Biblical Chronology Continued from page 19

which was completed in the 32nd year of Darius.

All the years from the rebuilding of the temple were 26 years.

The amount of time passed was 143 years.

FROM TIIB REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM TO THE INCARNA-TION OF CHRIST WAS 483 YEARS.

It is mentioned in Daniel 9 that Jeru-salem would be rebuilt, and that from that time unto the coming of Christ would be 67 weeks. Every week stands for seven years. So 67 weeks amount to 483 years. For from the 32nd year of Darius to the 42nd year of Augustus of Rome, in which year our 'Savior Christ was born, are exactly 483 years.

Therefore from Adam to Christ are 3974 years, six months and ten days. And from the birth of Christ to this present year is 1560, (the year this edi-tion of the Geneva Bible was pub-lished).

Then the entire number of years from the beginning of the world to this pre-sent year of our Lord God, 1560, are just 5534 years, 6 months, and 10 or so days.

JOSHUA 1:8 "Let not this boice of the lAw departe

out of thy mouth, but meditate therein daye and night, that thou mayest ob-serve and do according to all that is written therein: so shalt thou make thy way prosperous, and then shalt thou have good successe." 0

. -

By This Standard

The Authority or God's Law Today by Greg L. Bahnsen

Anyone interested in the place of God's Law in our lives and society

today (and every person on the planet, especially every Christian, should be

interested) should read this book. Available free for a $15.00 donation

The ou halcedon.

The Wrath of Grapes: Drink-ing and the Church Divided, by Andre S. Bustanoby. Baker Book House, 1987. 135pp, 3 appendices, $4.95. Reviewed by the Rev. Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., Reedy River Presbyter-ian Church, Greenville, South Caro-lina.

As one who has himself recently pub-lished a book on the question of alcohol consumption from a Christian perspec~ tive--and by the same publisher, Baker Book House--, I was most interested in reviewing Bustanoby's work. I had heard from Baker Book House that Baker was going to be publishing this work, in addition to reprinting my own. Baker felt that the books were different enough in style and content to justify such. And having now read Bustanoby's book, I agree.

The basic position taken by Busta- noby (a marriage and family counselor and former Conservative Baptist pastor) is that presented in my own book: The Bible allows the moderate and circum-spect use of alcohol to God's people, if they choose to use alcohol. Perhaps I should note the differences between this work and my own, so that the reader may judge as to which book might be most suitable to his needs, although I do recommend both.

At the risk of oversimplifying, it should be noted that the presentation in my book, The Christian and Alcoholic Beverages, focuses on the ethical matter from a rigorous . consideration of the theological and biblical data. Hence, my presentation is primarily exegetical and philosophical. Bustanoby's work does deal ably with the biblical data, al-though not as extensively or deeply His distinctive and helpful contribution to the debate lies particularly in matters related to the chemistry of wine-making (especially in Biblical days) and with counselling concerns. As the review de" velops these observations will be de-monstrated.

Bustanoby opens his work with a chapter well-stating why advocates of Christian liberty have published their positions: "[T]he advocates of Christian liberty are not primarily interested in the right to drink. They are concerned with the larger issue of legalism, which denies the Christian the right to do anything the legalist believes is sin." (pp. 10-11) With this observation I wholeheartedly concur; certainly this is the raison d'etre of Christian liberty publication. Elsewhere he states: "The Christian's right to drink goes far be-yond the matter of rights. The larger issue is the integrity of the Bible, our only authoritative guide to faith and practice. The moment we permit false exegesis in the support of any cause, no matter how noble, we jeopardize the Christian faith." (p. 44)

On pages 12-18 the author provides two extremely helpful surveys--one sur-veying legalism in the New Testament church; the other considering legalism in the modern context. In this section he comments: "Historical legalism of-fers an unbiblical substitute for God's way of restraining sin under grace . . God's way is to place on us the respons-ibility to set our own limits on prac-tices that may be perfectly lawful." (pp. 15-16)

The most helpful chapters, in the pre-sent reviewer's opinion--chapters well worth the purchase of the book--, are Chapters 3 and 4: "Dispelling Myths About Wine" and "Grape Juice and Other Myths." In these sections he dis-cusses the various processes of fermenta-tion, pointing out the differences in aerobic fermentation (i.e., with the help of air) and anaerobic fermentation (i.e., without the help of air). He explains the reasons for "stirring the lees" and "racking and topping off," explanations which are helpful to understanding the fermented quality of wine in Scripture. He deals with such wine treatments as sulfuring, boiling, fJ.J.tering, and recon-

The Counsel of Chalcedon, March, 1988 ---------------------------Page 37

stituting. His discussion demonstrates that even new wine ("must") in Scrip-ture was of a fennented quality. Even more significantly, he shows quite clear-ly, despite prohibitionist arguments, that the ancient practice of sealing wine and storing it submerged in cool lakes was not to prevent fermentation. but to control fermentation. The references in ancient. (non-Christian) literature to such practices show that the purpose of these practices was to prevent wine from turning into vinegar. (cp. p. 22) Thus, a major (extra-Biblical) axgument of the prohibitionist school is des-troyed.

In Chapter 6--entitled "Let the User Beware" --he deals with the real dangers associated with alcohol. He speaks to these dangers both from the biblicai record (e.g., Prov. 20:1; 23:29-35; Isa 28:9,10) and from statistics of alcohol abuse. He concludes this chapter thus: "The Old Testament, in warning us about alcoholic beverages does just this. We may be pennitted to use alco-hol, but we must use it with caution!" (p. 67) In Chapters 7 and 8 he speaks to the question of Jesus' use of wine and wine use in the New Testament Church.

In Chapters 9-11 he offers helpful in-sights into the counseling of alcohol-ics. Here he warns about the potential roles of those associated with alcohol-ics: the drinker himself, the enabler, the victim (i.e., the alcoholic's loved ones), and the provoker. (pp. 91-95) He is most appreciative (as I am) of both Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon, as well as with the "TOUGHLOVE" movement, which deals with teenage alcoholics. He defends their approaches to the alcoholic problem from various criticisms by certain psychologists.

All in all, the book is a fine con-tribution to the debate. If you are in-terested in the question of wine-drinking among Christians, I highly recommend its purchase. However, to be both honest and helpful, hopefully, to the reader, I must point out some areas of weakness in the book. These weak-nesses do not destroy the usefulness of the book, but they should be pointed out for the interested reader. I will list

them in the order they occur in the text. First, despite the position of the

book, Bustanoby is hesitant and am-bivalent in some areas. On page 21 he writes, to my astonishment: "But the issue of alcohol use is not that clear in Scripture .. .. Because this is an inter-pretive issue and fraught with disagree-ment, we dare not dogmatize on the use of alcohol." (p. 21) Later he states: "The use of alcohol is clearly a de-batable matter and therefore falls under the rule of Christian liberty." (p. 24) I believeand would have thought from elsewhere in his book that Bustanoby believed--that the issue of alcohol use in Scripture is clear.

Second, on the few quotations he gives that I was able to verify, there were substantial errors of citation. Examples of these errors are from David Wilkerson's Sipping Saints (misquoted

o~ Bustanoby's page 26) and from Delitzsch's Isaiah (see page 54). These were clearly misquoted, thankfully how-ever, the ntis-citations did not alter the points of the original authors. Never-theless, it does leave one with the un-easy feeling that other citations might be mistaken.

Third, although his discussion of the chemistry of wine-making was most in-sightful, he seems overly dependent upon one source: William Younger, Gods, Men, and Wine. For instance, in Chapter 4 there ate 38 footnotes, and 16 of these were from Younger. This, of course, does not alter the points made, but the points would have been more se-curely established had they been sub-stantiated from a wider variety of sources. He does make use of at least one other scientific source: Jan Adkins, The Craft of Wine Making, which he cites 4 times in the same chapter.

Fourth, on page 50 he comments: "My personal preference is that those who rule or hold high office in govern-ment be total abstainers. And I like the idea of pastors being total abstainers for the sake of example." I myself do not mind at all if such men are abstainers, but to hold a "preference" in this regard would seem an unnecessary condescen-sion to the legalist I expose the fallacy of such a position in my book by

pointing out the Lord Jesus Christ, our prophet, priest, and king, did not feel compelled to abstain. And since He is our highest example, why should we prefer government officials and min-isters do such "for the sake of ex-ample"?

Despite these differences of opinion, I highly recommend the purchase of this book. It ought to be extremely helpful for both theoretical (the biblical chemistry of wine-making) i~sights and practical (counseling) insights into this lively topic.

Turning Point: A Christian Worldview Declaration, by Her-bert Schlossberg and Marvin Olasky. Crossway Books, 1987, 158 page paper-back, with glossary and index. Re-viewed by the Rev. Donald D. Crowe, PCA minister teaching at Chalcedon Christian School, Atlanta, Georgia

Schlossberg, known for his excellent work in ldnls for Destruction, has teamed up with Marvin Olasky, general editor of the new Christian Worldview series.

(From the back cover: "Turning Point provides dramatic examples of how ordinary Christians, who combine piety, reason and the boldness to act, can change the world.")

The book is illustrated by the use of "snapshots" or examples from life of how Christians can put their faith into action. Some of the snapshots show how anti-Christians carry on their opposition.

The authors commend piety, reason, . and action based on biblical principles. These are in contrast to pietism, ra-tionalism, and an actiVism basedon so-cialism.

Anti-Christians want Christians to confine themselves to "religion" narrow-ly defmed. If Christians agree, they are effectively silenced in just those places where their voice is most needed. "We cannot afford to remain neutral toward an anti-Christian aggressor bent on our destruction." The Bible is a comprehen-sive guide to life and we must use it. Pluralism is not a: virtue to be praised; it is an excuse for neglecting our call- .

Page 38 ---------------------------The Counsel of. Chalcedon, March, 1988

ing to transform the world. A future-oriented hermeneutic is

needed. Since the Bible can help us pre-dict some problems that are coming as a result of sinful practices, why should Christians wait until the ninth inning to enter the debate? The Christian hope is not escape from the struggle, but vic-tory.

Every movement needs its scholars and its popularizers. This book may be recommended as a popularizer of the Christian Worldview. Short, easy to read, and fleshed out by life stories past and present; this book may well be a "turning point" in the thinking of many readers.

Education, Christianity and the State, by J. Gresham Machen, edited by John W. Robbins, The Trinity Foundation, 1987. 180 page paperback. Reviewed by the Rev. W. Gary Crampton, Th.D., Greenville, South Carolina.

This book is a collection of essays on education written by the late J. Gresham Machen over a period of years. In the essays the author soundly defends the Christian faith and Christian educa-tion. He also reveals the proper role of the civil magistrate in the educational system. Dr. Machen was a staunch op-ponent of non-biblically based school systems and an equally strong advocate of Christian scholarship. Machen is himself to be considered one of the greatest scholars and educators of the Twentieth Century.

Education, Christianity and the State contains nine chapters. Three of these speak to the subjects of government controlled schools (at best a necessary evil in the mind of the author) and the concept of a Federal Department of Education. With regard to this latter is-sue, one of the chapters (7) is a record of Machen's testimony before Congress against the proposed department Inter-estingly, the Department of Education was not established for decades after this Congressional hearing in 1926. In other chapters Machen condemns the anti-intellectualists of his .(and our) day and

fields of endeavor. Every facet of life, contends the author, must be built on a biblical base. And if we are to see a flourishing society it must begin in the lowest levels of Christian schooling. (Like all good covenant theologians, Machen believed in Christian family catechetical training.) So strongly does the author promote the Christian school system that he calls it "The Hope of America." It is to be seen as a means of propagating the Christian faith, bring-ing liberty to the country and restructur-ing culture itself.

Machen defends Christianity as a ra-. tional system of religion. He criticizes

the Kierkegaardian "leap in the dark" concept of faith. And he shows, by numerous biblical examples, that sav-ing faith is integrally related to proposi-tional truth. Theology and faith cannot be separated. The anti-theology move-ment found within some Christian cir-cles would be abhorrent to this man of God.

The last chapter of the book is the re-cord of Machen's address at the opening of Westminster Theological Seminary in 1929. In it we read of the purpose and plan for the school - biblically based to the core. This chapter alone is worth the price of the book.

The present reviewer strongly recom-mends Education, Christianity and the State. Hats off to Dr. John Robbins and The Trinity Foundation for publishing these essays.

[Editor's note- It is good to see that The Trinity Foundation has finally published a book worth recommend-ing!]

Letters on Practical Subjects to a Daughter, by William B. Sprague. Reprinted by Sprinkle Publica-tions, Harrisonburg, VA. Reviewed by Byron Snapp, Headmaster of Covenant Christian School, Cedar Bluff, VA.

Of the many needs facing parents to-day, is there a greater need than that of teaching the next generation about God and all issues as they are related to Him? We dare not forget those somber words recorded for us in Judges 2:10, "And all that generation aiso were

gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel." The generation of Joshua's day had failed to instruct their children in the ways of the Lord. The result? "Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals, and they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themelves down to them; thus they provoked the Lord to anger." (Judges 2:11,12)

God's Word is clear. The young (as well as the old) keep their way pure by living in obedience to God's Word (Ps. 119:9).

Thus the reprint of William B. Sprague's book is such a welcomed sight in our day. He wrote these letters to his motherless child, pointing out to her the importance of God-centeredness in every area of life. While writing to his own daughter his style is such that any female (or male) can greatly benefit from his letters.

In twenty-thre.e brief letters, each ap-proximately eight pages in length, he covers such subjects as friendship, education, conversation, marriage, how to treat religious errors, humility, how to use our time wisely and preparing for death, to name a few topics.

How would you instruct your daughter (or son) what qualities to look for in a friend? Note the author's wise counsel. "A rule on this subject which you should never fail to observe is, not too hastily to proffer your confidence -

not to consent to an unreserved intimacy with anyone, till you have gained a thorough knowledge of the character. . . . I hardly need to say that you are not to expect to find those who are free from imperfection or sin. You will recollect that in common with yourself, they belong to a race of fallen beings; and it would be strange indeed, if there should not be occasion, both on your part and theirs, for mutual con-descension to each other's infirmities, and mutual forgiveness of each other's errors." (pp. 13-14) The author goes on Ladvocates Christian scholarship in all The Counsel of Cbalcedon, March, 1988 ---------------------------Page 39

to list at least nine more traits that should b6 seen in one's closest friends.

Irt writing about humility Dr. Sprague explains Biblical humility. All readers should read this chapter with great interest In speaking of false humility he writes: "One of the most common, and to me one of the most painful exhibitions of this spirit, con-sists in the indiscriminate and often somewhat public confessions of pro-fessed Christians in respect to their own coldness and neglect of duties, when they manifest no disposition to be more active and faithful." I mention this to remind you that this book will prove to be instructional not only for the next .generation but for ours as well.

The book does not contain a great deal of Scriptural references, yet the material is Scriptural. The author has effectively taken SCriptural truth and incorporated it into the book. He boldly sets forth the claims of Christ and re-minds his daughter that true living begins only as one repents of sin and fully trusts in Christ as one's Saviour and Lord. It is on that basis that all other instruction in this book is built.

One may well disagree with some small points of advice given to his daughter. For example he sees no godly usefulness in her reading Shakespeare (p. 69) or novels (p. 71). Certainly we could agree unless these pieces of literature are read under the light of Scripture. In regard to Christian bene-volence he advises that, for greater efficiency, the two sexes ought to work apart While there is nothing wrong with this, I believe one would be tlard pressed from Scripture to make this practice the nonn in the practice of Christian benevolence. These minor drawbacks do not diminish the profit that the reader can obtain by reading this book.

As this book was written by a parent whose wife had died one can immediate-ly see the benefits it can have for single parentfamilies today. At the same time children who have both parents living can clearly benefit from its study as well.

The book is practical. It deals with bedrock subjects that youth need to be

taught In so doing it incorporates basic Scriptural doctrine. Thus the book will be useful for parents as well as pastors, teaching staff, and those involved in any way with youth. Its brief chapters and good print enhance its value.

What have you taught your children recently about how to govern them-selves, their relationship with the world, how to conduct a conversation or proper reading habits? If you are uncom-fortable with your answer to these ques-tions perhaps you need to read this book and then prayerfully implement its teaching in your family life. In so doing it could very well be that the next generation will rise up and thank you while at the same time being better p pared to teach their own children. D

NEWS UPDATE Continued from page 8

16. (TMIA) TilE MCALVANY IN-TELLIGENCE ADVISOR, a monthly, in-depth, monetary, economic, geopoli-tical and ptecious metal analysis, PO Box 84904, Phoenix, AZ., 85071.

17. (I) INSIGHT, a weekly news magazine published by the WASHING-TON TIMES, PO Box 91022, Washing-ton, D.C. 20090.

18. (AIMR) ACCURACY IN ME-DIA REPORT, published biweekly, 1275 K SL NW, Washington, D.C., 20005. 0

Now available on Video (VHS) The outstanding movie, in color

TIIETRIPTO

Bountiful Starring the late Gerl!ldipe Page in her Academy Award Wmnmgmle. Also starring John Heard, Carlin Glynn,

Richard Bradford and Rebecca De Momay as Thelma.

Available, in limited supply, free for a $125.00 donation to: The Counsel of Chalcedon

Page 40-----------------------------Tbe Counsel of Cbalcedon, March, .1..7.,.., _ __,