GIVING &
SHARING NEWSLETTER December,
1990 No. 13
Electronic
Bible Available
If you have a
personal computer, you may already have purchased Bible research software to
aid your study of the Creator’s Word.
Our free list of recommended Computer Bible Study Software may help you
decide which programs to buy.
But if you are
on the go, and/or do not have a computer, there is another, less expensive, way
to use modern electronic tools to aid your Bible Study. The Franklin Electronic Bible
puts the King James Bible at your fingertips.
Instantly “turn” to any portion of scripture and read just as you would
a printed Bible. Or, use powerful
concordance search features to look up all scriptures where a word or phrase
are used. It runs on four AA batteries and
fits in the palm of your hand. The LCD screen is easy to read. In a recent Bible Study group, a friend
using the Electronic Bible turned to scripture passages faster than any of us
flipping pages. The Electronic
Bible won’t replace the printed Bible, but it is a very useful tool,
available from Giving & Sharing.
New
Items on Giving & Sharing Order Blank
Several new
items appear on the recent Giving & Sharing Order Blank:
The
Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible,
edited by Spiros Zodhiates. This
is a Strong’s Concordance Lexicon combined with a King James Version
Bible. The key words of the Bible text
are underlined, and the Strong’s number given.
The Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries are included in the reference
section of this Bible. In addition,
there is a 168-page section of further word studies by Spiros Zodhiates, plus
notes, maps and other helps, and words of the Messiah in red. It is called “The world’s best Bible for
original meaning.”
Jewish New
Testament, translation by David
Stern. Paperback, 391 pages. David Stern, a Messianic Jew, translated the
New Testament from the Greek as a Jew would.
He helps us understand the Jewishness of the New Testament, as well as
correct some theological misconceptions.
For example, anti-Jewish bias has mistranslated Romans 10:4 as
“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that
believeth,” while Stern translates it as a Jew would: “For the goal at which the Torah aims is the Messiah, who offers
righteousness to everyone who trusts.”
Tanakh, The
Holy Scriptures. New Jewish Publication Society translation
of Old Testament, 1985. Cloth, 1,624
pages. Tanakh is an abbreviation
for the three parts of the Jewish Old Testament: Torah (the Law, the five books of Moses), Nevi’im
(the Prophets), and Kethuvim (the Writings). This major new Jewish translation, the product of all three
branches of Judaism, is said by the authors to be the greatest work of Jewish
scholarship since the Septuagint.
Moslem
Influence Increases
One fifth of
the world’s population is Moslem. Some
eight million Americans are Moslems.
Most Moslems are not Arabs.
There are many misconceptions and much misunderstanding about the
religion founded by Mohammed the Prophet in the 7th Century A.D. Today, Marxism crumbles, so-called
Christianity is weak and ineffective, yet Islamic fundamentalism is on the
march. Petroleum dollars are being used
to build Moslem centers in every major city in the world. France had only one mosque in 1974; now
there are over 1,500.
There is an
irreconcilable difference between the religion of the Koran, Islam, and the
religion of the Bible. As believers in
Messiah the Son of the Almighty, we need to know about this major non-Christian
religion. Even though Moslems believe
that Jesus was a prophet, and speak highly of Moses, don’t let this fool
you. They believe in forced conversion
with the sword. Historically, Moslem
warriors gave “infidels” (non-Moslems) three choices: accept Islam, pay tribute, or die by the sword. Some modern Islamic countries, such as Saudi
Arabia, forbid Christians to engage in missionary activity whatsoever. Since Mohammed, there has been a continual jihad
(holy war) going on. Nearly one billion
strong, Moslems are gaining ground on the world scene.
Anis Shorrosh,
a Christian Arab, analyzes the Moslem religion from the orthodox Christian
perspective in his book, Islam Revealed (Nashville, Thomas Nelson
Publishers, 1988). Shorrosh is an apologist for Christianity versus the
Moslem religion.
Dr. Jesse
Lyman Hurlbut in his famous book, Story of the Christian Church
gives several pros and cons of the religion of Mohammed, to which I have added
three points:
Positive
Values of the Moslem Faith
1. Simplicity of Doctrine. Moslems believe in One God, and that it is
every man’s duty to obey implicitly. It
doesn’t take theological scholars to understand Islamic faith. [Nor should it take scholarship to
understand true Christianity, either.]
2. Opposition to Idolatry. Hurlbut states, “Throughout the [so-called]
Christian world the statues of the old gods and goddesses of Greece had simply
given place to images and pictures of the Virgin Mary and the saints, worshiped
in all the churches. Moslems cast them
out, destroyed them, and denounced all adoration of images whether carved or
painted as idolatry,” (pages
118-119). Good for them!
3. Rejection of Priestly and Saintly Mediation. False Christianity makes salvation depend
upon a man, not on simple faith in Christ and obedience to Him as Lord. Islam brings every soul face to face with
God.
4. Abstinence from Liquor. Moslems are forbidden to drink alcohol. Thus, faithful Moslems are spared the
plagues of alcohol abuse rampant in the Western world.
5. Promotion of Literature and Science. Arab Moslems gave us the numerals 1, 2, 3,
etc. They advanced in astronomy,
mathematics and other scientific fields when Europe was in the Dark Ages
imposed by the Catholic Church who insisted the earth was the center of the
universe.
6. Opposition to Usury. Moslems are forbidden to charge
interest. Therefore, when a Moslem
business needs capital, it joins into partnership with a financial institution
rather than receiving a bank loan with interest.
7. Swift Punishment for Crimes. Though it seems severe, Islamic law is
better in many aspects than in liberal Western law. Thieves lose their hands.
In Moslem lands, execution for capital crimes is swift and sure. A business associate of mine once worked in
Saudi Arabia. One early morning he was
standing outside a bank waiting for a ride to work. A delivery man drove up to the bank, threw a sack of money on the
doorstep right next to my friend, and drove off. The bank was not yet open for business. My friend was amazed! In
America, the sack of money would probably have been quickly stolen. In the Moslem world, it is safe to throw a
sack of money in front of a bank not yet open for business. As a foreigner, my friend knew that if he
had stolen the money, he would not just suffer a loss of a hand like a native. He would have been executed and buried in
the sand, with nobody knowing the difference.
8. Abstinence from Pork. Moslems don’t eat pork, but because Mohammed
lived in the desert, he allowed his followers to eat camel meat, which the
Bible terms “unclean,” Leviticus 11:4.
Negative
Aspects of Islam
Dr. Hurlbut
also gives the unfavorable aspects of Mohammedism (Ibid., pp. 120-121):
1. Conversion by Conquest, rather than by
missionary preaching, has long been the standard cruel method of expanding the
number of Moslem faithful.
2. Religion over the State. In Islamic states, the government is
expected to use its power to the utmost for the promotion of the Islamic faith,
and the suppression of all other faiths.
Reports from Sabbath-keepers in Nigeria demonstrate that even in a
mixed-religion country, Moslems give Christians a hard time.
3. Harsh, Cruel View of God. To a Moslem, God is a ruthless Oriental
despot, with no love for those outside the faith.
4. Low View of Jesus. Moslems recognize Jesus as a worthy Jewish
prophet, but not the Son of God and the Savior of men.
5. Sensuous Heaven. The abode of the blessed in the life to
come, according to Moslems, is like a perpetual orgy with many women.
6. Degradation of Women. Women are looked upon merely as the slaves
or playthings of men.
7. Lack of Statesmanship. Islamic governments are some of the most
brutal and poverty-producing administrations of human government on earth.
It would behoove all true believers in the
Messiah to spend more time studying the Moslem faith, because sooner or later
they will be confronted by Moslems and may need to be able to defend their
faith. Ω