[The following ad for a new "Christian" book recently appeared.]
'Christian Samurai' Book an Excellent Christmas Gift for Soldiers of Christ
As Japanese culture becomes more prominent in American entertainment, mysterious and awe inspiring tales of the samurai have become more familiar to the Western world. A new book, The Way of the Christian Samurai: Reflections for Servant-Warriors of Christ (ISBN 0977223469) explores how the advice and stories of real samurai can help modern-day Christians.
As Christians, we are called to be both servants and warriors for Jesus Christ. The samurai, whose very title means "one who serves," were skillful warriors of feudal Japan who devoted themselves fully to the service of their masters, willing even to sacrifice their lives in service to their lord. Christians are also called by their Lord, Jesus, to take up their cross and follow Him, and to seek to lose their life for His sake (Matthew:16:24-25 [24] Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
[25] For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
).
Author Paul Nowak explores the advice of these servant-warriors of old, pointing out how the selections from samurai texts relate to Christian teachings found in the Scriptures.
The book is a matchless resource for Christians intrigued by the mythos of the samurai or Japanese culture, or for pastors and other spiritual leaders who are looking for anecdotes that illustrate Biblical ideals. Christian parents whose children enjoy anime and manga will especially find it a useful tool in understanding their children's interests and in ministering to them.
ChristianBookReviews.net rated The Way of the Christian Samurai an 'Essential' book for Christians, praising its solid foundation on the Scriptures while breathing new life into Christian ideals, especially service.
Glorified Publishers gave The Way of the Christian Samurai its "Stamp of Approval" and listed it as their featured non-fiction book.
[TBC: The previous article is an example of extreme foolishness at best, or an utter denial of biblical principles at worst. Consider the following points other observers have made about the "Samurai Way":
1) PANTHEISM AND REINCARNATION:
The philosophies of Buddhism and Zen, and to a lesser extent Confucianism and Shinto, influenced the samurai culture. Zen meditation became an important teaching due to it offering a process to calm one's mind..
["Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight [is] in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night" (Psalm:1:1-2 [1] Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
[2] But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
).]
2) RITUAL SUICIDE:
The tale of the Forty-Seven Ronin, also known as the Forty-Seven Samurai...is a prototypical Japanese story. The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (became ronin) after their daimyo-master was forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a court official.... The ronin avenged their master's honor after patiently waiting and planning for over a year [to exact vengeance].... In turn, the ronin were themselves forced to commit seppuku -- as they had known they would be -- for committing the crime of murder.
In contrast, consider the Scriptural admonition: "Recompense to no man evil for evil.... avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.... Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." (Rom:12:17Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.a, 19, 21).
3) CHILD MOLESTATION:
Wikipedia entry describes a part of Samurai culture called "Shudo" which it describes as: 'Shudō (衆道), the tradition of love bonds between a seasoned and a novice samurai was held to be "the flower of the samurai spirit" and formed the real basis of the samurai aesthetic. It was analogous to the educational Greek pederasty and an honored and important practice in samurai society.
[This is a politically-correct way of stating that part of the culture was engaging in homosexuality and pedophilia, the sodomizing of young boys.]
