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by
Stanley R. Rader
TOXYO, August 30
Tbe news from the Middlc East is encouraging. Egypt and Israel have signed
their interim peace accord regarding the separalion of o:>ilitary forces in the Sinai.
Last nigbt the Israelí ambassador to Japan, ltonortng Mr. Annstrong for htS
elforts to bring about bener understanding between the peoples of Egypt and
Israel was aiso optimiltie over the Sinai
~greernent.
. .
.
Thus Mr. Ktssinger's perseverance tn pressurtng and promr.smg Israel wh•!•
keeping Egypt basically in acoord
sinee
the collapse of htS last elforts. has patd
Yet there is growing COQcern among many American political leaders in
Congress tbat the use of U.S. citizens (civilian
vol~nt~e_,)
to man the early
warning system in the buffer zone may lead the nauon tnto another.
~nwantc:<~
war - another Vietnam. They feel tbat the p¡esence of 1hese U.S. cULZCns
~U
mean a conoomilant obligation to use U.S. militnry forces 10 defend or otherwtse
protect these citizens if hoslilities sbould break out again as in
1973. 11
doesn't
take too much imagination fºr the aitics of this
pan
of the agreement to envision
anotber Mayaguez rescue missiorras in Cambod•a
t~is
past
s~ring_
In
addition. tite agreerneot does seem 10 oommu the Uruted States to defend
lsrael's e.xistence, militarily
if
necessary, thus prod?cin&
a
~ter
possibiüty. of
tbe two things most feared and most 10 be avotded:
a
dtrect oonfrontaiiOn
betweeo the United Stales and the Soviet Union and tbe
use
of nuclear weapons
in the area.
off.
In Israel tbe aiticism in some quarters - that the geographical step back–
wards (an Israelí withdrawal from the strategic passes and the surrender of the otl
fi'elds) was too muclt in the way of
a
first concre1e s1ep toward a peaceful
seulement ofihe entire nrea - was not severo enough to s1op the agreement from
being, pursued by
1/h•
Israel) government, The agreement. caUs for Israel
1~
réceiv·e compensation from the United'
State~
for tbe abandonmeot of tite oil
fields. as weU as
a
guarantee from tbe United States that Israel's oil requiremenu
would be meL In addition, the United States will begin the shipping of military
and eoonornic 11d to Israel in
excess
of
S'3
billion - sltipments whieb bave been
witbheld in largo pan. as Premden1 Ford was
reassessing_th~
entire U.S. policy in
lbe Middle Eas1 tn the wake of tbe ooUapse of the K.ssmger
peace
1alks lasL
spring. Furthermore, a oonsensus in Israel seem.s .lo be that the three-year
pe~od
during which Egyp1 would appear lo be abandonmg 1he use of force asan opuon
wiU give Israeltirne both to strcnglhen its defense and 10 develop programs for a
perrnanent and lasting peace.
1
Three weela ago during our oonference wilb Prime Minister Rabin in
Jerusalem, lhe prime rnin.ister was, on one band. hopefully optimistic that Mr.
Kissinger would soon be oommencing a new peaee shunle; on tbe otber band, he
was ooncemcd that perbaps Mr. Kissinger wanted
a
new in1erim peace acoord so
badly that be would pressure
Israel
to pay any price
10
aehieve iL Perhaps during
tbese three weeks, the open and secret aspccts of tbis interim peaec acc:ord bave
convinoed Israel and Egypt alike tbal more
wiU
continuo
10
be gained as long
as
tbe panies are 1alking 10 one another, even though that talk is,·for the moment,
by way of intermediarios such as Mr. Kissinger and his aides from the
S
tate
DepartrnenL .As long
as
the parties are talking, even in this manner, tbey indeed
are nol fighting.
STANLEY RADER meeting ;ecentty wlth lsrtlell Prime Minlster Rabin.
12
The Bible
Has Something
for Everybody
by
J?hn
A.
Schroeder
You've beard the oornrnercial over
and over: "Milk
has
something for every
body."That rnight be true,
~nless
you're
one of those unfortunate individuals
wbo has a milk allergy. But would you
believe tbere is
a
book
tbat really does
bave soinething for everybody?
Dilferent people have dilferent laStes.
But whatever your panicular
"thiog~
happens
10
be, the Bible probably has
some1hing very inleresting to say about
it.
..
For instance, you might lil<e reading
poetry. Many of David's psalms are po–
etic prayers - original songs se1 10 music
which has been lost. The book of Job
oontains some of tbe greatCSI poetry ever
wrinen.
It
ranla among the literary and
philosopbical. masterpieces of
aU
time,
and it oonlains
a
vital IC$$00 for every–
body.
For
tbe
Hlstorically Minded
Me you interested in history1 Tbe
Bible is a book of origins.
h
explains
where man carne frorn, why be was pul
on this earth, and wherc he is going (see
Gencsis
1:26).
That's somcthing every–
ooe needs 10 know.
Mos1 secular histories show tbat
man's footprints emanate from tbe
Middle East (the Fenile Crescent). The
Bible itsclf
is
a
Middle Eas1ern boolc.
lt
is wrinen historically, geographicaUy
and etbnicaUy from the point of view of
lbe Middle
EasL
The first book in tbe
Bible specifies rnan's beginnings in tbe
area of tbc Tigris-Euphrates river vaUey,
in the general region of Mesopotarnia
(Gen.
2:8-15).
Whatls
the Bible?
The Englisb word "Bible" is a
'de–
rivative (or anglicized form) of the
Greek expression
biblia,
which is it–
self
a
diminutive plural of the Greek
lerm
biblos
or
blblion
-
meaning
"boola." The Bible is a ooUection of •
six1y-six boola (twenly-seven in the
New Testamenl and thiny-nine in
tbeOJd).
We oflen refer to tbe Bible by the
expression "Holy Saiptures)' which
rnerely means "Holy Wrilings." The
biblical revelation is a wrinen reve–
lation- allhough many of its words
were originaUy spoken orally.
The original language of the Old
Testament
is
basically Hebrew, witb
sorne few chapters wnnen in Ara–
maic (a Semitie language closely re–
lated lo Hebrew). HeUenistic Greek
(or Koine) is tbe original New Tes–
tamentlanguage.
Genesis spans more centuries o( his–
tory tha'n any other biblical book. Be–
sidos including an indeterminate period
of pfe-bistory prior 10 man'$ creation,
1he first
six
chapters briefly summarize
tbe beginning
1,650
years ofhuman lti$–
tory in outline forro. AU told, tbiS book
oovers
2,300
yean. from Adam 10
Jo–
seph. Mueb of 1he balance of the OId
Testanteot
is
devoted 10 the history of
one man's family grown greal - the
farnily of Abraham (from Gencsis
12
to
Malachi).
The four gospels are basicaUy his–
tories of Jesus Christ duriog his tltree–
and-a-half-year ministry. The book of
ACU is a brief history of the early flrsl–
ccntury clturch.
For genealogy bulfs, tbere is
a
table of
nations in Genesis
5.
This
genealogy
is
repealed, summarized and expanded in
1he beginning chapters of
1
Chronicles.
Other chronologies and genealogies are
scauered throughout tbe pages of the
Old Testamenl. The genealogy .ofChrisl
(through Joseph, .his legal father)
is
penned in the first chapter of Matthew,
and the lineage througb Mary is found
in the third chapter of Luke. Of oourse,
studying genealogies should nol be
an
end in iuelf(fitus 3:9). But it's an tnter–
estmg hobby nonetheless.
Plillosopby
Is philosophy your "bag"? Then tbe
Bible has something for you 100. The
philosophy of Jesus Chrisl is summed up
in the Sermon on the MounL
11
sets 1he
. highest moral and pbilosophicaÍ stan–
dards or human oonducl you can ftnd
anywhere.
Pbil<lSOphy frorn
a
humanisuc vtew–
poinl is presen1ed in the
book
of Ecde–
siasles. Its Jessons are numerous.
11
is
cbock full of basic axiorns. sueh as "Be–
cause sen1ence agains1 an evil work
is
no1 executed speedily. therefore the
heart of the sons of men is fuUy set in
them todo evil"
(Eocl..8: 11, KJV).
Tbis
is
highly applicable .to our overloaded
courts and overworked sys1em of justice
lodoy!
The
Maio Message
Or are you inio religion! There's no
denying that the overall purpose of tite
biblical revelation has evcrytbing 10 do
with
man•s
spiritual state.
Spiritual - and for tbat rnaner even
physical - salvation is the rnain reason
why
66
boola were included in the
Judeo-Chrislian Bible. The s1ory of sal–
vation stans in tbe book of Genesis,
being briefly summed up in verse
26
of
cbapter one wbere God
says.
"Let us
make rnan in our image. af\er our hke–
ness." Man, unique among all the
eanh's creatures, was fashioned
10
have
fellowship with God - for etemily,
when you reaUy comprehend it.
Prophecy
f'ew realize tbal a good deflnition for
Bible prophecy would be "history writ–
teo in advanec" -
~Jo~
Íl
happens.
Sorne bibtical predietions bave already
oorne to pass, sorne are being fulfilled
loday. and some will yet be fulfilled at
$0me time in
lb~ fulur~.
About a fourth of tbe Bible
is
com–
posed of prophecy. Says J . Barton
Payne: "Commentators are accustorned
WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 20. 1975