20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very short, very interesting, and accurate., December 1, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Terrorism, Jihad, and the Bible (Paperback)
This book's greatest strength is that it is short. In addition, the book is very interesting and it accuartely exposes how the Koran is driving terrorism. I have given it 5 stars because it makes its point quickly. It is an excellent starting point for the further study of Islam and its dangers.
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22 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not One of His Better Efforts, February 18, 2002
This review is from: Terrorism, Jihad, and the Bible (Paperback)
To his credit, John MacArthur is a man who often speaks boldly and is willing to challenge conventional thought and say things that may not be popular or easy to hear, while effectively arguing his point and backing up what he says. Unfortunately, in this book, he only partially succeeds in doing this.
The stated purpose of this book is to provide answers to why God allowed the 9/11 tragedies to occur, why Islam is hostile towards the West generally and Israel and the US specifically, and can we possess any hope going forward given what's happened. The book has some strengths and I think it hits on a few important themes, but in the end, I felt that this book, like much of the Christian response to 9/11, was half baked and missed the mark.
The one sustained strength of the book was MacArthur's analysis of the history of Islam. He examines Biblical geneologies, along with a brief summary of the life and attitudes of Mohammed, coupled with an analysis of Islam's spread to the present day. The reader should be warned that this analysis is at a very top level. MacArthur further expounds on Quranic teachings relative to waging a holy war, or jihad. MacArthur's contention is that the Quran is very clear that jihad is acceptable and even admirable, and that Islam actually teaches that the only way a Muslim has a guarantee of going to heaven is by dying while fighting a holy war - and that this heaven is a highly sexualized experience. MacArthur contends that this is one of the main reasons why so many young Muslim men seem willing to die in this way, since MacArthur's contention is that Islam provides no guarantees about the believers eternal state if they die any other way.
The other modest strength of the book is in MacArthur's examination of the response of the world, and Americans in particular, to the tragedy. He makes a very good point that the total number of people who died in the tragedies were actually less than the average number of deaths in the US on any given day. MacArthur makes a compelling point that Americans have gotten very good at ignoring or minimizing death when it gradually occurs one person at a time. It's only when many folks die suddenly and simultaneously that many of us take the time to think about our own mortality. MacArthur would have been wise to expand on this point, as it would have been very relevant to what he was trying to address in the book.
While the above strengths are sufficient enough for me to grant the book 3 stars, I frankly expected more from MacArthur, and was a bit confused about his target audience. The book is very short and summary oriented, which leads me to believe that this was an attempt at a purely evangelistic tool, almost like an expanded tract. But if that was his intention, he should have included a list of suggested resources which would complement his book, since this short summarized treatise left many areas where the inquisitive reader would have additional questions or concerns. Similarly, some of his language was unnecessary and would likely turn off someone who is being witnessed to (intimating that Satan was behind the creation of Islam does nothing to further loving outreach to seekers, and does lots to turn them off - nor is it even vital to the premise of his book, it was unnecessarily inflammatory). Such language might be okay if the book was intended for mature Christians, but if this was his target audience, it is likewise a book that does not get the job done in terms of extensively critiquing Islam and how it differs from Christianity and how Christianity is better equipped to explain the 9/11 tragedy.
At the end of the day, I just didn't think that there was a lot of "there, there" with this book. It struck me as a book that was put together rapidly in order to get into people's hands while the wound was still fresh, and like much of the Christian church's response to 9/11, comes across as a bit stale and as an evangelistic rush job. With 'religious activity' levels today returning to their pre attack levels according to various polls, it is becoming increasingly clear that the church's response to the tragedy was insufficient. I would argue that a great deal of the reason is because the church was not thoroughly addressing the questions and issues that people were raising in the aftermath of 9/11. The church was providing too many canned answers for a wide audience that had been heard before, rather than presenting a meticulous apologetic for the truth and viability of the Christian faith as not only our best hope for humanity, but also as the best explanation for what happened on 9/11 and why. Unfortunately, this book by MacArthur struck me as being a good example of the former, rather than the latter.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Real Victory of Jihad, December 5, 2009
This review is from: Terrorism, Jihad, and the Bible (Paperback)
John MacArthur is the Pastor of Grace Community Church in the San Fernando Valley, CA and the author of numerous popular Christian books. After the 911 attacks the author wrote this book to help Christians understand the roots of the conflict between Islam and the rest of the world.
This is not a book that offers an exhaustive study of Islam, but was written to encourage Christians in a time of Islamic terror and war. It is a small book (116 pages) and was given for edification and is not a robust apologetic against Islam.
The book covers:
- The Biblical perspective on war
- Who was behind the attacks of 911
- A starting discussion on the problem of evil
- Where real hope comes from.
This is a firm, simple, and clear introduction to Islamic terrorism and what is the rightful response of nations and Christians.
One Way to God: Christian Philosophy and Presuppositional Apologetics Examine World Religions
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