Lebanon
Hope Among The Ruins
Though prospects for peace in Lebanon seem to be improving, instability remains. And rebuilding the war-torn country is no small order after a 17-year civil war that has left churches gutted and roofless, sent unemployment to between 60 and 80 percent, and cost over 50,000 lives.
But one body that can and may assume a significant part of that task is a needy, faithful, and unified Lebanese church. So says a group of 12 officials representing evangelical churches, seminaries, and mission and relief agencies that visited Beirut last month. The delegation included Tom Getman (World Vision), Ray Bakke (International Urban Associates), Bill Taylor (Young Life), Robert Douglas (Zwemer Institute of Muslim Studies), and Landrum Bolling and Herman Boonstra of Open Doors.
“Our hearts were both broken by the hurt and filled with hope by the resilience and faith of most Christians from a postconflict, more unified church,” Getman said. “In the bomb shelters, denominational and theological barriers among Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and Maronite churches, some over 1,000 years old, were diminished.”
One factor that has hurt church relief-and-development projects there has been a “de-linkage” of denominational support. Getman said churches in Beirut are not looking for an outpouring of “huge amounts of money” but rather hope to re-establish partnership with groups in the West for development, evangelistic, and church rebuilding projects.
People And Events
Briefly Noted
Arrested: A suspect for the September 21 slaying of a Protestant radio preacher and two others at a Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC) radio station in the Philippines (CT, Oct. 26, 1992, p. 77). According to Zamboanga police chief Vicente Dumpit, the suspect, Muslim student Abdil Basid Jikiri, 22, reportedly acted as a lookout while his two accomplices forced their way into the station. Police have not arrested any other suspects. Radio announcer Gregorio Hapalla had received several death threats warning him to stop preaching about Jesus.
Died: J. Oswald Sanders, internationally known author, Bible teacher, missionary leader, and statesman, at the age of 90. Sanders wrote over 40 books, including Spiritual Leadership and In Pursuit of Maturity, and also served as general director of China Inland Mission/Overseas Missionary Fellowship during the turbulent years of restructuring following the exodus from China.
Albania
Proposed Law Inhibits Religion
In November, Albanian leaders in Parliament postponed debate of a proposed draft law on religion, which, if ratified, would severely inhibit the activities of religious minority groups. The first proposed draft of the law, Regarding Religious Communities, excluded Protestants from the list of legally recognized Albanian “religious communities,” identified as Muslims, members of the Muslim sect Baktashi, Albanian Orthodox, and Roman Catholics. This would have forced Protestants and other “sects” to seek legal status via the approval of one of the four approved communities.
In the weeks prior to the draft’s introduction, Protestant missions representatives, such as those from World Evangelical Fellowship, unsuccessfully attempted quietly to influence government officials toward granting evangelicals equal rights. Other advocates appealed directly to Albanian President Sali Berisha, including the civil-rights advocacy group Advocates International.
Based on the decision to rework the draft law, Protestants are now seeking recognition as a fifth existing religious community in Albania, emphasizing its “key role in the development of modern Albania for nearly two centuries.” According to News Network International, it remains unclear whether the draft law will be completely rewritten or merely amended.
Archaeology
Beatitudes Mirror Dead Sea Scrolls
“Blessed is he who speaks truth with a pure heart / and who does not slander with his tongue.”
Sound familiar? That is because the statement is similar to those of Jesus recorded in Matthew and Luke in the Sermon on the Mount—statements like “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” According to a current article in Biblical Archaeology Review, Dead Sea Scrolls scholars have reconstructed a portion of one of the scrolls with words that parallel the beatitudes of Jesus. The words, recorded on a fragment of a text thought to be written 200 years before Jesus’ sermon, show how Jesus relied on the Old Testament tradition even while he interpreted that tradition in his own way.
“Contrary to a common assumption that ‘beatitudes’ refers only to Jesus’ famous words … they are in fact a fairly common literary form found in the Hebrew Bible [Old Testament] as well as in other parts of the New Testament and in other literature of the time,” said Benedict Viviano, a colleague of the author of the article, Emile Puech, at the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem.
While scholars estimate the Dead Sea Scrolls were made between 50 B.C. and A.D. 50, Puech says the actual composition of the text was much earlier, probably around 180 B.C. That date would place the composition of the scroll text between the beatitudes that appear in the Hebrew Bible and those found in the Gospels, said Viviano.
