Do you think Christmas is true? I am not talking about Santa Claus, but do you really believe that God came to earth and was born of a virgin as the baby Jesus? That Jesus Christ was not born from this world, but was born into this world from the outside?
Those that doubt the story have to hold the opinion that people in Mary and Joseph's day did not know where babies came from. Now these people were not as advanced scientifically advanced as we moderns, but I doubt that they were stupid. They certainly knew what caused pregnancy, and if Mary were pregnant, it had to be a miracle.
Here is why. In Jewish culture, any woman who became pregnant out of wedlock was subject to the harsh penalty of being stoned to death. This was especially true of a young woman engaged to be married. Even the Biblical accounts say that Joseph doubted Mary in the beginning and wanted to quietly break the engagement, so as to not endanger her, but changed his mind. Whether one believes the reason given as to why he changed his mind is irrelevant. The fact is that he went through with the marriage which would have been unheard of in that day and time. In my mind, this is credible evidence that yes, God did indeed step down into history and walked among us.
If we say we believe that, do we really believe that it is really real? If so, then what affect does it have on our lives? That first Christmas was the most important event in the history of the world. If we really believe that it happened, then we should be living as transformed individuals and be about the business of transforming those around us.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
A Life Worth Living
Ron Morris, a sports writer for The State newspaper, recently wrote a column about Chip Mullen, a high school football player from Hilton Head High School who scored on the final play of the final game of his high school career.
Chip has Down syndrome. Myrtle Beach's head coach, Micky Wilson, whose team was beating Hilton Head 64-10 at the time, called a time out in order to allow Hilton Head time to set up Chip's score, a pitch out in which he ran 60 yards for the score. Chip was mobbed by players from both teams who congratulated him on the play.
Chip's story is the story of a young man who won over both his high school community and the players and fans of opposing teams who admired his tremendous desire to overcome his disability through determination and hard work. He is a rock star in his high school, charming everyone he meets. "The kids have embraced him", says Amanda O'Nan, the school's principal. "The school has embraced him.
Chip has not been tardy to a single practice, has not missed a single practice during four years of playing. He was awarded a trophy as the "most outstanding wrestler" at a 16-team meet in Savannah, winning a match against one of Battery Creek's top wrestler, who admittedly let him win because he admired him so much.
Chip is headed to Appalachian State next year with a spot as manager on the football team, offered by coach Jerry Moore who is well aware of Chip's story.
As I read Morris' article, I thought about the fact that currently, couples who are pregnant, are routinely encouraged to have amniocentesis, a test to see if the baby has any abnormalities. Those parents whose child tests positive for Down syndrome are put under tremendous pressure by their pediatricians to abort. 80% do. All because there is this notion that there are lives that are not worthy to be lived based on someone's criteria of "quality of life".
Try to sell that idea to the people who have had the joy of knowing Chip Mullen.
Chip has Down syndrome. Myrtle Beach's head coach, Micky Wilson, whose team was beating Hilton Head 64-10 at the time, called a time out in order to allow Hilton Head time to set up Chip's score, a pitch out in which he ran 60 yards for the score. Chip was mobbed by players from both teams who congratulated him on the play.
Chip's story is the story of a young man who won over both his high school community and the players and fans of opposing teams who admired his tremendous desire to overcome his disability through determination and hard work. He is a rock star in his high school, charming everyone he meets. "The kids have embraced him", says Amanda O'Nan, the school's principal. "The school has embraced him.
Chip has not been tardy to a single practice, has not missed a single practice during four years of playing. He was awarded a trophy as the "most outstanding wrestler" at a 16-team meet in Savannah, winning a match against one of Battery Creek's top wrestler, who admittedly let him win because he admired him so much.
Chip is headed to Appalachian State next year with a spot as manager on the football team, offered by coach Jerry Moore who is well aware of Chip's story.
As I read Morris' article, I thought about the fact that currently, couples who are pregnant, are routinely encouraged to have amniocentesis, a test to see if the baby has any abnormalities. Those parents whose child tests positive for Down syndrome are put under tremendous pressure by their pediatricians to abort. 80% do. All because there is this notion that there are lives that are not worthy to be lived based on someone's criteria of "quality of life".
Try to sell that idea to the people who have had the joy of knowing Chip Mullen.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
The Faith Handed Down
.............I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.--Jude 3
The title of a recent article in the Charlotte Observer was, "Americans take up designer religion". Based on research by George Barna, it exposes the fact that modern American Christianity has succumbed to post modern relativism. Many people who claim to be "Christians" are picking and choosing which beliefs and practices that they will subscribe to and, in effect, making up their own religion. "We are a designer society. We want everything customized to our personal needs--our clothing, our food, our education," Barna said. "Now it's our religion".
The article states: "All of the major trend lines of religious belief and behavior .... measured, ran downward--except two: More people claim they have accepted Jesus as their Savior and expect to go to heaven. And more say they haven't been to church in the past six months except for special occasions such as weddings or funerals. In 1991, 24 percent were "un-churched" . Today it's 37 percent.
An example of the new "Christianity" is Carol Christoffel of Zion, Illinois who drifted through several mainline denominations, experimented with Baha'i for several years, dabbled in Native American pagan healing practices, but still identifies herself as a Christian.
Barna casts the blame on pastors for this contradiction. Pastors have presented a gospel of cheap grace in which everyone is told that Jesus is the answer to life's problems. All one has to do is embrace Him, say a little "Sinners Prayer" and that's it, one is good to go and live life as one pleases.
When Barna measured people by their belief system in seven essential doctrines, defined by the National Association of Evangelicals' statement of faith, only 7 percent of those surveyed qualified. "People say, "I believe in God. I believe the Bible is a good book. And then I believe whatever I want", Barna says.
Just as Jude was written to exhort believers to defend the apostolic faith against the inroads of heretical teaching, 2000 years later, modern Christians must also be vigilant to combat heresy. To do this, we must instill in believers the ability to defend the concept of absolute truth, the knowledge to know what they believe and why they believe it. In other words, they must be able to apply reason to faith, for God is a God of reason. As he says in Isaiah 1:18, "Come now, let us reason together".
To be a Christian in any meaningful sense of the word, there are certain doctrines that a follower of Jesus Christ must believe. Among these are the virgin birth, the deity of Christ, the Trinity, the atoning death of Christ on the cross and his bodily resurrection, the inerrancy of Scripture and that there is no hope of being reconciled to God except through Jesus. These doctrines are non-negotiable and , if compromised, will certainly not result in the faith passed down for 2000 years.
I agree with Barna. Pastors have to quit tickling the ears of their congregants and begin teaching solid theology. Believers have to start reasoning out their faith and develop the ability to articulate their beliefs with reason and grace. If not, we will find ourselves with churches full of Carol Christoffel's.
As Augustine said, "If you pick and choose which parts of the Gospel you believe and those parts that you disbelieve, then it is no longer the Gospel that you believe, but yourself". And that is the crux of the matter. In many ways, modern Christianity as fallen for the age old allure of man setting himself up as the ultimate authority of what is true and what is not true. Man wants to be his own God and that is what got us into this mess in the first place.
The title of a recent article in the Charlotte Observer was, "Americans take up designer religion". Based on research by George Barna, it exposes the fact that modern American Christianity has succumbed to post modern relativism. Many people who claim to be "Christians" are picking and choosing which beliefs and practices that they will subscribe to and, in effect, making up their own religion. "We are a designer society. We want everything customized to our personal needs--our clothing, our food, our education," Barna said. "Now it's our religion".
The article states: "All of the major trend lines of religious belief and behavior .... measured, ran downward--except two: More people claim they have accepted Jesus as their Savior and expect to go to heaven. And more say they haven't been to church in the past six months except for special occasions such as weddings or funerals. In 1991, 24 percent were "un-churched" . Today it's 37 percent.
An example of the new "Christianity" is Carol Christoffel of Zion, Illinois who drifted through several mainline denominations, experimented with Baha'i for several years, dabbled in Native American pagan healing practices, but still identifies herself as a Christian.
Barna casts the blame on pastors for this contradiction. Pastors have presented a gospel of cheap grace in which everyone is told that Jesus is the answer to life's problems. All one has to do is embrace Him, say a little "Sinners Prayer" and that's it, one is good to go and live life as one pleases.
When Barna measured people by their belief system in seven essential doctrines, defined by the National Association of Evangelicals' statement of faith, only 7 percent of those surveyed qualified. "People say, "I believe in God. I believe the Bible is a good book. And then I believe whatever I want", Barna says.
Just as Jude was written to exhort believers to defend the apostolic faith against the inroads of heretical teaching, 2000 years later, modern Christians must also be vigilant to combat heresy. To do this, we must instill in believers the ability to defend the concept of absolute truth, the knowledge to know what they believe and why they believe it. In other words, they must be able to apply reason to faith, for God is a God of reason. As he says in Isaiah 1:18, "Come now, let us reason together".
To be a Christian in any meaningful sense of the word, there are certain doctrines that a follower of Jesus Christ must believe. Among these are the virgin birth, the deity of Christ, the Trinity, the atoning death of Christ on the cross and his bodily resurrection, the inerrancy of Scripture and that there is no hope of being reconciled to God except through Jesus. These doctrines are non-negotiable and , if compromised, will certainly not result in the faith passed down for 2000 years.
I agree with Barna. Pastors have to quit tickling the ears of their congregants and begin teaching solid theology. Believers have to start reasoning out their faith and develop the ability to articulate their beliefs with reason and grace. If not, we will find ourselves with churches full of Carol Christoffel's.
As Augustine said, "If you pick and choose which parts of the Gospel you believe and those parts that you disbelieve, then it is no longer the Gospel that you believe, but yourself". And that is the crux of the matter. In many ways, modern Christianity as fallen for the age old allure of man setting himself up as the ultimate authority of what is true and what is not true. Man wants to be his own God and that is what got us into this mess in the first place.
Monday, September 12, 2011
There is a Difference
"but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."--Romans 5:8
In his book, "Radical", David Platt tells of sitting outside of a Buddhist temple in Indonesia engaging in conversation with a Buddhist leader and a Muslim leader. The two were saying that all religions were fundamentally the same and only superficially different.
David listened for awhile, and then one of the leaders asked him what he thought. He replied, "It sounds as though you both picture God (or whatever you call god) at the top of a mountain. It seems as if you believe that we are all at the bottom of the mountain, and I may take one route up the mountain, you may take another, and in the end we will all end up in the same place.
They replied, "Exactly!! You understand!!"
Then David said, "Now let me ask you a question. What would you think if I told you that the God at the top of the mountain actually came down to where we are? What would you think if I told you that God doesn't wait for people to find their way to him, but instead comes to us?"
They thought for a moment and responded, "That would be great!"
David then said, "Let me introduce you to Jesus Christ".
With the exception of Christianity, all of the world's religions involve man trying to work his way to God. Trying to be "good" enough to win God's favor as if one can dictate to God how one should be accepted into His presence. It is only Christianity that offers God's love, mercy and grace through His Son Jesus Christ as a free gift (free to us) to His enemies who are willing to open their hearts to accept the gift.
In his book, "Radical", David Platt tells of sitting outside of a Buddhist temple in Indonesia engaging in conversation with a Buddhist leader and a Muslim leader. The two were saying that all religions were fundamentally the same and only superficially different.
David listened for awhile, and then one of the leaders asked him what he thought. He replied, "It sounds as though you both picture God (or whatever you call god) at the top of a mountain. It seems as if you believe that we are all at the bottom of the mountain, and I may take one route up the mountain, you may take another, and in the end we will all end up in the same place.
They replied, "Exactly!! You understand!!"
Then David said, "Now let me ask you a question. What would you think if I told you that the God at the top of the mountain actually came down to where we are? What would you think if I told you that God doesn't wait for people to find their way to him, but instead comes to us?"
They thought for a moment and responded, "That would be great!"
David then said, "Let me introduce you to Jesus Christ".
With the exception of Christianity, all of the world's religions involve man trying to work his way to God. Trying to be "good" enough to win God's favor as if one can dictate to God how one should be accepted into His presence. It is only Christianity that offers God's love, mercy and grace through His Son Jesus Christ as a free gift (free to us) to His enemies who are willing to open their hearts to accept the gift.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Finding Love
Nothing touches one's soul like music and as a consequence, nothing can sway one's thinking and have an influence on one's worldview like music. This thought passed through my mind as listened to an " oldies, but goldie's" radio station this morning while going through the mail.
Teens today, just like teens in my day, will tell their parents that they just listen to the beat of a song and pay no attention to the lyrics. That was foolishness in my teen years and it is still foolishness today. This morning, a song would come on the radio that I had not heard in years, yet I could sing along with it as if I had just heard it yesterday. This summer, I had the same experience on a mission trip, as teens knew the words to every song that came on the Country and Western station that they insisted we listen to as we drove to and from our job site.
The reason I bring this up is that over the years I have come to realize that the music I listened to in high school and college, just as the music teens are listening to today, presented a false and potentially dangerous worldview. The lyrics seem to carry one basic theme: one can find ultimate joy and fulfillment in life by finding the right romantic love. I can't deny that I came to accept this worldview in my youth much to my sorrow.
I learned through hard experience that nothing could be further from the truth, and I believe that it is this view that has contributed to a breakdown in the family and hence an erosion of our culture that can be traced to that breakdown. Americans, with a false idea of love promoted by the culture, particularly popular music, are marrying with the expectation that their new spouses meet their every emotional need. This is the secular expectation of "love". The fact, though, is that if we love a human being and do not love God, we end up demanding perfection in that human being, and when we do not get it, we usually become cruel and vindictive. We are demanding something which no human can possibly give and without God, we have no source to fill the longing of our soul.
Shortly after they were married, someone asked Ruth Graham if Billy made her happy. Her reply that it was not Billy's job to make her happy was very instructive. Ruth said that while she did find happiness in being married to him, she would never put the demand on Billy to be the sole source of her happiness. Ruth was a smart woman.
St. Augustine, at the start of his Confessions said, "God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you." God has put a longing within the heart of man that only He can satisfy no matter what the musicians say. Only a relationship with Him can be the source of true joy and happiness. We would be best served to remember that, enjoy the music, but listen to it with a discerning ear. That is loving God with all of your mind.
Teens today, just like teens in my day, will tell their parents that they just listen to the beat of a song and pay no attention to the lyrics. That was foolishness in my teen years and it is still foolishness today. This morning, a song would come on the radio that I had not heard in years, yet I could sing along with it as if I had just heard it yesterday. This summer, I had the same experience on a mission trip, as teens knew the words to every song that came on the Country and Western station that they insisted we listen to as we drove to and from our job site.
The reason I bring this up is that over the years I have come to realize that the music I listened to in high school and college, just as the music teens are listening to today, presented a false and potentially dangerous worldview. The lyrics seem to carry one basic theme: one can find ultimate joy and fulfillment in life by finding the right romantic love. I can't deny that I came to accept this worldview in my youth much to my sorrow.
I learned through hard experience that nothing could be further from the truth, and I believe that it is this view that has contributed to a breakdown in the family and hence an erosion of our culture that can be traced to that breakdown. Americans, with a false idea of love promoted by the culture, particularly popular music, are marrying with the expectation that their new spouses meet their every emotional need. This is the secular expectation of "love". The fact, though, is that if we love a human being and do not love God, we end up demanding perfection in that human being, and when we do not get it, we usually become cruel and vindictive. We are demanding something which no human can possibly give and without God, we have no source to fill the longing of our soul.
Shortly after they were married, someone asked Ruth Graham if Billy made her happy. Her reply that it was not Billy's job to make her happy was very instructive. Ruth said that while she did find happiness in being married to him, she would never put the demand on Billy to be the sole source of her happiness. Ruth was a smart woman.
St. Augustine, at the start of his Confessions said, "God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you." God has put a longing within the heart of man that only He can satisfy no matter what the musicians say. Only a relationship with Him can be the source of true joy and happiness. We would be best served to remember that, enjoy the music, but listen to it with a discerning ear. That is loving God with all of your mind.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Loving God With Your Mind
I recently had the blessing of spending two weeks with teenagers at the Fairfield (SC) and Lake Murray (SC) Salkehatchie camps. I came away, as I always do, mightily impressed with this generation's ability to rise to a challenge.
Salkehatchie is a statewide summer service program that locates in various communities throughout the state of South Carolina for the purpose of improving the material lives of the poorest among us.
But there is also a tremendous spiritual aspect to the mission in that those who participate are there to bring the love of Christ to the home owners in a visible and verbal manner and the program is designed to impress upon the teens what it means to take one's Christianity seriously in becoming a true disciple of Christ.
In the nightly worship service at the Fairfield camp, the talks this year centered around the theme that "Christianity is simple, but is isn't easy" and at the Lake Murray camp, around the theme what it means to love God. Both camps used Mark 12:30, "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.", as their primary Scripture.
What troubles me about the next generation is that we are not training them to love God " with all of their mind". In one sense we have reduced Christianity to being just an emotional experience, and I, for one, think so-called contemporary worship has played a large part in this. We are not teaching our children that there is an intellectual base to not only Christianity, but to love.
While there is an emotional base to love, true love cannot be based solely on emotion. If emotion is the only component, then love will ebb and flow and eventually die. We can see this in the high divorce rate within the country as people marry with a false sense of what it is to love someone. True love has to be a commitment of one's will to the true good of another person. One has to be committed regardless of the actions of the one being loved.
It is the same with God. To love God with our minds, we have to be committed in our wills to do so, and take measures to ensure that our love for Him is nurtured. The progression goes like this: What we see and hear, enters our minds. If we entertain what enters our minds and allow it to rest there and grow, it affects our hearts, what we come to love. Once our hearts are affected, then our actions follow, because in matters under our control, we only do that which we love. If we are to love God with all of our minds, we have to be discerning in what we allow into our minds.
That there is a battle for the minds of this next generation should not be in doubt. Teens today are living in a culture that bombards them day and night with a worldview that is decidedly not only non-Christian, but in many cases anti-Christian. The sad part is that many youth in our churches are buying into it without even realizing that they are doing so. The proof that even "churched" teens have bought into the culture is born out in the way they dress, especially the young females, and in the music they listen to.
Nothing touches the soul like music, hence nothing will change one's worldview more than the music we feed our minds. I know this from my own experience as I listen to the lyrics of today's "oldies, but goldies", I can look back at how the songs swayed my worldview to believe that I could find ultimate fulfillment in the right romantic relationship. Only by learning some hard lessons did I find that only Christ can fill that longing for fulfillment that we all have in our hearts.
As to dress, no one is asking today's young females to wear burqas, but they seem to have accepted the idea that they have to dress like their favorite rock or movie star to be cool and accepted. I really don't believe they have any idea of the message they are sending to the males that they hang out with.
Every day, we are faced with a myriad of decisions and we have a choice. Do we honor Christ, or do we honor ourselves above Christ? Our thinking controls our heart which determines which choice we will make and if we are not discerning in our thinking, we will easily succumb to the pressures of the culture around us. Christianity is simple, but it is not easy.
Salkehatchie is a statewide summer service program that locates in various communities throughout the state of South Carolina for the purpose of improving the material lives of the poorest among us.
But there is also a tremendous spiritual aspect to the mission in that those who participate are there to bring the love of Christ to the home owners in a visible and verbal manner and the program is designed to impress upon the teens what it means to take one's Christianity seriously in becoming a true disciple of Christ.
In the nightly worship service at the Fairfield camp, the talks this year centered around the theme that "Christianity is simple, but is isn't easy" and at the Lake Murray camp, around the theme what it means to love God. Both camps used Mark 12:30, "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.", as their primary Scripture.
What troubles me about the next generation is that we are not training them to love God " with all of their mind". In one sense we have reduced Christianity to being just an emotional experience, and I, for one, think so-called contemporary worship has played a large part in this. We are not teaching our children that there is an intellectual base to not only Christianity, but to love.
While there is an emotional base to love, true love cannot be based solely on emotion. If emotion is the only component, then love will ebb and flow and eventually die. We can see this in the high divorce rate within the country as people marry with a false sense of what it is to love someone. True love has to be a commitment of one's will to the true good of another person. One has to be committed regardless of the actions of the one being loved.
It is the same with God. To love God with our minds, we have to be committed in our wills to do so, and take measures to ensure that our love for Him is nurtured. The progression goes like this: What we see and hear, enters our minds. If we entertain what enters our minds and allow it to rest there and grow, it affects our hearts, what we come to love. Once our hearts are affected, then our actions follow, because in matters under our control, we only do that which we love. If we are to love God with all of our minds, we have to be discerning in what we allow into our minds.
That there is a battle for the minds of this next generation should not be in doubt. Teens today are living in a culture that bombards them day and night with a worldview that is decidedly not only non-Christian, but in many cases anti-Christian. The sad part is that many youth in our churches are buying into it without even realizing that they are doing so. The proof that even "churched" teens have bought into the culture is born out in the way they dress, especially the young females, and in the music they listen to.
Nothing touches the soul like music, hence nothing will change one's worldview more than the music we feed our minds. I know this from my own experience as I listen to the lyrics of today's "oldies, but goldies", I can look back at how the songs swayed my worldview to believe that I could find ultimate fulfillment in the right romantic relationship. Only by learning some hard lessons did I find that only Christ can fill that longing for fulfillment that we all have in our hearts.
As to dress, no one is asking today's young females to wear burqas, but they seem to have accepted the idea that they have to dress like their favorite rock or movie star to be cool and accepted. I really don't believe they have any idea of the message they are sending to the males that they hang out with.
Every day, we are faced with a myriad of decisions and we have a choice. Do we honor Christ, or do we honor ourselves above Christ? Our thinking controls our heart which determines which choice we will make and if we are not discerning in our thinking, we will easily succumb to the pressures of the culture around us. Christianity is simple, but it is not easy.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Homegoing
Sixty years ago, although I did not realize it at the time, a blessing named Annie Mae Settles came into my life. I can remember standing on the front porch of our home while my Moma interviewed a young Black woman about a job as housekeeper. She got the job and, through the years, became much more than an employee, she became a member of our family.
Annie Mae's obvious talent was in the kitchen. She could cook like no one else. It probably wasn't the healthiest diet around but man was it good. Even to this day, when my wife, Muriel, uses her macaroni recipe, my boys will say that it is good, but it doesn't taste quite like Annie Mae's. As I think back on it, she did not have to do this; she could have just gone through the motions in cooking our meals, but she always seemed to put maximum effort into her craft. I think it stemmed from a pride in her craft and desire to give us her best.
Throughout my school years, Annie Mae was often my counselor, offering good Godly wisdom on a variety of issues. In what was probably unfair to her, I would use her as a sounding board to take the temperature of my parents when I had been involved in something that I would have been better off leaving alone. She was even there offering advice on my love life when my long time girlfriend dumped me for another guy. She prevented a lot of heartache in my life.
How a Black woman could invest so much of herself in a White family might be a mystery to some, but it speaks volumes about her character. She was a true disciple of Jesus Christ, living out a life of humility, love and servant hood. My Dad was a product of his generation, growing up in the segregated South with all of its prejudices, but Annie Mae conquered that. My Dad, whom she called "Mr. Abby", came to love her as a member of the family and would have done anything for her. There is a life lesson here for all of us.
She and my Mom became best friends. There were several times over the years when various families in McCormick tried to hire her away with the lure of more money, but Annie Mae refused to leave. In the latter years Moma was in bad health and her rheumatism made her extremely irritable. I was stationed in Texas and my sister, Bobbie, was living in Columbia. Annie Mae became the primary care giver until her own health prevented her from doing so. I am sure she put up with a lot and most would have left. She stuck it out because of love for my Mom and for that I will be forever grateful.
Annie Mae passed away June 23, 2011. She was one of my heroes. A woman who worked three jobs to support her family, yet never asked anything for herself. I hesitate to call her a "Christian", because that term has been so watered down lately and really doesn't do her justice. She was a Christ follower, who took seriously the challenge of living a life that reflected Christ. I loved her like my own mother, will miss her dearly, and am deeply grieved at her passing, yet I take great joy in knowing that she stepped into the waiting arms of her Master and that I will see her again someday.
Annie Mae's obvious talent was in the kitchen. She could cook like no one else. It probably wasn't the healthiest diet around but man was it good. Even to this day, when my wife, Muriel, uses her macaroni recipe, my boys will say that it is good, but it doesn't taste quite like Annie Mae's. As I think back on it, she did not have to do this; she could have just gone through the motions in cooking our meals, but she always seemed to put maximum effort into her craft. I think it stemmed from a pride in her craft and desire to give us her best.
Throughout my school years, Annie Mae was often my counselor, offering good Godly wisdom on a variety of issues. In what was probably unfair to her, I would use her as a sounding board to take the temperature of my parents when I had been involved in something that I would have been better off leaving alone. She was even there offering advice on my love life when my long time girlfriend dumped me for another guy. She prevented a lot of heartache in my life.
How a Black woman could invest so much of herself in a White family might be a mystery to some, but it speaks volumes about her character. She was a true disciple of Jesus Christ, living out a life of humility, love and servant hood. My Dad was a product of his generation, growing up in the segregated South with all of its prejudices, but Annie Mae conquered that. My Dad, whom she called "Mr. Abby", came to love her as a member of the family and would have done anything for her. There is a life lesson here for all of us.
She and my Mom became best friends. There were several times over the years when various families in McCormick tried to hire her away with the lure of more money, but Annie Mae refused to leave. In the latter years Moma was in bad health and her rheumatism made her extremely irritable. I was stationed in Texas and my sister, Bobbie, was living in Columbia. Annie Mae became the primary care giver until her own health prevented her from doing so. I am sure she put up with a lot and most would have left. She stuck it out because of love for my Mom and for that I will be forever grateful.
Annie Mae passed away June 23, 2011. She was one of my heroes. A woman who worked three jobs to support her family, yet never asked anything for herself. I hesitate to call her a "Christian", because that term has been so watered down lately and really doesn't do her justice. She was a Christ follower, who took seriously the challenge of living a life that reflected Christ. I loved her like my own mother, will miss her dearly, and am deeply grieved at her passing, yet I take great joy in knowing that she stepped into the waiting arms of her Master and that I will see her again someday.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Mixed Faith Marriages
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?--2 Corinthians 6:14
A recent article in the local paper by Melissa Dutton of the Associated Press addressed the issue of what to do when the bride and groom come from different religious traditions. Americans seem to be marrying outside of their faiths with increasing regularity as 25% of Americans households were mixed faith in 2006, up from 15 per cent in 1988. This is disturbing for the Kingdom on a number of fronts because it means that we are not passing on the faith and its doctrines to those who come after us.
I found myself agreeing with much of the article as it seemed to emphasize that the couples have a no holds barred discussion before getting married about how they will practice their faiths, which holidays they will celebrate, etc. Rabbi Stuart E. Davis of Overland Park Kansas is quoted saying that both individuals should think hard about what is important in their own religions. Well, duh? Various other considerations that should be explored were mentioned in the rest of the article, the most important being, in which faith tradition will the children be raised.
It seems to me, that for Christians, this is a no brainer. Don't date outside the faith and then one will not marry outside the faith. I am not enough of a theologian to know whether or not 2 Corinthians 6:14 is a command or a warning, but in either case, it is sound advice. The one issue that causes most divorces is the issue of money, but religious disagreements would have to rank near the top. The article even offered the sound advice that interfaith marriages are not for everyone and that it would be much better to part company if there are insurmountable differences. I would say that they are not for anyone who takes their faith seriously and wishes their marriage to survive, because there are going to be differences that will be impossible to resolve in my view.
The one thing that stunned me was the statement by Ed Case, CEO of InterfaithFamily.com that, "It takes a very mature couple that can be freely open and have a willingness to believe and respect that no religion is more right than another." Say what? This is post-modern relativism, the denial that there is an absolute truth plainly stated.
Truth by its very nature is exclusive. Why would someone be a Jew, Hindu, Muslim or Christian if they did not believe that their belief system was true? This is especially applicable to Christians, as Christ said in the book of John that his very purpose in coming was to bear witness to the truth and He claimed to be the truth.
Every other religion denies the deity of Christ, His atoning death and His bodily resurrection. The law of non-contradiction says that two opposing truth claims cannot both be true at the same time and in the same sense. For someone who claimed to be a Christian to deny the claims of Christ and yield to the proposition that it is no more true than the claims of another religion, would be to deny his or her faith. That individual would not be a Christian in any meaningful sense of the word.
A recent article in the local paper by Melissa Dutton of the Associated Press addressed the issue of what to do when the bride and groom come from different religious traditions. Americans seem to be marrying outside of their faiths with increasing regularity as 25% of Americans households were mixed faith in 2006, up from 15 per cent in 1988. This is disturbing for the Kingdom on a number of fronts because it means that we are not passing on the faith and its doctrines to those who come after us.
I found myself agreeing with much of the article as it seemed to emphasize that the couples have a no holds barred discussion before getting married about how they will practice their faiths, which holidays they will celebrate, etc. Rabbi Stuart E. Davis of Overland Park Kansas is quoted saying that both individuals should think hard about what is important in their own religions. Well, duh? Various other considerations that should be explored were mentioned in the rest of the article, the most important being, in which faith tradition will the children be raised.
It seems to me, that for Christians, this is a no brainer. Don't date outside the faith and then one will not marry outside the faith. I am not enough of a theologian to know whether or not 2 Corinthians 6:14 is a command or a warning, but in either case, it is sound advice. The one issue that causes most divorces is the issue of money, but religious disagreements would have to rank near the top. The article even offered the sound advice that interfaith marriages are not for everyone and that it would be much better to part company if there are insurmountable differences. I would say that they are not for anyone who takes their faith seriously and wishes their marriage to survive, because there are going to be differences that will be impossible to resolve in my view.
The one thing that stunned me was the statement by Ed Case, CEO of InterfaithFamily.com that, "It takes a very mature couple that can be freely open and have a willingness to believe and respect that no religion is more right than another." Say what? This is post-modern relativism, the denial that there is an absolute truth plainly stated.
Truth by its very nature is exclusive. Why would someone be a Jew, Hindu, Muslim or Christian if they did not believe that their belief system was true? This is especially applicable to Christians, as Christ said in the book of John that his very purpose in coming was to bear witness to the truth and He claimed to be the truth.
Every other religion denies the deity of Christ, His atoning death and His bodily resurrection. The law of non-contradiction says that two opposing truth claims cannot both be true at the same time and in the same sense. For someone who claimed to be a Christian to deny the claims of Christ and yield to the proposition that it is no more true than the claims of another religion, would be to deny his or her faith. That individual would not be a Christian in any meaningful sense of the word.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Lives Unworthy to be Lived
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.-Psalm 139:13
There is a bill making its way through the North Carolina House of Representatives that doesn't outlaw abortion, but does put several restrictions on those who would provide and receive one. Among them are a mandatory 24 hour waiting period and the requirement for the mother to view an ultrasound of her unborn child. These seem to be reasonable restrictions, in that they provide a cooling off period and a way for the mother to make an fully informed decision about what an abortion entails.
Pro-abortion forces are predictably up in arms that any legislative body would dare to restrict access to a procedure that they view as a right, but their argument against the legislation reveals a window into their worldview.
The main argument seems to be that if passed, the legislation would result in 3,000 more births in North Carolina, costing the taxpayers an additional $7 million dollars in social services. Now think about that. What they are really saying is that some lives are unworthy to be lived simply because they might possibly but an additional burden on society. The fact that they believe the restrictions will result in more births says that they know that abortion is the taking of a human life, that once a mother sees an ultrasound, 97% choose to carry to term.
This is a dangerous worldview for any society to adopt. We have seen the results in Nazi Germany when the Germans decided which lives were unworthy to be lived and exterminated 6 million people. It is a utilitarian view of life that inevitably raises man to the level of being his own god in deciding who lives and who dies based on some artificial criteria which may change depending on who is in power.
Quite a departure from the Christian world view that man is made in the image of God and therefore is valuable in and of himself, apart from any value judgment placed on his life by fellow human beings. I am not from North Carolina, but I am cheering passage of the bill.
There is a bill making its way through the North Carolina House of Representatives that doesn't outlaw abortion, but does put several restrictions on those who would provide and receive one. Among them are a mandatory 24 hour waiting period and the requirement for the mother to view an ultrasound of her unborn child. These seem to be reasonable restrictions, in that they provide a cooling off period and a way for the mother to make an fully informed decision about what an abortion entails.
Pro-abortion forces are predictably up in arms that any legislative body would dare to restrict access to a procedure that they view as a right, but their argument against the legislation reveals a window into their worldview.
The main argument seems to be that if passed, the legislation would result in 3,000 more births in North Carolina, costing the taxpayers an additional $7 million dollars in social services. Now think about that. What they are really saying is that some lives are unworthy to be lived simply because they might possibly but an additional burden on society. The fact that they believe the restrictions will result in more births says that they know that abortion is the taking of a human life, that once a mother sees an ultrasound, 97% choose to carry to term.
This is a dangerous worldview for any society to adopt. We have seen the results in Nazi Germany when the Germans decided which lives were unworthy to be lived and exterminated 6 million people. It is a utilitarian view of life that inevitably raises man to the level of being his own god in deciding who lives and who dies based on some artificial criteria which may change depending on who is in power.
Quite a departure from the Christian world view that man is made in the image of God and therefore is valuable in and of himself, apart from any value judgment placed on his life by fellow human beings. I am not from North Carolina, but I am cheering passage of the bill.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Planned Parenthood
The first inalienable, or God given right, mentioned in the document that founded our nation, the Declaration of Independence, is the right to life. My question is: If the right to life is a God given right, then is it proper for the government of a Republic founded on such a principle to use taxpayer money to fund the killing of the unborn?
That is exactly what our government is doing as it uses public money to fund Planned Parenthood to the tune of $360 million dollars a year. Republicans recently had a chance to strip this funding from the 20011 budget but, alas, caved in to the Democrats and allowed the funding to remain.
Planned Parenthood claims that abortions only make up about 3 percent of its total services, but as it turns out, that is a complete lie. In 2009, it provided 332,278 abortions, more that a quarter of all abortions performed in the US that year and a 14.7 increase over 2006. Planned Parenthood also provided prenatal services to 7,022 women and referred just 977 for adoption. It provided abortion services to over 97 percent of its pregnant clients in 2009.
Why the discrepancy between their claim of 3 percent and the actual facts? The claim is a gimmick. The group skews the numbers by counting individual appointments as multiple visits ranging anywhere from 5 to 20. This waters down the percentage of abortions as Planned Parenthood tries to appear to be merely a prenatal health care provider. It doesn' work for anyone who takes a closer look. For every adoption referral in 2009, Planned Parenthood performed 340 abortions. Providing abortion services is the group's reason for existence.
If abortion is not the taking of a human life, then no excuse is necessary. If it is the taking of a human life, then no excuse is sufficient. Any biology 101 student knows that life begins at conception, so what is our government doing in aiding the killing of the most innocent among us?
That is exactly what our government is doing as it uses public money to fund Planned Parenthood to the tune of $360 million dollars a year. Republicans recently had a chance to strip this funding from the 20011 budget but, alas, caved in to the Democrats and allowed the funding to remain.
Planned Parenthood claims that abortions only make up about 3 percent of its total services, but as it turns out, that is a complete lie. In 2009, it provided 332,278 abortions, more that a quarter of all abortions performed in the US that year and a 14.7 increase over 2006. Planned Parenthood also provided prenatal services to 7,022 women and referred just 977 for adoption. It provided abortion services to over 97 percent of its pregnant clients in 2009.
Why the discrepancy between their claim of 3 percent and the actual facts? The claim is a gimmick. The group skews the numbers by counting individual appointments as multiple visits ranging anywhere from 5 to 20. This waters down the percentage of abortions as Planned Parenthood tries to appear to be merely a prenatal health care provider. It doesn' work for anyone who takes a closer look. For every adoption referral in 2009, Planned Parenthood performed 340 abortions. Providing abortion services is the group's reason for existence.
If abortion is not the taking of a human life, then no excuse is necessary. If it is the taking of a human life, then no excuse is sufficient. Any biology 101 student knows that life begins at conception, so what is our government doing in aiding the killing of the most innocent among us?
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Is Easter True?
Millions of Christians, all over the world, just celebrated the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. If Jesus did, in fact, bodily rise from the dead, then it is the most significant event in human history, and one's response to it has eternal implications.
This week take the opportunity to use this as a conversation starter with non-believing friends. First note that the celebration took place, then ask, "I was wondering, do you think Easter is true?" If they respond in the negative, they are in good company, because in the beginning, the women at the tomb and the disciples did not believe it either. Ask, "How did you come to that conclusion?" More importantly, listen to the answer, as it will reveal a lot about their thought process.
A good follow up question to any non-believer is, "What if you are wrong?" Some will get defensive and ask you, the believer, "Well, how do you know you're right?" Scripture says that we must always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within us and to do it with gentleness and respect. The proper response is, "Well, what proof would you accept?" An answer of, "There is no proof", indicates that you are wasting your time, but a positive response, opens the door for you to explain your reasons for believing.
When we are talking to non-believers, we have to remember that while we can introduce scripture at some point, they will not be familiar with the Bible or necessarily look at it as an authority, so our arguments must sometimes appeal to them on another basis.
One of the best defenses is to look at Scripture as history, (there are extra-Biblical sources to back it up) and explain that the best evidence of the truth of the resurrection is the changed lives of the apostles. Immediately after Jesus was crucified, they went into hiding in Jerusalem in fear of their lives. On the third day after the resurrection, they emerged as the boldest witnesses the world has ever seen, proclaiming that they had seen, touched and talked with the risen Christ.
Were they lying? A reasonable man would say no. Every apostle except John, who was exiled to Patmos, went to his death never changing his story. Now a man may die for a lie, but a man will never die for what he knows is a lie.
Chuck Colson, one of the Watergate conspirators, likes to say that he knows a thing or two about conspiracies. Some of the most powerful men in the world were involved in the Watergate cover up, yet it only took two weeks for John Dean to break and confess to the crime, implicating the others and they weren't even threatened with death. If the resurrection of Jesus had been a conspiracy, one of the disciples would have broken and spilled the beans. None did. All went to their deaths proclaiming the risen Savior. Christ changed their lives and He has been changing lives ever since.
Remember, no matter how the conversation with your friend turns out, the goal is to get them to meet Jesus, not convert them to your opinion or even to win the argument.
This week take the opportunity to use this as a conversation starter with non-believing friends. First note that the celebration took place, then ask, "I was wondering, do you think Easter is true?" If they respond in the negative, they are in good company, because in the beginning, the women at the tomb and the disciples did not believe it either. Ask, "How did you come to that conclusion?" More importantly, listen to the answer, as it will reveal a lot about their thought process.
A good follow up question to any non-believer is, "What if you are wrong?" Some will get defensive and ask you, the believer, "Well, how do you know you're right?" Scripture says that we must always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within us and to do it with gentleness and respect. The proper response is, "Well, what proof would you accept?" An answer of, "There is no proof", indicates that you are wasting your time, but a positive response, opens the door for you to explain your reasons for believing.
When we are talking to non-believers, we have to remember that while we can introduce scripture at some point, they will not be familiar with the Bible or necessarily look at it as an authority, so our arguments must sometimes appeal to them on another basis.
One of the best defenses is to look at Scripture as history, (there are extra-Biblical sources to back it up) and explain that the best evidence of the truth of the resurrection is the changed lives of the apostles. Immediately after Jesus was crucified, they went into hiding in Jerusalem in fear of their lives. On the third day after the resurrection, they emerged as the boldest witnesses the world has ever seen, proclaiming that they had seen, touched and talked with the risen Christ.
Were they lying? A reasonable man would say no. Every apostle except John, who was exiled to Patmos, went to his death never changing his story. Now a man may die for a lie, but a man will never die for what he knows is a lie.
Chuck Colson, one of the Watergate conspirators, likes to say that he knows a thing or two about conspiracies. Some of the most powerful men in the world were involved in the Watergate cover up, yet it only took two weeks for John Dean to break and confess to the crime, implicating the others and they weren't even threatened with death. If the resurrection of Jesus had been a conspiracy, one of the disciples would have broken and spilled the beans. None did. All went to their deaths proclaiming the risen Savior. Christ changed their lives and He has been changing lives ever since.
Remember, no matter how the conversation with your friend turns out, the goal is to get them to meet Jesus, not convert them to your opinion or even to win the argument.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
The Value of Life
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.--Psalm 139:13
The news out of Europe is that scientists have developed a test whereby they can diagnose Down Syndrome by giving a simple blood test to a pregnant woman. The test results were published in the online journal, Nature Medicine, suggesting that scientists can spot Down Syndrome through fetal DNA that has been shed into the mother's bloodstream.
This is being hailed as good news because it may result in avoiding the necessity of taking a sample of amniotic fluid, which carries the risk of causing a miscarriage, to make a firm diagnosis.
Now I am all for safety in medicine, but I find this news highly disturbing. I can only think of one reason for testing in the first place and that is that doctors will encourage the parents of a potentially Down child to abort the pregnancy.
We are already in an age where we end human life in the womb simply because the child will not be born with our idea of perfection? Where will such thinking end? I think one only has to look to Nazi Germany, whose citizens started out going down this same path, to see our future. A future where life is valuable only because it fits someone's idea of what is acceptable.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Stewardship, what stewardship?
Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.--1 Corinthians 4:2
The definition of a steward is one who manages the money or property belonging to another. Now in our republican form of government, we elect representatives to manage the dollars that we tax payers send them--to put them to good use in "providing for the common welfare". It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that they are not doing so hot.
If Congress continues business as usual, we are headed for bankruptcy and an economy that will make the current recession seem like good times. The CBO says that the government will incur a record deficit of $1.5 trillion in 20011, causing the debt to rise to $10.4 trillion. Within 10 years, the debt is expected to rise to $18.3 trillion.
Now to most, these are just abstract numbers with no real meaning. To get a visual idea of what a trillion dollars looks like and to put it in perspective, go to Page Tutor. com.
No one could have come up with a better plan to destroy the national economy and relegate the nation to third world status.
The definition of a steward is one who manages the money or property belonging to another. Now in our republican form of government, we elect representatives to manage the dollars that we tax payers send them--to put them to good use in "providing for the common welfare". It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that they are not doing so hot.
If Congress continues business as usual, we are headed for bankruptcy and an economy that will make the current recession seem like good times. The CBO says that the government will incur a record deficit of $1.5 trillion in 20011, causing the debt to rise to $10.4 trillion. Within 10 years, the debt is expected to rise to $18.3 trillion.
Now to most, these are just abstract numbers with no real meaning. To get a visual idea of what a trillion dollars looks like and to put it in perspective, go to Page Tutor. com.
No one could have come up with a better plan to destroy the national economy and relegate the nation to third world status.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
It's Never Just the Economy, Stupid
In a speech delivered on January 7, 2011 for the "First Principles on First Fridays" lecture series sponsored by Hillsdale College's Kirby Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship, Brian T. Kennedy, president of the Claremont Institute, outlined three serious threats to national security. While pointing out that the average American Muslim does not understand the Koran with any level of detail, Mr. Kennedy presents a case for Islam being one of those serious threats. Below are excerpts from Mr. Kennedy's speech:
"Let me begin with Islam. We were assured that is was a religion of peace immediately following September 11........Unfortunately Mr. Bush was trying to understand Islam as we would like it to be rather than how countless devout Muslims understand it.
Organizationally, Islam is built around a belief in God or Allah, but it is equally a political ideology organized around the Koran and the teaching of its founder Muhammad........Islam teaches that to disagree with or even reinterpret the Koran's 6000 odd verses, organized into 114 chapters or Suras and dealing as fully with law and politics as with matters of faith, is punishable by death.
Islamic authorities of all the major branches of Islam hold that the Koran must be read so that the parts written last override the others. This so-called theory of abrogation means that the ruling parts of the Koran are those written after Muhammad went to Median in 622 A.D. Specifically, they are Suras 9 and 5, which are not the Suras containing the verses often cited as proof of Islam's peacefulness.
Sura 9, verse 5 reads: "Fight and slay the unbelievers where ever ye find them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war. But if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practice regular charity, then open the way for them........"
Sura 9, verse 29, reads: "Fight those who believe not in Allah not the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Apostle, nor acknowledge the religion of truth, even if they are of the 40 people of the book until they pay the jizya with will submission, and feel themselves subdued".
Sura 5, verse 51, reads: "Oh ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors; they are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them for friendship is of them. Verily Allah guideth not the unjust".
And Sura 3, verse 28, introduces the doctrine of taqiyya, which holds that Muslims should not b e friends with the infidel except as deception, always with the end goal of converting, subduing, or destroying him.
It is often said that to point out these verses is to cherry pick unfairly the most violent parts of the Koran. In response, I assert that we must try to understand Muslims as they understand themselves. And I hasten to add that the average American Muslim does not understand the Koran with any level of detail. So I am not painting a picture here of the average Muslim. I am trying to understand those Muslims, both here and abroad , who actively seek the destruction of America.
Here at home, the threat is posed by the Muslim Brotherhood and its organizational arms, such as the Council on American Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America, and the various Muslim student associations. These groups seek to persuade Americans that Islam is a religion of peace. But let me quote from a document obtained during the 2007 Holy Land Trial investigating terrorists funding. It is a Muslim Brotherhood Strategic Memorandum on North American Affairs that was approved by the Shura Council and the Organizational Conference in 1987. It speaks of "Enablement of Islam in North America, meaning establishing an effective and a stable Islamic Movement led by the Muslim Brotherhood which adopts Muslims' causes domestically and globally, and which works to expand the observant Muslim base, aims at unifying and directing Muslims' efforts, presents Islam as a civilization alternative, and supports the global Islamic State wherever it is."
Elsewhere this document says: "The process of settlement is a "Civilization-Jihadist Process" with all the means. The Ikhwan [the Muslim Brotherhood] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and Allah's religion is made victorious over all other religions. Without this level of understanding, we are not up to this challenge and have not prepared ourselves for Jihad yet. It is a Muslim's destiny to perform Jihad and work wherever he is and wherever he lands until the final hour comes........
........Consider a 2007 survey of American Muslim opinion conducted by the Pew Research Center. Eight percent of American Muslims who took part in this survey said they believed that suicide bombing can sometimes be justified in defense of Islam. Even accepting a low estimate of three million Muslims in the U.S., this would mean that 240,000 among us hold that suicide bombing in the name of Islam can be justified. Among American Muslims 18-29 years old, 15 percent agreed with that and 60 percent said they thought of themselves as Muslim first and Americans second. Among all participants in the survey, five percent........150,000--said they had a favorable view of al Qaeda.
Given these numbers, it is not unreasonable to suggest that the political aims and ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood represent a domestic threat to national security. It is one thing to have hundreds of terrorist sympathizers within our borders, but quite another if that number is in the hundreds of thousands. Consider the massacre at Fort Hood: Major Nidal Malik Hasan believed that he was acting as a devout Muslim--indeed, he believed he was obeying a religious mandate to wage war against his fellow soldiers. Yet even to raise the question of whether Islam presents a domestic threat today is to invite charges of bigotry or worse..........."
It seems that we are signing our death warrant with the pen of political correctness.
"Let me begin with Islam. We were assured that is was a religion of peace immediately following September 11........Unfortunately Mr. Bush was trying to understand Islam as we would like it to be rather than how countless devout Muslims understand it.
Organizationally, Islam is built around a belief in God or Allah, but it is equally a political ideology organized around the Koran and the teaching of its founder Muhammad........Islam teaches that to disagree with or even reinterpret the Koran's 6000 odd verses, organized into 114 chapters or Suras and dealing as fully with law and politics as with matters of faith, is punishable by death.
Islamic authorities of all the major branches of Islam hold that the Koran must be read so that the parts written last override the others. This so-called theory of abrogation means that the ruling parts of the Koran are those written after Muhammad went to Median in 622 A.D. Specifically, they are Suras 9 and 5, which are not the Suras containing the verses often cited as proof of Islam's peacefulness.
Sura 9, verse 5 reads: "Fight and slay the unbelievers where ever ye find them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war. But if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practice regular charity, then open the way for them........"
Sura 9, verse 29, reads: "Fight those who believe not in Allah not the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Apostle, nor acknowledge the religion of truth, even if they are of the 40 people of the book until they pay the jizya with will submission, and feel themselves subdued".
Sura 5, verse 51, reads: "Oh ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors; they are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them for friendship is of them. Verily Allah guideth not the unjust".
And Sura 3, verse 28, introduces the doctrine of taqiyya, which holds that Muslims should not b e friends with the infidel except as deception, always with the end goal of converting, subduing, or destroying him.
It is often said that to point out these verses is to cherry pick unfairly the most violent parts of the Koran. In response, I assert that we must try to understand Muslims as they understand themselves. And I hasten to add that the average American Muslim does not understand the Koran with any level of detail. So I am not painting a picture here of the average Muslim. I am trying to understand those Muslims, both here and abroad , who actively seek the destruction of America.
Here at home, the threat is posed by the Muslim Brotherhood and its organizational arms, such as the Council on American Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America, and the various Muslim student associations. These groups seek to persuade Americans that Islam is a religion of peace. But let me quote from a document obtained during the 2007 Holy Land Trial investigating terrorists funding. It is a Muslim Brotherhood Strategic Memorandum on North American Affairs that was approved by the Shura Council and the Organizational Conference in 1987. It speaks of "Enablement of Islam in North America, meaning establishing an effective and a stable Islamic Movement led by the Muslim Brotherhood which adopts Muslims' causes domestically and globally, and which works to expand the observant Muslim base, aims at unifying and directing Muslims' efforts, presents Islam as a civilization alternative, and supports the global Islamic State wherever it is."
Elsewhere this document says: "The process of settlement is a "Civilization-Jihadist Process" with all the means. The Ikhwan [the Muslim Brotherhood] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and Allah's religion is made victorious over all other religions. Without this level of understanding, we are not up to this challenge and have not prepared ourselves for Jihad yet. It is a Muslim's destiny to perform Jihad and work wherever he is and wherever he lands until the final hour comes........
........Consider a 2007 survey of American Muslim opinion conducted by the Pew Research Center. Eight percent of American Muslims who took part in this survey said they believed that suicide bombing can sometimes be justified in defense of Islam. Even accepting a low estimate of three million Muslims in the U.S., this would mean that 240,000 among us hold that suicide bombing in the name of Islam can be justified. Among American Muslims 18-29 years old, 15 percent agreed with that and 60 percent said they thought of themselves as Muslim first and Americans second. Among all participants in the survey, five percent........150,000--said they had a favorable view of al Qaeda.
Given these numbers, it is not unreasonable to suggest that the political aims and ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood represent a domestic threat to national security. It is one thing to have hundreds of terrorist sympathizers within our borders, but quite another if that number is in the hundreds of thousands. Consider the massacre at Fort Hood: Major Nidal Malik Hasan believed that he was acting as a devout Muslim--indeed, he believed he was obeying a religious mandate to wage war against his fellow soldiers. Yet even to raise the question of whether Islam presents a domestic threat today is to invite charges of bigotry or worse..........."
It seems that we are signing our death warrant with the pen of political correctness.
Monday, February 21, 2011
The Threat of Islam
Mindy Beltz tells the interconnected story of Asia Bibi and Salman Taseer in the January 29 issue of World magazine that reveals the face of Islam and it is not pretty.
On Nov. 8, 2010, Asia Bibi was sentenced to death by hanging for blasphemy. This mother of five had been asked by Muslim co-workers to fetch water and then was told that it was unclean because she was a Christian. Her crime? Remarking that, "Aren't we all humans?" For this she was tried and found guilty for insulting the prophet Muhammad. Taseer who was governor of the' Province, defended Bibi, calling the blasphemy law "a black law". Muslim religious leaders rose up in venomous opposition, declaring that Taseer had forfeited his status as a Muslim and calling for his removal as governor.
Taseer did not back down, defying the Mullahs, and was shot dead by one of his bodyguards. 50,000 protesters demonstrated on behalf of the killer and close to 300 lawyers want to defend him. Taseer, who was educated in the West, suffered the consequences of expressing his opinion in a Muslim world that brooks no dissent.
Pakistan's blasphemy laws have only been on the books since 1980's. The laws, rooted in the Quran, are backed by clergy and scholars who spread violence toward anyone who dares question the tenants of Islam.
The West has to wake up to the fact that the threat to its existence is not radical Islam, it is not Islamic jihadists, it is not Mulims per se, the threat is Islam itself. This is a political-religious system in which government cannot be separated from the religion. A system that requires absolute adherence, does not tolerate individual thought or expression and will resort to violence to make authoritarian government the rule.
We cannot afford to continue condemning acts of terror while not honestly confronting the ideology behind them. We do so at our peril. So far, in the United States, we are fortunate that Muslims compose a minute part of the population, but we only have to look to Europe to see what our future looks like if we don't acknowledge the eight hundred pound gorilla in the room.
On Nov. 8, 2010, Asia Bibi was sentenced to death by hanging for blasphemy. This mother of five had been asked by Muslim co-workers to fetch water and then was told that it was unclean because she was a Christian. Her crime? Remarking that, "Aren't we all humans?" For this she was tried and found guilty for insulting the prophet Muhammad. Taseer who was governor of the' Province, defended Bibi, calling the blasphemy law "a black law". Muslim religious leaders rose up in venomous opposition, declaring that Taseer had forfeited his status as a Muslim and calling for his removal as governor.
Taseer did not back down, defying the Mullahs, and was shot dead by one of his bodyguards. 50,000 protesters demonstrated on behalf of the killer and close to 300 lawyers want to defend him. Taseer, who was educated in the West, suffered the consequences of expressing his opinion in a Muslim world that brooks no dissent.
Pakistan's blasphemy laws have only been on the books since 1980's. The laws, rooted in the Quran, are backed by clergy and scholars who spread violence toward anyone who dares question the tenants of Islam.
The West has to wake up to the fact that the threat to its existence is not radical Islam, it is not Islamic jihadists, it is not Mulims per se, the threat is Islam itself. This is a political-religious system in which government cannot be separated from the religion. A system that requires absolute adherence, does not tolerate individual thought or expression and will resort to violence to make authoritarian government the rule.
We cannot afford to continue condemning acts of terror while not honestly confronting the ideology behind them. We do so at our peril. So far, in the United States, we are fortunate that Muslims compose a minute part of the population, but we only have to look to Europe to see what our future looks like if we don't acknowledge the eight hundred pound gorilla in the room.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Are All Religions Equally True?
Professor Larry Timbs of Winthrop University has written that in one of his courses there is a discussion taking place of an article entitled "Religious Diversity". He refers to a passage in the article that makes the claim that "being a Christian does not commit one to to the view that all other religions are completely wrong". I would agree with that statement, provided that the word "completely" is emphasized.
Surprisingly, I took a little encouragement from the fact that 14-15 of the 17 students in the professor's class identified themselves as Christian, but was disappointed at their commitment to their faith and the lack of clarity in their thought process. The church obviously has a lot of work to do in the area of discipleship and critical thinking.
Professor Timbs tells a cute little story of Joe not minding which church van he gets on as "we are all trying to get to the same place". The conclusion that he draws from the story is a polar opposite of the conclusion that I would draw. To Professor Timbs, the story illustrates the idea that one single religion or faith cannot be the one and only way to salvation or eternal life because there is such a diversity of faiths. Never mind that, in the story, each van that shows up will take Joe to a Christian church. Not being particular about a Christian denomination is a far cry from not being particular about a specific faith.
When he says that one person's truth or faith cannot possibly be the only path to salvation, Professor Timbs reveals a world view that seems to be decidedly "modernist", the idea that absolute truth doesn't exist, i.e., you have your truth and I have my truth and his worldview may even extend to being "post-modernists", that there is no such thing as truth at all, i.e., that we each get make up our own truth.
Now, in logic, the law of non-contradiction says that two opposing claims to truth cannot both be true at the same time and in the same sense. While each of the world's religions contain a glimmer of truth (hence the insistence on emphasizing "completely"), at some point they each make a truth claim that directly opposes the claims of Christianity. For Christians, it is when these claims differ from Biblical teaching that other religions must be considered false.
The entire history of Judaism points to a coming Messiah, but according to Christianity the Messiah arrived in the God-Man Jesus Christ and he was rejected. Now either Jesus was the long awaited Messiah or he was not, but the claims of Judaism and Christianity oppose each other on this point and many others. Those claims cannot both be true.
Islam rejects all of the key doctrines of the Christian faith. It certainly rejects the idea that Jesus was God incarnate and it denies his death on the cross. It rejects the Bible as the authoritative Word of God. Hence, Islam not only differs from Christianity, but opposes it on all counts. If its claims are true, then the claims of Christianity are false.
The Eastern religions of Buddhism and Hinduism deny the existence of a personal God and also deny the existence of sin. For Hindus and Buddhists God is an impersonal being and there is no such thing as the need for salvation. These beliefs are a direct refutation of Christianity and either they are true or Christianity is true, but both cannot be true.
Christian apologist Peter Kreeft, of Boston College, says, " Christianity is like no other religion. Instead of the founder pointing to the religion, the religion points to the founder. Buddha said: "Look not to me, look to my doctrine". Christ said, "Come unto me....I am the way the truth and the life." If He is God, then all other religions, however many great truths they may contain, can be nothing more than torn pieces from Christ's seamless garment.....The traditional Christian "triumphalistic" claim of superiority over all other religions is not a claim about Christianity (and certainly not about Christians) but about Christ. That is why it is non-negotiable".
Anyone who claims to be a Christian and would agree that Christ is "just one path to God among many" either have not read the Gospels or if they have read them, don't understand the fallacy of making such a statement.
The great Christian apologist C.S. Lewis saw the issue clearly when he wrote, "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg-- or else he would the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. either this man was, and is, the Son of God or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that option open to us. He did not intend to."
Peter Kreeft is right. The question of salvation is not about Christianity or other religions, it is about Christ. C.S. Lewis is right. Christ is either who he said he was, and his claim was that he was God incarnate, or he is not worth bothering with. So when Jesus says that he is the only way to salvation, is he right? The evidence is there for anyone to investigate and I daresay an honest investigation will lead to the conclusion that yes he is.
Surprisingly, I took a little encouragement from the fact that 14-15 of the 17 students in the professor's class identified themselves as Christian, but was disappointed at their commitment to their faith and the lack of clarity in their thought process. The church obviously has a lot of work to do in the area of discipleship and critical thinking.
Professor Timbs tells a cute little story of Joe not minding which church van he gets on as "we are all trying to get to the same place". The conclusion that he draws from the story is a polar opposite of the conclusion that I would draw. To Professor Timbs, the story illustrates the idea that one single religion or faith cannot be the one and only way to salvation or eternal life because there is such a diversity of faiths. Never mind that, in the story, each van that shows up will take Joe to a Christian church. Not being particular about a Christian denomination is a far cry from not being particular about a specific faith.
When he says that one person's truth or faith cannot possibly be the only path to salvation, Professor Timbs reveals a world view that seems to be decidedly "modernist", the idea that absolute truth doesn't exist, i.e., you have your truth and I have my truth and his worldview may even extend to being "post-modernists", that there is no such thing as truth at all, i.e., that we each get make up our own truth.
Now, in logic, the law of non-contradiction says that two opposing claims to truth cannot both be true at the same time and in the same sense. While each of the world's religions contain a glimmer of truth (hence the insistence on emphasizing "completely"), at some point they each make a truth claim that directly opposes the claims of Christianity. For Christians, it is when these claims differ from Biblical teaching that other religions must be considered false.
The entire history of Judaism points to a coming Messiah, but according to Christianity the Messiah arrived in the God-Man Jesus Christ and he was rejected. Now either Jesus was the long awaited Messiah or he was not, but the claims of Judaism and Christianity oppose each other on this point and many others. Those claims cannot both be true.
Islam rejects all of the key doctrines of the Christian faith. It certainly rejects the idea that Jesus was God incarnate and it denies his death on the cross. It rejects the Bible as the authoritative Word of God. Hence, Islam not only differs from Christianity, but opposes it on all counts. If its claims are true, then the claims of Christianity are false.
The Eastern religions of Buddhism and Hinduism deny the existence of a personal God and also deny the existence of sin. For Hindus and Buddhists God is an impersonal being and there is no such thing as the need for salvation. These beliefs are a direct refutation of Christianity and either they are true or Christianity is true, but both cannot be true.
Christian apologist Peter Kreeft, of Boston College, says, " Christianity is like no other religion. Instead of the founder pointing to the religion, the religion points to the founder. Buddha said: "Look not to me, look to my doctrine". Christ said, "Come unto me....I am the way the truth and the life." If He is God, then all other religions, however many great truths they may contain, can be nothing more than torn pieces from Christ's seamless garment.....The traditional Christian "triumphalistic" claim of superiority over all other religions is not a claim about Christianity (and certainly not about Christians) but about Christ. That is why it is non-negotiable".
Anyone who claims to be a Christian and would agree that Christ is "just one path to God among many" either have not read the Gospels or if they have read them, don't understand the fallacy of making such a statement.
The great Christian apologist C.S. Lewis saw the issue clearly when he wrote, "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg-- or else he would the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. either this man was, and is, the Son of God or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that option open to us. He did not intend to."
Peter Kreeft is right. The question of salvation is not about Christianity or other religions, it is about Christ. C.S. Lewis is right. Christ is either who he said he was, and his claim was that he was God incarnate, or he is not worth bothering with. So when Jesus says that he is the only way to salvation, is he right? The evidence is there for anyone to investigate and I daresay an honest investigation will lead to the conclusion that yes he is.
Monday, January 3, 2011
The Peaceful Religion
Faleh Hassan Almaleki moved his family from Iraq to Phoenix, AZ, in the mid 1990's. As his daughter, Noor Almaleki, grew up in America, she developed a longing to live a normal life as an American. At 17, she refused to enter into an arranged marriage in Iraq which infuriated her father. At 19, she moved into her own apartment and began work in a fast food place, but had to quit due to harassment from her parents.
In 2009, she moved into the home of her boyfriends parents due to physical abuse from her father, who continually harassed her and the parents. On October 20, 2009, Noor was visiting a Department of Economic Security Office with Amal Khalaf, the mother of her boyfriend. When departing the office, both women were run over by Faleh Almaleki in a hit and run. Amal recovered, but Noor subsequently died of her injuries.
Her crime? Becoming too Westernized in the eyes of her father.
This was no "Islamic radical", this was a follower of the tenets of mainstream Islam who is rightfully on trial for murder. In an Islamic country, nothing would have come of his actions.
Peaceful religion? How many Christian parents kill their children for refusing to accept Christ?
In 2009, she moved into the home of her boyfriends parents due to physical abuse from her father, who continually harassed her and the parents. On October 20, 2009, Noor was visiting a Department of Economic Security Office with Amal Khalaf, the mother of her boyfriend. When departing the office, both women were run over by Faleh Almaleki in a hit and run. Amal recovered, but Noor subsequently died of her injuries.
Her crime? Becoming too Westernized in the eyes of her father.
This was no "Islamic radical", this was a follower of the tenets of mainstream Islam who is rightfully on trial for murder. In an Islamic country, nothing would have come of his actions.
Peaceful religion? How many Christian parents kill their children for refusing to accept Christ?
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