God and the Nations: What the Bible Has to Say About Civilizations-Past and Present

Rating:
Summary: God, the Bible and CNN
Review: I like to spend a significant amount of my evenings reading the Bible and watching CNN. I also read many religious and secular books. Knowing Morris writings for several years, I've decided to order this from Amazon.com.

Yes, I am a product of brand of late post-modernism that tries to value at once both the reason of modernity and religion of pre-modernity, by connecting directly to the source of true knowledge and wisdom, Jesus Christ, simply through Bible reading and prayer. He is the LOGOS, the creator of space, matter/energy, time, life, mind and reason.

What does this have to do with the book "God and the Nations"? A lot, in my view. By reading the Bible, I became convinced that History has a begining and an end. What's more, there is a pattern in History, a sign of rational and moral design. So far, there is nothing new with this insight. Hegel and Marx would say the same thing. Francis Fukuyama would probably agree.

Historians have long realized that to understand History we cannot rely simply on political history, but we have also to take in to account social, economic and cultural history. I agree, although even this enlarged perspective seems to be insuficient. To understand History, we have to take in to account the presence of a divine providence in History (As someone put it, History is His Story). Other wise, we won't understand it. Even Samuel Huntington's "clash of civililations" is not able to account for what is going on in the world today.

With his characteristic lucidity and above average intelligence, Henry Morris leads us to the identification of the spiritual patterns in the emergence, decline and death of nations. My reading of the Bible has led me to pretty much the same conclusions, although I think that God cares also a lot about questions of justice and the environment that Morris somehow seems to overlook.

Anyway, it seems pretty clear from the Bible that God indeed judges the nations according to the way they deal with His Word, His mandates, His People of Israel and His Son. I agree.

As a Portuguese, I cannot help to notice that the emergence of our nation was closely linked to the defense of christianity in Iberian Peninsula, and that our times of historical glory coincided with the spread of the christian message. Of course we did lots of shameful and sinful acts in between, and we face God's discipline, as does any nation. It is interesting that a few decades after we expelled the Jews (around 1494), we lost our independence to Spain, and we lost our naval fleet, along with the Spanish, when the Spanish Armada was defeated in 1588.

Morris could have mentioned this, although he doesn't go this far. England and Holland, that were far more hospitable to the Jews and to the protestant reformation became the leading naval powers. All historians recognize that the defeat of the Spanish armada was instrumental to the progress of the christian reformation.

Another decisive point in human history, was the defeat of the Habsburg Catholic pretensions in 1648, after the Thirty Years War, and the Peace of Westphalia, whose art. 28º for the first time mentioned the right to "free exercise of religion" and paved the way to the liberal revolutions and to american constitucionalism.

The I World War was also very important to assure a western mandate over Palestine, and the II World War marked the begining of end of the jewish gentile dominium, which will only come to an end when Israel assumes control of the Temple Mount.

CNN tels the rest of the story, with the latest developments in Iraq and the war against terrorism, both instances where hatred to God, His People and His Son provide the relevant background.

I must admit that I have dificulties whith eschatology in general and the book of Revelation in particular. I've followed Morris on this topic with special caution. I didnt' clearly understand the future role of America, although I got some bad feelings about it. Morris position on the death penalty also raises some doubts. A criminal defendant has a right to a fair trial and to a proportional punishment. The death penalty is, undoubtly, proportional to a crime of homicide. No one can claim more rights to hemself than the rights he is willing to respect in others. However, it should be aplied only if the criminal system can assure a truly fair trial...
Morris' diagnostic and proposed remedies, as simple and naive as they may seem to be to much of the "sofisticated" audience of CNN or to the readers of Time Magazine or Foreign Affairs, are right on target.

Rating:
Summary: A far-reaching, timely book
Review: This is an incredible work. Dr. Morris has provided a treasure of clear, concise explanations concerning the nations of the world while at the same time providing nothing less than a theological masterpiece.

Dr. Morris' years of study concerning biblical creation, the flood, the book of Job, and other areas has culminated in a work that produces timely instruction for a population living at the precipice of Christ's coming.

A highly readable, and enjoyable text which can be read in just a few evenings. Prepare to use a highlighter in this one: there are a lot of fascinating points.