Tag Archive for 'Islam'

The Beauty of Christianity

Christine Amanpour has a special that is airing on CNN.  It is about winning the hearts and minds of the next generation of Muslims.  In the special she asks a very interesting question that highlights the difference between Christianity and Islam.  She looks at the parent of a young Muslim being raised in Gaza and asks, “How do you teach them not to hate.”

I haven’t actually seen the program, only the advertisement which CNN International is running ad nausea.  Every time the question is asked I turn to the television and answer—I talk to the television, it relieves a lot of tension and is very fun—“It is easy, you don’t teach them not to hate, you simply don’t teach them to hate.”  This is the core difference between the violence that is being foster by Islam and the love of Christianity.

Mohammed conquered the world with an army and the sword.  Jesus has ruled His world with twelve uneducated souls and love.  When a couple of His uneducated souls wanted to call down fire from heaven Jesus refused permission—His mission was love not control.   When John reported to Jesus that others, who were not follow with the disciples, were casting out demons in Your name, Jesus’ response was simple.  It gives great insight into His thinking and the love with which He approached His mission, “He who is not against us is for us.”

Jesus’ mission was one of inclusion rather than exclusion.  He came to seek and save that which was lost.  He was not seeking to control the world, but show the world the love that God has for His greatest creation, man.

The mission of the Christian Church, Jesus’ body on this earth, is to love people without any strings attached.  Christian Churches start schools, hospitals, even programs to feed and cloth the poor for one reason—to show the lost how much God loves them.

I work with people around the world who show this love without strings.  In Cologne, Germany a Church has set up “stores” to provide the poor with good cheap clothing and furniture.  For one Euro a person can get a full hot meal with a drink.  If you don’t have a Euro, the meal is free.  The whole purpose of the outreach is to provide hope to the hopeless, to minister the love of God in a community that seldom sees love of any kind.

I work with another man in Greece who feeds the refugees coming in from Northern Africa.  They are mostly Muslims and no one, not even their own people are doing anything to reach them.  This man provides free food and fellowship to them.  What is his purpose?  He is personally showing the love of Jesus to a people who desperately need to see that love more than they need to hear about it.

This is exactly what Jesus did when He went about doing good, preaching the Gospel of the Good News to the poor.  Jesus went further than merely preaching the Good News of the Gospel to the poor, however, He also met their needs.  Their needs included healing the sick, the blind, the deaf, the lame, virtually anyone who a need that could be met by love was introduced to love through the preaching of the Gospel and the healing of the sick.

These were not acts of people coming to God, these were acts of God coming to people—meeting them where they were and then giving them hope.

So, to get back to the original thought of how do we teach the children not to hate, that is a question that is not asked in Christian circles.

Fortunately for us, the answer is not complicated.  Hate, just like love, is passed down from generation to generation.  It is not a question of teaching children not to hate—it is a question of not teaching children to hate.

It will take a change of heart.  Just like Martin Luther King, Jr.  and Gandhi, Islam must make a decision that changes comes through love and tolerance, not through continuing to pass hate and anger on from generation to generation.

That is not likely to happen you say, and you are likely right.  That is one of the reasons that Christians have the moral standing order to bring the Gospel of the Good News to the world through missions of love, hope, and compassion.

The world will not change by itself.  Hate will not disappear by itself, there are too many people making too much money nurturing the culture of hate. 

Hate will only disappear when love has come and the Good News of the Gospel is preached and lived throughout the world.

You are the best hope for destroying the legacy of hate.

Sharia Law In America?

A friend of mine just sent me this link to a Muslim gathering, outreach, festival in Dearborn, Michigan.  This is the largest Muslim population in America.  I hope this is not where we are headed, but it seems that freedom of religion and speech are not something we can look forward to under Islam.

Follow this link to see what is already happening here in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEPod-hxD7g&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fislaminaction08.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F07%2Fmichiganmuslim-mob-surrounds-and.html&feature=player_embedded  

Invite all your friends to see the video, it is time we woke up and realized that we must represent freedom for everyone, even the Christians.

This is an example of the battle we are fighting in Europe regarding religious freedom when Christian faith intersects Islam.  Everyone needs to be free, but that is a two way street.

If we don’t wake up we will be going down a one way street that is not pretty.

Religious Tolerance Begins At Home

 

Religious tolerance is a good idea, but religious freedom requires participation from two groups.  Furthermore, I am all for showing respect to moderate Muslims and as soon as I find one I will show respect!  I just read Obama’s speech in Cairo, Egypt.  I have to confess that I cannot listen to him speak because his cadence is too contrived for me—even more than Bill Clinton’s. 

 The difference between Clinton and Obama is I was never convinced that Clinton believed what he was saying—I think Obama really believes what he is saying.  Of course, with Obama it is usually what he is not saying that is more important than what he is saying.  It is easy for him to believe what he says, because in spite of all the words there is seldom anything of substance in his statements. 

 This is not a consequence of his race, or even of his political beliefs—I believe it is what is at the core of the man—nothing that is not for Obama.  This is a man who has finally kept a campaign promise—he took his wife to New York for a date because he promised her when all this was over he would do it.  I, for one, am left to wonder why he did not do this in between the time he won the election and the time he took office.  That way it would not have cost us at least $24,000 dollars.

 I would like to take my wife on a date night like that—maybe I can be king next!  If not, then I have a piece of advice for the current ruler—park the damn plane.  It is to be used for company business.  Date nights are on your own!

 Continuing on his roll, Obama kept another campaign promise this week—as to negotiations with Iran he has announced that “we are willing to move forward without preconditions on the basis of mutual respect.”  Remember in the campaign when Obama promised to meet with all the world’s tin pan dictators without preconditions.  Oh, but then there was the debate when he said that was not what he said.  Well, at least now that he has anointed himself king we can know what he really meant.

 What he really meant was WITHOUT PRECONDITION.  After all, why should we squander all the “mutual respect” Americans have for Iran and the crazies at the helm.

 While in Cairo, our leader decided to promote the Islamic faith that has made America so great.  After all, Thomas Jefferson owned a copy of the Koran.  Muslims built our tallest building, long before they brought them to the ground violently.

 I was happy to learn from Cairo that Islam is responsible for the Enlightenment and the Renaissance.  They probably started that when they were trying to overthrow the Christian Europe of the Middle Ages and establish more enlightened Muslim reigns like the one in Modern Saudi Arabia.

 This regime is so progressive and religiously tolerant that they will not allow churches to be built in their country.  They will not allow Bibles to be brought into their country.  They will not allow women of western culture to express their culture of not covering up their faces in submission to the man’s world.

 Before we begin to blames anyone let’s remember, it is the “colonial” aspirations of some nations that is the real root of the problem.  America, after all, is known for its taking over of other lands.  I am reminded of the words of an Obama advisor who told the Europeans at the UN in the build up to the Iraq war that America is not a colonial power.  The only land we have ever asked for is enough land to bury the dead who have fought for freedom in foreign lands.

 Of course, that type of colonialism is probably offensive to everybody.

 I have a message for Mr. Obama—it is not religious freedom when only one side grants it.  Western countries are not allowing their courts to sentence people to death and carry out the sentence merely because those people have a contrary religious belief.  That is only happening in Muslim countries, under Muslim law.

 It is nice to declare, in your meaningless dribble, that “throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality.”

 I am sorry, “Say what?”  Religious tolerance and racial equality?  Wake up, oh dear king!  There is no religious tolerance to be found in Islam.  There is no racial, or sexual, equality.  There is oppression and intolerance.

It is not enough that we say they are tolerant, they have to be tolerant.  They have to quit beheading Christians for being Christians.  They have to speak out against such injustice.  They have to quit killing their daughters for sexual impurity while rewarding their sons for the sexual abuse.

Until then there is no religious freedom—not because the west will not grant it.  We continue to grant it to our own harm.

No, there is not religious freedom because Islam cannot grant it.  It seems that it might be against their theories of ruling the world with one religion and one religion only.

And I do not even have to get to their treatment of the Jews to verify the truth of my statements.  It is not enough to say something; history alone shows us what the truth is.  One man, with an unknown agenda, does not write history.  He might play a role, but so far the role is not in keeping with truth or reality.