayed as the remote past of our world, not as a totally different world, like Narnia.

Concluding Remarks

In concluding this, the main section, let me say that the thesis I have presented here is not to be regarded as the last word on the subject, but rather the first word. Additional study is clearly needed. The whole subject of typology is enormously complex and controversial. And the subject of Christian fiction, esp. Christian fantasy, needs a lot more study also.

The road goes ever on. Maybe some of you can help provide further light on this matter somewhere along the road the Lord is leading you. Amen.

-8-

Forrest W. Schultz has a B. S. in Chemical Engineering from Drexel University and a Th.M. in Systematic Theology from Westminster Theological Seminary. He served as President of the C.S.Lewis/J.R.R.Tolkien Society of Philadelphia in the late 1960s, and as President of the Southside Science Fiction & Fantasy Society in Riverdale, GA during the late 1980s. He is an active member of the Coweta Writers Group, serving as its Delegate to the Newnan-Coweta Arts Council. He has had for many years a strong interest in the aesthetic aspect of God and man (beauty, artistry, creativity, “interestingness”) and its relationship with science and technology. He can be reached at 703 West Grantville Road, Grantville, GA 30220, Telephone: 770-583-3258; E-Mail: schultzf_2002@yahoo.com.

NOTES:

The above appeared as an article in the December 2002 issue of The Chalcedon Report, which featured articles on Tolkien and which came off the press on the same day as the second Tolkien film arrived in the theatres.
Since then, although the arts are booming in Coweta, the arts council has gone defunct, and I now write I now write the arts news releases independently under the name of Coweta Arts Tidbits. Also, I now am the head of the Coweta Writers Group.
My email address now is Schultz_forrest@yahoo.com

These notes added today July 1, 2010.

THE COSMIC CONTEXT OF THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST

2010-07-01T11:02:00.001-05:00

THE COSMIC CONTEXT

OF THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST

by Forrest W. Schultz

The Conventional Teaching of the Resurrection: True But Incomplete

The first kind of discussion of the Resurrection I heard as a new Christian placed a great deal of stress upon the fact that Christ was (truly, physically) raised from the dead and that the evidence supported this fact and refuted the various theories proposed in its stead (e.g. the swoon theory, the body-theft theory, etc.). There was also a strong emphasis placed upon the fact that (because of His Resurrection) that we Christians do not worship a dead martyr but a living Savior, Who is now seated at the Right Hand of God where He serves as our Mediator with God and as the Head of His Church, which is in vital union with Him. I am grateful for having received this teaching because it is true and very important. However there was something very important omitted from this teaching, namely the cosmic context of the Resurrection of Christ.

The Resurrection of the Cosmos

The first factor in this cosmic context we shall discuss is the resurrection of the entire creation system into its glorified, final state: The New Heavens & The New Earth. A good discussion of this factor and why it is so often omitted from the subject of the Resurrection is found in an excellent book on the doctrine of salvation authored by Dr. John Murray, one of the best New Testament theologians of the twentieth century. I shall now quote Murray’s discussion of this in its entirety. His writing on the subject is remarkable not only for its thought content, but also for its lucidity, succinctness, pathos, and literary beauty – qualities which are not always found in theological writings!

-1-
“One of the heresies which has afflicted the Christian church and has been successful in polluting the stream of Christian thought from the first century of our era to the present day is the heresy of regarding matter, that is material substance, as the source of evil. It has appeared in various forms. …John, for example, had to combat it in the peculiarly aggravated form of denying the reality of Christ’s body as one of flesh. (I Jn 4: 1-3) …In reference to that heresy the test of orthodoxy was to confess the flesh of Jesus, that is to say that he came with a material, fleshly body.
Another form in which this heresy appeared is to regard salvation as consisting of the emancipation of the soul or spirit of man from the impediments and entanglements of the body. Salvation and sanctification progress to the extent to which the immaterial soul overcomes the degrading influence emanating from the material and the fleshly. …
This heresy has appeared in a very subtle form in connection with the subject of glorification. The direction it has taken in this case is to play on the chord of the immortality of the soul. …The Biblical doctrine of ‘immortality’, if we may use that term, is the doctrine of glorification. And glorification is resurrection. Without resurrection of the body from the grave and the restoration of human nature to its completeness after the pattern of Christ’s resurrection…there is no glorification… .
In like manner, the Christian’s hope is not indifferent to the material universe around us, the cosmos of God’s creation. It was subjected to vanity, not willingly; it was cursed for man’s sin; it was marred by human apostasy. But it is going to be delivered from the bondage of corruption; and its deliverance will be coincident with the consummation of God’s people’s redemption. The two are not only coincident events but they are correlative in hope. Glorification has cosmic proportions… .* (emphasis his)

So we see that, just as (during His First Advent) Christ’s destiny was to die and be resurrected by God, so the destiny of the cosmos is to die and be resurrected by God. This state of affairs casts the entire subject of Christ’s resurrection into a new light. In light of the fact that the history of the cosmos is headed for (death and) resurrection, this means that Christ’s resurrection should not be regarded as an oddity -- as something that does not fit into the scheme of things. If the entire cosmos is going to experience a resurrection, then it is not appropriate to regard the Resurrection of Christ as something paranormal. To summarize, since the Christian world-view expects the resurrection of the cosmos, it therefore regards resurrection as something normal, not something abnormal. Therefore, Christ’s resurrection must be discussed in this light, i.e. in light of this cosmic resurrectional context. The humanist considers the idea of the Resurrection of Christ as a “Claim of the Paranormal” because it does not fit into the humanist’s world-view: the humanist does not expect God to resurrect the cosmos. Therefore he regards the notion of resurrection as an oddity, as something that doesn’t fit into his framework because it is a concept which is alien to it.

-2-

Present Day Resurrections

Thus far we have dealt with the universal eschatological resurrection that will occur at the end of the history of this cosmos. But this is not the only factor in the cosmic resurrectional context. There are also present-day resurrections occurring in the plant kingdom, as I shall now show from quotations from two of the finest works in the library of Christian prose.

The first of these comes from John Calvin’s classic opus The Institutes of the Christian Religion, which is arguably the greatest book of general theology ever written: “…Paul by setting forth a proof from nature confutes the folly of those who deny the resurrection. ‘You foolish man’, he says, ‘what you sow does not come to life unless it dies’, etc. (I Cor 15:36) In sowing, he tells us, we discern an image of the resurrection, for out of corruption springs up grain. And this fact would not be so hard to believe if we paid proper attention to the miracles thrust before our eyes throughout all the regions of the world.** Unfortunately we have become so accustomed to these phenomena that we forget that the creation of new life is indeed a miracle. Just because it is not rare does not mean it isn’t a miracle. The resurrection of the dead will clearly be a miracle in spite of the fact that it will happen to all men, and thus will not be a rarity.

Our next source will be the earliest known extant Christian writing since the completion of the New Testament, namely the epistle to the church at Corinth written in circa 96 A.D. by the church at Rome, the authorship of which is generally attributed to one of is bishops, Clemens Romanus, commonly known as Clement of Rome: “My friends, look how regularly there are processes of resurrection going on at this very moment. … take the fruits of the earth; how, and in what way, does a crop come into being? When the sower goes out and drops each seed into the ground, it falls to the earth shriveled and bare, and decays; but presently the power of the Lord’s providence raises it from decay, and from that single grain a host of others spring up and yield their fruit. … need we find it such a great wonder that He has a resurrection in store for those of us who have served Him in holiness and in the confidence of a sound faith? For in Scripture we read, You will raise me up, and I will praise you; … Job too, says, You will raise up this flesh of mine which has had all these trials to endure. … So let us rekindle the ardour of our belief in Him, and also remind ourselves that there is nothing in the world with which He is not in close touch. With the word of His greatness has He assembled all that exists, and with a word His is able to overturn it again; for who can say to him, What have you done? or who shall withstand the power of his might? He will act at all times as, and when, He chooses; and not one of His decrees shall fail.”***

It is worthy of note that in the thinking of these two great Christian writers biology and theology are closely related. They are not kept in two separate compartments as they are in modern education and modern practice under the hegemony of secularistic humanism.
-3-

Resurrection In The Drama Of History

In Christian thought, as we have shown, there is a close relationship between man and nature. We shall be mentioning this again, but now we shall do so from the standpoint of history seen as a drama. We now wish to emphasize that nature is not just the stage on which the drama of human salvation is enacted. Rather nature is intimately involved in human history and human salvation. This principle is beautifully expressed in the following words by one of the greatest thinkers of the twentieth century, Rousas John Rushdoony: “The destiny of covenant keeping man is to be God’s vicegerent in Christ, to be God’s priest, prophet, and king over creation, to rule, interpret, and dedicate the world to Christ, unto God the Father. Man is not passive in regard to nature; rather nature is passive in regard to man. Nature was passive in receiving the consequences of man’s Fall and nature is passive today as man’s sin lays nature waste. Nature will be passive again in receiving her Sabbath rest from man’s hands and it will finally share passively in man’s glorification (Rom 8:19-22).”****

This is the historical perspective we need to properly understand the significance of the Resurrection of Christ. The Resurrection belongs in history because of the crucial role it plays in history. It is a key plot element in the drama of history. God is excellent in all His works. One of His works – one that is sometimes unrecognized – is that He is the Playwright of the drama of history. Therefore the Resurrection belongs in this drama: it is not an extraneous element, and therefore must not be regarded as something paranormal. It seems paranormal to the humanist because he does not understand or is unwilling to accept the plot of the drama because he is in rebellion against the Divine Dramatist, who has authored the drama. The humanist does not want to be in God’s drama. The humanist wants to write his own drama. In this humanistic drama there is no place for resurrection to be done by God just as there is no place for the cosmos to be created by God. Now it must be granted that the humanist often does allow Jesus to play a role, but that role is restricted to being a teacher of ethics (the ethics in which the humanist believes, of course) and perhaps an exemplar (of the kind of life style in which the humanist believes). But the humanist will not allow Christ to be the Word of God through whom the world was created nor the principle of unification in whom all things consist, nor the Resurrector of the dead or the Judge at the Last Judgment. So, you see, the humanist regards the Resurrection of Christ as paranormal because it is not normal according to his criterion of normality: it does not fit his philosophy of history – it has no place in his drama. But the Resurrection is normal by God’s criterion of normality. And God is the One who infallibly knows the true criterion of normality and God is the true Author of the drama. It is God’s drama that becomes reality. As a great poet once said, referring to God, “It is His Dogma that becomes the Drama!”. The humanists’ dramas are pure fiction because their dogmas are false.

-4-

Conclusion: The Resurrection And The Clash Of World-Views

From what we have established here it is clear that we must proclaim the Resurrection of Christ in the context of the total Christian world-and-life view and we must exhort all men to get right with God and to straighten out their thinking. It is not enough to try to get people to accept the historical fact of the Resurrection. They need to change their minds about their philosophy of life. They need to forsake their false world-view and adopt the Christian world-view. After all, repentance (metanoia) means change of mind. The Resurrection is an integral feature of the Christian world-view and only makes sense in terms of that world-view. In the humanists’ world-views it is paranormal. In God’s view it is normal because He designed, planned, and carried it out for his purposes.
Amen!

To any reader who wishes to come to a clearer and deeper understanding of this clash of world-views, I recommend reading the books on The Van Til Perspective in the brief bibliography I appended to my article in last month’s Chalcedon Report.

NOTES

1. John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1955), pp. 179 - 181

2. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, III: XXV: 4, Ed. by John T. McNeill, (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960), p. 993. Concerning the word “miracles”, I feel obliged, in all fairness, to point out that Beveridge’s translation uses the term “wonders” instead. Whether this is justified by the Latin or whether Beveridge is recoiling in personal distaste from the word “miracles” I do not know.

3. This letter is found in the standard reference work The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, n.d.) under the heading The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, the quoted material being found in sections 24, 26, & 27. However, what I quoted comes not from this translation but the one made by Maxwell Staniforth, which is found in The Penguin Classics paperback, Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers (N.Y., 1968) on pages 36 & 37.

4. Rousas John Rushdoony, The Biblical Philosophy of History, (Nutley, New Jersey: Presbyterian & Reformed Pub. Co., 1969), pp. 3, 14

-5-

Forrest W. Schultz has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Drexel University and a Th.M. in Systematic Theology from Westminster Theological Seminary. He can be reached at 770-583-3258 or schultzf_2002@yahoo.com.

-6-

NOTE: this article was published in The Chalcedon Report.

NARENTA AUTHOR SHERRY THOMPSON ON DELAWARE WRITERS BLOG NEXT WEEK, BEGINNING JUNE 21

2010-06-16T15:01:00.002-05:00

Narenta Author Sherry Thompson On Delaware Writers Blog Next Week, Beginning June 21

Forrest W. Schultz

The two book reviews I recently posted about the Narenta novels by Sherry Thompson contained little info about the author. Actually, I do not know a whole lot about her myself -- I am just beginning to learn some things. One thing I know is that she lives in Delaware and is a member of a Delaware writers oganization whose blog next week (beginning June 21) will be interviewing her about her Narenta books. Here is the info Sherry has provided:

I'm a member of Delaware's Written Remains Writers Guild. During the week of June 21st, the WRWG Spotlight will be turned on me. I'll be interviewed, people can ask questions via comments, I'll be giving away at least one copy of my latest book "Earthbow", and I may let slip interesting bits and pieces about my present and future work.The link to the WRWG blog is: http://tinyurl. com/24bs4or

http://writtenremains.blogspot.com/ 2010/06/member- news-sherry- thompsons- earthbow.html.

.....

I intend to get involved in this and would encourage any of you who are interested in her Narenta books to do likewise.

Sincerely,

Forrest

REVIEW OF "EARTHBOW VOLUME I", THE SEQUEL TO SHERRY THOMPSON'S "SEABIRD"

2010-06-08T10:57:00.005-05:00

Extreme Sorcery And Extreme Salvation:

Harone-The-Awaited Confronts The Shadow Lords

A review of

Sherry Thompson Earthbow, The Second of the Narentan Tumults, Volume I
(Grayson, GA: Gryphonwood Press, 2010)
$9.99 254 pp ISBN: 978-0-9825087-3-2

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

I ended my review of the first Narentan volume Seabird by noting that its feisty character Cara would be a hard act to follow. So I began reading the second volume wondering how the author would meet the challenge: who would be the fascinating new character to take Cara's place?

What a let-down!! First of all, the new transportee from Earth is none other than Cara's dull brother Sandy, whose Narenta moniker is Xander. What a laugh! Xander-the-Not-So-Great aka Sand-The-Bland! Actually, though, the laugh is on me for making the assumption I did. The author, of course, is not obliged to tell us the story we may be expecting to read!

So, what is the story here? On the surface it first appears to be a same-old-same-old tale of a wicked disgusting man conquering and tyrannizing a people. What is quite different in this story is that the misdeeds of this tyrant, Cenoc, are actually only the visible effects of the activity of a super-powerful "Shadow Lord", Mexat, who is physically imprisoned inside a mountain but who nonetheless is able to exert spiritual forces which are being directed at controlling Cenoc, who is unaware that he is gradually being enslaved by Mexat.

Thompson's portrayal of Mexat is quite vivid. She takes you inside his mind where you see him planning his conquests and gloating as he gains ever more control over Cenoc, and you see him becoming enraged at those who thwart him. This portrayal of the mind of Mexat is reminiscent of the portrayals of the minds of the demons in in C. S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters. And Thompson's revelation of Mexat as the one behind Cenoc's actions is analogous to Lewis's revelation in That Hideous Strength that the Head of N.I.C.E. was actually a demon.

Thompson's story also deals with good people being tempted to use the wrong means of fighting evil. The young knight Coris wishes to fight Cenoc's evils but is tripped up by his revengeful spirit. Coris refuses to listen to counsel, so that he ends up in an extreme sword fight with Cenoc's bully boy Beroc, which (almost ?) kills him.

The central character in Earthbow Vol. I, Harone-The-Awaited, faces a different temptation -- the urge to run away from his task due to his great fear of Mexat. Harone conquers this temptation when he remembers what Cara told him as she was about to perform her scary task in Seabird: that although she did not look scared, she was very frightened, but that did not matter because she was going to accomplish her mission in spite of it! Harone also remembers this lesson: "I learned from her, the important thing in the long run is what you do, not how you feel while doing it. Which is fortunate. I'm terrified."

Although Cara herself is not a character in Earthbow, it was her influence upon Harone which enabled him to engage in his extreme sorcery battle with Mexat and to proceed from there to what perhaps was an even more remarkable achievement, the extreme salvation which climaxes Volume I.

The progression of the "extreme sports" feats in this story is interesting. A good question for a Professor to ask on an exam would be this: "Discuss the progression from the extreme sword fight to the extreme sorcery to the extreme salvation, and what this tells you of the artistry of the author".

We also need to look at the subject of the artistry of the author pertaining to how she handles Cara in the story under review here. One of the most important principles of creativity is that a good artist never repeats himself. Because (1). Cara was such an attractive character
in Seabird, and because (2). there is great sadness in the hearts of the readers at her exit from the Narentan scene at the end of that story (see e.g. the lament of Michael Dunne on the rear jacket of the book), it is remarkable that the author has not succumbed to the temptation of producing a Cara 2 or a Return of Cara as the sequel. Nor did she, as I naively assumed she would, create a new Cara, i.e. a character worthy of following in her train.

No! Thompson followed the more sophisticated route by having Cara live on in the heart and life of Harone, thereby enabling him to do even greater works than she did. In the usual sense of the term, Cara is not a character in the present story. But she is a character here by means of the principle of Co-inherence. Since she, in the manner noted above, was "in" Harone, she, in that sense, could be considered a character here. Another way of putting it is that when Harone is remembering Cara's words, this is the book version of a "cameo" appearance in film.

Now a word about the meaning of Volume I. Earthbow consists of four books plus an epilogue. Volume I is books 1 & 2. Volume II will be books 3 & 4 plus the epilogue.

We will need to wait for Volume II to discover what Sandy's role is. All that Alphesis has revealed in Volume I is that Sandy is to prepare for his mission by learning "the ways of the Wildfolk and the Greenfolk", which he begins to do in Volume I. At first blush it would appear that their work will be a mammoth task. Appearances, however, can be deceiving. We have already learned that!! After all, Cara began by refusing her mission, and Harone at first hated Cara. So, maybe there is hope for Sandy afterall! We will just have to wait for Volume II to find out.

And, I guess by now we should know Sherry Thompson well enough that we should not be surprised if we are suprised by her story in Volume II !

June 7, 2010
Forrest W. Schultz

I was a bit late in reviewing the first book in the Narentan Series, "Seabird", but I could not do so any sooner because I just discovered it. I am going to the second extreme on the review above. This book is hot off the press and I am one of its first readers. I am even more excited about Thompson now, as I believe you will note from the review. I would strongly encourage any one interested in good fantasy to check out Thompson. My intention is to read and review the rest of the books in the series as soon as they are published.

AND, for any of you who do read her books, let me know what you think. If you do not want to leave a comment here, you can email me at schultz_forrest@yahoo.com.

Forrest

REVIEW OF SHERRY THOMPSON'S "SEABIRD"

2010-06-07T11:55:00.003-05:00

Seabird Flies !!

Cara-The-Feisty Rules in Debut of Narentan Fantasy Series

A Review of

Sherry Thompson Seabird: Book I of The Narentan Tumults (Grayson, GA:
Gryphonwood Press, 2007)
352 pp $15.99 ISBN: 978-0-9795738-2-8

Reviewed by: Forrest W. Schultz

As a long time enthusiast of the literary works of C. S. Lewis I am gratified at the contemporary long-overdue widespread recognition of some of these works, esp. of
The Chronicles of Narnia. The downside to this, of course, is the danger that "wannabe" authors will exploit the popularity by producing crass imitations of the Narnian tales.

For this reason I was disturbed that Sherry Thompson has chosen to name her fantasy world "Narenta" because it looks so much like "Narnia" that there may be those who, without further ado, will consign it to the crass imitation category. This would be a huge mistake! Narnia fans will love Narenta but it is by no means a crude copy of Narnia.

The feisty contemporary American teenager Cara Marshall transported to Narenta in Seabird bears little resemblance to the mid-twentieth century British Pevensee children transported to Narnia in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and the natures of their respective missions and experiences are also quite distinct and Narenta is quite a different world from Narnia. It would require a lengthy essay to detail and discuss all the Narentan/Narnian differences.

What Narenta and Narnia have in common is the story outline and the nature of the stage on which the stories are enacted. The story outline consists of humans transported to a fantasy world where they accomplish a salvific mission and then are returned to Earth with a resulting increase in spiritual maturity. The stage for the stories is a fantasy world imbued with spiritual analogies and containing talking animals and ruled by one of these animals who is a Christ-figure in the story. In Narnia the Lion Aslan is the Christ-figure; in Narenta the Seabird Alphesis is the Christ-figure. (Narnia is a fantasy world for children transportees, so that a land-bound animal is appropriate for a Christ-figure; Narenta is a fantasy world for adolescent transportees so that a more lofty incarnation is appropriate -- thus a Seabird is the Christ-figure there.) An entire book could be written on the spiritual analogies in Narenta (and Narnia); all I wish to say here is that to me the most striking spiritual analogy on Narenta is its "Living Water". And it is significant that the weapon Cara is shown wielding on the books cover is "The Sword Of Living Water", and that her last act on Narenta is to give orders concerning where it is to be housed after her departure.

The Pevensees, since they are children, require several trips to Narnia to gain the desired spiritual maturity, while Cara requires only one trip to Narenta -- she arrives as an adoleschent and leaves as an adult, which is dramatically depicted in a climactic scene where she perceives one of deepest of C. S. Lewis's spiritual insights as she faces down her opponent the sorceress Rabada. As Cara utters this insight, the reader is suddenly struck with the fact that she is now a woman; she is no longer a girl! And only after she attains this insight does she deliver the coup d' etat which demolishes the triad of sorcerors and thereby accomplishes her mission.

This deep spiritual principle which Cara discerned here was dramatically depicted by C. S. Lewis in his adult fiction space novel Perelandra. The principle itself, which Lewis states and discusses in one of his didactic works, is simply this: repeated sinning eventually depersonalizes the sinner. If, for instance, a man continues to whimper, eventually he will BECOME nothing but a whimper, i.e. there will no longer be a person behind the whimper. In Perelandra the villain, a demon-possessed man, eventually becomes what Lewis calls an Unman.

Cara, perceiving this principle, calls her nemesis a "nothing" at first, which she later amends to a "black hole", which sucks in and destroys life, but which has no life of its own. Here Thompson actually one-ups her mentor. C. S. Lewis did not and could not draw this analogy because black holes had not yet been discovered by astronomers in his day, when he wrote the Narnia books and the space trilogy.

The "tumult" faced by Cara in Seabird is the first of seven tumults prophesied for Narenta. The second tumult is the subject of Thompson's second Narentan novel which has just been published. I shall read and review it soon.

There is a good deal of humor in Seabird, mainly because Cara's conversations are filled with American figures of speech and American teen jargon. Most of this is spoken but a lot of it is Cara talking to herself. This, plus her feistiness in telling the land's top scholars and kings and generals just what she thinks makes for a very lively and often funny story.

This spunk is there from the very outset when Cara vehmently objects to being regarded as the land's deliverer and demands to be returned to Earth because "your magician grabbed someone from the wrong planet!". It takes her quite a while before she finally agrees to accept her mission.

It does not take long for the reader to realize that the Narenta story is imbued with a very different atmosphere from the Narnia story. This has to be the case when you consider that Cara is an American adolescent born in the 1990s and that the Pevensees are British children born in the 1930s. You do not need to read very far before it becomes crystal clear that in no form or shape or fashion is Narenta a "knock-off" of Narnia.

So, is Narenta to be considered as worthy of comparison with Narnia?? I believe that Seabird is in the same league as Narnia's first volume (LWW). Let us hope that the remaining books in the Narentan Tumults Series are as good as the first. This will not be easy! Cara will be a tough act to follow! The challenge Thompson faces is creating characters who are deserving of following in her train and of stories which continue the great start she made with Seabird.

June 3, 2010

I shall be posting more reviews of Thompson's Narenta series as they are published. So far, I would say that I believe Narenta is in the same league with Narnia, and, for me, that is a HUGE compliment because of the enormous respect I have for C. S. Lewis. I will be posting more on Lewis soon. 2010 is the 50th anniversary of my introduction to Lewis (in 1960). I shall be posting here some remarks about that soon.

Forrest

CEC MURPHEY SPEAKS OUT ON THE SEXUAL ABUSE OF BOYS

2010-05-22T13:15:00.000-05:00

Shattering The Silence:

Revelations Of The Sexual Abuse Of Boys

And What To Do About It

A Review of

Cecil Murphey When a Man You Love was Abused (Grand Rapids. MI: Kregel, 2010)
256 pp ISBN 978-0-8254-3353-5

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

In spite of his track record as a veteran author -- over 100 books, several of them best sellers -- "Cec" Murphey had a very difficult time getting his latest book published. This is not actually surprising when you consider that it deals with such an explosive subject -- the sexual abuse of boys.

It also is not suprising that Murphey would be concerned about this horrendous subject: he himself was a victim of sexual abuse when he was a boy -- a fact he brings to light in this book. He thereby sets an example for what he encourages other male sexual abuse victims to do -- admit it and seek help! Part I of his book presents information on the abuse which has been occurring, the devastating effects it has on the victims, and the need for healing. Part II is particulary addressed to women wishing to help a man they love who is suffering from having been molested as a child.

There are two caveats which need to be stated here. First, the author does not "pull any punches", so that some of the material will be very difficult to read for some. For example, one thing he discusses is cases in which mothers have sexually abused their sons! The second caveat is that, although Part II is specifically addressed to women, much of the advice given there is useful for anyone -- man or woman -- wishing to help a man find healing from molestation. This book should be read by everyone -- male and female -- not just by women. The wording of the title should be altered to reflect that fact. Also, in this regard, it is noteworthy that the general remarks section, Part I, is much longer (160 pp), than the remarks specifically directed to women, Part II (only 89 pages).

I stole the first line of my title of this review from the blog Cec established to discuss this subject: Shattering The Silence. The blog address is http://shatteringthesilence.blogspot.com. Anyone interested in this subject -- either reading about it or contributing to it -- is welcome to visit this blog, and, if interested, share his thoughts. Anyone having suffered from this horrific sin is encouraged to share with others anything which may be helpful in gaining a better understanding of this matter and how to gain healing from it.

DYSFUNCTIONALITY TEXAS SIZE: A REVIEW OF MARY DEMUTH'S "LIFE IN DEFIANCE"

2010-05-22T11:39:00.001-05:00

Dysfunctionality -- Texas Size !

The Final Book of the Defiance Trilogy

A review of

Mary DeMuth Life in Defiance (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010)
356 pp $14.99 ISBN 978-0-310-27838-2

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

A lof of things have changed during my lifetime, but one thing I think is still the same: the boast by Texans that they have the biggest of everything. Well, now, they could make a good case for producing the novel with the most dysfunctionality in it by pointing to the book under review here! The story is set in a rural Texas town and is authored by Texan Mary DeMuth who has been honing her authorial skills in portraying dysfunctionality to the max in her Defiance, Texas trilogy.

It would appear that the title of the final volume, Life in Defiance, has a double meaning. This is noted by one of the characters who says that the town should not call itself Defiance, since this appears to mean "defiance of God". Rather, it should change its name to "Compliance", meaning compliance with God". At any rate, it is clear that the reason for the dysfunctionality is defiance of the will of God. In short, life in defiance of God leads to dysfunctionality,which can only be overcome by beginning to life a life in compliance with God.

The trilogy opens with the portayal of the beautiful relationship between two young people -- Jed Pepper and Daisy Chance -- and the tragedy of Daisy's disappearance and murder. Volume two focusses on the dysfunctionality of Daisy's mother, Emory Chance, and the beginning of her redemption by God using several very unlikely persons! The final volume focusses on Jed's mother, Ouisie Pepper. God's work is also seen here but the conclusion is not like that which is found in most christian fiction. I can't say any more than that without giving away the story.

Any reader who may be overwhelmed at times with the disgusting lives being portrayed would do well to keep in mind this observation made by Chuck Colson: "Mary DeMuth has a true gift for showing how God's light can penetrate even the darkest of situations."

If you are looking for well written christian fiction which is both realistic in depicting the horrors to which sin can lead as well as the power of God to rescue the perpetrator, then Mary DeMuth's Defiance trilogy should be put onto your list.

THE VALUE OF CHARLES TAYLOR'S "A SECULAR AGE"

2010-05-20T09:26:00.004-05:00

The Value Of Charles Taylor's A Secular Age

by Forrest W. Schultz

From writers such as Cornelius Van Til, Francis Schaeffer, and R. J. Rushdoony we learn of the presuppositions and consequences of Humanism and how antithetical they are to Christianity and we learn how the Christian influence upon Western Culture has been more and more supplanted by Humanistic thought and practice. What is actually involved in this is very detailed and enormously complex, which it has to be due to the enormous complexity of God and of man and of the relationship between God and man. The amount of detail provided by these three writers and other similar scholars varies but usually there is of necessity a certain amount of simplification that is necessary for a normal sized book. For anyone who wishes a more detailed discussion of some of the particulars, I would suggest reading Charles Taylor's 800 page magnum opus, A Secular Age. It is useful in clarifying exactly what some of the terms mean, such as disenchantment and secularization, and in avoiding some of the simplistic notions of the historical dynamics. I am not inclined at this time to write a summary or review of the book -- that would be very time consuming if done properly. I would encourage you to read it for the reasons noted but you should be advised that it has its own special style and that it does not have the kind of polemical force found in writers such as the three noted above. Its purpose is not to refute or denounce or deplore humanism, but to better understand it. It also aims to produce a better understanding of Christianity.

Taylor's book was published in 2007 by Harvard University Press.

A REVIEW OF BYRAN LITFIN'S "THE SWORD"

2010-05-13T12:14:00.001-05:00

A Look at Bryan Litfin's Debut Novel The Sword

A Review of

Brian M. Litfin The Sword (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010)
$15.99 413 pp ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-0925-4 ISBN-10: 1-4335-0925-3

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

Bryan Litfin is a theologian/church-historian who has just had his first novel published -- The Sword, which constitutes volume I of his Chiveis trilogy. The story clearly fits into the broad category of "speculative fiction", but to classify it any further is problematic. It can be regarded as science fiction in terms of background -- almost the entire population of the world is wiped out by the combination of a super-deadly new virus and advanced nuclear weaponry. The few survivors create a new civilization resembling that of the medieval period, which provides the ambience for the story, which is somewhat similar to an Arthurian fantasy, e.g. the sword referred to in the title is similar in some respects to Excalibur. BUT, there is a big difference because the disenchantment of the world, which was produced by modernity, continues into the days of Chiveis. Although the people re-created medieval structures, they did not re-create an enchanted cosmos.

This is dramatically shown in the actions of the Chiveis priests, who do not DO magic or believe in magic, but actually use explosives to cause catastrophes which they attribute to the supernatural activity of their god (Astrebril), thus indicating that the story, at least in this respect, is not really a fantasy. Because the populace is duped into thinking supernatural acts of a god have occurred, the story can be considered a fantasy in that sense, but not in terms of what really is happening. In fact, it could even be considered as science fiction -- for that age -- because at that time the knowledge of explosives had been lost and was known only to the priests who read about them in what to them were "ancient" documents. There are lots of adventures but it is not actually an adventure story, and there is some Romance but it is not a Romance novel.

One thing which can definitely be said about the novel is that it is a spiritual warfare story. Cheveis was founded under the inspiration of Satan by wicked rulers who are strongly opposed to God and who keep it a secret that many of the "ancients" believed in God and who become enraged when one of the heroes, Teofil, discovers a Bible, which leads to the formation of a small christian circle who meet surreptitiously. And the spiritual warfare is also found within this circle as well because two of the members begin propounding ideas similar to gnosticism, which was a very great danger in the early church and one which is well known to the author, who is an authority in patristics.

The story is full of fast-paced action, interesting characters, and intriguing concepts, and the unexpected. It has a dramatic ending which resolves what looked like an impossible situation and has the reader anxious to read the next volume to see what will happen next. The language and story is explicitly Christian, and the actions contain many illustrations of spiritual principles. The Lost Genre Guild regards The Sword as Christian speculative fiction, and has posted a brief notice of the book on its blog. Litfin has created a website for the book www.chiveis.com.

A TRIBUTE TO WALTER WILLIAMS

2010-05-09T12:05:00.002-05:00

A TRIBUTE TO WALTER WILLIAMS

by Forrest W. Schultz

I have paid tribute here several times to the very helpful thought of Dr. Thomas Sowell, several of whose books and articles I have read. (I would have read them all if there were more hours in a day!) One black man who was recommended to me a long time ago as a great man and great thinker by my mentor at that time on things black (a godly and intelligent black pastor and Bible college professor and singer in Philly) was Walter Williams, who had come to my attention via learning of his book Black and Conservative. This friend, Ben Johnson, said he personally knew Williams and regarded him highly. I regret to have to say that, unfortunately, I never did get around to reading Williams -- I always have more books on my list to read than there is time available!!

But I do want to pay tribute to Williams, so I shall do so by means of this statement Williams made when he was 74 years of age --my source is the Christian World View email discussion group. If you have read Sowell, you will note the similarity -- he points out things which are going on which are horrible and little noted. Here it is:

Having recently reached 74 years of age, if one were to ask me what's my greatest disappointment in life, a top contender would surely be the level of misunderstanding, perhaps contempt, that black Americans have for the principles of personal liberty and their abiding faith in government. Contempt or misunderstanding of the principles of personal liberty and faith in government by no means make blacks unique among Americans, but the unique history of black Americans should make us, above all other Americans, most suspicious of any encroachment on personal liberty and most distrustful of government. Let's look at it.
The most serious injustices suffered by blacks came at the hands of government, at different levels, failure to protect personal liberty. Slavery was only the most egregious example of that failure. Congress and the courts supported the injustice of slavery through the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act and the Dred Scott decision. After emancipation, there were government-enforced Jim Crow laws denying blacks basic liberties and court decisions such as Plessy v. Ferguson that reinforced and gave sanction to private acts that abridged black people's liberties.

The heroic civil rights movement, culminating with the 1964 Civil Rights Act, put an end to the grossest abuses of personal liberties, but government evolved into a subtler enemy. Visit any major city and one would find that the overwhelmingly law-abiding members of the black community are living in constant fear of robbery, assault and murder. In fact, 52 percent of U.S. homicides are committed by blacks, 49 percent of homicide victims are black and 93 percent of them were murdered by fellow blacks. The level of crime in black communities is the result of government's failure to perform its most basic function, namely the protection of its citizens. The level of criminal activity not only puts residents in physical jeopardy but represents a heavy tax on people least able to bear it. That tax is paid in the forms of higher prices for goods and services and fewer shopping opportunities because supermarkets and other large retailers are reluctant to bear the costs of doing business in high-crime areas. This government failure has the full effect of a law prohibiting economic development in many black communities.
Then there's the grossly fraudulent education delivered by the government schools that serve most black communities. The average black high school senior has a sixth- or seventh-grade achievement level and most of those who manage to graduate have what's no less than a fraudulent diploma, one that certifies a 12th-grade level of achievement when in fact the youngster might not have half that. If the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan wanted to sabotage black academic excellence, he could not find a more effective means to do so than the government school system in most cities.

Tragically, most Americans, including black people whose ancestors have suffered from gross injustices of slavery, think it quite proper for government to forcibly use one person to serve the purposes of another. That's precisely what income redistribution is: the practice of forcibly taking the fruits of one person's labor for the benefit of another. That's also what theft is and the practice differs from slavery only in degree but not kind.

What about blacks who cherish liberty and limited government and joined in the tea party movement, or blacks who are members of organizations such as the Lincoln Institute, Frederick Douglass Foundation and Project 21? They've been maligned as Oreos, Uncle Toms and traitors to their race. To make such a charge borders on stupidity, possibly racism. After all, when President Reagan disagreed with Tip O'Neill, did either charge the other with being a traitor to his race? Then why is it deemed traitorous when one black disagrees with another, unless you think that all blacks must think alike?

I hope it's misunderstanding, rather than contempt, that explains black hostility toward the principles of liberty.

Walter Williams

ALBERT MOHLER LOOKS AT THE NEW ATHEISTS

2010-04-01T15:45:00.002-05:00

ALBERT MOHLER LOOKS AT THE NEW ATHEISTS

Today's Atheists In Historical Perspective

R. Albert Mohler Atheism Remix: A Christian Confronts the New Atheists (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008) 108 pp $15.99 ISBN-10: 1433504979 ISBN-13: 978-1433504976

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

With the book under review here I have finally begun to read the writings of Albert Mohler, something I have intended to do for a LONG time. If this volume is a representative sample, than I can see why Mohler has been receiving high praise.

In this book Mohler places today's atheists into historical perspective -- both short range and long range. The short range perspective is the contrast with the atheists of the late Victorian period, the kind of atheism which mourned the loss of God. Mohler provides two illustrative examples of this in important poems of the time: Thomas Hardy's God's Funeral and Matthew Arnold's Dover Beach. This sense of the loss of something precious stands in sharp contrast to the New Atheism's attitude of celebrating the end of something regarded as harmful and dangerous. For the long range perspective, Mohler turns to the scheme set forth by Charles Taylor in his 2007 book A Secular Age. According to Taylor, belief in God passes through three stages. During the first stage God is so strongly presupposed that people find it impossible not to believe in God, and they regard God as the supreme authority and judge. During the second stage the people regard belief in God and disbelief in God as two options between which man must choose because in this stage man has arrogated supreme authority and judgment to himself thereby placing God down in the dock as an object to be examined to determine its nature and existence or non-existence. In the third stage, which we are entering now, the intellectual leaders, such as the New Atheists, regard it as impossible for a rational person to believe in God. From what Mohler presents here it sounds like Taylor is on target. I have not read him but based on what Mohler says, I intend to do so as soon as possible. One of the hallmarks of a good teacher, as C.S. Lewis said, is recommended good books to his students. If Taylor turns out to be good, which sounds like the case, then Mohler is to be applauded for recommending him.

Mohler discusses three of the New Atheists in some detail: Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Sam Harris. I have known of Dawkins ever since his "selfish gene" concept was announced -- because I have always had a great interest in biology. I did not become aware of his crusading atheism until I heard of his "God Delusion" notion. The other two I was unaware of. What all three have in common is the idea that belief in God is dangerous. This belief sets them apart from what appears to be the reigning notion today -- postmodernism, according to which it is impossible to know the truth, especially about philosophical matters. So, in this respect they are like the old atheists, who were (old) modernists, who believed that philosophical truth could be known and that atheism was clearly true and theism false. However, this may not strictly be true of Dennett, who regards theism not so much false as he does something which was once evolutionarily advantageous and is now evolutionarily disadvantageous.

Mohler in this book is more focussed on understanding the New Atheism than he is at refuting it or of proving christian theism. He does note that the presupposition of secularization theory is based on the functionalistic notion of religion, i.e. that it exists to provide certain functions such as supplying meaning and comfort. If one can show that this understanding of religion is fallacious, then the atheist's argument based on it is likewise fallacious. This plus scientific evidence can be used to attack the New Atheism, but, as Mohler rightly states, "the self-authenticating character of divine revelation is the only ground upon which a distinctively Christian theims can be established." He aso states, in the last chaper, how we must not use an accommodating or compromising approach, as many liberals have done. To the contrary, Mohler stands firmly on the Biblical creationist rock, so it is not suprising that he will be the keynote speaking at the 40th anniversary Institute for Creation Research banquet this fall. Mohler also attacks the tepid kind of Christianity in which Dawkins and Dennett were raised, because he believes this was instrumental in leading them to their atheist views.
There is one serious error in Mohler's book. Charles Darwin's famous book, The Descent of Man, was first published in 1871, not in 1859, as Mohler states (p. 20). The year 1859 was the year when Darwin's most famous work Origin Of Species, was first published.
I recommend this book as a good introduction to the New Atheists -- it is amazing how much Mohler has packed into such a short book.

REVIEW OF "THE KINGDOM OF GOD' BY MARTYN LLOYD-JONES

2010-03-15T15:30:00.000-05:00

Reprints of Reformed Greats Continues:

Another Martyn Lloyd-Jones Sermon Collection Published

A Review of

Martyn Lloyd-Jones The Kingdom of God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010)
$14.99 222 pp ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-1340-4 ISBN-10: 1-4335--1340-4

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

When I was a young christian back in the sixties, Dr. D.Martyn Lloyd-Jones was one of most highly respected Christian leaders in the circle in which I traveled. I still remember how excited I was when I personally got to know a member of Lloyd-Jones' church who was in Philly to get his Th.M. at Westminster. (What great chats we had!) And the sixties was also the time when there was a great upsurge (which is still going on) in the reprinting of the works of the great Reformed men from days of yore. When I began pondering the book under review here, it suddenly hit me that since Lloyd-Jones is no longer with us, he is now numbered in the ranks of the Reformed greats from days of yore. Time has moved on so fast that I guess by now the sixties are being numbered in the days of yore! This book, then, must be so considered because it consists of sermons preached in 1963, almost a half century ago.

As the title indicates, all the sermons, which are arranged sequentially, deal with the subject of the Kingdom of God: how it was proclaimed, how it arrives, how one enters it and how one does not enter it, its central and ultra-serious nature, the relationship of Christ to the Kingdom, the warnings against ignoring the Kingdom and against self-deception in regard to one's membership in the Kingdom.

Almost everything here has been said before but it rarely has been said as well and as powerfully. One thing I do NOT recall seeing before was the exact reason why Jesus treated Nicodemus the way He did. Actually, just that discussion itself would be worth the price of the book!

The book not only has value for someone unknowledgeable about or confused about the nature of the Kingdom, it also has value for someone, such as myself, who been devoting a lot of time and effort to various subjects in the Biblical world-view and to philosophical matters such as those raised in the thought of Cornelius Van Til. It is possible to get so absorbed in such worthwhile subjects that elementary matters get forgotten and one's basic spiritual deficiencies and sins can get overlooked. Sometimes we need to go back and review such basic matters as the Cross and our personal relationship with God. This is the blessing which the book had for me.

It also needs to be said that the message of this book is urgently needed both in the church and outside of it. Surprising as it might seem, there is almost as much confusion about the nature of the Kingdom of God today than there ever was. In fact the misunderstanding today is, at least in Anerica and Europe, much worse than it was several hundred years ago. And today, even in Reformed circles, there is a huge amount of confusion about the most basic of doctrines such as justification, which has led to the outrageous notions being propogated by groups calling themselves by such names as the Federal Vision and the Emerging Church.

To any who are being introduced to Lloyd-Jones by this book and who are helped by it, I would suggest checking out his other writings. Some of these writings deal in more detail with matters covered in this one.

A LOOK AT GREGORY MAGUIRE'S REVISED VERSION OF OZ

2010-02-15T15:26:00.003-05:00

A LOOK AT GREGORY MAGUIRE'S REVISED VERSION OF OZ

By Forrest W. Schultz

I read The Wizard of Oz when I was a boy and did not like it. Later, as a young man, I heard a lecture by Westminster Theological Seminary Professor C. John Miller which provided the theological reason of why it was so bad. The most succinct way of putting it would be to use C. S. Lewis's terminology: the traditional fairy tales are good because they were written by authors who were "Old Western" men, but that L. Frank Baum was a "Modern Western" man.

Last year I learned about a highly-touted play called Wicked, which was based on a book with that same title written by Gregory Maguire. This book is a very much revised and improved version of Oz -- so much so, in fact, that it is worth reading. It is well written with interesting characters and events.

There also is a lot of discussion of very important matters, such as the nature of evil and the purpose of life. Although some of this discussion is helpful in learning of the questions, it does NOT provide any answers. Also it is disconcerting that the character that is closest to anything resembling christianity, a "mininster" named Frex, is portrayed in a very unfavorable light while he is going about his "ministerial" work throughout most of the story, and he only becomes human and decent toward the end of his life after he retires.

Also the land of Oz is mostly dreary, especially when compared to a land like Narnia. And Narnia has heroes, a real right and wrong, a sense of purpose, and real accomplishments. Also the talking animals in Oz are ludicrous and bear no comparison to the talking animals of Narnia.

The moral of this tale is that Oz can not really be improved. It needs to be scrapped and replaced with a land like Lewis's Narnia or Tolkien's Middle Earth.

Amen!

A COMPILATION OF COMPROMISES BY "EVANGELICALS": A REVIEW OF JOHN MACARTHUR'S "ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL"

2010-02-04T16:18:00.003-05:00

A Compilation Of Compromises By "Evangelicals"

A Review of

John MacArthur Ashamed Of The Gospel (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010) [3rd ed.]
$22.99 304 pp ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-0929-2 ISBN-10: 1-4335-0929-6

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

If you are looking for a discussion and documentation of the various kinds of compromises by evangelicals, especially those going on now, this is a good source. This book also provides a list (and discussions) of the various Scriptures which exhort the man of God to remain faithful and to continue to proclaim the Gospel and not to follow those who have strayed from the faith.

MacArthur also shows how the main villain leading today's evangelicals astray is the desire to make the Gospel more palatable to modern man in order to gain more converts. He provides this helpful quote from J. I. Packer "If we forget that it is God's prerogative to give resutls when the gospel is preached, we shall start to think that it is our responsibility to secure them. And if we forget that only God can give faith, we shall start to think that the making of converts depends, in the last analysis, not on God, but on us, and that the decisive factor is the way we evangelize. And this line of thought, consistently followed through, will lead us far astray." (p. 167) This is the heart of the matter and until this fallacious Arminian notion is repudiated, the evangelistic pragmatism which now abounds will probably continue. It is interesting to observe how discerning Packer was in this warning-- it was uttered all the way back in 1961 in his classic work Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God long before the compromises were as bad as they are now.

I put the term "evangelicals" in quotes in the title of my review because as the apostasy continues to deepen more and more of those bearing this once noble term are less and less entitled to it. Even refering to them as Arminian is way too mild now. Here is what Os Guinness said of them back in 1992: "Evangelicals are now outdoing liberals as the supreme religious modernizers -- and compromisers -- of today." (p. 199) If you want to know why Guinness and I are saying this, read this book by MacArthur and then weep.

One word of caution, though. This study, helpful as it is, should not be regarded as the whole picture. It must not be supposed that everything was fine before the compromisers came along. Or that things are OK in the churches which have not gone down the compromising road. Many of these churches are not guilty of evangelistic pragmatism because they are not doing any evangelism at all! And, although many evangelicals and fundamentalists and Calvinists remain orthodox in doctrine (officially), this is in so many cases not a vital orthodoxy but a dead orthodoxy. This is another whole problem, but it does need to be at least mentioned here because some of the compromise found today is in part a rebellion against this dead orthodoxy by those who seem to forget that the problem with a dead orthodosy is not the orthodoxy but the deadness! MacArthur rightly laments the decline of preaching in the compromising churches, but, to balance out the record, it needs to be said that for a very long time there has been very little good preaching even in the traditional churches. One reason modern churchgoers rebel against preaching is that they have never heard any good preaching!

This book was first published in 1993. There have been a few alterations and some signficant additions but most of the third edition (2010) remains the same. The author is a great fan of C. H. Spurgeon, and he prefaces each chapter with a quote from the Prince of Preachers. There also is a discussion of the Down Grade Controversy in which Spurgeon was heavily involved a century ago. And there are other nineteenth century persons noted, especially Finney, who was a pioneer in evangelical compromising!

REVIEW OF MARY DEMUTH'S MEMOIR: THIN PLACES

2010-02-03T14:29:00.001-05:00

Mary DeMuth Writers Her Memoir -- Literary Style

A Review of

Mary DeMuth Thin Places: A Memoir (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010)
ISBN: 978-0-310-28418-5 219 pages

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

I entitled my review as I did to stress that this book is very clearly the memoir of a writer -- a very good writer, and, as such, it is written with the same concern for literary artistry she has shown in her novels. If you have never read any of her novels, you will probably feel like doing so after having read this memoir. That is, if you appreciated her concern for reality. Since DeMuth was sexually abused as a child, she has had those horrible memories with which to contend and has had to fight a strenuous battle to gain mastery over her past instead of allowing it to control her. Clearly, then some of this memoir will be tough to read.

But the overall picture is that of triumph through the resurrection life of Jesus of Christ. And her testimony is that the very struggle to overcome the pernicious effects of the sordid events of the past has brought her closer to God and developed in her a maturing of her understanding of what authentic christian piety means. Although some of this struggle is horrifying, such as having to endure horrendous nightmares, there are also many humorous anecdotes of her portrayals of some of the silly things she used to do and believe when she was a new christian. In that regard I especially enjoyed the chapter on Jim Elliott, which was very signficant for me because Jim and Betty Elliot have been very important to me.

The title of her memoir refers to a Celtic mythological belief that the wall which separates our world from God is thin at certain places, thereby bringing God close and allowing Him to get through to us. DeMuth has found in her experience that the "thin places" have been the very struggles to overcome the devastating effects wrought in her life by the abusers in her past. This is the principle that has usually been stated in this way: "God shouts during affliction".

However, the book is not only about these struggles. There is plenty of "ordinary" stuff here too. In this way her memoir is like her novel about Maranatha entitled Wishing On Dandelions. We are told many other things about Natha in addition to her abuse. In fact, we not only read of her struggle against the effects of abuse, we also read of her efforts to help someone else. This is wise because one of the effects of sin we need to overcome is to stop being self-centered and to be caring about other people and how we can help them.

But the abuse factor does loom large here, and is something that needs addressing because it is becoming a national plague. DeMuth claims (p. 205) that from 25% - 30% of all women have been violated in one way or other. And DeMuth's motto for her ministry is that of "Turning Trials Into Triumphs". And she states on the mailing which accompanied my review copy of her book that this is the reason for writing the book: "I knew that by telling my story others wouldn't feel alone. And I have the feeling my own journey will help others heal."

The release date for Thin Places is February 5. I strongly suggest that on or shortly after that date that you buy and read this book.

THE REAL CALVIN STANDS UP! REVIEW OF THE SECRET PROVIDENCE OF GOD

2010-02-03T14:27:00.001-05:00

The Real Calvin Stands Up !!

A Review of:

John Calvin The Secret Providence of God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2010)

Reviewer: Forrest Wayne Schultz

Calvin's theology is not easy for the modern man to understand. The task is made especially difficult by the obfuscation produced by the widespread fallacious notions about Calvinism. To succeed in task of undestanding the real Calvinism, one needs to carefully distinguish it from these false notions of what Calvinism is.

In the nineteenth century Henry Cole assisted us in making this distinction by means of a book he published entitled Calvin's Calvinism, which consisted of a collection of three of Calvin's writings. One of these -- the book under review here -- is especially appropriate for our purpose because it contains Calvin's own answers to the various attacks against his thought by his contemporary Sebastian Castellio.

It is interesting to observe, as the Editor of the 2010 edition of the book does in his Introduction, that Castellio's thought prefigures that of Arminius, and that Calvin, in refuting Castellio (and similar thinkers) relies very heavily upon Augustine, who had carefully honed his thinking in his battle against Pelagius. Thus, the book is relevant for anyone wishing a clearer understanding of the contrast between Calvinist theology and its Pelagian and Arminian rivals.

Castellio's starting point, as he himself openly admits, is common sense. From the perspective of common sense, Calvin's teaching that God decrees that evil actions occur and that they be used to fulfill His purposes can make it appear that God Himself is evil; and that the decrees of election and reprobation can appear to be arbitrary or unfair. So, Castellio claims on this basis that Calvin has derogated the character of God.

Calvin answers this calumny not only by means of numerous quotations from Scripture (which show that his theology is derived from Scripture) but also by noting this ultra-important fact about God, namely "that nothing is decreed by him without the best reason" (p. 64) and that "his will is the rule of the highest uprightness" (p. 78).

The point noted by Calvin here, which Cornelius Van Til developed further in the twentieth century, is that since God's very nature is rational and wise and righteous and is the very standard and ultimate reference point for defining logic and wisdom and righteousness, that it is impossible for any of God's decrees and actions to be irrational or unwise or unrighteous.

A second distinction between the two theological perspectives is pointed out in the Editorial Introduction and is seen throughout the book, namely Calvin's recogntion of the mystery in God's ways, and Castellio's intolerance of this mystery. Calvin reminds us of God's exaltation above man; Castellio wants to bring God down to our level and explain everything in simple terms. To use Van Til's terminology, Calvin stresses the Creator/creature distinction; Castellio tends to blur that distinction. Calvin emphasizes the truth of Deut 29:29, viz. that "the secret things belong to God", i.e. there are certain matters God has chosen not to reveal to us. Castellio, on the other hand, is like the reader who resents the novelist for keeping some of the "backstory" to himself instead of telling the reader everything. And, Calvin (contra Castellio) is like the reader who recognizes that it would be absurd to conclude that the writer of a murder mystery must be in favor of murder because he has put a murder into his story!

The format of The Secret Providence of God is very unusual in that Castellio does not identify himself and that he pretends that the calumnies against Calvin were written by someone else and that he is doing Calvin a favor by informing him of them! And the book has a very unusual and surprising ending (p. 122) which I shall allow you to discover for yourself and ponder its significance.

In light of the great importance of this book it is not surprising that a man of the stature of Paul Helm was chosen as Editor: he held the J. I. Packer Chair at Regent College for five years. And it is not suprising that the book has received the endorsement of men like Westminster Seminary's Academic Dean and Vice-President Carl R. Trueman, and the noted church historian Michael A. G. Haykin whose excellent lecture on the life of Calvin was a valuable contribution to the recently concluded Calvin quinquicentennial.

SELBREDE RECOMMENDS BACH AS MODEL FOR CHRISTIAN EXCELLENCE

2010-01-13T16:25:00.001-05:00

In the current issue of Faith For All Of Life (January/February 2010) Martin Selbrede recommends Johann Sebastian Bach as a model for Christian excellence because Bach's music was composed in accord with the principles of the Biblical world view. Selbrede also warns that violating these principles leads to the composition of inferior music.

The article also warns us to be aware of two strategies which have been formulated by humanists vis-a-vis Bach. One of these, the obvious one, advocated by Christopher Small, is that of discrediting Bach and thereby removing him from competition. The other strategy, advocated by Susan McClary, is the co-optation of Bach to make it appear that he is on the side of the humanists!

Selbrede fails to mention that the co-optation strategy was already used forty years ago by Anton LaVey, who played Bach's music in the background of his notorious Church of Satan, which attracted a lot of attention back then. To appreciate the significance of that, you really had to hear it, as I did, on an audiotape made there by Westminster Theological Seminary professor C. John Miller as he interviewed LaVey. At first it sounded unbelievable -- why would a Satanist play Bach's music? Then the answer became clear -- he was doing it to associate his church with something majestic, something with real class so as to gain some credibility for himself and his view. Anyway, presumably this is the sort of thing meant by the co-optation strategy, which would redefine Bach as a champion for the humanistic world view.

Selbrede calls upon Christians to prevent this "illicit seizure of precious Christian capital". He also bewails the slothfulness of Christians for their failure to follow Bach in applying the Biblical world view to music. Although there may indeed be some slothfulness involved, I believe that the greater problem is the widespread erroneous notion that we must reach the world by using the kinds of music the world likes. So, instead of composing music in accord with the standards of excellence Bach used, we compose degenerate "music" like so-called "Christian Rock" because this stuff will be more popular.

This deplorable state of affairs is analogous to the degeneration which has occurred in the literary quality of contemporary Bible translations, as I pointed out recently in my review of Leland Ryken's latest book. We have become followers instead of leaders. Instead of the literary excellence of Luther's translation and of the KJV translation, which set the standard for excellence in German and in English and resulted in a burgeoning of great literature in those languages, the modern translators employ the mediocre language commonly in use today. The same principle is followed in music -- we give people the junk they like instead of following God's standards of excellence.

As long as this deplorable policy is followed we will not need to worry very much about the humanist enemy out there: the real enemy is the false thinking adopted by Christians, which makes us act like the enemy. Or, we could say of these compromisers, in the immortal words of that humorous cartoon, "With friends like this, who needs enemies??!!".

The only solution is the wielding of the Van Til Tool which highlights the radical antithesis between the Biblical philosophy of music and the humanist philosophy of music. There is no neutrality here, as is supposed by the popular notion that the only thing needed for a piece to be considered Christian is the words, and that the music is neutral. God cares about the music as well as the words. Amen!

For further reading on the importance of Bach I recommend the excellent book entitled Godel, Escher, Bach written by Douglas Hofstadter which recognized the genius of Bach and compared him with the genius of Kurt Godel, probably the most brilliant logician who ever lived.

Sincerely,

Forrest

RUSHDOONY'S MESSIANIC CHARACTER OF EDUCATION MORE RELEVANT NOW THAN EVER

2010-01-11T16:14:00.002-05:00

In the current issue (January/Feburary 2010) of Faith For All Of Life on pages 19-22 Lee Duigon has written an article about the views of the US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan which he aptly entitles "Messianic Secretary Calls For Messianic Schools", which indicates that R. J. Rushdoony's classic work The Messianic Character of American Education is even more relevant now than when it was first written.

Rushdoony was the Founder of The Chalcedon Foundation, which publishes Faith For All Of Life. Information is available on its website www.chalcedon.edu.

Sincerely,

Forrest

IS THERE A BEST BOOK ON LOGIC?? ON HERMENEUTICS??

2009-12-15T15:58:00.002-05:00

I was asked yesterday in an email discussion group what the best book was on logic and on hermeneutics. Here is the reply I gave:

In my own experience, both in re hermeneutics and re logic, there is in each case, no one book I read that I can point to as the one book to read which has all the answers. In each case what I now believe and do is the result of a lifetime of thinking and of reading many, many books -- I have literally reads thousands of books in my life (I am now 70 years old).

In re logic, I remember when I was in college -- I was a chemical engineering major -- that one day a bunch of us students were having what we then called a bull session and someone expressed surprise that there was no course in logic in our curriculum, and, in fact, there was no course in logic at all at our college, even as an elective!! Finally, someone said, "Well, I guess, they must suppose that we already know how to think -- so we don't need a logic course!". This is indeed surprising in a way, especially if you are aware of the fact that science and engineering students and scientists and engineers themselves love to do puzzles in logic and math. In fact, the magazine of the Engineering Honor Society (Tau Beta Pi) has in each issue a Brain Tickers section consisting of several pages of such puzzles in each issue. I submitted one myself which was published there. OK, I think the lesson here is that you have to be able to think logically if you are going to pass the math and science and engineering courses! Or at least you need to know the kinds of logic involved in the principles you learn in those courses.

One principle which was not sufficiently noted there (if at all) was the matter of presuppositions of the most fundamental sort. This I did not learn until I became a Vantillian 40 years ago. Shortly before that and right after that I read many of Van Til's books and I took courses taught by John Frame at WTS in which I got well grounded in the Van Til Perspective. Later, beginning in 1977, when I became a Christian Reconstructionist, I began reading many of R.J. Rushdoony's books which consisted of his own restatement of the VTP along with its application to all kinds of things; and this seeing of the VTP in action is what really nails it down. With the Vantillians who are not reconstructionists the VTP sometimes can sound ethereal; with its application by Reconstructionists you really see the rubber meeting the road! Frame saw this point very clearly -- he said the CRs are the ones doing the most in actually using the VTP, which is why he later became, in his words "Almost a Reconstructionist" or "Not Quite a Reconstructionist" .

OK, that was rather long. The moral of the tale is that you really learn what logic is by using it. If you can plow thru CVT and RJR and Frame and understand them, then you know what logic is!! I do not want to belabor this point, but perhaps I should point out that there are some men calling themselves Reformed whose thinking involves illogic although they like to think of themselves as being very logical and looking down on all others. I had an interesting tangle with them several years ago and they really used dirty tactics, such as changing the meaning of terms and introducing their own terms, which are not found in any logic book! One of them kept referring to something he called "Jacobi's Fallacy", which I had never heard of and which I could not find in the logic encyclopedia I consulted. When I asked him for a reference, he admitted he had made it up himself!! Also he and some of the other guys in this group, which they had the gall to call Reformed Epistemology, actually redefined the meaning of "question begging" so that the kind of question begging they were doing would no longer be question begging!! I could not believe it! I finally got out of there!

In re hermeneutics the same has held true for me. I have learned it here and there from lots of books and articles plus doing some of it myself. Here is one important thing I learned. It is not very often that you need to do "exegesis", as this term is usually meant, i.e. taking each verb in the verse and telling you its mood, voice, tense, person and number. Telling you the gender, number and case of each noun, etc etc. Once in a while you do need to do that but not that often. Let me illustrate from my Th.M. thesis. The verb which translated as "put" in the verse in Genesis which says that God "put" Adam in the Garden of Eden, literally means"caused to abide". You need to know the Hebrew to see that and I am astounded that no one ever noticed that and translated it properly. This is extremely important, esp. for the subject of ecology, which is the topic of my thesis. "Caused to abide" means caused to be at home in, i.e. Adam was adapted to his environment; the Earth is the home God gave him to live in. Ecology comes from the Greek word oikos, which means house or home or habitat or habitation. So there is ecology right there in the Bible from the get-go!

Another principle is that you do not have the proper doctrine taught in Scripture unless you take all the relevant verses into account. Here is another e.g. from my thesis. 1. God gives man dominion over the lower creatures. 2. God cares about these lower creatures who have value in His sight. CONCLUSION: man is to rule over the lower creatures treating them with the value they have in God's sight. That is the sophisticated Biblical view. The simplistic humanistic views are either that man can do as he pleases with nature; or man is only a part of nature and has no right to rule over it.

I could go on and on but let us just consider one more -- God as creative artist and God as author. The only proper way to interpret an art work is from the vantage point of the artist -- what is He doing?? And the only way to interpret a book is to find the author's meaning. The application to theology is clear: things have the meaning given them by God for His purposes. That is the ultimate principle in hermeneutics. There is no one KEY to Scripture -- no one central theme to which it can be reduced. The reason is that God is the Author and He cares about everything. Now in one particular chapter or book this or that may be prominent but in Scripture as a whole everything is important. Different things are in the limelight at different places.

Oh, by the way, in re logic, logic is in God and is part and parcel of His very being. It is not in some Platonic realm of ideas or ideals. Prior to His creation of the world, God was the SOLE being and realm; NOTHING ELSE whatever was then in existence and everything that later came into existence was created by God. Conclusion: Logic means God's logic. There is no other. Ditto with His other attributes: Love means God's Love; Righteousness means God's Righteousness; Beauty means God's beauty, etc etc

This also means that God cares about everything, ,not just about "spiritual" things! And that God is the Ultimate Standard for everything.

If forced to choose two books to recommend, I would select Rushdoony's Institutes of Biblical Law and Frame's Van Til The Theologian.

Sincerely,

Forrest

REVIEW OF "TYING THE KNOT TIGHTER: BECAUSE MARRIAGE LASTS A LIFETIME"

2009-12-11T14:38:00.003-05:00

Marriage 101

Or

How To Prevent Divorce

A Review of

Martha Peace & John Crotts Tying the Knot Tighter: Because Marriage Lasts a Lifetime (P&R Pub, 2007) 117 pp $9.99 ISBN-10: 1596380748 ISBN-13: 978-1596380745

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

Christian leaders are recognizing the all-important fact that the divorce crisis must be confronted not only by ministering to those suffering from divorce, but also by producing healthy marriages which will prevent divorce from occurring. There are some pastors and churches now who will not perform a wedding ceremony until the couple has demonstrated their clear understanding of and commitment to the Biblical principles of marriage -- a wise policy which should have been instituted long ago by all churches!

The book under review here is a good primer on these principles -- a sort of textbook for a Marriage 101 course. Any couple who commits themselves to following these principles will have a strong healthy marriage in which the partners will not need to worry about divorce -- they will want to stay married. Since the principles taught in this book are essentials, they need to be known by all couples contemplating marriage, and, from time time it would be a good idea for already married couples to be reminded of them, as the note on the rear jacket of the book suggests.

The book is short, easy to read, and well-written. At the end of each chapter is a series of questions for husbands and wives to ask themselves about their attitudes and actions regarding the particular principle discussed in that chapter, and there is list of several recommended books which delve deeper into the topic of that chapter, and, finally, a prayer.

The co-authors are experienced book writers and christian leaders, and both minister in the Faith Bible Church, which is located in Coweta County near the border with Fayette County. John Crotts is the Pastor; Martha Peace is a teacher and counselor. John lives in Coweta County and is a member of the Coweta Writers Group. Martha lives in Peachtree City in Fayette County. Both counties are located on the Southside of Atlanta and are strongly involved in the current burgeoning Southside literary arts scene.

There is only one error in the book I could find, but it is not really the authors' fault because it is an error almost all christians today are committing, and an error that is being taught in our seminaries. That error is the notion that the Greek noun agape means sacrificial love. (See Page 52) The error is easily refuted by spending an hour with a concordance and noting (with astonishment!!) that agape is used in the New Testament to refer to many different kinds of love, not just sacrificial love!! (This fact was pointed out by the noted theologian B. B. Warfield almost a century ago [1918] in the Princeton Theological Review Vol. 16 on pp 182f.) What the book says about sacrificial love, however, is true, and that, of course, is what is most important.

For the reasons noted here, I highly recommend Tying The Knot Tighter. If everyone were to follow the principles in this book all marriages would be healthy and there would be no more divorces!

REVIEW OF VERN POYTHRESS'S BOOK "IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD: LANGUAGE -- A GOD-CENTERED APPROACH

2009-12-11T14:35:00.001-05:00

A Serious Call To An Examination Of

The Complexity Of God and Of Language

Vern Poythress In The Beginning Was The Word: Language -- A God-Centered Approach
(Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2009)
415 pp $25.00 ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-0179-1 ISBN-10: 1-4335-0179-1

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

What impresses me most about the book under review here is its demonstration of the great complexity of language, and how that complexity is due to the infinite complexity of God, Who uses language Himself and Who has designed man with a creaturely lingual ability which is an finite ectypal reflection of His own infinite archtypal lingual prowess. In this book the complexity of human language in all of its facets is repeatedly contrasted to the simplistic notions of language formulated by the various humanistic scholars. Although we can learn some things from these scholars, they all have failed to formulate a system which is able to account for the great complexity that is human language! Poythress shows how this failure is due to their refusal to base their theories upon God, the only solid Rock for linguistics and all other fields as well.

Poythress repeatedly shows -- in topic after topic -- that a key feature of God's language is the all-important principle of the equal ultimacy of the personal unity and personal diversity in God which is due to His Trinitarian nature. This very important but very much neglected principle of God's co-ultimate personal unity/diversity Poythress learned from the philosophy of Cornelius Van Til, one of the twentieth century's most brilliant thinkers. Poythress had the great privilege of studying at Westminster Seminary under John Frame, who had shortly before that time assumed the mantle of the leading exponent of Vantillian thought and was an excellent teacher -- better than Van Til himself, who did not always communicate clearly. Frame is also passionate about applying the principles of the Van Til Perspective to all aspects of life. Poythress shares this passion: the book under review here is the latest indication.

Of the many examples in this book of his dissertation on the Trinitarian view of language, I would like to select for discussion here the one he learned from Dorothy Sayers in her great work The Mind Of The Maker. The relationship of God to the drama of history is analogous to that of an author to his story. This is because artistic creation imitates the creative activity of God. The author takes the idea of the story he has in his mind and communicates it to the reader by means of the verbal expression of it in his book. This is analogous to the Three Persons of the Trinity working together to create the world and its history: the idea of the world and its history is composed by the Father, expressed by the Son, and communicated to us by the Holy Spirit, as He proceeds from the Father through the Son. This discussion and the other many discussions by Poythress of the Trinitarian dynamics in language need to be carefully read and studied to gain the great insight into language which they involve.

There is one discussion, however, which is omitted -- namely a discussion of humor. This is not surprising since none of the major systematic theology books -- Gill, Hodge, Shedd, Berkhof, etc. -- mention that God has a sense of humor. That is a shame because there is so much fun you can have with language. I would like to see an English teacher use it to teach about the diffferent kinds of sentences, doing it like this: 1.This is a declarative sentence. 2. Is this an interrogatory sentence? 3. Read this imperative sentence now. 4. I wish I knew what was meant by the Subjunctive Mood. And just think of the fun it would be to look at baseball's really wild terminology -- balls, strikes, hits, runs. And there is all kinds of fun to be had with self-reference and with palindromes.

As Poythress deals with various topics he interacts with various forms of humanistic thought, tracing their deficiencies to their failure to base their language theory upon God and His Word. At the back of the book are several appendices which provide more detailed discussions of these, including postmodernism, platonism, structural linguistics, logical positivism, speech act theory, and deconstructionism.

Returning to the subject of complexity, I realized after reading the discussion of Deconstruction provided by Poythress in Appendix I that the matter was more complex that I had hitherto supposed. Now it is crystal clear that the philosophy of deconstruction is radically unbiblical -- but that had been all I had done in my own research and thinking prior to reading this Appendix by Poythress. Poythress focusses on the practice and methodology of deconstruction thereby showing that some features of that are similar to certain of our own principles.

To conclude, this book is a "must read" for anyone concerned about the philosophy of language. Frame is probably right that this is the best book so far written on the subject. There is a lot in here you will rarely or never find anywhere else.

I shall conclude by noting my own fun with language I had in devising the title of this review. The phrase "A Serious Call" is the beginning of a title of a famous book in church history. Do you know the complete title of that book and its author? I recently read a statement in a sermon delivered by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones that that book along with another book were the two main books which led to the Great Awakening. I put that phrase in the title of this review to indicate my hope that the books by Poythress and Frame and the other Reconstructionists and Not-Quite-Reconstructionists may help promote a Great Awakening in the Twenty-First Century.

ARTIST STEVE PENLEY CALLS FOR "RECONSTRUCTION" OF AMERICA

2009-11-03T12:40:00.002-05:00

Well, hey, everyone!

I had an interesting experience last week. I met a man who is calling for the "Reconstruction" of America but who says he never heard of Rushdoony! His name is Steve Penley. I received an autographed copy of his book and wrote the review which you will see below, which will be published soon in the Southside Arts Agenda, a weekly electronic newsletter covering the arts scene in the counties south of Atlanta, GA.

Sincerely,

Forrest

Steve Penley Celebrates America

A Review of

Steve Penley The Reconstruction of America (Mercer Univ. Press, 2008)
128 pp $45.00 ISBN-10: 0881461393 ISBN-13: 978-0881461398

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

One of America's greatest artists, whose paintings are sold all over the country, lives right here on the Southside -- Steve Penley of Carrollton. The best way to get acquainted with Penley's art is by means of the book under review here, which contains many of his paintings, accompanied by his own brief comments on their significance, written in his own handwriting either on each painting or to the left of, right of, above, or below the painting. These comments are either hard-hitting, thought-provoking, encouraging or humorous -- or some combination thereof -- and are so well written that they are as memorable as the paintings themselves. In short, we have here in this book a fusion of visual art with literary art, i.e. Penley is as good a writer as he is a painter.

The theme of Penley's book and paintings is the celebration of America. His goal and purpose is indicated in the title of his book -- The reconstruction of America. In our time there have been numerous criticisms of America -- unfortunately, many of them justified. In order to know how to appropriately respond to these criticisms we need to know and appreciate America's greatness so that we will see our task as working to restore that greatness when deviations from it have occurred. There have been many learned treatises dealing with this subject, such as those by Newt Gingrich, who wrote a plaudit which appears on the book's rear jacket, but I have never seen anything so far produced which is like Penley's book. It is in a class by itself.

Penley celebrates not only what we would expect -- the greatness of America's founding fathers and her civic institutions, inventors, scientists, artists, economic achievements, etc. -- but he also applauds (with equal skill) America's pop culture: football, hamburgers, Cokes, Elvis, et alia. To illustrate what I mean, turn to the page with the painting of the whopper of a burger accompanied by the whopper of a panegyric so skillfully done that there is no way a cardiologist could come along and object to the burger's cholesterol without sounding like a wet blanket! He even uses artistic terminology here, referring to these things as the icons of America's popular culture! So there is fun here as well as serious stuff.

Since we Americans are such a diverse lot and are such individualists, not everyone will respond to the book in the same way. We can hope that one result will be more Americans having a deeper appreciation of the greatness of our country along with a desire to maintain its greatness and to restore its greatness when it is in danger of being lost.

For the reasons noted here, Penley is definitely an artist with whom you should become acquainted and this book is a good way to start.

BLACK AND REFORMED: A REVIEW OF GLORY ROAD

2009-10-22T14:20:00.000-05:00

Black and Reformed

A review of

Anthoney J. Carter, ed Glory Road: The Journeys Of 10 African-Americans Into Reformed
Christianity (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2009)
$15.99 192 pp ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-0584-3

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

While I was a student at Westmisnter Serminary in Philadelphia (back then it was only located in Philly) I remember a very vivid scene which was enacted in the student lounge. This theologically liberal (white) student goes over to this black student and berates him, thusly, " What are you, a black man, doing here? Don''t you know that Reformed Theology is white??". This was back in the day -- late sixties & early seventies -- when "Black Theology" was one of the "in" things, so that this kind of notion was par for the course.

Although that notion may not be expressed so blatantly today, there still is a sort of lingering feeling that the Reformed Church and the Reformed Theology is somehow not the sort of thiing that a black man would want. I think that the next time I hear that I will respond by pointing out that Augustine was an African, and Pelagius was British!

Be that as it may, it is a fact, which is noted a number of times in the book under review here, that until very recently, there were very few blacks who were Reformed. The book documents the beginnings of a reversal of this state of affairs in the lives of ten contemporary African-Americans who recently completed "journeys" into Reformed Christianity. The percentage of blacks who are Reformed is still very small but it is now growing.

The stories of these ten men are too diverse to be summarized into any kind of simplistic model. Each man tells his own story in each of the ten chapters of the book. One of these men is Anthony J. Carter, who is the Editor of this volume and who writes both a Preface and an Afterward. Carter is also the author of Being Black and Reformed.

Carter receives high praise both for his theology book and for Glory Road from Wy Plummer, the African-American Ministries Co-ordinator of the Presbyterian Church in America, who is using both books to help promote "an indigenous Reformed movement in the African-American community". The book is also recommended by Bryan Chapell, the President of Covenant Theological Seminary.

I recommend this book for anyone interested in the subject of the relationship between Reformed Theology and being a black American. If anyone out there still thinks that Reformed theology is only for the white man, I invite him to read this book.

RECOVERING RESPECT FOR HOLY SCRIPTURE AND DETHRONING THE DYNAMIC EQUIVALENCE THEORY

2009-10-16T12:13:00.001-05:00

Recovering Respect For Holy Scripture

And

Dethroning The Dynamic Equivalence Theory

A review of

Leland Ryken Understanding English Bible Translations: The Case For An Essentially
Literal Approach (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2009)
208 pp $12.99 ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-0279-8 ISBN-10: 1-4335-0279-8

Reviewer: Forrest Schultz

One of the greatest needs of our time is recovering respect for Holy Scripture. One of the primary factors contributing to the loss of respect for the Scriptures is the dynamic equivalence theory of Bible translation. This cause-and-effect relationship is the thesis of the book under review here. The evidence for this thesis has mounted over the years to the point where it is now conclusive. If anyone is still in doubt about this, I invite him to read Ryken's book. This book clearly shows that in order to recover the appropriate reverence for the Word of God we need to dethrone the dynamic equivalence theory and return to the principles of English Bible translation which were propounded and followed from the beginning up until the d.e. theory began its ruinous reign.

The principles of English Bible translation formerly followed led not only to a great respect for the Bible but to a transformation of the English language itself, which made it into an appropriate vehicle for the production of the great works of English literature we have enjoyed since then. The same thing happened in Germany -- Luther's translation not only produced a magnificent Bible in German, but also revitalized the very German language, which, likewise produced a flowering of great German literature. Now in both these cases, the Bible translators were leaders : they set the standard -- a high standard -- which then was followed. But the dynamic equivalence theory reverses this: instead of leading by setting a high standard for others to follow, it translates the Bible into the most mediocre English it can find. It is not a leader but a follower. What Mortimer Adler said in regard to the Great Books is applicable here: we need something over our heads to lift us up!

Ryken shows that the grandeur of the English formerly used in Bible translations is not only commendable from the literary perspective, but is also essential for communicating the grandeur of the Biblical message. And he shows that the dynamic equivalence translators actually have a disrespect for the words of Scripture, which is clear from the fact that they often produce a translation which does not say what the original text said. As people become aware of this, they no longer can trust the translation if it is produced by a d.e. translator. Ryken also shows how these translators are going beyond translation and into interpretation, i.e. they actually put into their supposed translation the sort of things which are only appropriate for a commentary.

Ryken provides many examples of this, which really need to be read to appreciate the forcefulness of his thesis. He also shows that changing a metaphor into an abstraction, which the d.e. translators often do, can actually change the meaning of the text or cause it to lose its potency. Again, you need to read his book to really feel the impact of this.

And he has some especially good discussions of the fact that, unlike the notion of many d.e. translators, the Bible is NOT a simple book. Therefore there are, of necessity, passages of Scripture which will NOT be easy to understand. The faithful translator will not try to change this difficulty into something easy to grasp, but will translate the verse in such a way that this difficulty is maintained -- he has to do this if he is to translate what is there. The d.e. translators seem to have adopted the preposterous notion that everything in the Bible is intrinsically easy to understand, so that the only reason for a lack of understanding is the translator's fault! One wonders if they have ever read what Peter said about Paul's writings, namely that some of them are hard to understand!!

Ryken quotes from many authorities to substantiate his thesis, with many of these quotes appearing in boxes. Ryken bends over backwards to be fair and not nasty and the sources are likewise polite. One exception, though, from a very sophisticated English poet and playwright, is included: T.S. Eliot minces no words in summarizing the disaster produced by the d.e. fellows: "a sympton of the decay of the English language"..."an active agent of decadence". That is very nasty but, alas, very true and needs to be said.

While I agree with Ryken's thesis and with the principles he sets forth, I personally do not like the term he uses for these principles, namely the "essentially literal" translation philosophy. As a Professor of English he should be able to come up with a better term than that!!

GOD DEALS WITH SUPER-DYSFUNCTIONAL PARENTS: A REVIEW OF MARY DEMUTH'S "A SLOW BURN"

2009-09-22T14:10:00.001-05:00

God Deals With Some Super-Dysfunctional Parents

A Review of

Mary DeMuth A Slow Burn (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009)
368 pp $14.99 ISBN-10: 0310278376 ISBN-13: 978-0310278375

Reviewed by: Forrest W. Schultz

The theme of Mary DeMuth's Defiance Texas trilogy is, I believe, best described by the title I have chosen for this review: "God Deals With Some Super-Dysfunctional Parents". In the first volume, Daisy Chain, the focus at first is on two fourteen-year-old friends -- Daisy Chance and Jed Pepper, especially Daisy's mysterious disappearance and its impact upon Jed. As the story unfolds, the focus becomes shifted to underlying spiritual factors in the drama, especially their dysfunctional parents.

The second volume, A Slow Burn, explores the loathsome features of this dysfunctionality, especially in Daisy's mother, Emory Chance, who, as the story progresses, sees ever more clearly her many sins and her need for God's salvation from them. Her efforts in this direction, however, are at first quite feeble and are countered by her extreme stubborness, so that it becomes quite exasperating after a while to be continually encountering her rebellion against God's work of drawing her to Himself. Consequently, her conversion is a long drawn-out process which is very different from any "easy believist" notions! As the second volume draws to a close, Emory finally yields to God's grace and it appears that Ouisie Pepper (Jed's mother) is on the verge of repentance, thus suggesting that her conversion may be the theme of the third volume.

God uses various people in His work in Emory's life, including Daisy, Daisy's father David (whom Emory did not marry), her boss Big Earl, her drug supplier Angus, the Defiance policeman Officer Spelman, and especially Hixson Jones. In a manner remarkably similar to the experience of the prophet Hosea, Hixson is commanded by God to marry Emory! A good bit of the story is taken up with the suffering Hixson undergoes as he strives to obey God, which finally leads to a a very dramatic denouement.

The great importance of Hixson's suffering is clear not only from the story itself but
also from the quotation in the preface to the story which is taken from Henri Nouwen's book Wounded Healer. This quotation makes this very important point in the form of a rhetorical question: "Who can take away suffering without entering it?". Thus, the healer in the process of healing becomes wounded. This is reminiscent of the provocative Section IV of the second poem in T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets, which emphatically proclaims that healing can only be provided by the "wounded surgeon", the "dying nurse". In short, God's gracious salvation involves the radical surgical removal of the cancer of sin.

Another way of expressing this comes from the pen of another great writer and thinker, Chuck Colson, "Mary DeMuth has a true gift for showing how God’s light can penetrate even the darkest of situations.”

WEBSITE FOR THE WORKS OF JOHN FRAME AND VERN POYTHRESS

2009-09-10T12:27:00.000-05:00

http://www.frame-poythress.org/

A TRIBUTE TO ROOKMAAKER FOR LAUNCHING TODAY'S CHRISTIAN APPRECIATION OF ART: A REVIEW OF LAUREL GASQUE'S "ART AND THE CHRISTIAN MIND

2009-09-09T12:46:00.001-05:00

A Tribute To Rookmaaker

For Launching Today's Christian Appreciation Of Art

A Review Of:

Laurel Gasque Art and the Christian Mind: The Life and Work of H. R. Rookmaaker
(Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005)
$16.99 192 pp ISBN: 1-58134-694-8

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

Back in the 1960s perhaps the main thing that young educated christians were concerned about was demolishing the sacred/secular dichotomy and promoting the conception that christians were supposed to care about and be involved in all areas of life because God Himself cares about all areas of life and wants us to do likewise. One of our biggest heroes back then promoting this manifesto was Dr. Francis Schaeffer, so that it was not long before we began hearing about his associate, Dr. Hans R. Rookmaaker, who was then the Professor of Art History at the Free University of Amsterdam and who influenced Schaeffer's own view of art and who, at the same time Schaeffer began publishing books, published his own landmark book in 1970 Modern Art and The Death of a Culture. Wow, those were exciting days and Rookmaaker soon became added to the list along with Schaeffer as one of our heroes.

Laurel Gasque's book documents the great influence which Rookmaaker had, which was far more than I realized -- most of it was unknown to me prior to reading her book. It is well worth the read and is needed to assess the importance of Rookmaaker in promoting Christian concern for the arts in Reformed and in evangelical circles. I have noticed in a prominent Reformed email discussion group to which I belong that Reformed concern for the arts is now taken for granted and some of the younger people there are not even aware of the prior hostility to or indifference to the arts that once was very strong in many Reformed circles down to around the time of Rookmaaker had his famous work published. So, Gasque's book is also needed to correct that myopic view and to put matters into historical perspective.

The book also indicates the important point, which some still do not realize, that Rookmaaker's contribution, great though it was, should be regarded as of an elementary and introductory nature. There are huge questions that still need to be answered before we can develop the Biblical philosophy of art beyond the elementary stage at which it currently exists. For instance, Gasque's historical information discusses the debates which Rookmaaker had with other Christian intellectuals about art, including arguments even over such fundamental matters as the exact definition of the aesthetic modal aspect.
(He had that one with Calvin Seerveld.)

In this respect, our philosophy of art today is at about the same stage as our policitcal and economic philosophy. Today almost all educated Christians agree that we should be involved in and care about political and economics because God cares about politics and economics, but we still cannot agree on what the Biblical political and economic philosophy is.

To return to Schaeffer, Gasque's book has a copious amount of information on Schaeffer's relationship with Rookmaaker, again far more than what I had hithero known. In fact there is almost as much info in this book on Schaeffer as there is on Rookmaaker, which is understandable because their friendship was very important to both of them.

One final word, the publisher, Crossway Books, regards Rookmaaker's
Modern Art and The Death of a Culture as so important that they have republished it in 1994. (Inter-Varsity Press was the original publisher.)

SCIENCE FROM THE VAN TIL PERSPECTIVE -- A REVIEW OF VERN POYTHRESS'S REDEEMING SCIENCE

2009-09-09T11:53:00.002-05:00

Science From The Van Til Perspective:

A Good Start

A Review of

Vern S. Poythress Redeeming Science: A God-Centered Approach (Crowssway, 2006)
381 pp $20.00 ISBN-13: 978-1-58134-731-9
ISBN-10: 1-58134-731-6

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

I first met Vern Poythress when he became a student at Westminster Seminary around 40 years ago. In our conversation, after learning that he had just received his doctorate in mathematics from Harvard, I asked him a Biblical philosophy of mathematics question: "Which is the true view of math: the rationalist view, the empiricist view or the linguistic conventionalist view?". He said he did not know. I replied, "Well, after you learn some Van Til here, you will figure it out!". Well, I was right. He did learn some Van Til at WTS and as a result he did figure it out. The result can be found in his essay on mathemnatics in the essay collection entitled Foundations of Christian Scholarship: Eassys In The Van Til Perspective edited by Gary North.

And over the years he has devoted his great mind to studying other things, including matters in the philosophy of science. Like me, he believes that the Van Til Perspective is a tool which should be used to figure out things like this. Also, like me, he had John Frame as a teacher at WTS and has continued to learn from him since then by reading his
published books. (I regard Frame as the best theology teacher I ever had, although I do not agree with him in everything.)

The latest results of the thinking of Poythress in philosophy of science are found in the book under review here, which is a very thought provoking work, well deserving of serious study and full of great insights into all kinds of things too numerous to even list, let along discuss here. From the text itself and the footnotes one can see the ongoing influence of Van Til and Frame, who are repeatedly quoted and referred to. And Frame provides a very adulatory recommendation: "...by far the most important book on the subject. I recommend it without reservation."

I also recommend reading it but I am sorry that I cannot say "without reservation." I will say, though, that this book takes creationism seriously and is much closer to it than Frame was when I knew him at WTS, when he, as my thesis advisor, was not happy with my full creationist position and my quoting from Morris & Whitcomb's The Genesis Flood. But Frame has learned a lot since then: for example, moving away from Westminster's hostility to Christian Reconstruction to his present position in which he now calls himself, "not quite a reconstructionist". In like manner, since then he and Poythress have moved closer to creationism and hopefully will continue to do so until they, in similar fashion, will be at the position of "not quite a creationist" and then, a few years later still, (maybe by the time of the Dort Quadricentennial), they will be full creationists and reconstructionists.

Poythress does discuss, usually with intelligence, all the various views on Genesis One but he seems to be unaware of the fact that all except the full creationist postion were developed by those christians who wanted to have an excuse for effecting a compromise with evolutionary theory. He also never mentions the interesting fact that all the creation/evolution debates on college campuses are being won by the creationists. Now he is quite correct in noting that the creationist position is in need of development, but he appears to be unaware that it is the only one which sets forth the teaching of Genesis. And he continually tries to find ways of avoiding the conclusion of literal 24 hour days. And it is very interesting to note that when he does so, he departs from his usual careful thinking! For instance, the reason God decided to take 6 days to create the world was that He was thereby setting an example for man to follow -- work 6 days and then rest on the seventh. Now this paradigm ONLY works if these are real days -- not long periods of time. It is noteworthy that Poythress does not use the word "paradigm" and instead actually wants to put it into a totally different category, which he calls the Analogical Day Theory!

Poythress has become known ( as has Frame) for what is sometimes called perspectivalism, and good examples of that are provided here, which show what he means and are helpful in clearing up confuison about various matters. He also has some interesting discussions of analogies between intra-Trinitarian relationships among the Three Persons and various matters in mathematics and science. His discussion of scientific laws is about the best I have ever seen. His book is also excellent in showing God's great concern for nature and for science. And for His concern for beauty, including beauty in matters which are not usually thought of as beautiful, such as mathematics and scientific laws. And, finally, the book is God-centered in principle and is a good start at developing philosophy of science from the Van Til Perspective.

REVIEW OF MARY DEMUTH'S DAISY CHAIN

2009-07-10T11:16:00.000-05:00

Turning Trials To Triumphs

A Review of

Mary DeMuth Daisy Chain (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009)
$14.99 361 pp ISBN: 978-0-310-27836-8

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

Mary DeMuth is not afraid to tackle tough issues in her stories, which she calls "relevant prose". Her second novel Wishing On Dandelions impressed me greatly not only by her sympathetic and realistic handling of the terrors of childhood sexual abuse but also by the remarkable way in which she portrayed the victim (Maranatha) as a total person, so that the story dealt with a variety of matters, not just her victimhood -- in fact, she not only is helped but she also helps others!

Demuth's third novel is ostensibly about the abduction and murder of a girl (Daisy Chance), but its far more significant subject is dysfunctional families, which provides the context of the story. As the story unfolds, there is movement from the surface level -- trying to solve the mystery of Daisy's disappearance -- to the spiritual level, but this movement is only started, not completed, because Daisy Chain is the only the first volume of of a three volume story, The Defiance Texas Trilogy. Presumably the resolution will not occur until the end of this trilogy.

Daisy's centrality in the story is due to her remarkable vitality and wisdom and love, which is shown mainly through her influence on her long time friend Jed Pepper, who is very much in need of help in knowing how to deal with his dysfunctional parents. Her influence continues after her disappearance -- in fact, in some ways she helps him more after she is gone than when she was present. How this happens is perhaps the most meaningful and moving aspect of this story. Daisy knows something which Jed needs to learn, namely how to turn to turn trials into triumphs, which is DeMuth's motto for her stories.

Each of DeMuth's first two books was a finalist for the American Christian Fiction Writers Book Of The Year Award. It would not surprise me if the same thing happens to the book under review here.

Laura Jenson Walker says that Daisy Chain is "reminiscent of To Kill A Mockingbird".
I myself felt that Daisy Chain's delightful dog Clementine bore an almost spooky similarity to the dog in To Dance With The White Dog. For this reason, Mary DeMuth can be compared with the best Southern fiction authors as well as the best Christian fiction authors.

WTS 80th Anniversary; Machen's Christianity and Liberalism Republished

2009-07-08T09:52:00.002-05:00

WTS 80th Anniversary In September

Machen's Christianity and Liberalism Republished

by Forrest Wayne Schultz

September of 2009 will be the 80th anniversary of the founding of Westminster Theological Seminary (WTS). One of the things WTS has already done this year to honor its founder -- J. Gresham Machen -- is to persuade Eerdmans to republish what is probably his most famous book, Christianity and Liberalism with a special preface added, written by WTS Vice-President for Academic Affairs Carl R. Trueman. Trueman's preface places the writing of this important book into its historical context, noting some things I was hitherto unaware of.

This book is one of the best treatments of the contrast between Christianity and what was then called liberalism, but which we now usually call the old liberalism. Later on, one of the most important WTS professors, Cornelius Van Til, wrote a book attacking the new liberalism(or new modernism) which he titled Christianity and Barthianism, which is arguably the most scholarly critique of Barth ever written. John Frame has noted the parallel between the two books including the very titles, thus suggesting that Van Til and Machen are closer in their thinking than is sometimes supposed.

Sincerely,

Forrest

Note to Michael (Recent PBU Grad)

2009-07-06T15:04:00.002-05:00

NOTE TO MICHAEL, RECENT PBU GRAD:

IN RE YOUR COMMENT

Michael,

Since I have no other way of contacting you, I am doing so this way.

Please email me at schultz_forrest@yahoo.com in re your recent comment in re Nancy Pearcey Installed as Prof at PBU.

Before posting your comment, I wish to ask you some things.

Looking forward to your email.

Sincerely,

Forrest Schultz

WHAT IS THE VAN TIL TOOL ??

2009-05-22T09:41:00.002-05:00

What Is The "Van Til Tool" ??

By Forrest Wayne Schultz

I was recently asked this question by someone interested in this blog. Here is my answer.

I believe that the best way to answer the question is by providing an example of one of the most recent times I have used it (which you will find here in my entry entitled "A Critique Of The So-Called Emerging Church").

I recently wrote a book review of efforts by a group of scholars to combat ideas that are being propounded by people who are called by such names as "emerging church" or "postmodernists". These scholars, though well intentioned, failed to realize that their opponents were misdefining various terms such as foundation and context, and were consequently imagining a conflict between foundation and context. This is because neither they nor their opponents were starting with God and allowing God to define these terms.

When you start with God and allow Him to define the terms, it is clear that God is His own foundation for Himself as well as being the foundation for His creation; and that He is His own context for Himself as well as being the ultimate context of His creation. That is point no. 1. Point no. 2 is that God is intra-harmonious, i.e. all of His aspects are in harmony with each other, from which we conclude that there is no disharmony between His being the self-foundationalizing ultimate foundation and the self-contextualizing ultimate context, which means that there is no inherent conflict in reality between foundation per se and context per se. So the whole notion of a supposed conflict between foundationalism and contextualism is thoroughly spurious. Now it is true that according to certain conceptions of foundation and context, that there is a conflict between the two. But there is no conflict when God is the one defining the terms.

Now what I just said above is an example of thinking like a vantillian. It is using the Van Til Perspective as a tool to straighten out our thinking about matters like this. There are other factors involved but these are two of the most importan: (1). getting your definitions straight -- do not let your opponent give false definitions to the terms; and (2). starting with God and letting Him define the terms and letting Him show you the perspective in which to look at things. Also, you need to be careful of presuppositions. Find out what the other guy's presuppositions are and whether these presuppositions are true or not. If they are not true, then you must not argue in terms of them, but must show that the preuppositions are false and therefore any system built on them will be false. You cannot argue rightly against an opponent if you do so in terms of his false presuppositions.

Now Van Til was not the only one to see and use these principles. Another thinker who did so was C. S. Lewis. He not only wrote great fiction like his space trilogy and The Chronicles of Narnia, he also wrote some very insightful essays, one of the most important being "God In The Dock". The great majority of Christians do not follow the advice given by Lewis in this essay. Now if God is what He says He is, then He is the Supreme Judge of all matters: He judges us; we do not sit in judgment upon Him. Now what Lewis says has happened is that the modern man has inverted this situation by arrogating to himself the right of supreme judgment so that he ascends up to the judge's seat and pushes God off and puts Him down in the dock and calls Him to account. Now the typical modern christian does not have this perspective on what has happened, so that whenever he sees God being attacked he tries to outargue the men sitting up there on the judgment seat. Anyone who does so is a very poor attorney, because he has failed to proclaim the all-important point that such a court is not a legitimate court -- this humanist court has no jurisdiction over God. If ever a defense attorney finds his client being hauled into a court which has no jurisdiction, he should NOT argue a case in that court because he is thereby granting it a validity it does not have. Rather he should challenge the jurisdiciton of the court. This court has no right to sit in judgment upon God; therefore it is an illegitimate court. But because of the shallow education given by churches today, few realize that the humanists have, as C .S Lewis showed, "put God in the Dock", thereby showing they are conducting an illegitimate court.

OK, that, in a nutshell, is the VTP. I use it as a tool, which is how I got the name for my blog. You need it for sophisticated stuff like challenging false definitions and false presuppositons. You do not need it for refuting simple stuff. (This is why I did not bother refuting the stuff in The Shack. You do not need to be a vantillian to do that; I just quoted from an ordinary christian blog.)

Let me give you one more example and this pertains to the arts. God created everything. In order for Him to do that, He would have to be creative; ergo He is creative. A creative person can be expected to create because He likes creating. So there is the reason why God created. There is mystery in HOW God creates, but no mystery as to WHY God creates. A creative person likes to create and does create. Now there have been many philosphers and theologians who have actually regarded it as a PROBLEM that God creates!! Can you imagine that?? They really have -- no joke. Some of them have gone so far as to create two gods or two levels of god -- the deus revelatus (revealed god) and the deus absconditus (the hidden god). The reason for this is that they have a FALSE concept of God's nature!! They think that God's NATURE is NON-PERSONAL, i.,e. that God is an ideal or a realm of laws or principles or ideas. They get this idea from thinkers like Plato and Aristotle. Such a god DOES NOT and CAN NOT create. In fact, Plato's god and Aristotles's god do not do anything -- Aristotle actually says that production would be unworthy of god!! Anyway, what a lot of christian thinkers have done is to suppose that God has an impersonal nature, which makes it impossible for him to do the works the Bible attributes to Him. So, they have this conflict between the nature of God and the works of God. The answer is easy -- their conception of the nature of God is false. God is a person, and persons do things. God is creative, so this is why He does creative things. He has a great imagination and loves variety, which is why there is so much sophistication and variety in nature. He loves beauty, so He made nature beautiful. He is interesting, which is why there is so much interesting stuff in science and in history.

There are some people who think I am real smart. I am not. I have the RIGHT TOOL !! Unfortunately, today few people receive this tool in their education. Anybody who has it can see thru false stuff, not because they are smart but because they are using the right tool. By the way, this is really not anything new. Irenaeus know it in the second century A.D. which accounts for his success. He knew what straight thinking was. In fact, the original meaning of the term orthodoxy (which he coined) meant "straight thinking" -- it was an objective term which did not mean what it does now, i.e. what a church decided to believe. (See my review here of Pagels book). But in the third and fourth century the church turned away from Irenaeus and started following Origen, who tried to synthesize christianity with Plato. We have yet to fully recover from that result, that platonoid theology.
Sincerely,

Forrest

THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY

2009-05-13T12:58:00.002-05:00

Below is what I regard as:

THE DEFINITIVE STATEMENT OF SCRIPTUAL INERRANCY

Please read and meditate on this. A lot of people today do not know about this because it was adopted 30 years ago. It is more relevant now than it was then because of the confusion in so many churches today, including those regarding themselves as "Reformed".

Forrest

THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON

BIBLICAL INERRANCY

> > Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy
Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy with Exposition
Background
The "Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy" was produced at an international Summit Conference of evangelical leaders, held at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Chicago in the fall of 1978. This congress was sponsored by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy. The Chicago Statement was signed by nearly 300 noted evangelical scholars, including James Boice, Norman L. Geisler, John Gerstner, Carl F. H. Henry, Kenneth Kantzer, Harold Lindsell, John Warwick Montgomery, Roger Nicole, J. I. Packer, Robert Preus, Earl Radmacher, Francis Schaeffer, R. C. Sproul, and John Wenham.
The ICBI disbanded in 1988 after producing three major statements: one on biblical inerrancy in 1978, one on biblical hermeneutics in 1982, and one on biblical application in 1986. The following text, containing the "Preface" by the ICBI draft committee, plus the "Short Statement," "Articles of Affirmation and Denial," and an accompanying "Exposition," was published in toto by Carl F. H. Henry in God, Revelation And Authority, vol. 4 (Waco, Tx.: Word Books, 1979), on pp. 211-219. The nineteen Articles of Affirmation and Denial, with a brief introduction, also appear in A General Introduction to the Bible, by Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix (Chicago: Moody Press, rev. 1986), at pp. 181-185. An official commentary on these articles was written by R. C. Sproul in Explaining Inerrancy: A Commentary (Oakland, Calif.: ICBI, 1980), and Norman Geisler edited the major addresses from the 1978 conference, in Inerrancy (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1980).
Clarification of some of the language used in this Statement may be found in the 1982 Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics
The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy
Preface
The authority of Scripture is a key issue for the Christian church in this and every age. Those who profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are called to show the reality of their discipleship by humbly and faithfully obeying God's written Word. To stray from Scripture in faith or conduct is disloyalty to our Master. Recognition of the total truth and trustworthiness of Holy Scripture is essential to a full grasp and adequate confession of its authority.
The following Statement affirms this inerrancy of Scripture afresh, making clear our understanding of it and warning against its denial. We are persuaded that to deny it is to set aside the witness of Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit and to refuse that submission to the claims of God's own Word which marks true Christian faith. We see it as our timely duty to make this affirmation in the face of current lapses from the truth of inerrancy among our fellow Christians and misunderstandings of this doctrine in the world at large.
This Statement consists of three parts: a Summary Statement, Articles of Affirmation and Denial, and an accompanying Exposition. It has been prepared in the course of a three-day consultation in Chicago. Those who have signed the Summary Statement and the Articles wish to affirm their own conviction as to the inerrancy of Scripture and to encourage and challenge one another and all Christians to growing appreciation and understanding of this doctrine. We acknowledge the limitations of a document prepared in a brief, intensive conference and do not propose that this Statement be given creedal weight. Yet we rejoice in the deepening of our own convictions through our discussions together, and we pray that the Statement we have signed may be used to the glory of our God toward a new reformation of the Church in its faith, life, and mission.
We offer this Statement in a spirit, not of contention, but of humility and love, which we purpose by God's grace to maintain in any future dialogue arising out of what we have said. We gladly acknowledge that many who deny the inerrancy of Scripture do not display the consequences of this denial in the rest of their belief and behavior, and we are conscious that we who confess this doctrine often deny it in life by failing to bring our thoughts and deeds, our traditions and habits, into true subjection to the divine Word.
We invite response to this statement from any who see reason to amend its affirmations about Scripture by the light of Scripture itself, under whose infallible authority we stand as we speak. We claim no personal infallibility for the witness we bear, and for any help which enables us to strengthen this testimony to God's Word we shall be grateful.
— The Draft Committee
A Short Statement
1. God, who is Himself Truth and speaks truth only, has inspired Holy Scripture in order thereby to reveal Himself to lost mankind through Jesus Christ as Creator and Lord, Redeemer and Judge. Holy Scripture is God's witness to Himself.
2. Holy Scripture, being God's own Word, written by men prepared and superintended by His Spirit, is of infallible divine authority in all matters upon which it touches: it is to be believed, as God's instruction, in all that it affirms: obeyed, as God's command, in all that it requires; embraced, as God's pledge, in all that it promises.
3. The Holy Spirit, Scripture's divine Author, both authenticates it to us by His inward witness and opens our minds to understand its meaning.
4. Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God's acts in creation, about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than in its witness to God's saving grace in individual lives.
5. The authority of Scripture is inescapably impaired if this total divine inerrancy is in any way limited or disregarded, or made relative to a view of truth contrary to the Bible's own; and such lapses bring serious loss to both the individual and the Church.
Articles of Affirmation and Denial
Article I.
WE AFFIRM that the Holy Scriptures are to be received as the authoritative Word of God.
WE DENY that the Scriptures receive their authority from the Church, tradition, or any other human source.
Article II.
WE AFFIRM that the Scriptures are the supreme written norm by which God binds the conscience, and that the authority of the Church is subordinate to that of Scripture.
WE DENY that Church creeds, councils, or declarations have authority greater than or equal to the authority of the Bible.
Article III.
WE AFFIRM that the written Word in its entirety is revelation given by God.
WE DENY that the Bible is merely a witness to revelation, or only becomes revelation in encounter, or depends on the responses of men for its validity.
Article IV.
WE AFFIRM that God who made mankind in His image has used language as a means of revelation.
WE DENY that human language is so limited by our creatureliness that it is rendered inadequate as a vehicle for divine revelation. We further deny that the corruption of human culture and language through sin has thwarted God's work of inspiration.
Article V.
WE AFFIRM that God's revelation within the Holy Scriptures was progressive.
WE DENY that later revelation, which may fulfill earlier revelation, ever corrects or contradicts it. We further deny that any normative revelation has been given since the completion of the New Testament writings.
Article VI.
WE AFFIRM that the whole of Scripture and all its parts, down to the very words of the original, were given by divine inspiration.
WE DENY that the inspiration of Scripture can rightly be affirmed of the whole without the parts, or of some parts but not the whole.
Article VII.
WE AFFIRM that inspiration was the work in which God by His Spirit, through human writers, gave us His Word. The origin of Scripture is divine. The mode of divine inspiration remains largely a mystery to us.
WE DENY that inspiration can be reduced to human insight, or to heightened states of consciousness of any kind.
Article VIII.
WE AFFIRM that God in His work of inspiration utilized the distinctive personalities and literary styles of the writers whom He had chosen and prepared.
WE DENY that God, in causing these writers to use the very words that He chose, overrode their personalities.
Article IX.
WE AFFIRM that inspiration, though not conferring omniscience, guaranteed true and trustworthy utterance on all matters of which the Biblical authors were moved to speak and write.
WE DENY that the finitude or fallenness of these writers, by necessity or otherwise, introduced distortion or falsehood into God's Word.
Article X.
WE AFFIRM that inspiration, strictly speaking, applies only to the autographic text of Scripture, which in the providence of God can be ascertained from available manuscripts with great accuracy. We further affirm that copies and translations of Scripture are the Word of God to the extent that they faithfully represent the original.
WE DENY that any essential element of the Christian faith is affected by the absence of the autographs. We further deny that this absence renders the assertion of Biblical inerrancy invalid or irrelevant.
Article XI.
WE AFFIRM that Scripture, having been given by divine inspiration, is infallible, so that, far from misleading us, it is true and reliable in all the matters it addresses.
WE DENY that it is possible for the Bible to be at the same time infallible and errant in its assertions. Infallibility and inerrancy may be distinguished, but not separated.
Article XII.
WE AFFIRM that Scripture in its entirety is inerrant, being free from all falsehood, fraud, or deceit.
WE DENY that Biblical infallibility and inerrancy are limited to spiritual, religious, or redemptive themes, exclusive of assertions in the fields of history and science. We further deny that scientific hypotheses about earth history may properly be used to overturn the teaching of Scripture on creation and the flood.
Article XIII.
WE AFFIRM the propriety of using inerrancy as a theological term with reference to the complete truthfulness of Scripture.
WE DENY that it is proper to evaluate Scripture according to standards of truth and error that are alien to its usage or purpose. We further deny that inerrancy is negated by Biblical phenomena such as a lack of modern technical precision, irregularities of grammar or spelling, observational descriptions of nature, the reporting of falsehoods, the use of hyperbole and round numbers, the topical arrangement of material, variant selections of material in parallel accounts, or the use of free citations.
Article XIV.
WE AFFIRM the unity and internal consistency of Scripture.
WE DENY that alleged errors and discrepancies that have not yet been resolved vitiate the truth claims of the Bible.
Article XV.
WE AFFIRM that the doctrine of inerrancy is grounded in the teaching of the Bible about inspiration.
WE DENY that Jesus' teaching about Scripture may be dismissed by appeals to accommodation or to any natural limitation of His humanity.
Article XVI.
WE AFFIRM that the doctrine of inerrancy has been integral to the Church's faith throughout its history.
WE DENY that inerrancy is a doctrine invented by scholastic Protestantism, or is a reactionary position postulated in response to negative higher criticism.
Article XVII.
WE AFFIRM that the Holy Spirit bears witness to the Scriptures, assuring believers of the truthfulness of God's written Word.
WE DENY that this witness of the Holy Spirit operates in isolation from or against Scripture.
Article XVIII.
WE AFFIRM that the text of Scripture is to be interpreted by grammatico-historical exegesis, taking account of its literary forms and devices, and that Scripture is to interpret Scripture.
WE DENY the legitimacy of any treatment of the text or quest for sources lying behind it that leads to relativizing, dehistoricizing, or discounting its teaching, or rejecting its claims to authorship.
Article XIX.
WE AFFIRM that a confession of the full authority, infallibility, and inerrancy of Scripture is vital to a sound understanding of the whole of the Christian faith. We further affirm that such confession should lead to increasing conformity to the image of Christ.
WE DENY that such confession is necessary for salvation. However, we further deny that inerrancy can be rejected without grave consequences, both to the individual and to the Church.
Exposition
Our understanding of the doctrine of inerrancy must be set in the context of the broader teachings of the Scripture concerning itself. This exposition gives an account of the outline of doctrine from which our summary statement and articles are drawn.
Creation, Revelation and Inspiration
The Triune God, who formed all things by his creative utterances and governs all things by His Word of decree, made mankind in His own image for a life of communion with Himself, on the model of the eternal fellowship of loving communication within the Godhead. As God's image-bearer, man was to hear God's Word addressed to him and to respond in the joy of adoring obedience. Over and above God's self-disclosure in the created order and the sequence of events within it, human beings from Adam on have received verbal messages from Him, either directly, as stated in Scripture, or indirectly in the form of part or all of Scripture itself.
When Adam fell, the Creator did not abandon mankind to final judgment but promised salvation and began to reveal Himself as Redeemer in a sequence of historical events centering on Abraham's family and culminating in the life, death, resurrection, present heavenly ministry, and promised return of Jesus Christ. Within this frame God has from time to time spoken specific words of judgment and mercy, promise and command, to sinful human beings so drawing them into a covenant relation of mutual commitment between Him and them in which He blesses them with gifts of grace and they bless Him in responsive adoration. Moses, whom God used as mediator to carry His words to His people at the time of the Exodus, stands at the head of a long line of prophets in whose mouths and writings God put His words for delivery to Israel. God's purpose in this succession of messages was to maintain His covenant by causing His people to know His Name—that is, His nature—and His will both of precept and purpose in the present and for the future. This line of prophetic spokesmen from God came to completion in Jesus Christ, God's incarnate Word, who was Himself a prophet—more than a prophet, but not less—and in the apostles and prophets of the first Christian generation. When God's final and climactic message, His word to the world concerning Jesus Christ, had been spoken and elucidated by those in the apostolic circle, the sequence of revealed messages ceased. Henceforth the Church was to live and know God by what He had already said, and said for all time.
At Sinai God wrote the terms of His covenant on tables of stone, as His enduring witness and for lasting accessibility, and throughout the period of prophetic and apostolic revelation He prompted men to write the messages given to and through them, along with celebratory records of His dealings with His people, plus moral reflections on covenant life and forms of praise and prayer for covenant mercy. The theological reality of inspiration in the producing of Biblical documents corresponds to that of spoken prophecies: although the human writers' personalities were expressed in what they wrote, the words were divinely constituted. Thus, what Scripture says, God says; its authority is His authority, for He is its ultimate Author, having given it through the minds and words of chosen and prepared men who in freedom and faithfulness "spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (1 Pet. 1:21). Holy Scripture must be acknowledged as the Word of God by virtue of its divine origin.
Authority: Christ and the Bible
Jesus Christ, the Son of God who is the Word made flesh, our Prophet, Priest, and King, is the ultimate Mediator of God's communication to man, as He is of all God's gifts of grace. The revelation He gave was more than verbal; He revealed the Father by His presence and His deeds as well. Yet His words were crucially important; for He was God, He spoke from the Father, and His words will judge all men at the last day.
As the prophesied Messiah, Jesus Christ is the central theme of Scripture. The Old Testament looked ahead to Him; the New Testament looks back to His first coming and on to His second. Canonical Scripture is the divinely inspired and therefore normative witness to Christ. No hermeneutic, therefore, of which the historical Christ is not the focal point is acceptable. Holy Scripture must be treated as what it essentially is—the witness of the Father to the Incarnate Son.
It appears that the Old Testament canon had been fixed by the time of Jesus. The New Testament canon is likewise now closed inasmuch as no new apostolic witness to the historical Christ can now be borne. No new revelation (as distinct from Spirit-given understanding of existing revelation) will be given until Christ comes again. The canon was created in principle by divine inspiration. The Church's part was to discern the canon which God had created, not to devise one of its own.
The word canon, signifying a rule or standard, is a pointer to authority, which means the right to rule and control. Authority in Christianity belongs to God in His revelation, which means, on the one hand, Jesus Christ, the living Word, and, on the other hand, Holy Scripture, the written Word. But the authority of Christ and that of Scripture are one. As our Prophet, Christ testified that Scripture cannot be broken. As our Priest and King, He devoted His earthly life to fulfilling the law and the prophets, even dying in obedience to the words of Messianic prophecy. Thus, as He saw Scripture attesting Him and His authority, so by His own submission to Scripture He attested its authority. As He bowed to His Father's instruction given in His Bible (our Old Testament), so He requires His disciples to do—not, however, in isolation but in conjunction with the apostolic witness to Himself which He undertook to inspire by His gift of the Holy Spirit. So Christians show themselves faithful servants of their Lord by bowing to the divine instruction given in the prophetic and apostolic writings which together make up our Bible.
By authenticating each other's authority, Christ and Scripture coalesce into a single fount of authority. The Biblically-interpreted Christ and the Christ-centered, Christ-proclaiming Bible are from this standpoint one. As from the fact of inspiration we infer that what Scripture says, God says, so from the revealed relation between Jesus Christ and Scripture we may equally declare that what Scripture says, Christ says.
Infallibility, Inerrancy, Interpretation
Holy Scripture, as the inspired Word of God witnessing authoritatively to Jesus Christ, may properly be called infallible and inerrant. These negative terms have a special value, for they explicitly safeguard crucial positive truths.
lnfallible signifies the quality of neither misleading nor being misled and so safeguards in categorical terms the truth that Holy Scripture is a sure, safe, and reliable rule and guide in all matters.
Similarly, inerrant signifies the quality of being free from all falsehood or mistake and so safeguards the truth that Holy Scripture is entirely true and trustworthy in all its assertions.
We affirm that canonical Scripture should always be interpreted on the basis that it is infallible and inerrant. However, in determining what the God-taught writer is asserting in each passage, we must pay the most careful attention to its claims and character as a human production. In inspiration, God utilized the culture and conventions of His penman's milieu, a milieu that God controls in His sovereign providence; it is misinterpretation to imagine otherwise.
So history must be treated as history, poetry as poetry, hyperbole and metaphor as hyperbole and metaphor, generalization and approximation as what they are, and so forth. Differences between literary conventions in Bible times and in ours must also be observed: since, for instance, non-chronological narration and imprecise citation were conventional and acceptable and violated no expectations in those days, we must not regard these things as faults when we find them in Bible writers. When total precision of a particular kind was not expected nor aimed at, it is no error not to have achieved it. Scripture is inerrant, not in the sense of being absolutely precise by modern standards, but in the sense of making good its claims and achieving that measure of focused truth at which its authors aimed.
The truthfulness of Scripture is not negated by the appearance in it of irregularities of grammar or spelling, phenomenal descriptions of nature, reports of false statements (e.g., the lies of Satan), or seeming discrepancies between one passage and another. It is not right to set the so-called "phenomena" of Scripture against the teaching of Scripture about itself. Apparent inconsistencies should not be ignored. Solution of them, where this can be convincingly achieved, will encourage our faith, and where for the present no convincing solution is at hand we shall significantly honor God by trusting His assurance that His Word is true, despite these appearances, and by maintaining our confidence that one day they will be seen to have been illusions.
Inasmuch as all Scripture is the product of a single divine mind, interpretation must stay within the bounds of the analogy of Scripture and eschew hypotheses that would correct one Biblical passage by another, whether in the name of progressive revelation or of the imperfect enlightenment of the inspired writer's mind.
Although Holy Scripture is nowhere culture-bound in the sense that its teaching lacks universal validity, it is sometimes culturally conditioned by the customs and conventional views of a particular period, so that the application of its principles today calls for a different sort of action.
Skepticism and Criticism
Since the Renaissance, and more particularly since the Enlightenment, world-views have been developed which involve skepticism about basic Christian tenets. Such are the agnosticism which denies that God is knowable, the rationalism which denies that He is incomprehensible, the idealism which denies that He is transcendent, and the existentialism which denies rationality in His relationships with us. When these un- and anti-biblical principles seep into men's theologies at [a] presuppositional level, as today they frequently do, faithful interpretation of Holy Scripture becomes impossible.
Transmission and Translation
Since God has nowhere promised an inerrant transmission of Scripture, it is necessary to affirm that only the autographic text of the original documents was inspired and to maintain the need of textual criticism as a means of detecting any slips that may have crept into the text in the course of its transmission. The verdict of this science, however, is that the Hebrew and Greek text appear to be amazingly well preserved, so that we are amply justified in affirming, with the Westminster Confession, a singular providence of God in this matter and in declaring that the authority of Scripture is in no way jeopardized by the fact that the copies we possess are not entirely error-free.
Similarly, no translation is or can be perfect, and all translations are an additional step away from the autographa. Yet the verdict of linguistic science is that English-speaking Christians, at least, are exceedingly well served in these days with a host of excellent translations and have no cause for hesitating to conclude that the true Word of God is within their reach. Indeed, in view of the frequent repetition in Scripture of the main matters with which it deals and also of the Holy Spirit's constant witness to and through the Word, no serious translation of Holy Scripture will so destroy its meaning as to render it unable to make its reader "wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim. 3:15).
Inerrancy and Authority
In our affirmation of the authority of Scripture as involving its total truth, we are consciously standing with Christ and His apostles, indeed with the whole Bible and with the main stream of Church history from the first days until very recently. We are concerned at the casual, inadvertent, and seemingly thoughtless way in which a belief of such far-reaching importance has been given up by so many in our day.
We are conscious too that great and grave confusion results from ceasing to maintain the total truth of the Bible whose authority one professes to acknowledge. The result of taking this step is that the Bible which God gave loses its authority, and what has authority instead is a Bible reduced in content according to the demands of one's critical reasonings and in principle reducible still further once one has started. This means that at bottom independent reason now has authority, as opposed to Scriptural teaching. If this is not seen and if for the time being basic evangelical doctrines are still held, persons denying the full truth of Scripture may claim an evangelical identity while methodologically they have moved away from the evangelical principle of knowledge to an unstable subjectivism, and will find it hard not to move further.
We affirm that what Scripture says, God says. May He be glorified. Amen and Amen.
> > Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy

http://www.bible-researcher.com/chicago1.html

VEITH ON WHAT OBAMA IS DOING: THE SOCIAL DEMOCRAT AGENDA

2009-05-06T12:06:00.002-05:00

GENE EDWARD VEITH TELLS ON THE "SOCIAL DEMOCRATS"

THIS IS WHAT OBAMA IS DOING !!

Veith is one of my favorite thinkers. Here is his latest.

Forrest

A kinder, gentler Marxism

The worldview of the "Social Democracy" America is heading toward

by Gene Edward Veith

Barack Obama is not a socialist, explained Eric Etheredge of The New York Times. He is a "social democrat." The administration' s attempt to control private companies and the free market should not alarm us, according to Etheredge and other pundits. European nations do this all the time. It is simply an application of the European political and economic theory known as "social democracy."

If social democracy is America's new governmental principle, we should know a little about it. To avoid biased spins and inflammatory rhetoric, let us consult basic, objective sources such as dictionaries and encyclopedias.

Here is the definition of "social democracy" from Merriam-Webster' s online dictionary: "1 : a political movement advocating a gradual and peaceful transition from capitalism to socialism by democratic means 2 : a democratic welfare state that incorporates both capitalist and socialist practices."

So this political and economic system either moves from capitalism to socialism or incorporates both capitalism and socialism at the same time, so as to form a welfare state.
We need to know more. Here is the first paragraph of the entry for "social democracy" in The Encyclopedia Britannica: "A political ideology that advocates a peaceful, evolutionary transition of society from capitalism to socialism using established political processes. Based on 19th-century socialism and the tenets of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, social democracy shares common ideological roots with communism but eschews its militancy and totalitarianism. Social democracy was originally known as revisionism because it represented a change in basic Marxist doctrine, primarily in the former's repudiation of the use of revolution to establish a socialist society."

The article goes on to chronicle the development of this theory, which was crystallized by the German Marxist Eduard Bernstein in an 1899 essay titled "Evolutionary Socialism." He noted that the horrible conditions for workers that characterized the early stages of the industrial revolution had, in fact, improved greatly. "Whereas Marx had declared that the subjugation of the working class would inevitably culminate in socialist revolution," says the article, "Bernstein argued that success for socialism depended not on the continued and intensifying misery of the working class but rather on eliminating that misery. He further noted that social conditions were improving and that with universal suffrage the working class could establish socialism by electing socialist representatives. "

After World War II, social democratic political parties arose throughout Europe, including Great Britain's Labour Party, often forming governments in Germany and becoming dominant in Scandinavia. "In addition to abandoning violence and revolution as tools of social change," continues the encyclopedia, "social democracy took a stand in opposition to totalitarianism. The Marxist view of democracy as a 'bourgeois' façade for class rule was abandoned, and democracy was proclaimed essential for socialist ideals. Increasingly, social democracy adopted the goal of state regulation, but not state ownership, of business and industry as sufficient to further economic growth and equitable income."

So "social democracy" is a variety of Marxism that rejects revolution in favor of democracy and that preserves certain elements of capitalism, though under strict state control.
Social democrats are not communists, but their Marxism is evident in their belief in class struggle. Thus the vilification of "the rich" over against "working Americans." Also Marxist is the project of redistributing wealth, the use of state power to seize control of private property, and the overarching secularism that rejects the past in favor of a materialistic progress.

When Americans cast their votes for Barack Obama and a Democratic Congress, did they also intend their country to adopt this kinder and gentler form of Marxism?

If we are going to change our entire economic system and our entire philosophy of government, shouldn't we at least think this through? This would surely be a good topic for a congressional hearing. If we are going to throw out the traditional American model of a limited government in favor of a social democracy, we should hold a constitutional convention to come up with a different founding document.

Instead, we are embracing social democracy without questioning the Marxist worldview and without even realizing what we are doing.
__._,_.___

FALSE CONCEPTIONS OF SCRIPTURAL INERRANCY IN CONTEMPORARY EVANGELICALISM

2009-04-24T22:06:00.001-05:00

False Conceptions Of Scriptural Inerrancy In Contemporary Evangelicalism

By Forrest Wayne Schultz

A Review of G. K. Beale, The Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-0203-3 300 pp $20.00

The book under review is not a study of the entire picture of the many departures from inerrancy in evangelicalism; it is limited to an in depth study of only a few cases. It is of especial use for those readers interested in these particular cases and for those who wish to read a few detailed studies rather than shorter analyses of many different cases or broad generalizations.

The cases examined here do involve the erosion of inerrancy, as the book's title indicates. BUT, these men do not attack inerrancy as such or divine inspiration as such, at least not in the usual ways. Rather their views involve false conceptions of inerrancy and of inspiration. They do not attack inerrancy head-on, but they attack the definition of inerrancy.

The first case examined is that of Dr. Peter Enns, a former Professor at Westminster Theological Seminary. His case is indeed a complex one that requires special handling but the gist of his fallacious conception is easily stated. Like many people today Enns believes there are errors in Scripture but is unwilling to admit this. First of all, he claims that the Scriptural authors did not know these were errors, and that God did not care because He was only interested in the theology He was teaching in these Scriptures. In other words, Enns believes in the limited inerrancy view, i.e. the view that the inerrancy of Scripture is limited to its theological assertions. According to this limited inerrancy view Scripture may contain errors in matters such as geography or history or science, but these are considered to be of no importance because Scripture supposedly is only dealing with "spiritual" matters, which are in a different realm from "secular" matters. Secondly, Enns further muddies the waters by claiming that the ancient man had a different concept of "error" than the modern man. The point here is that Enns does not believe in inerrancy but does not want to admit it, so he resorts to the various strategems noted to escape being called a disbeliever in inerrancy. And he summarizes his view by claiming that the question is not "whether" the Bible is inerrant, but "how" the Bible is inerrant. This is a different and more subtle way of expressing the limited inerrancy notion, i.e. the "how" of the Bible's inerrancy is supposedly that it is only inerrant in theology. Beale discusses and critiques two cases where Enns makes his fallacious claims, namely in regard to the Genesis Creation Account and to the New Testament's interpretations of Old Testament passages. Surprisingly, though, Beale does not label Enns a limited inerrantist.

Beale's critique of Enns is far too lengthy and complex to discuss here except to say that Beale has shown that Enns is wrong. There is one statement, however, which Beale makes which is radically false and which is so important that I cannot refrain from comment about it. Beale (on page 40) claims that we cannot compare Christ with the Bible because the Bible, unlike Christ, does NOT have two natures, divine and human, but only ONE nature!!! Perhaps the most elementary principle of Bibliology is that the Bible is the Word of God expressed in the words of men writing under the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit. Therefore it is crystal clear that the Bible has two natures -- divine and human, just as Christ has two natures -- divine and human. Just as Christ is The Word of God Incarnate, so the Bible is The Word of God Inscripturate!

The second case Beale discusses is somewhat surprising because this is not something new but has been around for a long time. This is the case in which it was shown long ago that one cannot believe in Scriptural inerrancy if he asserts a multiple authorship of the book of Isaiah.

The third case suprisingly is placed in Appendix I instead of in the main text. This is Steven Moyise's postmodernist notion which does not attack inerrancy in the usual way but which claims that we cannot know what the texts of Scripture are really saying because they only have whatever meaning the reader attributes to them. Strictly speaking this is not really claiming these texts are errant; it is actually claiming they cannot communicate their meaning to us (if they even have a meaning). This preposterous notion actually takes the whole subject out of the realm of truth and error altogether. In one sense it clearly denies that the Bible is the Word of God, but it does not do so in the usual way but does so by claiming the words of the Bible have no meaning at all.

The fact that there are supposed evangelicals around denying or doubting Biblical inerrancy shows how decadent modern evangelicalism is because this matter was clearly settled in 1978 when the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy (ICBI) issued its famous statement which clearly sets forth the truth of this matter in what is known as "The Chicago Statement On Biblical Inerrancy". The publisher is to be commended for printing this statement in its entirety (plus the ICBI's expostion of it) in Appendix II (pp. 267 - 279).

The third and final Appendix (pp. 281-283) contains quotations setting forth Karl Barth's belief that the Scripture is errant and fallible taken from his Church Dogmatics.

A bibliography and an author index and scripture index is provided on pages 285 - 300.

CALVIN'S CENTRAL CONCERN WAS THE MAJESTY OF GOD

2009-04-13T11:05:00.002-05:00

Calvin's Central Concern: The Majesty Of God

A Review of John Piper, John Calvin and His Passion for the Majesty of God (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2009)
ISBN: 978-1-4335-0182-1 59 pp. $7.99

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

There have been many well-meaning Calvinists who have given an enormous emphasis to the sovereignty of God with apparently little thought to the question of "What kind of God is it Who is sovereign?". They very often propound the doctrine of election in such a way as to make it appear that God is foolish or malevolent or unrighteous or irrational (or some combination of these). They make it appear that they are only concerned with the sovereignty of God and have no concern for the character of God. Such a man may think that he is following Calvin in regarding the sovereignty of God as the central fact about God. Is such a man correct?
In a recently published book John Piper propounds the thesis that John Calvin's chief concern was the glory and majesty of God. His book is entitled John Calvin and His Passion for the Majesty of God. Piper has also adopted this concern -- this passion -- of Calvin as his own concern, and it is the very reason he has written the book, namely to persuade others adopt it also.

He says right from the start (p. 13) that this passion of Calvin's -- this concern for the majesty of God -- is missing from today's Christians. He quotes this alarming observation made by David Wells: "It is this God, majestic and holy in his being...who has disappeared from the modern evangelical world". He follows this with a quote from Lesslie Newbigen: "I suddenly saw that someone could use all the language of evangelical Christianity, and yet the center was fundamentally the self, my need of salvation. And God is auxiliary to that...I also saw that quite a lot of evangelical Christianity can easily slip, and become centered in me and my need of salvation, and not in the glory of God." Piper concludes the first chapter with this wish: "May God restore a passion for his majesty in our day."

The first example Piper uses to support his thesis is Calvin's response in 1539 to the letter written the previous year to the leaders of Geneva by Cardinal Sadolet attempting to win them back to the Roman Catholic Church. In this response Calvin says to Sadolet: "Your zeal for heavenly life is a zeal which keeps a man entirely devoted to himself, and does not, even by one expression, arouse him to sanctify the name of God." (p. 16, italics his) Piper comments that "even precious truths about eternal life can be so skewed as to displace God as the center and goal." He concludes the discussion by quoting from another remark by Calvin where he avows that his aim in life is to "set before man, as the prime motive of his existence, zeal to illustrate the glory of God." ( p. 16, italics his)

Piper quotes B. B. Warfield saying this about Calvin: "No man ever had a profounder sense of God than he." (p. 16, 17) After quoting from G. Vos the Reformed insight that Scripture's root idea is the pre-eminence of God's glory, Piper goes on to conclude that "It is this relentless orientation to the glory of God that gives coherence to John Calvin's life and to the Reformed tradition that followed. Vos said that the 'all-embracing slogan of the Reformed faith is this: the work of grace in the sinner is a mirror for the glory of God.' Mirroring the glory of God is the meaning of John Calvin's life and ministry." (p. 17, italics his)

Returning to his reply to Sadolet, when Calvin came to the doctrine of justification by faith it is very significant to see what most concerns him about the attacks upon it: "Wherever the knowledge of it is taken away, the glory of Christ is extinguished." (p. 17, italics his) Calvin in his other writings elaborates upon his concern for Rome's extinguishing the glory of Christ in other false Romish doctrines: Rome had "destroyed the glory of Christ in many ways -- by calling upon saints to interecede, when Christ is the one mediator between God and man; by adoring the Blessed Virgin, when Christ alone shall be adored; by offering a continual sacrifice of the Mass, when the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross is complete and sufficient; by elevating tradition to the level of Scripture and even making the word of Christ dependent upon the word of man," (p. 18) Finally, hear Calvin's answer to why it is that we are carried about with so many strange doctrines: "Because the excellence of Christ is not perceived by us." (p. 18)
Believing Calvin to be correct in his estimation, i.e. that the guardian of Biblical truth is a vital concern for the excellence and glory of God in Christ, Piper is concerned about the shift away from doctrinal fidelity that is bound to occur in today's man centered Christians. Surprisingly he does not mention the great departures from sound doctrines that HAVE been occurring in evangelicalism for at least a half-century, and which is most notable today among the so-called "emerging" church.

Finally, let us look at Calvin's conception of Holy Scripture. It is noteworthy that ALL of Calvin's writings -- letters, tracts, sermons, books, commentaries, lectures -- are EXPOSITIONS of Scripture! (p. 46) And the reason for this was the very high view Calvin had of Scripture. And, this high view is once again explicable by the centrality of his concern for the majesty of God. Piper says that, for Calvin, the relationship beween the majesty of God and the Word of God is to be explained in this way: "The Word mediated the majesty; and the majesty vindicated the Word." (p. 27) "Calvin saw the majesty of God in His Word." (p. 49) He also exhorted other pastors to see as their goal enjoining the hearers "to obey the divine majesty of this word." (p. 49) The final section of the last chapter of Piper's book is entitled "The Divine Majesty of the Word", which begins with these words: "The key phrase here is 'the divine majesty of this word'. This was always the root issue for Calvin. How might he best show forth for all of Geneva and all of Europe and all of history the majesty of God." What a great way to end a book!

I am convinced that Piper is right. I urge everyone to read this book, which will not be difficult or time-consuming because it is both very well written and very short -- only 59 pages. The only criticism I have of it is that when Piper italicizes words, he does not tell us if they are his italics or Calvin's italics or the italics of a source he quotes who is referring to Calvin. For this reason, in this review the only thing I could do is just to say "his" italics just to show you that they are not mine but I am sorry I cannot tell you whose they are because Piper does not say.

Piper tells us what needs to be done. Now what we need is someone to tell us how to make it happen -- how do we get today's man-centered and self-centered christians to repent and become vitally concerned about the majesty of God.

A CRITIQUE OF THE SO-CALLED "EMERGING" CHURCH

2009-04-11T22:29:00.002-05:00

A CRITIQUE OF THE SO-CALLED "EMERGING" CHURCH

By Forrest W. Schultz

I have been wanting to read up on the so-called "Emerging" church for a LONG time. I finally got the opportunity via reading the book below. My critique is in the form of a review of this book. Reading about this stuff is sad, but, as always, it is loads of fun to critique when you are a Van Tillian. I can do this not because I am brilliant, because I got the right tool from the thinking of Cornelius Van Til. And, of course, it is God Himself Who deserves to be praised, because without His providence, I would not have encountered the Van Til Perspective and without His providence Van Til would not have seen the principles of the VTP.

Sincerely,

Forrest

AN EXAMINATION OF THE "EMERGING CHURCH":

THE POST-CONSERVATIVE EVANGELICAL COMPROMISE WITH POSTMODERNISM

A Review of G.L.W. Johnson & R.N. Gleason, eds. Reforming or Conforming?: Post-Conservative Evangelicals and
the Emerging Church ((Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-0118-0 300 pp $20.00

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

When I became a christian (in 1960) the term "Evangelical" had a positive meaning among most of my christian friends although there were a few who warned me that the word no longer had that good meaning but now meant christians who were compromisers, both in belief and in practice, and that these were now being called "new evangelicals" or "neo-evangelicals". Soon thereafter, when I became a creationist (1963), I learned that compromising by evangelicals was NOT a new thing -- it was not something that began with Billy Graham -- but had been going on since the 19th century in regard to compromises with evolutionary theory. Still later, when I became Reformed (1969), I learned of the decadence in evangelicalism produced by such influences as pietism and Arminianism, which also had been going on for a very long time, at least since the early part of the 19th century. Also, during the early 1960s, I learned that there were even some men who referred to themselves as "liberal evangelicals", which was the reason why Christianity Today, under Carl Henry's editorship, used the term "conservative evangelicalism" to distinguish what his magazine promoted. Although this "conservative evangelicalism" was compromising in the sense meant by the derogatory term "neo-evangelicalism", it was not nearly as bad as the decadence that followed it, which the book under review here aptly designates as "post-conservative evangelicalism". I believe that the critiques of this decadence, found in this book, would be enhanced if they paid greater attention to this historical background. Some attention is paid to it, but not enough.

Although there are now a lot of books and articles being written promoting this "post-conservative evangelicalism", which is generally regarded as something new and "emerging", almost all of it, except for some of the terminology, is really not new. I remember, again from all the way back in the early 1960s, when I was a new christian, being shocked at hearing people who supposedly were christians having a lackadaisical (or even hostile) attitude toward doctrine, and that a lot of group Bible studies were conducted in such a way that everybody's ideas were supposed to be accepted, a notion that a friend of mine with some sense scoffed at as "pooling our mutual ignorance". There were also a lot of evangelicals who had the notion that in personal evangelism you were not supposed to "preach" to people but just "share" with them "what Jesus means to you". Also all the way back in the 1960s Francis Schaeffer was warning about subjectivistic conceptions of truth, which were influencing many christians. Now, we hear the same subjectivistic notions promoted using fancy, but not always clearly understood, terms such as "post-modernism" and "anti-foundationalism". The best term, though, for this long practiced but now "emerging" (into prominence) false epistemology is "theological incognoscibilism" which says EXACTLY what it is these men believe, which, in plain English, is that nobody really knows what is true in theology. (The prefix "in" means "not"; and "cognoscible" means "knowable".)
Reforming or Conforming? is a collection of twelve essays plus an Introduction plus a Foreward, each by a different scholar, examining and refuting the "post-conservative evangelicalism" and warning of its dangers. Some of these essays also repudiate the allegations made against orthodoxy by some of these postmodern compromisers. Such a book is clearly needed to refute the very widespread and very outrageous and heretical notions now being propounded under the banner of evangelicalism. It also needs to be stressed that these notions are not limited to those claiming to be evangelicals but is also found among those claiming to be Reformed. Dooyweerd's preposterous notion that theology is a study of the faith-function is but one example we can cite, and the neo-Dooyeweerdians are very similar to the post-conservative evangelicals although they are more influenced by existentialists than by postmodernists, which actually are quite similar with respect to incognoscibilism, which is the main and underlying fallacy of both. (One similar influence upon the Reformed which is discussed in one of the essays is the Federal Vision notion.) Although most of the emphasis in the book is on what is being said now, there is one treatment of a man who started down this road a long time ago -- back in the sixties -- and that is Clark Pinnock: I remember when I first heard about what he was saying and how shocked I was because prior to that he was a good man and a good thinker. I guess the point I am trying to make, which is not emphasized sufficiently by the writers of this book, is that what is happening now is really just an old idea made worse and believed in by more people now. It is also coming more out into the open now. This is noted in this book, but not stressed enough.

Lack of space here forbids any detailed critiques of the individual essays, but there is one essay I do need to note, namely the one claiming that Cornelius Van Til was not a foundationalist (pp.154-165). If one defines "foundationalism" to mean the sorts of foundations that humanistic thinkers use, then, of course Van Til is not a foundationalist. But he is a foundationalist in the sense that he builds his philosophy upon God, Who is the (one and only) self-verifying principle of verification, and therefore the only sure epistemological foundation! Jesus Christ is the solid rock foundation; the humanistic foundations are sinking sands.

This leads me to note a very important weakness in the polemics against the "emerging" church fellows found in all the essays here. What is needed, which they do not supply, is a polemic against the whole idea of foundationalism versus contextualism. This is a false antithesis. God is not only the ultimate foundation, He is also the ultimate context. The so-called contextualizers are not to be criticized for being contextual but for not being contextual enough. They fail to see that the immediate context in which a person lives is part of a broader context, which in turn is part of a still broader context until finally we reach the ultimate context, God, who is self-contextualizing. First of all, since God is intra-harmonius there is no conflict between His being the ultimate fondation and His being the ultimate context, which means that the there is no inherent conflict between foundation per se and context per se. There are possible conflicts between humanistic concepts of foundations and humanistic concepts of context, but there is no conflict between the true meaning of foundation and the true meaning of context because God is the definer of both and because God is both the self-foundationalizing ultimate foundation as well as the self-contextualizing ultimate context. The point here is that an individual does not just happen to be in a particular context but he is in that context because God put him there and, furthermore, God is this man's ultimate context. Since all men have the same ultimate context and since all their immediate contexts are controlled by God, people need to see contextuality in this way instead of the myopic view of context held by the "emerging" fellows. We MUST not say they put too much emphasis on context or that they should stop being contextualists and start being foundationalists. We need to get them to understand the real meaning of context and foundation! This meaning or perspective, which is the Van Til Pespective on this, needs to to shown to be the true perspective they need and in terms of which they need to repudiate the false perspective of foundation and context they have thus far held.

There are other false antitheses held by the emergers that need to be rejected and replaced with the truth. Perhaps the next most important false antithesis is that between God as Lawgiver and God as Dramatist. God is both and there is no disharmony between them because God is intraharmonious. These emergers do not like laws but they do like stories. Well, if they like stories they need to realize that God is not only the supreme author, He is also the supreme lawgiver, and there is in no way a conflict between those two because God is intraharmnious. The reason for this is that God's Laws are the Manufacturer's Instructions which we need to live in all aspects of life, so they are helpful for us to know; God does not tell them to us to "boss us around". When God establishes boundaries, it is to keep us from harming ourselves. God also is the supreme teacher, who sometimes uses stories to teach us and who sometimes uses propositions, and there is no conflict here either. The Bible is not all propositions nor is it devoid of propositions. The emergers also need to be shown this all important principle. Because they have acquired a distorted concept of God from the defective churches in which they were raised, they end up rebelling against things that are good because they see them as bad. God's laws and God's proposition are desperately needed for our very lives! They are not bad things to shun!
This leads me to my final point. Several of the article writers note emerger Brian McLaren's rebellion against his theologically conservative upbringing. There was little discussion of this, which is unfortunate because this is crucial. It is not just that the emergers have all kinds of bad ideas, but that a lot of doctrinally sound churches have also left a lot to be desired! One thing that has been going on for a LONG time is young men and women growing up in these churches rebelling against the bad features in these churches but, instead of doing something to correct these deficiencies, they end up doing something even worse. All kinds of examples come to mind: Chuck Templeton rebelling by becoming a humanist; Tom Howard rebelling by becoming a Roman Catholic; and on and on. To be really effective in dealing with the emergers requires us not only to attack their deficiencies but to straighten out the allegedly evangelical and Reformed churches to get them to be what they should! One thing I learned a LONG time ago is this: the problem with dead orthodoxy is not the orthodoxy but the deadness!! In rebelling against dead orthodoxy, rebel against the deadness, not against the orthodoxy!! The orthodoxy does not need to be jettisoned; it needs to be lived! And we need to know that the term was originally defined by Irenaeus to mean "straight thinking", which is desperately needed in the crooked and confused age in which we live! Orthodoxy does NOT mean what is customary, conventional or traditional. It means straight thinking, i.e thinking aligned with the truth, thinking which propounds the truth, which is needed for life. (If you know Greek, this is clear: orthos means "straight" and doxa means "thinking".)

In conclusion, there is a wealth of information in this book about the emerging church and some good criticisms of some things, but the critiques offered here suffer from the lack of depth indicated by their failures to see the points I noted above due to a failure to examine these matters from the Van Til Perspective.

AN EXPOSE' OF THE NATURE OF ISLAM: PETER HAMMOND'S LATEST BOOK

2009-03-23T16:04:00.002-05:00

An Expose' Of The Nature of Islam

A Review of Peter Hammond Slavery, Terrorism, & Islam: The Historical Roots
and Contemporary Threat (Cape Town, South Africa: Christian
Liberty Books, 2008)

ISBN: 978-0-9802639-1-6 182 pp Price R58

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

The book under review here is one of the latest in a series of recently published books which have been bringing to light many hitherto unknown and horrifying facts about Islam. The author, Dr. Peter Hammond, bases his portrayal of Islam on history, on his own experiences in Africa, and on the Islamic authoritative writings, the Quran and the Hadith.

This book should be recommended not only to those who know little about Islam but also for those who have become fairly well acquainted with it, for two reasons. First, the book not only includes the fact that the African slave trade was started by the Arabs, but it also details the horrific mistreatment of these poor souls by the Arab slave traders, who were far crueler than the European slave traders, which I had never heard before. And the book recounts the author's own first hand experiences as a missionary in Africa, including a death threat fatwa against him by Sudanese Islam. So Dr. Hammond speaks as someone who is on the frontline in the battle against Islam, and, indeed, his organization is called Frontline Fellowship.

I want to especially commend Dr. Hammond for the very informative Appendix (pp. 158-159) which contains the astounding fact that Winston Churchill was well-acquainted with the nature of Islam!! This is nothing short of amazing! Now everyone knows that Churchill was among the first to recognize the danger of Nazism, and there are some who also know that Churchill warned about the danger of Communism and coined the term "Iron Curtain", but I never before heard anybody before say that he warned of the danger of Islam. This is almost incredible -- the same man warned of all three of the main dangers of the 20th and 21st centuries: Nazism, Communism, and Islam!! And in a Google search I just did, I discovered that Churchill's grandson is going around now giving speeches warning of Islam based on what his grandfather said!!

Hammond's book also is different in that he strongly advocates missions to Muslims, which is not suprising considering he is a missionary to them.. One thing I did find suprising, though, is that he did not mention what used to be a widely held myth, namely that Muslims could not be converted to Christ or that conversions were extremely rare. Maybe no one believes in that myth anymore -- it is certainly disproven by the facts today -- but I well remember hearing it when I first learned about missions back in the early 1960s.

There also is some information in Hammond's book dispelling fallacious ideas about the Crusades, including those portrayed in the recent motion picture The Kingdom Of Heaven.

The book is an easy read in one sense: it is well written; but it is a tough read in another sense: it is so disgusting learning about the horrifying stuff the Muslims have done. But we do need to know this if we are to face the threat they pose to civilization.

PERSONAL EVANGELISM 101: A REFRESHER COURSE. A REVIEW OF MARK DEVER'S BOOK

2009-03-21T15:12:00.002-05:00

PERSONAL EVANGELISM 101 -- A REFRESHER COURSE

A Review of Mark Dever The Gospel and Personal Evangelism (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2007)
ISBN 978-1-58134-846-0 $9.99 125 pp.

By Forrest Wayne Schultz

If you are looking for a short, newly written, easy to read re-statement of the basic principles of personal evangelism, I would recommend the book under review here. The style and theology is that of the solid, moderate Calvinism characterizing such great Britishers as Flavel, Spurgeon, J. C. Ryle, C. S. Lewis, J. I. Packer, John R. W. Stott, and D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, all of whom are either quoted and/or mentioned as sources or corroborations of the author's views. These are the same men who were often quoted and recommended in the teachings I received as a new Christian in Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) in Philadelphia in the early 1960s, so that the reading of Dever's book has, for me, brought back memories of that exciting time. (Stott, by the way, was the Bible teacher at IVCF's Urbana Missionary Convention in 1961 -- that was back in the day when "Urbana" was held at Urbana!) I saw in one of Dever's footnotes (p. 122) that Packer's (now classic) work Evangelism and The Sovereignty of God, which was then a newly published (and often referred to) book, was republished by IVCF Press in 1991, a fact of which I had been unaware. And Dever's specific teaching in his book is the same as I received them, except for one omission.

Back then one of the things IVCF stressed was that there is no simple mechanical formula for evangelism that can be used regardless of the particular person to whom one is speaking. Back in the 60s such evangelism formulas were very much in vogue, the two main ones being the "Romans Road" method and the "Four Spiritual Laws" method. I am not sure why Dever omitted a polemic against the mechanical usage of such formulas. Maybe no one uses them any more!

Dever organizes his chapters to deal with What the Gospel is, and Who should do evangelism, How it should be done and Why. He also writes an introductory chapter answering why christians do NOT evangelize. That chapter is satisfactory for an introductory work, but it does not deal with deeper, more painful issues, such as Christians not being zealous to evangelize due to their dissatisfaction with the results of salvation in their own lives and in their families and their churches. Of course, that kind of probing was rarely dealt with in Evangelical circles in the early 60s -- it was not until Francis Schaeffer came on the scene that such tough embarrassing things were discussed.

I wish to conclude by commenting on something rarely noted in book reviews and that is the great cover art on this book showing a man pointing to Christ on the Cross. Page 6 (where the copyright info is found) tells us that this art work is found in the Bridgeman Art Gallery, but it tells us neither the location of this gallery nor the title of the art work nor the artist. I find it very commendable that the cover of a book authored by a Reformed leader is graced by such a fine work of art, hopefully thereby indicating that the traditional Reformed hostility to or indifference to art is over. Let me provide another example of this -- a Reformed book I reviewed in 2006 which had just been published (Rediscovering The Natural Law In Reformed Theological Ethics by Stephen J. Grabill) whose cover was adorned with an excellent painting of the Convocation of the Synod of Dort. Now, like Dever's book, this book provided the name of the gallery (it was the Dordrect Museum) where the great painting was hung, but it also told us the city and state (Dordrecht, Holland) and the title of the painting, though it did not mention the artist. I thank Crossway for this fine book and would like to suggest that its future books include the total information on the cover art paintings -- name of artist, title, gallery, and location of gallery.

This Review Written Under The Auspices Of Active Christian Media

Forrest Wayne Schultz has degrees in engineering and theology, including a Th.M. from Westminster Theological Seminary. He has had articles and book reviews published in The Chalcedon Report, The Journal of Christian Reconstruction, and several engineering and space magazines. He writes news releases covering the arts scene in Coweta County, GA, where he resides, and this will be the second year he will be leading a workshop on the writing of news releases at the international Muse Online Writers Conference. He can be reached at 770-583-3258 or by email at schultz_forrest@yahoo.com.

Reviewer's Note: I reviewed this book right after it came out in 2007 and thought I had already posted it here but found out, to my chagrin, that I had neglected to do so. So this is the reason for the tardiness. F.W.S.

ANNOUNCING A VANTILLIAN FANTASY NOVEL: THE WORDSMITH, THE KID, AND THE ELECTROLUX

2009-03-15T17:45:00.004-05:00

ANNNOUCING

A VANTILLIAN FANTASY NOVEL

THE WORDSMITH, THE KID, AND THE ELECTROLUX

By Forrest Schultz

Let me begin by saying that I am not kidding. I just finished reading a Vantillian fantasy novel. I really did. And the title of it really is The Wordsmith, The Kid, and The Electrolux.

I know it sounds strange because when you think of Van Til and something being Vantillian, you think of philosophy and theology and world-view. You do not think of literature, and you certainly do not think of fantasy literature! Now you might think of the Vantillian method of analyzing the thought in a work of literature (including fantasy). But you do not think of a work of literature itself, esp. not a work of fantasy, as itself BEING Vantillian!! Yet, here we have an example, the one I just noted.

Now because this is indeed a work of literature, i.e. because it tells a story, I cannot proceed to conduct the kind of analysis you expect by a Vantillian on a work of non-fiction. The reason, of course, is clear. I do not want to "give away the story". I do not know how I can analyze it without doing just that. So I shall refrain from doing so and will simply ask you to read the story for yourself. I am not going to need to prove to you that this is a Vantillian fantasy because, to use one of my favorite vantillianisms, its fantasy character will be "self-attesting" to you after you have read it. If you know what the Van Til Perspective is and if you understand what you are reading in this story, its vantillian nature will indeed be self-attesting.

I will tell you just a bit about the author, though. His name is Clifford Leigh, and you can learn about him by visiting his website at http://www.cliffleigh.com/. It is a beautiful website, which is not surprising, because Leigh is an artist as well as a writer. In fact he designed the front and rear covers of the book, the few pictures within the text, and the pictures accompanying the chapter titles.

The book was published by Oak Tara Publishers based in Waterford, VA. Their website is http://www.oaktara.com/. The publication date is 2008, the page count is 229, the price is $16.95 and the ISBN is: 978-1-60290-049-3

OK, that's it.

Good Reading!!

Sincerely,

Forrest

THEOLOGICAL CRITIQUE OF THE SHACK

2009-02-22T13:43:00.002-05:00

THEOLOGICAL CRITIQUE OF THE SHACK

By Forrest Wayne Schultz

I guess that by now everyone has heard of The Shack and how great it is supposed to be and how it has supposedly helped so many people, how William Young might be the new John Bunyan, etc. Well, I finally got around to reading it and what a gross disppointment that was! It is so full of theological errors -- and all of them elementary ones -- that is is highly doubtful anyone can be helped by it. Rather it is far more likely that one will be either confused or led astray by it. Perhaps the word "Shack" is an appropriate title for it because its theology is composed of rotten timbers, and, as C. S. Lewis said in days of yore, "You cannot construct a sound building using rotten timbers!". The fact that something this theologically bad is so popular is indicative of the shallowness of today's christians.

As I say the errors here are so elementary that one does not need to be a Van Tillian to discern them. So, perhaps a critique of kid's stuff like this is out of place on a Van Til blog! In order to indicate this, instead of wasting my time bothering to do the critique myself,, I have chosen to quote below from a critique I found after a few minutes of Googling on a site called Probe Ministries. The author is Patrick Zukeran.

www.probe.org/site/c.fdKEIMNsEoG/b.4709781/k.5551/Critique_of_The_Shack.htm

"In seeking to address the issue of God and the problem of evil, the author presents flawed theological views that confuse the nature of God. One of my concerns is the emphasis on experience and how it is given emphasis equal to or stronger than the Bible. Young refers to the Bible superficially; however, his primary focus in this work is on experience. In fact, he unfortunately makes some critical remarks regarding the sole authority of the Word and the training needed to interpret it properly:
In seminary he had been taught that God had completely stopped any overt communication with moderns, preferring to have them only listen and follow sacred scripture, properly interpreted, of course. God's voice had been reduced to paper, and even that paper had to be moderated and deciphered by the proper authorities and intellects. It seemed that direct communication with God was something exclusively for the ancients and uncivilized, while educated Westerners access to God was mediated and controlled by the intelligentsia. Nobody wanted God in a box, just in a book. (p. 65)
Throughout the book, he criticizes Biblical teachings as "religious conditioning" or "seminary teaching" (p. 93). Young's intention may be to encourage the audience to break stereotypes in their thinking about God. This is commendable, for we must constantly examine our theology of God and evaluate whether we have adopted false stereotypes in our understanding of God. It may not have been the author's intent to devalue the word of God or theological training. However, comments like these give that impression.
Our theology must be consistent with God's Word. God will not reveal Himself or communicate in ways that are contrary to His Word. God is not limited to words on a page; He also communicates through His creation or general revelation (Rom. 1). However, God has given us special revelation and communicated specific truths about His character in His Word. If God reveals and communicates information that is contrary to His Word, then He could not be a God of truth. There are truths that are not mentioned in the Bible, but those facts should be consistent and not contrary to the Word of God. It was unfortunate that there were more critical remarks made on biblical training and not a stronger emphasis to study and exhort believers to be diligent students of the word (2 Tim. 2:15).
Confusion Regarding the Nature of God
Young presents several incorrect and confusing teachings regarding the nature of God and salvation. In this story, God the Father appears as a large African-American woman. In contrast, the Bible teaches that the Father never takes on physical form. John 4:24 teaches that God is spirit. 1 Timothy 4:16 states, "God, the blessed and only ruler, the King of kings and Lord or lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light whom no one has seen or can see." To add to this, God appears as a woman named "Papa." It is true that God is neither male nor female as humans are, and both feminine and masculine attributes are found in God. However, in the Bible God has chosen to reveal Himself as Father and never in the feminine gender. This gender distortion confuses the nature of God.
In the story, God the Father has scars on His wrists (p. 95). This is contrary to Biblical teaching in which only Jesus became human and only Jesus died on the cross. It is true the Father shared in the pain of Christ's suffering, but God stood as the judge of sin, not the one who suffered on the cross. Christ bore the burden of our sins; God the Father was the judge who had to render His judgment on His Son.
God the Father says "When we three spoke ourselves into human existence as the Son of God, we became fully human" (p. 99). Young teaches that all three members of the Trinity became human. However, scripture teaches that only the Son, not all members of the Trinity, became human. This distorts the uniqueness and teaching of the incarnation.
Confusion Regarding the Son
In this story, Jesus appears as a Middle Eastern man with a plaid shirt, jeans, and a tool belt. In the Bible, Jesus appears as a humble servant veiling His glory (Phil. 2). After the resurrection, Jesus retains His human nature and body but is revealed in a glorified state. He appears in his glorified and resurrected body and His glory is unveiled (Revelation 1).
As the incarnate Son of God, Jesus retained His divine nature and attributes. His incarnation involved the addition of humanity, but not by subtracting His deity. During His incarnation He chose to restrict His use of His divine attributes, but there were occasions in which He exercised His divine attributes to demonstrate His authority over creation. However, in The Shack God says:
Although he is also fully God, he has never drawn upon his nature as God to do anything. He has only lived out of his relationship with me, living in the very same manner that I desire to be in relationship with every human being. He is just the first to do it to the uttermost – the first to absolutely trust my life within him, the first to believe in my love and my goodness without regard for appearance or consequence. . . . So when He healed the blind? He did so as a dependent, limited human being trusting in my life and power to be at work within him and through him. Jesus as a human being had no power within himself to heal anyone (p. 99-100).
First, it is not true that Jesus "had no power within himself to heal anyone." Jesus, as the incarnate Son of God, never ceased being God. He continued to possess full and complete deity before, during, and after the incarnation (Colossians 2:9). He did do miracles in the power of the Spirit, but He also exercised His own power (Lk. 22:51; Jn. 18:6). Young appears to be teaching the incorrect view of the incarnation that Christ gave up His deity, or aspects of it, when He became human.
Confusion Regarding the Holy Spirit
In this story, the Holy Spirit appears as an Asian woman named Sarayu. In contrast, the Holy Spirit never appears as a person in the Bible. There is one time when the Holy Spirit appears in physical form as a dove at the baptism of Jesus. Moreover, the Spirit is never addressed in the feminine but is always addressed with the masculine pronoun.
Confusion Regarding the Trinity
The first inaccuracy regarding the Trinity is that in this story, all three members of the Trinity take on human form. This confuses the doctrine of the incarnation, for Scripture teaches that only Jesus takes on human form.
The second inaccuracy presented in The Shack is the idea that the relationship taught between the members of the Trinity is incorrect. In the book, "God" says, "So you think that God must relate inside a hierarchy like you do. But we do not" (p. 124). Young teaches that all three members of the Trinity do not relate in a hierarchical manner (p. 122-124).
In contrast, the Bible teaches that all three members of the Trinity are equal in nature while there also exists an economy, or hierarchy, in the Trinity. It describes the relationship of the members of the Godhead with each other, and this relationship serves as a model for us. The Father is the head. This is demonstrated in that the Father sent the Son. The Son did not send the Father, (Jn. 6:44, 8:18, 10:36). The Son also is the one who sends the Holy Spirit (Jn. 16:7). Jesus came down from heaven, not to do his own will, but the will of the Father (John 6:38). The Father is the head of Christ (1 Cor. 11:3). 1 Cor. 15:27-28 speaks of creation being in subjection to Jesus, and then in verse 28, Jesus will be subjected to the Father. The Greek word for "will be subjected" is hupotagasetai which is the future passive indicative. This means that it is a future event where Jesus will forever be subjected to the Father. These passages teach that there is indeed a hierarchy within the Trinity in which all three members are equal in nature, yet the principle of headship and submission is perfectly displayed in the Trinity. This critical theological principle is incorrectly taught in The Shack.
Confusion Regarding Salvation
In this story, Young appears to be teaching pluralism, which is the belief that there are other ways to salvation beside faith in Jesus Christ. In this story Papa states:
Those who love me come from every system that exists. They are Buddhists or Mormons, Baptists or Muslims, Democrats, Republicans and many who don't vote or are not part of any Sunday morning or religious institutions. I have followers who were murderers and many who were self-righteous. Some are bankers and bookies, Americans and Iraqis, Jews and Palestinians. I have no desire to make them Christian, but I do want to join them in their transformation into sons and daughters of my Papa, into my brothers and sisters, into my Beloved. (p. 182)
Young states that Jesus has no desire to make people of other faiths Christians, or disciples of Christ. One then wonders what this "transformation into sons and daughters of my Papa" entails. What does it mean to be a son or daughter of Papa?
Jesus commanded us in the Great Commission to "Go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you." Being a disciple of Christ requires us to know and obey the teachings that God has revealed in His Word.
Mack asks Jesus, "Does that mean all roads will lead to you?" To this question, Jesus replies, "Not at all. . . . Most roads don't lead anywhere. What it does mean is that I will travel any road to find you" (p. 182). Although pluralism is denied here, there is confusion regarding salvation. It is a strange statement by Jesus to say, "Most roads don't lead anywhere." In actuality Jesus stated in the Gospels that most roads lead to destruction when in Mt. 7:13-14 He says, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Young fails to mention eternal judgment for those who do not receive Jesus whereas Jesus makes it clear in John 14:6 that He is the only way to life; all other roads lead to destruction.
Things are further confused when the Jesus of The Shack states, "I will travel any road to find you." The message appears to teach that Jesus will reveal Himself to people no matter their road or religion. Jesus does not ask them to leave that road and follow the narrow path of salvation.
Moreover, in a later conversation on the atoning work of Christ on the cross, Mack asks, "What exactly did Jesus accomplish by dying?" Papa answers, "Through his death and resurrection, I am now fully reconciled to the world" (p. 191-2). Mack is confused and asks if the whole world has been reconciled or only those who believe. Papa responds by saying reconciliation is not dependent upon faith in Christ:
The whole world, Mack. All I am telling you is that reconciliation is a two-way street, and I have done my part, totally, completely, finally. It is not the nature of love to force a relationship but it is the nature of love to open the way" (p. 192).
Young appears to be saying all people are already reconciled to God. God is waiting on them to recognize it and enter into a relationship with Him. These dialogues appear to teach pluralism. Although it is denied on page 182, the ideas presented by Young that Jesus is not interested in people becoming Christians, that Jesus will find people on the many roads, and that the whole world is already reconciled to God presents the tone of a pluralistic message of salvation. Thus, the book presents a confusing message of salvation.
Emphasis on Relationship
Throughout the book, Young places an emphasis on relationships. He downplays theological doctrines and Biblical teaching and emphasizes that a relationship with God is what is most important. However, Jesus stated, "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth" (Jn. 4:23-24).
It is not possible to have a relationship with God that is not based in truth. In order to have a meaningful relationship with God, one must understand the nature and character of God. Truth is rooted in the very nature of God (John 14:6). A relationship with God comes through responding to the truths revealed in His Word. Thus, a believer must grow in his relationship with God through seeking emotional intimacy as well as growing in our understanding of the Word of God.
Throughout his book Young emphasizes the relational aspect of our walk with God and downplays the need for proper doctrinal beliefs about God. It is true that Christians are to have a vibrant relationship with God, but this relationship must be built on truth as God has revealed in His Word. Seeking a relationship and worship of God built on false ideas of God could lead one to discouragement and even false hope. As one grows in Christ, one's understanding of God should move toward a more accurate understanding of God's character that is revealed in His word.
An essential part of growing a deep intimate relationship with God involves the learning of Biblical and doctrinal truths about God. The Apostle Paul refers to this in Ephesians 4:13 when he says, "until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."
Simply knowing doctrine without the involvement of the heart leads to a cold faith. I believe Young was trying to emphasize this point. However, a heart religion without truth as its guide is only an emotional faith. We must have both heart and mind. In fact, Jesus commanded Christians in Matthew 22:37 to "Love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."
Conclusion
The Shack attempts to address one of life's toughest issues: the problem of God and evil. Although this is a work of fiction, it addresses significant theological issues. However, in addressing the problem of evil, Young teaches key theological errors. This can lead the average reader into confusion regarding the nature of God and salvation"

THE HEALTH CARE MESS: UPDATE AND CURE

2009-01-22T22:11:00.001-05:00

THE HEALTH CARE MESS: UPDATE AND CURE

by Forrest Wayne Schultz

A review of William C. Waters III, 2 Days That Ruined Your Health Care
(Newnan, GA: Logikon, 2008)
ISBN 9780977128839 105 pp

The book under review here is well-written, easy to read, and gets right to the point. Its value is two-fold. First, it provides a good summary of the health industry malaise and brings it up to date and shows clearly what the problem is. Secondly, it proposes what sounds like a realistic cure. Most of the information on the problem has already been known for some time, but the author points out some things that most of us have probably never heard of: for example, that almost none of the members of all these health care study commissions are practicing physicians!!

The author, now in his seventies, has devoted a lifetime to the practice of medicine and to teaching in a medical school. He writes out of a concern for his profession, for patients, and for America. The time to cure the crisis is now -- in fact it is long, long overdue. His proposal of patient-controlled Health Savings Accounts sounds like a good solution to me. Let's either adopt it or come up with something better. We need to act now. We are out of time!

Forrest Wayne Schultz is the head of the Coweta Writers Group, the author of the Coweta Arts Tidbits news releases covering the Coweta scene, and the compiler of the report on the Coweta Authors of Recently Published Books. He has degrees in engineering and theology.

HOW ARE DISCIPLES MADE ???

2009-01-21T01:20:00.001-05:00

HOW ARE DISCIPLES MADE ??

By Forrest Wayne Schultz

A Review of Ken Adams Conversations About Disciple Making (Newnan, GA: Jawbone Pub., 2008)
ISBN 1-59094-163-2 186 pp

Although there have been many books written and sermons preached about the qualities which characterize the disciples of Jesus Christ and about how prayer and Scripture and involvement in church can be of assistance in attaining these qualities, there are nonetheless large numbers of men and women who have been christians for a long time who have failed to attain these qualities, even among those who have made serious attempts to do so. The book under review here diagnoses this problem as due to an omission in our disciple-making methodology. Actually, that is putting it mildly: modern christianity has missed the main feature in the disciple making process so that at present there are few real disciples in our churches at all.

The Biblical disciple-making methodology, as the author rightly points out, is disciples reproducing themselves by training new (and other immature) christians to become disciples by means of small groups formed for that purpose. After his trainees have become disciples themselves, then each of them is responsible for forming his own group composed of new christians needing training. To get some idea of what this would mean, one really needs to read the book, but let me just say here that the focus is on the commitment of the trainer to do the training and the commitment of the trainees to receive the training by willingly becoming accountable to the trainer by admitting mistakes and sins and by being willing to accept instruction and correction. And the trainee becomes accountable to the trainer for using prayer and Scripture and appropriate living to attain the christlike qualities the training is working to produce. The trainee needs to be willing to accept this discipline just as an athlete must be willing to accept the training thru which he is put by his coach. And the trainer must be sure that he is not just doing things to keep the trainees busy; these things must produce the results of making the trainee into a disciple. That is the gist of the idea -- and a good one it is!!

The author talks at several points about integrating this discliple-making into the life of the church, and that is very essential. Along those lines it would be helpful to recover the early church's concept of an elder, meaning a spiritually mature and theologically mature christian. This means that the elders are all those in the church who are disciples in the true sense of the word and who are capable, therefore, of training the immature in these small discipleship training groups and should be doing so. Consequently, this means that the elders in the New Testament sense of the word, who should be the ones running the church, and the trainers running the disciple-making groups are the same people. An elder is NOT someone elected to an office. He either has the qualities of an elder or he doesn't, If he has them, then he IS and elder, so that "ordination" is merely the people perceiving a reality in his life. Now in any church which understands and obeys these concepts of eldership and discipleship, there will be no conflict between the two. Each individual elder should be training and overseeing his particular disciple trainees. And the elders as a ruling board should be overseeing and training the church corporately (i.e. as a whole). This is one thing which the author does not mention, and it is the key to the success of reviving both the church and the christian life in harmony with each other.
Adams' book is well-written and easy to read and is very relevant. The material is arranged into ninety "conversations", each comprising about two pages. The appendix consists of three pages of resource materials to be used in discipleship courses. They are available through the discipleship program Adams has established and directs called Impact Ministries, information on which is available on its website www.impactdiscipleship.com or by calling 678-854-9322. Adams also provides a bibliography of recommended books but it is found in the text (on pages 142-143), not at the end of the book. (In that chapter he is encouraging the leaders to be readers!)

Ken Adams has been the Pastor of Crossroads Church near Newnan for over twenty years. He and his wife Val and their three children live in Sharpsburg. Newnan and Sharpsburg are cities in Coweta County, Georgia which is about an hour south of Atlanta on Interstate 85.

Forrest Wayne Schultz is the head of the Coweta Writers Group, the author of the Coweta Arts Tidbits news releasescovering the burgeoning Coweta scene, and the compiler of the Report on Coweta Authors of Recently Published Books. He resides in Grantville, a city in the extreme south of Coweta County. He has degrees in engineering and theology.

THE NATURE OF GOD AS CREATIVE AND GOD AS SOCIAL WAS TAUGHT BY ATHANASIUS

2008-12-13T19:06:00.003-05:00

THE NATURE OF GOD AS SOCIAL AND AS CREATIVE

WAS TAUGHT BY ATHANASIUS

by Forrest Wayne Schultz

If you think that the only contribution made by Athanasius was defeating the Arian heresy, think again! I just learned by reading a very interesting scholarly work that Athanasius taught two very important truths which somehow have been since overlooked in spite of the fact that they are extremely vital for our understanding of God, namely that God is social and that God is creative.

Athanasius discusses how both of these divine attributes are derived from the interrelationship between God The Father and God The Son, which is designated by theologians as the eternal generation of the Son -- a doctrine which today is usually regarded as irrelevant, if it is even known at all.

Athanasius maintained that the very being of God consisted in the personal relationship between the Father and the Son. This (plus the personal interrelations between the Father and the Holy Spirit and between the Son and the Holy Spirit) means the very nature of God is inherently interpersonal or social. This, of course, is the basis for the teachings of Schaeffer and Van Til that the meaning of the Trinity is that God is characterized by the equal ultimacy of the unity and the diversity and that the very meaning of personhood itself (since God’s personhood is the supreme personhood) is that of the equal ultimacy of the personal unity and the personal diversity -- in short that societies as well as individuals are personal (or should be!). In short, God is One Personal Society consisting of Three Individual Persons. Now I do not know if Athanasius himself drew -- or fully drew -- this conclusion because my source does not discuss that. In fact, surprisingly he does not even use the word social!

Athanasius also rightly saw that God the Father’s eternal generation of God the Son meant that generativity and creativity are inherent divine qualities. Therefore the creation of the world is to be EXPECTED because a creative person can be expected to create. This principle too has been lost because our systematic theologies, while teaching that God created the world, fail to mention that He has a creative nature. Now isn’t that weird?!! So, here again -- and this really ticks me off -- in the 4th century AD Athanasius discovered two extremely important truths about God which since became lost. Plus I just now found out about it.

If you remember my previous posts about Irenaeus you remember that I showed how I learned from Pagels’ excellent scholarship that Irenaeus was the one who correctly defined the terms orthodoxy and canon and how since then these original and true definitions had been lost. Now I find out that the same thing happened with Athanasius -- we lost his discovery that God is social and that God is creative. Folks, those DARK ages really were dark to have lost such great beams of light as these!

OK, now here is my source for the Athanasius discoveries. Frankly, unless you are a rare person like me who actually likes wading through this kind of scholarly book I don’t recommend reading it -- it is not an easy read like Pagels -- it is written for professional theologians. The author is Peter Widdicombe. It is one of the Oxford Theological Monographs. (That ought to scare you off if nothing else does!) The title is The Fatherhood of God From Origen To Athanasius. The publisher is the Oxford University Press and I read the revised paperback edition published in 2000. By the way, this is not to be considered as a book review -- I really do not want to do that -- all I want to do is note the two discoveries I made about Athanasius I discussed briefly here.

Sincerely,

Forrest