Category Archives: Reading

February 14, 2012

Who’s Getting Divorced?

By Rob Karch

Apparently, fewer people than we were led to believe.

Remember in school when the entire class would lose recess privileges because of a couple of irresponsible kids; then the entire class looked irresponsible? That is how I feel about marriage statistics.

Mainly, an irresponsible minority are bloating divorce statistics to make it look like marriage in general is in crisis. This is simply not the case.  Though many responsible people do get divorced, they do not constitute the majority of divorces. Tim Keller spells this out in his new book The Meaning of Marriage:

“While it is true that some 45 percent of marriages end in divorce, by far the greatest percentage of divorces happen to those who marry before the age of eighteen, who have dropped out of high school, and who have had a baby together before marrying. So if you are a reasonably well-educated person with a decent income, come from an intact family and are religious, and marry after twenty-five without having a baby first, your chances of divorce are low indeed.” -p. 23

Not only that, but the majority of marriages are happy ones:

“All surveys tell us that the number of married people who say they are “very happy” in their marriages is high-about 61-62 percent-and there has been little decrease in this figure during the last decade.” -p. 26

“But,” you say, “my marriage is going very badly right now. I’m miserable. I feel like we’re in a free-fall toward divorce.” Tim Keller has something encouraging to say to you as well:

“Most striking of all, longitudinal studies demonstrate that two-thirds of those unhappy marriages out there will become happy within five years if people stay married and do not get divorced.” -p. 26

What can I take away from this?

  1. Practical strategies that increase the chances of having a “very happy” marriage really do exist (though no guarantees).
  2. There is much reason for hope even in currently “unhappy” marriages.

God bless you and your (current or future) marriage on this Valentines Day!

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Family, Marriage, Reading, Reflection

February 25, 2011

Cities are dirty, poor, unhealthy, crime ridden, expensive, environmentally unfriendly… Or are they?

By Rob Karch

Just got Triumph of the City by  Edward Glaeser (an Economist at Harvard). Can’t wait to read it.

Diana Silver has some good things to say in the New York Times about this book.

Here’s a blurb:

America is an urban nation. More than two thirds of us live on the 3 percent of land that contains our cities. Yet cities get a bad rap: they’re dirty, poor, unhealthy, crime ridden, expensive, environmentally unfriendly… Or are they?

As Edward Glaeser proves in this myth-shattering book, cities are actually the healthiest, greenest, and richest (in cultural and economic terms) places to live. New Yorkers, for instance, live longer than other Americans; heart disease and cancer rates are lower in Gotham than in the nation as a whole. More than half of America’s income is earned in twenty-two metropolitan areas. And city dwellers use, on average, 40 percent less energy than suburbanites.

Glaeser travels through history and around the globe to reveal the hidden workings of cities and how they bring out the best in humankind. Even the worst cities-Kinshasa, Kolkata, Lagos- confer surprising benefits on the people who flock to them, including better health and more jobs than the rural areas that surround them. Glaeser visits Bangalore and Silicon Valley, whose strangely similar histories prove how essential education is to urban success and how new technology actually encourages people to gather together physically. He discovers why Detroit is dying while other old industrial cities-Chicago, Boston, New York-thrive. He investigates why a new house costs 350 percent more in Los Angeles than in Houston, even though building costs are only 25 percent higher in L.A. He pinpoints the single factor that most influences urban growth-January temperatures-and explains how certain chilly cities manage to defy that link. He explains how West Coast environmentalists have harmed the environment, and how struggling cities from Youngstown to New Orleans can “shrink to greatness.” And he exposes the dangerous anti-urban political bias that is harming both cities and the entire country.

Using intrepid reportage, keen analysis, and eloquent argument, Glaeser makes an impassioned case for the city’s import and splendor. He reminds us forcefully why we should nurture our cities or suffer consequences that will hurt us all, no matter where we live.

Looking forward to our urban church planting event in downtown Montréal (more on that later)…

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February 11, 2011

Conspiracy? Did the Early Church Fathers Silence Some Early Church Writings for Nefarious Reasons?

By Rob Karch
Nag Hammadi Codices

Here are the thirteen bound volumes of manuscripts found buried in an earthenware jar at Nag Hammadi in Egypt in 1945. Their discovery has produced endless controversy over what books should have become part of the New Testament.

“…when the many manuscripts and movements usually categorized as Gnosticism are examined closely, various clusters of characteristics can be identified, but the only element common to all is that each is remarkably heretical, which is how they were quite properly judged by their contemporaries–not just “one heresy but a swarming ant-heap of heresies,” as the distinguished Simone Pétrement explained.

Purely as a matter of faith, one is free to prefer Gnostic interpretations and to avow that they give us access to secret knowledge concerning a more authentic Christianity, as several popular authors recently have done. But one is not free to claim that the early church fathers rejected these writings for nefarious reasons. The conflicts between many of these manuscripts and the New Testament are so monumental that no thinking person could embrace both.

Cities of GodConsider that some Gnostic ‘scriptures’ equate the Jewish God with Satan! Should those who defended conventional Christian teachings stand condemned of bigotry for not siding with such views? In addition, many of the Gnostic scriptures are obvious forgeries, easily recognized as such by the early church fathers, just as they ought to be today, in that whoever wrote them tried to deceive readers into believing they were the work of famous figures of first-generation Christianity-Peter, James, Mary Magdalene, Pilate, or Thomas, for example–or someone claiming extraordinary status, such as being the twin brother of Christ.

Whether the Gnostic teachers were ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, that they were heretics vis-à-vis conventional Christianity cannot be disputed.”

-pp. 141-142 “Cities of God,” by Rodney Stark

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Reading, Reflection, Theology

February 10, 2011

Reading Toward Understanding…

By Rob Karch

Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding. -Proverbs 3:13

A few books I’m currently working my way through (or recently finished):

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February 3, 2011

Are Christians Guilty of O.T. Eisogesis? Most Jews Fail to See Jesus in the Hebrew O.T.

By Rob Karch

*”Eisogesis”: subjectivism. Reading into text something that isn’t there at all. Greek. Same root as exegesis with different prefix. “eis” means “into.”

This question is ably answered by Michael Rydelnik in his book The Messianic Hope. It’s a quick read (190 pages) with hundreds of footnotes (pointing to a plethora of resources for extended study).

His treatment of Rashi’s influence on the interpretation of messianic prophecy is eye-opening… if not shocking. Here are a few slices of chapter 8:

The Messianic Hope by Michael RydelnikIf the messianic hope is so evident using a literary reading of the Hebrew Bible, why is it that so many contemporary exegetes fail to recognize it? (p. 112)

…

Perhaps one answer to this question can be found in the work and influence of the great Jewish biblical commentator, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzkhaki (1040-1105), most commonly known by his acronym, Rashi. His interpretive methods along with the approaches of the medieval Jewish commentators whom he influenced, ultimately found their way into Christian commentaries. Is it possible that Rashi’s more historical approach ultimately affected the way Christians interpret messianic prophecy? That is the question that will be examined in this chapter. (p. 113)

…

Rashi was unique as an interpreter. He became beloved and revered for his unique ability to combine traditional derash with innovative peshat. Moreover, he wrote for the common person, making the Bible accessible to the entire Jewish community. Beyond making the Scriptures understandable, Rashi included an occasional application or homily, showing a pastoral concern for his readers. But as will be evident, Rashi’s greatest impact would be to transform both Jewish and Christian interpretation of the Bible, particularly in the realm of messianic prophecy. (p. 117)

…

The central effect of Rashi and other medieval Jewish interpreters on post-Reformation Christian interpretation was a less messianic understanding of the Old Testament. Rashi and the other medieval Jewish interpreters, arguing from a historical understanding of peshat, advanced a nonmessianic understanding of a number of key messianic texts. Afterwards, Christian interpreters adopted their views as the true peshat of those passages as well, leading to a demessianized understanding of the Old Testament, as is evident even in contemporary Christian interpretations of the Hebrew Bible. (pp. 122-123)

I’d recommend this book to anyone serious about understanding the Old Testament. It is well worth the $13.00 on Amazon

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Reading, Reflection, Theology

January 2, 2011

Serving God as Idolatry?

By Rob Karch

(Notice I said “as” and not “is”)

Guy Muse, an Ecuadorian missionary, talks about idols common to missionaries and christians as a whole. (He would know.)

Anything that becomes an end greater that God Himself becomes an idol,  or “replacement” god, no matter how good the thing is in and of itself. Tim Keller calls it a “counterfeit god“.

no graven image Elisabeth ElliotElisabeth Elliot was on to this concept decades ago in her book “No Graven Image” (referring to Exodus 20:4-5).

Unexpectedly, the graven images in this story are the ones that exist in the heart of the Christian, not the pagan. The book’s message is this: as Christians, we engrave in our minds, images of what we think it means to serve God – a picture of ourselves doing a good thing – and that is idolatry. We need God’s grace to help us see ourselves as we truly are and worship the God who calls us. As Margaret says in the book, The Indians had become people to me – the were no longer my “field”. While I had once declared them to be my equals, I now regarded myself as theirs. Instead of saying, “Oh, you are as good as I – let me help you,” I now said, “I am as poor as you. God help us all.”

Guy Muse continues with some convicting thoughts over at the M Blog.

Here is Tim Keller’s take:

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November 20, 2010

The Strongest Argument For and Against Christianity is Christians

By Rob Karch

A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken“The best argument for Christianity is Christians: their joy, their certainty, their completeness. But the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians—when they are sombre and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug in complacent consecration, when they are narrow and repressive, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths.

But, though it is just to condemn some Christians for these things, perhaps, after all, it is not just, though very easy, to condemn Christianity itself for them. Indeed, there are impressive indications that the positive quality of joy is in Christianity—and possibly nowhere else. If that were certain, it would be proof of a very high order.”

–p. 84 “A Severe Mercy“

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November 12, 2010

What Is An Evangelical? (An Insanely Motley Crew Difficult to Nail Down)

By Rob Karch

Evangelicalism is a motley crew that is pretty difficult to nail down. Some who claim the word I love, others who claim the word make me cringe. There are a plethora of stereotypes… some funny, some crazy, some I like, some are horrifying. Just check out flickr. I entered the word “evangelicalism” and look at the photos that turned up on the first page:

So what in the world is an evangelical? Here’s a definition from Operation world:

Evangelicals:* all who emphasize and adhere to all four of the following:

    1. The Lord Jesus Christ as the sole source of salvation through faith in Him as validated by His crucifixion and resurrection.
    2. personal faith and conversion with regeneration by the Holy Spirit.
    3. Recognition of the inspired Word of God as the ultimate basis and authority for faith and Christian living.
    4. Commitment to biblical witness, evangelism and mission that brings others to faith in Christ.

Evangelicals are largely Protestant, Independent or Anglican, but some are Catholic or Orthodox. It is one of the Transbloc movements in this book.

This definition is very close but not identical to the definition introduced in David Bebbington’s Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730′s to the 1980′s as the Bebbington Quadrilateral, which offered crucicentrism, conversionism, biblicism and activism as the four qualities of evangelicalism.

Operation World

The definition of evangelicals and the statistics relating ot them are so fundamental to the contents of this book that it is important for the reader to understand the implications. It enables a measurement of the size and spectacular numerical growth of evangelical Christians over the past few decades.

Evangelicals are enumerated in Operation World as:

    1. All affiliated Christians (church members, their children, other participants of the faith community) of denominations that are definitively evangelical in theology as explained above.
    2. The proportion of the affiliated Christians in other denominations (that are not wholly evangelical in theology) who would hold evangelical views, whether WEstern in origin or otherwise.

This is a theological and not an experiential definition. It does not mean that all evangelicals as defined above are actually born-again. In many nations 10-40% of evangelicals so defined may have had a valid conversion and regularly attend church services. However, it does show how many people align themselves with churches where the gospel is being proclaimed as such.

(From Appendix 6, p. 958 in Operation World)

Your welcome

*(this is clarification #1 from Operation World‘s section on Québec, cited inmy last post)

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November 8, 2010

Urbanization and the World’s 50 Largest Metro Areas (Montréal didn’t quite make the list)

By Rob Karch
Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo, Japan (photo from Wikipedia)

Urbanization is an inevitable trend of 21st-Century life and even human existence. This is clearly articulated in the Bible. Mankind’s story begin in a garden (Genesis 2:8), but ends in a megacity (Revelation 21-22). However, it was only as recently as 2009 that the world’s population became 50% urban.

Today, cities are increasingly the centre of human activity and growth. In much of the world this growth occurs largely through migration to informal settlements on the fringes of the cities proper – in slums, squatter camps, shanty towns, barrios and favelas. Most of these offer little by way of safety, sanitation and electricity or employment and education opportunities; poverty, exploitation and desperation abound. Ministry possibilities are almost endless.

Remember, though, that while urban ministry is crucial and will become increasingly so, 49% of humanity remains in a rural context. Let Christians not ignore the needs of the world’s 3.4 billion rural dwellers.  -From Operation World , p. 901

What shocked me was the presence of nearly a dozen cities on this list (also from the same page in Operation World) that I had never heard of before (like Shenzen, or Hyderabad). I’m confessing my ignorance here…

Which cities were new to you?

Rank  City or Conurbation    Population         Country
1.    Tokyo/Yokohama         36,668,510         Japan
2.    Delhi                  22,156,810         India
3.    São Paulo              20,262,493         Brazil
4.    Mumbai                 20,040,868         India
5.    Mexico City            19,460,212         Mexico
6.    New York               19,425,069         USA
7.    Shanghai               16,575,110         China
8.    Kolkata                15,552,080         India
9.    Dhaka                  14,648,354         Bangladesh
10.   Karachi                13,124,793         Pakistan
11.   Buenos Aires           13,074,389         Argentina
12.   Los Angeles            12,762,091         USA
13.   Beijing                12,385,263         China
14.   Rio de Janeiro         11,949,619         Brazil
15.   Manila/Quezon City     11,628,288         Philippines
16.   Osaka/Kobe             11,337,016         Japan
17.   Cairo                  11,001,378         Egypt
18.   Lagos                  10,577,672         Nigeria
19.   Moscow                 10,549,892         Russia
20.   Istanbul               10,524,625         Turkey
21.   Paris                  10,485,263         France
22.   Seoul                   9,772,717         South Korea
23.   Chongqing              9,401,170         China
24.   Jakarta                 9,210,211         Indonesia
25.   Chicago                 9,203,838         USA
26.   Shenzhen                9,005,283         China
27.   Lima/Callao             8,940,555         Peru
28.   Guangzhou               8,883,865         China
29.   Kinshasa                8,753,869         Democratic Republic of Congo
30.   London                  8,631,325         England
31.   Bogotá                  8,499,820         Colombia
32.   Tianjin                 7,884,473         China
33.   Wuhan                   7,681,099         China
34.   Chennai                 7,546,954         India
35.   Tehran                  7,241,004         Iran
36.   Bangalore               7,217,540         India
37.   Lahore                  7,131,864         Pakistan
38.   Hong Kong               7,069,378         China
39.   Bangkok/Thonburi        6,976,471         Thailand
40.   Hyderabad               6,750,650         India
41.   Rhein/Ruhr              6,708,000         Germany
42.   Ho Chi Minh             6,167,090         Vietnam
43.   Santiago                5,951,554         Chile
44.   Baghdad                 5,890,677         Iraq
45.   Belo Horizonte          5,852,358         Brazil
46.   Madrid                  5,851,288         Spain
47.   Miami/Fort Lauderdale   5,749,900         USA
48.   Ahmedabad               5,717,173         India
49.   Philadelphia            5,625,504         USA
50.   Toronto                 5,449,456         Canada
      ...
68-ish. Montréal      (approx 4,000,000)        Canada
163-ish.Portland     (approx. 2,241,841)        USA

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Missions, Reading, Reflection, World

October 3, 2010

Much Anticipated New “Operation World” rolling off the presses… (I’ve been waiting for this for months…)

By Rob Karch

Operation World

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They’re anticipating lines around the block a-la-iphone 1-3g-3gs-4…

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This is THE definitive work on God’s work in every nation-state and people-group worldwide.

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Anyone serious about God working globally must absolutely order a copy… mine is on its way.

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