Book Review: Discipling Nations by Darrow Miller

I read Darrow Miller's book, Discipling Nations yesterday. I found it engaging that I finished it in about 3 hours ( thanks to Tony Buzan's speed reading). In this work, Miller states that developmental strategies are based on worldviews taken on by agencies. The book clearly compares between the materialistic view of the secular west, the animistic view of the mystical east and the theistic view of the Christians. An stirring example was when a Christian aid worker encountered a dying baby in Africa. The worker took the baby but the mother wanted it to die. The worker had the view that God loves this little child. The mother thought that it was the will of the spirits that he would die. The book also highlights the Malthusian view on population and how it differs with Biblical truth.

As I was reading, I was reflecting on my work as an advocate for sustainable living. I used to swallow American Evangelical thought, hook, line and sinker. It was when I was made aware of the Climate Crisis that I began to question this world view. The Bible says we ought to be like the Bereans and test what we hear. We are also told that we shall know them by their fruits. It is against my conscience to ignore the Climate phenomenon, demonstrated by numerical models, empirical observations and anecdotal experiences of specific individuals. It is against my conscience to ignore a call to live a simple, consciencious, content lifestyle and reject a lifestyle of consumerism, indulgence and hedonism. It is against my conscience to ignore the families affected in Bicol and Panay because of extreme weather.

Miller drives the point that a key difference between theism and materialism is that the former assumes an open resource system while the later a closed one. This just means one considers unlimited resources (open) the other having a "when its gone, its gone mentality" (closed). As a physicist, I'd say the law of conservation of matter remains but what can change is our attitude about it. An open system mentality would think " Land is running out but we can grow food in the ocean or we can use hydroponics" . A closed system mentality thinks "Land is running out lets reduce the number of people". While I'm for responsible parenthood, a mind set like this may lead you away from a culture of life. An open system encourages the evolution of technology to meet a growing population and ensure harmony with the planet.

The Bible says a righteous man avoids all extremes. A lot of folks think its a choice between Liberal or Conservative. Or Saducee or Pharisee. I chose neither...I follow JESUS!