Saying Yes and Saying No: On Rendering to God and Caesar

Rating:
Summary: This is a book I never will forget
Review: I have found this book to be a challenging read. It was not the difficulty of the reading, but the moral challenges it brings. I felt the book presented far too many moral issues that are at hand. The book dealt with war, the death penalty, gun control and abortion, as well as many other ideas. I have been forced to re-examine some of my personal views after reading this book.
The book vehemently opposes war. I have to wonder if, at times, this isn't a necessary evil. My guess is that Brown would have suggested passive resistance to Hitler in World War II. I simply have a hard time coming to Brown's conclusion. In the Old Testament of the Bible, God sanctioned War at times. In my understanding of the parable, the turning of weapons into plowshares was meant for the millennium. It is not meant for the current dispensation that mankind is in. We are told in the Bible that there will be wars and rumors of wars until the body of Christ is taken into heaven. I find Brown's comment of trying to bring about his own personal millennium to be extremely arrogant. While war is a terrible thing, I feel we are expressly told that this will happen.
Brown is opposed to guns and believes in gun control. I have to agree that guns in the wrong hands can be used for evil. Is a gun in itself truly evil? I cannot ask the police to go against criminals without appropriate protection. I cannot go as far as to believe that all violence will magically cease without guns. To assume without guns our society will be safe and violence free is to have an overly optimistic view.
I cannot agree with his statement that breaking laws is always appropriate to save human life. To agree to this statement blindly is to become a zealot, and lose good judgment. With this statement members of the anti-abortion movement are perfectly justified in bombing clinics, and the occasional murder of doctors and other medical professionals. Out right murder is never justifiable.
I feel this book is extremely thought provoking. It is radical enough to have created a large discomfort level in my personal belief system. I feel Brown's points are often well made, and thankfully peppered with fact. I feel that too many concepts were approached for me on a personal level. Each chapter presented a different moral dilemma. His writing style attempted to sensationalize points rather than investigate them in a logical manner. I can truly say this is a book that I will always remember.

Rating:
Summary: This is a book I never will forget
Review: I have found this book to be a challenging read. It was not the difficulty of the reading, but the moral challenges it brings. I felt the book presented far too many moral issues that are at hand. The book dealt with war, the death penalty, gun control and abortion, as well as many other ideas. I have been forced to re-examine some of my personal views after reading this book.
The book vehemently opposes war. I have to wonder if, at times, this isn't a necessary evil. My guess is that Brown would have suggested passive resistance to Hitler in World War II. I simply have a hard time coming to Brown's conclusion. In the Old Testament of the Bible, God sanctioned War at times. In my understanding of the parable, the turning of weapons into plowshares was meant for the millennium. It is not meant for the current dispensation that mankind is in. We are told in the Bible that there will be wars and rumors of wars until the body of Christ is taken into heaven. I find Brown's comment of trying to bring about his own personal millennium to be extremely arrogant. While war is a terrible thing, I feel we are expressly told that this will happen.
Brown is opposed to guns and believes in gun control. I have to agree that guns in the wrong hands can be used for evil. Is a gun in itself truly evil? I cannot ask the police to go against criminals without appropriate protection. I cannot go as far as to believe that all violence will magically cease without guns. To assume without guns our society will be safe and violence free is to have an overly optimistic view.
I cannot agree with his statement that breaking laws is always appropriate to save human life. To agree to this statement blindly is to become a zealot, and lose good judgment. With this statement members of the anti-abortion movement are perfectly justified in bombing clinics, and the occasional murder of doctors and other medical professionals. Out right murder is never justifiable.
I feel this book is extremely thought provoking. It is radical enough to have created a large discomfort level in my personal belief system. I feel Brown's points are often well made, and thankfully peppered with fact. I feel that too many concepts were approached for me on a personal level. Each chapter presented a different moral dilemma. His writing style attempted to sensationalize points rather than investigate them in a logical manner. I can truly say this is a book that I will always remember.