Ron RhodesRezensionen
Autor von Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Jehovah's Witnesses
Rezensionen
All things aside, this book reads like propaganda, but all books are propaganda to one degree or another. Rhodes’s concern with the demise of traditional Christianity at the main thrust of the book. He scours American culture for examples of how non-traditional thinking is inculcating mainstream society. Anything trying to rear its little head into his faith is called out and itemized.
Rhodes’s gaze is both wide and meticulous. He chides Hollywood for both not forcefully upholding Christianity and allowing other religious tenets to pervade its movies (including Zen Buddhism in Star Wars and various “New Age” actors and messages). He devotes an entire chapter to the New World Translation of the Bible purportedly done by incompetent scholars and evangelists. After a while, his gentle ranting gets a little tiresome and repetitive. The good thing here is that the text read fairly and after two days I was glad to put it down. An uninspired book.
Commonly Misunderstood Bible Verses is a mini-commentary covering the entire Bible. It tries to focus on just the sorts of questions the average church-goer would have. The questions are even pulled from Rhodes' own ministry experience as a traveling speaker. Rhodes does an excellent job of providing succinct and simple answer to most of them.
This book can't cover every issue or every question, but the following list provides a sampling of the sorts of points that are covered in this nice little volume.
- Are the 6 days of Creation 24 hour days?
- What was the mark of Cain?- Who is the “angel of the Lord”?
- How can capital punishment be justified in light of God's command to not murder?
- Should Christians worship on Saturday (the Sabbath) or Sunday?
- What does it mean when the Bible says God “repents”?
- Is Proverbs 22:6 a promise or a principle regarding raising our children?
- What is the new covenant?- What is the abomination that causes desolation?
- Is it wrong to take oaths?- Did Jesus really die on Friday?- Is baptism necessary for salvation?
- Are Christians required to evangelize going house-to-house (or door-to-door)?
- Does God have blood?- Should I be seeking the gift of tongues?
- What is “baptism for the dead”?
- Are Christians permitted to drink wine?
- Does the Bible condone slavery?
- In Tit. 2:13, is Jesus called “God”?- Can a Christian skip church?
- Is James really teaching a person is justified by works?
- How are the elect chosen by God?
- Why are Dan and Ephraim excluded from the list of tribes in Rev. 7?
- If Jesus is the beginning of God's creation, is He then a created being?
- What is Armageddon?
Not everyone puzzles over each question, nor are they equally important. But this is just a smattering of the kinds of issues addressed in Rhodes' book. The book is arranged by Scripture reference, so it can be a handy companion to your personal Bible study. If you are in a passage and have a question or can't understand a verse, try out this book. If your verse isn't listed in the book, check the topical index, in case the question is still answered by the book.
Rhodes' approach seems to be from a conservative, dispensational, creationist position. He will address alternate views often, and tries to be fair to other interpretive viewpoints, but the book is clearly biased by his own theological perspective. Then again, which book written by a human author isn't? Sometimes his answers are given as his personal perspective, as in his treatment of the tongues' question. He lists his reasons for believing tongues have ceased. Other times, as with the question of the “baptism for the dead”, he is content to give a few positions and not really come down on any one view. With other questions, he presents another view and then details problems with that view. Occasionally, he just gives his own perspective and doesn't discuss an alternate view. On a few points, he is very careful in laying out a systematic case for his view, as in his discussion of the differing positions on election (he prefers the Calvinistic position).
Some of Rhodes' questions would only come from a conservative evangelical or even a fundamentalist perspective. That makes the book perhaps more useful to these readers. He explains how Prov. 22:6 isn't a guarantee that one's children will automatically turn out right if we just do the right thing as parents. He shows how “house to house” was a description of teaching being done from home-group to home-group, not a prescribed method for evangelizing. He discusses that the Bible permits moderate drinking, but holds that wine in Bible times was weaker than it is today.
Sometimes I found myself upset with the simplicity of the answers. Other times I was impressed. For someone who is aware of all the above points of controversy, the book may not be as useful. But for many Christians, it will be a great tool for help in understanding Scripture more. So I'm happy to recommend the book.
Disclaimer: This book was provided by Harvest House for review. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.
An expanded version of this review is available at CrossFocusedReviews.com, where you can find book excerpts, giveaways, promotional offers, audio reviews and more.
I agree with those scientists who argue that some things are outside of the purview of science, given that they cannot be empirically tested. I am willing to entertain the hypothesis of miraculous or supernatural occurances and elements in the universe, although I admit I find it unlikely. I am still waiting, however, for someone to explain how to empirically examine them. William Dembski claims to be able to demonstrate the need for Intelligent Design on the basis of empirically measuring "complex specificity", but he remains rather vague as to how this would actually be done.
Comparing this to other books on the topic, it is less scientific but in some ways more honest. Unlike William Dembski, Denyse O'Leary and the inexcusable Philip Johnson, Rhodes doesn't pretend to be concerned with the integrity of science or to be conducting an impartial investigation. His religious agenda is quite frank. He does not include what I call the Classic Clashing Cliches, i.e. that scientists are simultaneously a monolithic juggernaut crushing all dissent AND deserting the idea of evolution in droves.
Have a Bible handy - the book frequently gives citations without quotations. Obviously, if one believes that the Bible is the absolute, most reliable source, before which all other arguments must fail, there is little point in arguing science. The two systems of thought have different standards of truth and aren't comparable. I don't agree with Lewontin that science is the only begettor of truth; I do fault mislabeling nonscience as scientific. I have provided a list of authors at the end of the review who can discuss the science better than I. In this review, I have focussed more on things like internal logic and consistency.
The most interesting and novel part of the book is "Christians have diverse views" the discussion of the beliefs of various creationists, including both their arguments for their conclusions and criticisms from other creationists. Rhodes doesn't declare his own allegiance, but I am guessing that he is a Young-Earth Creationist (YEC). Rhodes hails the arguments from Intelligent Design, but some of these thinkers contradict his views about the ability of evolution to generate new species.
On the other hand, Rhodes is quite insulting about the moral capacities of non-Christians, including atheists like me. He also makes numerous accusations against Darwin for creating social injustices such as racism and sexism. Some of these, like the three-fifths clause in the constitution are absurd, since they predate Darwin, sometimes by thousands of years. I might add, Christianity has come in for considerable criticism on the same subjects and has a history of violence against non-Christians and different forms of Christianity. One might argue that everyone has a history of violence against everyone else, but there is no logical reason for singling out Darwinism for blame.
A lot of Rhodes' "science" seems to be drawn from tertiary sources; e.g., the "proof" that "many scholars" believe that Peking Man is actually a monkey or baboon comes from Willmington's Guide to the Bible and Hanegraaff's The Face That Demonstrates The Farce Of Evolution. Evidence from paleontologists or primatologists would be a lot more convincing. He doesn't seem to understand the idea of "transitional forms." According to the Neo-Darwinian Synthesis, these species are transitional in retrospect, not in prospect, since evolution doesn't have goals. For example, an Archeopteryx is not seen as an attempt to evolve birds, it is a species in its own right and is of course fully functional and fully formed. It becomes "transitional" only if its descendents later evolve novel forms.
On the matter of fossils, Rhodes makes two conflicting arguments. One is that the geologic column of species was formed during a short period of time, during a world-wide flood. In that case, a lack of transitional forms would be moot, since there was no transitional period. The arguments from gaps in the fossil record would then be meaningless. Rhodes sets Creation in the Cambrian period, but there would be no geologic periods if most fossils were laid down at one time.
By the same token, the fossils do not support Creationist theories either. One has to explain how numerous, no longer extant species are found in remnants of the flood, if Noah took all species on board. If one does look at the fossils independent of the flood hypothesis, then one would expect to find fossils of dogs, cats, people, giraffes, etc., in the Cambrian layers.
I am not certain if Rhodes believes in the hypothesis of "kinds", where, for example, one original canid evolved into dogs, wolves, jackals, foxes, etc., or if he is merely recounting it as the belief of other Christians. It would contradict his argument that microevolution can only occur within a species.
While many cultures have tales of massive floods, they do not all consider Noah's family to be the regenerator of the human race as Rhodes states. Various cultures credit the families of Fuhi, Utnapishtim, Manu, Xisuthrus, Tapi, Decaulion & Pyrrha, etc. Their various arks, boats, chests and so forth came to rest in different places.
The book has numerous footnotes and a bibliography, but unfortunately, no index. I like that the running title that appears at the top of the pages of the text also appears as a heading for the notes, so that one does not need to keep flipping back to find chapter numbers. On the other hand, he gives incomplete citations, which would be fine if all his sources were in his bibliography, but they are not. Also, if Rhodes is going to quote an author who is quoting a third person, I believe he should make it a double quote. As an example, he cites an introduction to Darwin's work as quoted by Gish. I think he should have given a citation for the particular edition of Darwin, followed by, "as cited in Gish ... ."
I have not attempted to discuss most of Rhodes' claims about science; this has been done far better than I could do by authors such as Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Mark Perakh, Robert T. Pennock, Philip Kitcher, Mark Ridley, and various other writers.
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PuddinTame | Oct 5, 2007 |
PuddinTame | Oct 5, 2007 | 
Attitude
"If you can't change circumstances, change the way you respond to them."
Tim Hansel (1941-2009), Seminar leader
Bible Truth Behind the Quote: "For those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). This recognition helps us to respond positively to our circumstances.
This rich collection will be a must-have for home and church libraries and will be a great gift for those who love gathering words of wisdom for their Christian walk.
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Look up the topic you're interested in and discover a list of corresponding Scripture verses. With this user-friendly format, you can find what you're looking for in seconds, such as...
Adoption into God's Family
By faith in Christ—Galatians 3:26
The Father allows us into His family—1 John 3:1, 2
Gentiles in God's family too—Ephesians 2:19
Jesus firstborn of many brothers—Romans 8:29
Jews and Gentiles heirs together—Ephesians 3:6
The Lord disciplines us as His children—Hebrews 12:6-9
This helpful resource is ideal for the busy, on-the-go Bible enthusiast. It's like having your own reference library right at your fingertips.