Exloring Life Eternal

A 21 year old Ph.D. student here @ U.Mich mentioned to me an odd statistic that he discovered while in High School:

1. There is a statistically significant correlation threshhold among male suicide committers/victims: US$18,000. This is roughly a little more than twice the USA poverty threshold. Today this would probably be more like US$20,000-21,000 in the USA.
http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/05poverty.shtml

Biblical Application ==> To me this indicates that Jesus was 100% right when he told the rich young ruler to "Go, sell all that you have & give to the poor." The rich young guy would have relieved himself of much unneeded stress by reducing overhead & by sharing with others ... not to mention the treasures that would wait in years to come!!

2. He also noted that that countries which share the same currency (U.S. & Panama) or those which have a fixed exchange rate (As the U.S. & China did historically.) are more likely to trade than those which have high fluctuation in their exchange rates.

Missiological application: ==> Intra-European Missionaries may be more able to deal with things there than US-European missionaries due to the ups and downs of the dollar-Euro.

Peace,
Mert

--
In response to:
Book Notes by David Mays
http://www.davidmays.org
THE WORLD IS FLAT: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century
Thomas L. Friedman, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005, 488 pp.
ISBN 0-374-29288-4

While it covers a surprisingly broad range of topics, it is an economic perspective and the world is bigger than economics.

LIGHT FORCE
A Stirring Account of the Church Caught in the Middle East Crossfire
Brother Andrew and Al Janssen
Fleming H. Revell, 2004, 319 pp.
ISBN 0-8007-1872-0

"My call was to strengthen the Church in the Middle East. Could I do it without getting caught in the cross fire of deeply held conviction? Was it possible for believers to rise above their differences and experience unity to stand against the evil darkness?" (25)

"The Church is also supposed to be a light in the darkness, but it’s hard to fulfill your mission when you are fighting for your very survival. ... I want to help Christians escapes their victim mentality. I wanted to see them trained, ready to advance and get on with the job of winning people to Jesus." (27)

From a meeting with Ayatollah Fadlallah, the fundamentalist spiritual leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon: "Brother Andrew, you Christians have a problem ... You Christians are not following the life of Jesus Christ anymore." ...
I asked him, "What do you think we should do about that?"
He said, "You must go back to the Book." (196)

- What kind of people does the Quran produce?
- What kind of people does the Bible produce? (197)

"The Hamas are reachable. Anyone could have gone to see those men at Marj al-Zohour. I did what Jesus did in His ministry—I met them at their point of need." (229)

A Palestinian Pastor: “I wish the Church would understand the struggles Palestinians have. We have to deal with Judaism. We have to deal with Islam. And we have to deal with who we are, with our nationalism. Plus we have to deal with Western Christianity.” (referring to organizations that automatically approve of any actions by Israel over any claims made by Palestinians) (312-13)

See full book notes & more at
www.davidmays.org

Hi David,

This book was one that you commented on more ... & the notes you gave also showed something I have noticed about most people: we tend to get our perspective messed with when we engage with another/our own culture for a long period of time. Many missionaries to Arab countries have a slightly more Palestinian perspective. I sometimes wonder, "Why can't we all just get along?" But then, I remember that this is really only possible at the foot of the cross of Jesus, when we realize that the Lord Jesus effected reconciliation for those who will receive it.

...
Peace in Christ Jesus,
Mert

-----Original Message ==>with comment-----
Book Notes by David Mays See more book notes at www.davidmays.org

UNDERSTANDING IRAQ: The Whole Sweep of Iraqi History
William R. Polk
HarperCollins, 2005, 219 pp., ISBN 0-06-06468-6

“Nationalization of the IPC (foreign petroleum conglomerate) was perhaps the most popular move Saddam ever made. It is difficult for foreigners, particularly modern Americans, to understand how bitter the Iraqis were about foreign domination.” (127)

==> My wife is from Indonesia. Aceh had long been a sore spot with Indonesians about USA interferance & "raiding" of oil. Indeed, most American men-Indonesian women couples that we know were involved with the oil trade. Dirty business & a means of spreading Islam in many instances, sad to say!

By God's tremendous grace the tsunami came. Since then Indonesians (including my wife) have come to see that not all those who hold American passports enter their land to steal resources. Which, of course, makes things a little more pleasant when we discuss matters of global politics (Happily, this is not as frequent now). She had also been moved to help raise funds for the region ... & God moved in the hearts of those we knew to give rather generously. I think that if we as the church were to really pray for the worst situations / conflicts, then even greater things would happen.

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In 1983 the U.S. identified with the Iraq cause. According to Polk, “To this end, the United States either supplied directly or arranged for others to supply conventional weapons, cluster bombs, anthrax, and other biological weapons materials as well as components for nuclear weapons and equipment to manufacture poison gas.” (132, footnote) [Polk cites a German newspaper article (footnote, p. 146). But I find it difficult to believe. dlm]

==> I do not see why it would be difficult to believe the factual basis for this. The greater question seems to be rather, why would God permit the USA to become so corrupt & yet still have such power? I can only think of one reason: there are still those who go out & spread the good news. Under Clinton, the USA could have had Osama bin-Laden & tried him for involvement with the earlier car bomb in the Twin Towers, but the US declines. ... then the USA reaped the consequences. The USA government is one more rod in the hands of God. But the question we must face is: will the church be willing to serve as the Lord's staff, gathering the flock to Himself? I googled "Iran Iraq USA 1983" and came up with a couple of interesting links rather quickly. Some of the conspiracy sort, yes. But that is essentially what most political books are about anyways.

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[That Saddam sold the food for arms, allowing his people to starve, is openly admitted but receives no condemnation here. dlm]

The facts speak for themselves. Saddam will one day have to report to a higher authority (God). However, my understanding is that Polk is a USA citizen ... he is therefore called upon to first call the USA to account. Why should he meddle with other nations before critiquing his own government?

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In a 2003 interview with Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, he “cut me off, saying that ‘America has long since decided to attack Iraq and nothing Iraq could do would prevent it.’” (169) [Polk seems to have taken this statement at face value and judged all else by it. dlm]

==> I agree with you here. This is the key problem: listening to politicians too much. They can be sly foxes at times! They want to stay in power & that means "protecting" their own people (i.e. saying what will make them/us feel good = re-election / re-appointment).

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American ideologically-driven Neo-Conservatives “proclaimed that America had the right, indeed the obligation, to impose its way of life on the whole world. Iraq was an early step in what was to be a new ‘crusade,’ which would be accomplished by warfare, essentially unending and everywhere.” (186-87)
[Polk’s political bias is stated strongly here! dlm]

==> I am personally concerned about a seeming open acceptance / sometimes delight/comfort in war that is too readily received in the church. I believe we must remember to keep the Good News as our mission, not political aspirations or international expansion & "homeland security." The Methodist Church lost the advance of the Gospel after the Revolutionary war when they put politics ahead of an independent stand. During the Revolutionary War, they were the one church movement that grew. Why? Because they preached a Jesus who was Lord over both the USA & Britain (& the whole earth!) In time they lost view of the Lord's sovereign holiness as a movement & the Lord has shown himself to/through other movements more effectively in later times.

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"Those Iraqis who aspire to complete sovereignty are prepared to create complete insecurity." (193)

==> "complete sovereignty" that certainly sounds like a devilish way of putting it! This has the same meaning in English as the Hebrew idiom "knowing good & evil." I take it that this is an exact quote. Indeed, radical independence always tends towards chaos!