Showdown of the Gods - Softcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Originally a nuclear chemist in the United States, Victor Schlatter turned a dramatic corner in the late 1950's and re-tooled for linguistic analysis and Bible Translation. He and his wife, Elsie, then spent the next 30 years in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea in Bible Translation, adult literacy, community development and church planting. He is currently the director of South Pacific Island Ministries, and now based in Australia.

Aus dem Klappentext

INTRODUCTION

Mark Twain once said, "When you find yourself in agreement with the majority, it s time to pause and reflect." And so it is that this book is definitely not going to flow with majority opinion insights. If this were the case, what need would there be for me to write it? The drummer whose beat I find most compelling, usually does not play to please the crowd at large.

And I find this equally true of the God I am prone to serve. He always has appeared a bit out of sync with the masses, and of course, that s why they ve tried to revise Him off and on for not a few millennia at least. But by now some of the experts have become so frustrated by the moral intransigence of the Most High, that there is a consensus among those who know what is best for all the rest of us, that He s just going to have to step aside to give a bit of space for a much improved way of doing things.

Well I for one am not quite ready for that, and I d guess that you may not be either, which meeting of the minds brings us together at this point of time.

Though good old Mark Twain is hardly my role model--he certainly did have a fair bit of clever wit to his credit. Another loner who is a bit more upmarket spiritually was a seasoned prophet named Jeremiah who neither mixed with the majority nor made too many friends because of it. He did have at least two mates (that s a good Australian term for "buddies" and I love it). One was Ebed-Melech, a black Ethiopian who rescued him out of a nasty, mucky pit where the King s honchos left him to die.

Actually he wound up there because he told the truth, which by logic means that the fate of most of our world s crafty politicos will probably never be to get chucked into the mud! Nevertheless, I am told that the Ancient of Days does have other pits in the planning which feature alternate discomforts slightly worse than a bit of muck!

Anyway Jeremiah had one other helper, Baruch (which means blessing in Hebrew) and he was certainly a blessing to the faithful prophet. He wrote out the messages which God kept giving to Jeremiah, and when the King cynically cut these sacred texts up with his Swiss Army knife, (sorry, it might have been an Israeli blade come to think of it) and pitched them into the fire, good old Baruch wrote them down again. And if he wouldn t have done that, part of our Bible might be still missing today. And he was Jeremiah s good friend as he stood alone almost alone.

So we have some encouraging precedents for not flocking after the "politically correct" and this book will certainly point us in a much different direction than that which is presumed to be popular.

So come with me on a brief tour around our globe to observe a few of the absurdities they are currently testing in order to upgrade God with a more suitable system. The good news, however, parallels the Almighty s assurance to Job of His power over the raging sea, "This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt." (Job 38:11) So as we together wait for the tide to go out for good, let s have a look around us just to be better alerted and prepared to again like Job come through as gold!

Victor Schlatter Migdal, Israel, May 2001

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A FEW QUOTABLE QUOTES FROM SHOWDOWN OF THE GODS

The Bible actually gets more into human responsibilities than human rights, but not everybody gets as excited about that side of the coin! (p.14)

They have recognized that religious systems as a solution are less than helpful; "religion" as it is perceived, neither "scratches where it itches" nor delivers fulfillment to an emptiness of the soul. (p.28)

The unfazed ostriches among us, with sand yet on their eyelids, dream their own dreams of things to come. (p.56)

Biblical preparation always has been and always will be on how to stand, not where to look for the nearest exit. (p.79)

The affluence of a Western society with a bathroom shelf full of pain killers has obviously made great strides, not only in medicine, but in theological understanding as well! (p. 103)

(On misfits in the "Global Village"): They must have worked out some guidelines in the fine print. Like what will happen if you happen to be poor, or even a "battler", or the wrong color, or a Jew, or a Bible oriented Christian or what if you re just a fetus? Oh no, not a just fetus! (p.124)

Are there really any good answers? Or more precisely, are we really actually awaiting an answer? Is the too-hard basket all too convenient, while the confidence type of basket that once sheltered young Moses, far too risky to contemplate? Do we prefer to import buckets of sand from the beach for the OEDC that is, the Ostrich Escape & Denial Club? (Epilogue)