OK, I knew you would say something about the length of my last blog. Sorry, but in all fairness I have read a few lengthy articles from you (so were even?). I will try to keep it shorter.
Here is the definition of RADICAL-- "Marked by a considerable departure from the usual or traditional:EXTREME".
When I talk about being a Radical Christian I am not talking about being radical for religion (as a set of man made attitudes, beliefs and practices); I'm talking about being Radical in our love for Christ/GOD and that is NEVER a bad thing. How can you love God too much. Don't we crave our spouses to be radically in love with us; so much so that they would lay down their lives for us if need be.
Unfortunately the norm for most Christians in the U.S. is mediocrity or go with the flow. We have let everything and anything take the place that God should have in our hearts, thus when we do see someone on fire for God, by definition, they are "RADICAL".
Let me give a few examples of Radical Christians that we should ALL thank for departing from the usual and being EXTREME--
1)Joan of Arc: led one of the greatest campaigns for freedom the world has ever seen. She bravely departed from the religion of the day and radically followed God.
2)Richard Wurmbrand: a Romanian Jewish atheist who later discovered the love of Christ and spent his life bravely spreading the gospel. When his country was confronted with communism and many were forsaking their faith out of fear, he bravely stood and declared his loyalty to Christ. He spent 14 years in prison and wrote the classic "Tortured for Christ". He continued to spread the gospel of Christ right up to his death. He is a voice for the persecuted church throughout the world and his work is established in over 80 restricted nations and 30 countries. He never lifted a finger against anyone.
3)Saint Nick, Saint Patrick, Saint Valentine: all of these saints whom the world has
transformed into something else in order to nullify their testimonies were Radically in love with Christ and out of that love did great things (I would love to share more about them but won't because of length).
4)Paul (or formerly known as Saul before he was Radically reformed for Christ): Paul is a perfect example of the difference of being Radical for a religion verses being Radically in love with Christ. Paul was so radical about his Jewish belief that he was frantically killing Christ followers right and left. Love was not his motivation; He was motivated by fear. Those who kill others for what they believe are motivated out of fear not love. After meeting Christ on the road to Damascus he RADICALLY changed and spent his life being persecuted for Christ. He went from being the persecutor to the persecuted. He was Radical in both positions but the second he was a true revolutionary.
Let me just end by saying RADICAL Christians are unwilling to set aside TRUTH for the convenience of being accepted or the privilege of living only by their own desires. They are unwilling to force their ways upon others, and they are unwilling to fight back when fighting back would deny the LOVE they are trying to show those hurting them. They fight for the spiritual freedom that is only found in Jesus and are unwilling to let that freedom go for anything.
believer in the Truth
This is a friendly conversation between you dear readers and me. I am an agnostic but love to talk to believers.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Goldwater & Extremists
Barry Goldwater once thundered in a convention speech that "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice". Goldwater got it wrong - extremism is always a vice. It only leads to suffering and persecution. I assume when you wish there were more extreme Christians you are not wishing for the good old days of burning people alive to purify their souls.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Mind Dump
Whoa! Mind dump alert.
You wrote a biiiiiiiig blog entry so will have to chew on that for a while. Will respond in next few days but suffice it to say (which is obviously wrong since I will respond further), persecution of ANYONE for their religious belief is wrong, stupid, immoral, evil, and a bunch of other words that I can't think of. And - I've read about persecution of Christians in the 3rd world a lot so I don't think it is being ignored. But more on this later.
You wrote a biiiiiiiig blog entry so will have to chew on that for a while. Will respond in next few days but suffice it to say (which is obviously wrong since I will respond further), persecution of ANYONE for their religious belief is wrong, stupid, immoral, evil, and a bunch of other words that I can't think of. And - I've read about persecution of Christians in the 3rd world a lot so I don't think it is being ignored. But more on this later.
Monday, September 20, 2010
We need more RADICAL Christians
Hey David,
I welcome the opportunity to shed light on this controversial subject of Islamic extremist and how we should respond as a nation and individuals.
It would be stupid to go around blaming ALL Muslims for 9/11 and other acts of violence but just because not all Muslims are aware or act on the commands of their leader/book does not mean we should put our heads in the sand and ignore the danger Islam poses. Despite what many leaders (including many of our own) say around the world, Islam is not a religion of peace and if America and other countries continue to ignore their threats, teachings, tactics we will soon become an Islamic nation ourselves, void of the freedoms we now enjoy. Some experts have said within 5 to 7 years Islam will be the dominate religion of the world. Right now in several nations they don't even need violence to spread because the rate at which they propagate far exceeds everyone else.
If that doesn't scare you, look at the nations which are predominately Muslim and research how they treat people of other religions. I'll give you just a few recent examples----
*Nigeria (which the northern part is predominately Muslim), over 500 hundred Christians were SLAUGHTERED this March as the killers shouted Allah.
*A village in Indonesia's Central Maluku province, angry Muslims torched churches, dozens of homes and other properties after a Christian teacher allegedly made comments insulting Islam rights investigators said.
*In Pakistan in 2009 seven innocent Christians die in Punjab province at the hands of angry, violent Muslims.
*Just this June in the same province 250 Christian families were forced to leave their homes after Christians complained that Muslims were sexually assaulting girls and women, most of whom worked in Muslim families.
*Three Iranian Christians face execution. They are being threatened with the death penalty if they do not renounce their Christian faith and revert back to Islam, a network reported Monday, September 13.
David, I could go on and on. Muslims in the U.S. reap the benefits of "freedom of religion" but it will not be the same for other religions if this country is predominately Muslim. I feel for this Islamic housewife who endures hateful stares from Americans. That is not how I would treat her or any other Muslim. But why is it we are concerned about such stories but IGNORE BOLD threats, persecution, and MURDER of Christians around the world by Islamic followers. We need to wake up!!
And though we might commend moderate Muslims who wish it otherwise, the reality is-- we are involved in a conflict that Islamists promise will not cease until a global Islamic head becomes reality and Muslim Sharia law the universal instrument of justice. Refraining from the use of terms like jihadists, radical Islam, Islamic terrorists, or the like does not change the equation. It's war, and we are in it!!
I know I have stated before in blogs some differences between Mohammed and Christ, and the Qur'an and the Bible but the major difference I want to make clear is Islam is a religion based on mans effort to earn salvation/God, and Christianity is based on what God already did to save man. Man can not earn his own way to God nor can man erase his own sins by doing a list of things.
I don't need to make excuses for anything in the Bible. I might not understand everything but I know the Bible is God breathed and reliable above anything else on earth. I will not water it down to make it more acceptable to people nor do I have any interest in being a moderate Christian. I want to be a radical Christian, an extremist. I know Jesus personally and I want to obey Him because I love Him and trust Him (not because I am forced or brainwashed). He says the first and greatest commandment is to love Him and then to love my neighbor as myself. Can you imagine if every Christian was radical for Jesus--taking the Bible literally-forgiving their enemies and not only that--loving them. That is what RADICAL CHRISTIANITY looks like. Believe me, if we all followed what the Bible says (literally) we would have heaven on earth.
There are difficult passages that would be great to skip over but that is not how the Bible works. Take it all or reject it period!!!! If you spend time in God's Word you will realize how the Old Testament and New Testament flow and work together in one continuous story/plan. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The verses on slavery you mentioned are an example of this---you say God is condoning slavery, "just make sure you treat them slaves nicely". If you dig deeper in His Word you will see He is pointing us to the fact that whether we are a slave, free, male, female, persecuted, sick, rich, poor we are HIS. HE is our Master (if we choose Him) and this world has no hold on us (it is not our home). So no matter what your current situation is, work/live as if you are working for HIM. He sees all, He will make all things right. Even Christ Himself came to us as a slave "He made himself nothing, he took the humble position of a SLAVE and appeared in human form" (Philippians 2:7). God does not contradict Himself and the life of Jesus is the best way for us to know God and His nature.
I hate to defend Christ and Christianity by putting down another religion but I grow tired of Mohammed and the Qur'an being compared to Christ and the Bible so let me end by pointing out a few things you might not know. This is what the Qur'an says about contradictions between two scriptures-- the scripture that came later overrides the first scripture written (meaning God changes or is not perfect and needs to correct himself). Mohammed lost both parents, his dad died days before he was born, his mom at the age of six. Later after loosing his grandfather he lived with an uncle. He traveled all over with his uncle thus picking up different belief systems. In his mid twenties he married a woman almost 20 yrs his senior. He could not read or write. The Qur'an is his reciting of revelations given to him (the first of which he thought he was possessed by demons but his wife convinced him otherwise). He never claimed to be divine. He never preformed miracles. He beheaded hundreds of Christians and was known for raping women and children. The negative, violent verses of the Qur'an (that people want us to ignore) were actually written after the peaceful verses thus negating the peaceful verses. The peaceful verses don't add up anyway if you look at the book as a whole and the life of Mohammed (the last and greatest profit from God).
A Christian martyrs say "I will die for what I believe".
A Muslim martyr says; "you will die for what I believe"
Believer in the TRUTH
I welcome the opportunity to shed light on this controversial subject of Islamic extremist and how we should respond as a nation and individuals.
It would be stupid to go around blaming ALL Muslims for 9/11 and other acts of violence but just because not all Muslims are aware or act on the commands of their leader/book does not mean we should put our heads in the sand and ignore the danger Islam poses. Despite what many leaders (including many of our own) say around the world, Islam is not a religion of peace and if America and other countries continue to ignore their threats, teachings, tactics we will soon become an Islamic nation ourselves, void of the freedoms we now enjoy. Some experts have said within 5 to 7 years Islam will be the dominate religion of the world. Right now in several nations they don't even need violence to spread because the rate at which they propagate far exceeds everyone else.
If that doesn't scare you, look at the nations which are predominately Muslim and research how they treat people of other religions. I'll give you just a few recent examples----
*Nigeria (which the northern part is predominately Muslim), over 500 hundred Christians were SLAUGHTERED this March as the killers shouted Allah.
*A village in Indonesia's Central Maluku province, angry Muslims torched churches, dozens of homes and other properties after a Christian teacher allegedly made comments insulting Islam rights investigators said.
*In Pakistan in 2009 seven innocent Christians die in Punjab province at the hands of angry, violent Muslims.
*Just this June in the same province 250 Christian families were forced to leave their homes after Christians complained that Muslims were sexually assaulting girls and women, most of whom worked in Muslim families.
*Three Iranian Christians face execution. They are being threatened with the death penalty if they do not renounce their Christian faith and revert back to Islam, a network reported Monday, September 13.
David, I could go on and on. Muslims in the U.S. reap the benefits of "freedom of religion" but it will not be the same for other religions if this country is predominately Muslim. I feel for this Islamic housewife who endures hateful stares from Americans. That is not how I would treat her or any other Muslim. But why is it we are concerned about such stories but IGNORE BOLD threats, persecution, and MURDER of Christians around the world by Islamic followers. We need to wake up!!
And though we might commend moderate Muslims who wish it otherwise, the reality is-- we are involved in a conflict that Islamists promise will not cease until a global Islamic head becomes reality and Muslim Sharia law the universal instrument of justice. Refraining from the use of terms like jihadists, radical Islam, Islamic terrorists, or the like does not change the equation. It's war, and we are in it!!
I know I have stated before in blogs some differences between Mohammed and Christ, and the Qur'an and the Bible but the major difference I want to make clear is Islam is a religion based on mans effort to earn salvation/God, and Christianity is based on what God already did to save man. Man can not earn his own way to God nor can man erase his own sins by doing a list of things.
I don't need to make excuses for anything in the Bible. I might not understand everything but I know the Bible is God breathed and reliable above anything else on earth. I will not water it down to make it more acceptable to people nor do I have any interest in being a moderate Christian. I want to be a radical Christian, an extremist. I know Jesus personally and I want to obey Him because I love Him and trust Him (not because I am forced or brainwashed). He says the first and greatest commandment is to love Him and then to love my neighbor as myself. Can you imagine if every Christian was radical for Jesus--taking the Bible literally-forgiving their enemies and not only that--loving them. That is what RADICAL CHRISTIANITY looks like. Believe me, if we all followed what the Bible says (literally) we would have heaven on earth.
There are difficult passages that would be great to skip over but that is not how the Bible works. Take it all or reject it period!!!! If you spend time in God's Word you will realize how the Old Testament and New Testament flow and work together in one continuous story/plan. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The verses on slavery you mentioned are an example of this---you say God is condoning slavery, "just make sure you treat them slaves nicely". If you dig deeper in His Word you will see He is pointing us to the fact that whether we are a slave, free, male, female, persecuted, sick, rich, poor we are HIS. HE is our Master (if we choose Him) and this world has no hold on us (it is not our home). So no matter what your current situation is, work/live as if you are working for HIM. He sees all, He will make all things right. Even Christ Himself came to us as a slave "He made himself nothing, he took the humble position of a SLAVE and appeared in human form" (Philippians 2:7). God does not contradict Himself and the life of Jesus is the best way for us to know God and His nature.
I hate to defend Christ and Christianity by putting down another religion but I grow tired of Mohammed and the Qur'an being compared to Christ and the Bible so let me end by pointing out a few things you might not know. This is what the Qur'an says about contradictions between two scriptures-- the scripture that came later overrides the first scripture written (meaning God changes or is not perfect and needs to correct himself). Mohammed lost both parents, his dad died days before he was born, his mom at the age of six. Later after loosing his grandfather he lived with an uncle. He traveled all over with his uncle thus picking up different belief systems. In his mid twenties he married a woman almost 20 yrs his senior. He could not read or write. The Qur'an is his reciting of revelations given to him (the first of which he thought he was possessed by demons but his wife convinced him otherwise). He never claimed to be divine. He never preformed miracles. He beheaded hundreds of Christians and was known for raping women and children. The negative, violent verses of the Qur'an (that people want us to ignore) were actually written after the peaceful verses thus negating the peaceful verses. The peaceful verses don't add up anyway if you look at the book as a whole and the life of Mohammed (the last and greatest profit from God).
A Christian martyrs say "I will die for what I believe".
A Muslim martyr says; "you will die for what I believe"
Believer in the TRUTH
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Muslims Are Extremists - Are Christians Extremists?
An excellent article that shows this blog entry title is obviously wrong.
A 9/11 Widow Balances Her Family, a Job and Islam - NYTimes.com
Islam has a problem with extremists - a statement of the obvious. But most Muslims are devout people who live peaceful, good lives. Good thing too since millions live around us. They ignore the extremist passages in the Koran or creatively explain them away. Just as many Christians ignore or explain away extremist language in the Bible. See the early blog post about the slavery passages in the old testament and your unconvincing response (I understood your response to be that the bible says more or less that slavery is okay as long as we treat them kindly).
Extremists focus on the extremist language in their holy book to justify their acts. Should all Muslims be condemned for the acts of Islamic extremists? The language in their book certainly supports what they do. However Christians should consider this carefully before they go down this path. After all, Christianity could be blamed for the acts of Christian extremists - like the Ku Klux Klan. Who, after all, used the Cross as a very powerful symbol. The KKK (and modern day white supremacists) considered themselves the only true Christians - just as Islamic extremists believe they are the only true Muslims. (A side note - why didn't southern white Christian churches publicly condemn the acts of the KKK? Probably because the KKK were members of local churches.)
It is absurd to blame Christianity for the acts of the KKK - it is also absurd the blame all Muslims for the acts of the extremists on 9/11. Both faiths have holy books that are fully of extremist language - and 99% of followers (thank goodness) of both faiths ignore or explain away the extremist language. Just as you thankfully did.
A 9/11 Widow Balances Her Family, a Job and Islam - NYTimes.com
Islam has a problem with extremists - a statement of the obvious. But most Muslims are devout people who live peaceful, good lives. Good thing too since millions live around us. They ignore the extremist passages in the Koran or creatively explain them away. Just as many Christians ignore or explain away extremist language in the Bible. See the early blog post about the slavery passages in the old testament and your unconvincing response (I understood your response to be that the bible says more or less that slavery is okay as long as we treat them kindly).
Extremists focus on the extremist language in their holy book to justify their acts. Should all Muslims be condemned for the acts of Islamic extremists? The language in their book certainly supports what they do. However Christians should consider this carefully before they go down this path. After all, Christianity could be blamed for the acts of Christian extremists - like the Ku Klux Klan. Who, after all, used the Cross as a very powerful symbol. The KKK (and modern day white supremacists) considered themselves the only true Christians - just as Islamic extremists believe they are the only true Muslims. (A side note - why didn't southern white Christian churches publicly condemn the acts of the KKK? Probably because the KKK were members of local churches.)
It is absurd to blame Christianity for the acts of the KKK - it is also absurd the blame all Muslims for the acts of the extremists on 9/11. Both faiths have holy books that are fully of extremist language - and 99% of followers (thank goodness) of both faiths ignore or explain away the extremist language. Just as you thankfully did.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Psalms 91:1, God's emergency number
I guess the first thing that came to my mind when I read the article are the verses in Matthew and Luke Ch. 4 when Jesus says to satan "You shall not tempt the LORD your God" Oddly enough satan quotes from Psalm 91 the same Psalm the Chaplin used (from the article). Satan is trying to get Jesus to throw Himself off the pinnacle of the temple and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down, for it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you. In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'" Jesus basically tells satan, forget it. I don't need to do something foolish like that to prove My authority in God.
In other words, you don't do something stupid under the guise that God will protect you. I don't know this guys motivation, nor do I know the whole story but it seems to me he is tempting the LORD God by taking unnecessary risks and putting others in harms way. With that being said I love Psalms 91 and quote/pray/claim it all the time. It is one of my favorite Psalms and is the only passage in the Bible where every protection from the harms of this world are listed. When I say I claim it, what I mean is, I believe there is protection for God's people when we believe and claim His promises. He will take care of His own but there are conditions to that protection.
Psalm 91:1 (911 just happens to be our distress call) starts with "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.'" You must dwell with Him, meaning abide, live in Him (relationship) and proclaim your trust in Him.
Later in the Psalm there is another condition vs. 9 "Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you."
and then in vs. 14 "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him". This protection is for those who love God, really love God.
I can't tell you how God works as far as why one person dies and not another. There is not a formula to figuring Him out; He's not a vending machine---say you believe, go to church, maybe read a few verses a week and your covered. How hockey would that be. I can tell you there are patterns to follow from the Bible, and in our world, of people who have learned to dwell in Him. I would love to share with the atheist soldier the many stories of Godly generals and soldiers who saw God's hand at work through their prayers and trust in HIM. I cringe to think of where this country would be without all the Godly praying people who have gone before us. We are slowly getting a taste of this as this country as a whole relies less and less on God and more on the wisdom of man.
Paul and others in the Bible said many times--following Christ would not be easy. If I signed up because I thought I would somehow avoid hardship, I didn't read the manual very well. Christ Himself asked if He could be spared from torture and death. In Matthew 26:39 Jesus prayed "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will." He is our ultimate example. You come to a place in your walk with Him that you know He knows best and you trust Him with your very life. A favorite verse of mine is Philippians 1:21 where Paul says "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." We win either way. Pretty much all the disciples lost their lives as martyrs but look at the many times and ways God miraculously spared them, performed miracles through them, saved souls through their witnessing. I can only hope my life will count as much.
In other words, you don't do something stupid under the guise that God will protect you. I don't know this guys motivation, nor do I know the whole story but it seems to me he is tempting the LORD God by taking unnecessary risks and putting others in harms way. With that being said I love Psalms 91 and quote/pray/claim it all the time. It is one of my favorite Psalms and is the only passage in the Bible where every protection from the harms of this world are listed. When I say I claim it, what I mean is, I believe there is protection for God's people when we believe and claim His promises. He will take care of His own but there are conditions to that protection.
Psalm 91:1 (911 just happens to be our distress call) starts with "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.'" You must dwell with Him, meaning abide, live in Him (relationship) and proclaim your trust in Him.
Later in the Psalm there is another condition vs. 9 "Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you."
and then in vs. 14 "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him". This protection is for those who love God, really love God.
I can't tell you how God works as far as why one person dies and not another. There is not a formula to figuring Him out; He's not a vending machine---say you believe, go to church, maybe read a few verses a week and your covered. How hockey would that be. I can tell you there are patterns to follow from the Bible, and in our world, of people who have learned to dwell in Him. I would love to share with the atheist soldier the many stories of Godly generals and soldiers who saw God's hand at work through their prayers and trust in HIM. I cringe to think of where this country would be without all the Godly praying people who have gone before us. We are slowly getting a taste of this as this country as a whole relies less and less on God and more on the wisdom of man.
Paul and others in the Bible said many times--following Christ would not be easy. If I signed up because I thought I would somehow avoid hardship, I didn't read the manual very well. Christ Himself asked if He could be spared from torture and death. In Matthew 26:39 Jesus prayed "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will." He is our ultimate example. You come to a place in your walk with Him that you know He knows best and you trust Him with your very life. A favorite verse of mine is Philippians 1:21 where Paul says "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." We win either way. Pretty much all the disciples lost their lives as martyrs but look at the many times and ways God miraculously spared them, performed miracles through them, saved souls through their witnessing. I can only hope my life will count as much.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
This Chaplain Is Protected By God—and by an Atheist--at War - WSJ.com
I have been remiss in my posts recently. Busy trying to enjoy the last of summer. I just read this article and found it fascinating and disturbing and was anxious to post it to this blog. I'll respond to your last post later.
I find this story disturbing - and perhaps infuriating is not too strong a word. Through his faith this chaplain needlessly endangers the life of the soldier assigned to protect him. The Chaplain takes foolish and unnecessary risks - exposing himself to enemy fire when he could take cover - because he believes his god will protect him. But by doing so he recklessly risks the life of the soldier assigned to protect him. Another example of faith doing more harm than good. This Chaplain is a dangerous fool - he may get RP Specialist Chute killed because of his faith. Clearly god doesn't protect all his followers since lots of devote Christian US soldiers have come home dead.
This Chaplain doesn't deserve RP Specialist Chute's protection. The Chaplain has a moral obligation to not endanger soldiers lives in reckless unnecessary ways.