Friday, December 24, 2010
Christians in Danger this Christmas
Christians in both India and Iraq are under threat of attack this Christmas by Hindu radicals in Oriss, India and al-Qaeda in Iraq (respectively). Hindu radicals are having a gathering on Christmas Day this year. The last gathering on Christmas 2007 resulted in a mass wave of violence against Christians. In Iraq, al-Qaeda in Iraq has vowed to purge Christians from the country. Please pray for the safety of our Christian brothers and sisters and the conversion of Muslims who are so full of hate.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Losing our Fantasy Islam
Today I saw a picture in World Magazine of two women standing side by side. On the left, an older woman holds a sign, "No Victory Mosque Here." On the right a younger, hip-looking woman in shorts with a sign, "Peace Love Tolerance." I don't think I'll even completely understand the love affair that liberals have with Islam, which violently opposes everything about liberalism.
I think the real issue is that people are in love with their fantasy of Islam, not Islam as it is actually practiced and believed by a billion Muslims. I might have been susceptible to this, until I spent some time outside of Kampala going door to door talking about Jesus. I met Christians and Animists (who let me preach in their temple) and Skeptics and Muslims. There was a terrifying difference between Muslims and all the others. A Muslim girl told me, "If I leave Islam, my father will kill me." I thought, "Dear God, she means murder. She really believes that her own father will murder her if she leaves Islam." Now I can say, "Of course he will. That is Islam."
The fantasy of what we imagine Muslims to be (think the movie, Kingdom of Heaven) vanishes when we stare face to face with the gaping maw of evil that is Islam. A missionary friend of mine tells people, "Just read the Koran."
There isn't a week I don't think about this thought: If liberals ever succeed in enabling Islam to become dominant here in the US, all of them will die. Muslims will hang every atheist, homosexual, feminist, sexually "liberated" person in the society. That's what they do. The rest of us "conservative Christians" will get to live as dhimmis. So we're (Conservative Christians) are fighting a (non-violent) battle for hearts and minds (with a few conservative Jews and a tiny fraction of realistic skeptics) to ultimately save the lives of the people who are aiding the Muslims in their plan to become dominant. And the goal of Islam is to kill precisely the people who are helping them.
I think the real issue is that people are in love with their fantasy of Islam, not Islam as it is actually practiced and believed by a billion Muslims. I might have been susceptible to this, until I spent some time outside of Kampala going door to door talking about Jesus. I met Christians and Animists (who let me preach in their temple) and Skeptics and Muslims. There was a terrifying difference between Muslims and all the others. A Muslim girl told me, "If I leave Islam, my father will kill me." I thought, "Dear God, she means murder. She really believes that her own father will murder her if she leaves Islam." Now I can say, "Of course he will. That is Islam."
The fantasy of what we imagine Muslims to be (think the movie, Kingdom of Heaven) vanishes when we stare face to face with the gaping maw of evil that is Islam. A missionary friend of mine tells people, "Just read the Koran."
There isn't a week I don't think about this thought: If liberals ever succeed in enabling Islam to become dominant here in the US, all of them will die. Muslims will hang every atheist, homosexual, feminist, sexually "liberated" person in the society. That's what they do. The rest of us "conservative Christians" will get to live as dhimmis. So we're (Conservative Christians) are fighting a (non-violent) battle for hearts and minds (with a few conservative Jews and a tiny fraction of realistic skeptics) to ultimately save the lives of the people who are aiding the Muslims in their plan to become dominant. And the goal of Islam is to kill precisely the people who are helping them.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Austrian MP Puts Smack Down on Turkish Ambassador
Hat tip to Jihad Watch for this one. An Austrian MP takes the Turkish Ambassador to task for hypocrisy and his country's persecution of Christians.
Lightly Beating Our Wives
In the Western world the Koranic injunction for husbands to beat their wives seems to be a constant source of embarrassment for those trying to explain Islam to a secular or Christian audience. The way the force of this injunction is muted is to a) argue that Mohammad really loved women and treated them well and b) that "beat them" means "beat them lightly only if it is necessary" (Sura 4:34). Now, anyone who knows me and knows my family knows how well a "light beating" would go over with my missus - the next visitor I'd have would be the coroner. But, that aside, does the Koran really tell husbands to "beat lightly"?
In a word, no. The Koran simply tells husbands to beat their disobedient wives. In most translations of the Koran you find those words in parentheses, indicating that they are added. They are nowhere present in the Arabic text. They are also not implied in the meaning of the word translated thusly. The word in question, daraba, is used to indicate forceful violence. For a very readable article by a non-Muslim Arabic speaker, see here.
A quick YouTube search on "How to Beat Your Wife" will reveal many instructional videos on the practice (all from Islam). Here is one gem. Is it any wonder that it is reported that a woman married to a Muslim is TEN TIMES as likely to be murdered by her husband than a woman married to a non-Muslim in the UK?
In a word, no. The Koran simply tells husbands to beat their disobedient wives. In most translations of the Koran you find those words in parentheses, indicating that they are added. They are nowhere present in the Arabic text. They are also not implied in the meaning of the word translated thusly. The word in question, daraba, is used to indicate forceful violence. For a very readable article by a non-Muslim Arabic speaker, see here.
A quick YouTube search on "How to Beat Your Wife" will reveal many instructional videos on the practice (all from Islam). Here is one gem. Is it any wonder that it is reported that a woman married to a Muslim is TEN TIMES as likely to be murdered by her husband than a woman married to a non-Muslim in the UK?
Monday, November 29, 2010
Asia Bibi Still Under Death Sentence
Conflicting reports still continue out of Pakistan concerning Asia Bibi, the Christian mother of four who has been convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death. While it is possible that she has been released. The High Court of Pakistan has declared that President Asif Ali al-Zardari does not have the authority to issue pardons in blasphemy cases. Please visit www.persecution.org to find out how to petition for her pardon and express your concern over Pakistan's blasphemy laws. These laws are almost always used to settle personal grievances and often the accused are killed by mobs even if found innocent.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
New Documentary on Islam
Thanks to Staring at the View for the heads up on this new documentary...
One of the problems with discussing Islam in the West is that Muslim leaders intentionally deceive and mislead people as to the true nature of Islam. Following the pattern of Mohamed himself, the plan of Islam in a new land is that it always begins peacefully and pluralistically. As the influence of Islam grows in the new land, Islam becomes less and less tolerant of offense. Muslims first begin to fight against those who threaten them and finally move towards fighting all those who do not submit to the rule of Islam.
This video is in Arabic and subtitled in English. The narrator, Rashid, is a Christian from Morocco who is the host of Life TV's Amazing Question. This program has had a significant impact on the Islamic world and many Muslims have converted to Christianity on the basis of this program.
After 18 seconds, the program will start to show the English subtitles. In the worlds of Rashid, this program is not enjoyable, but it is important.
One of the problems with discussing Islam in the West is that Muslim leaders intentionally deceive and mislead people as to the true nature of Islam. Following the pattern of Mohamed himself, the plan of Islam in a new land is that it always begins peacefully and pluralistically. As the influence of Islam grows in the new land, Islam becomes less and less tolerant of offense. Muslims first begin to fight against those who threaten them and finally move towards fighting all those who do not submit to the rule of Islam.
This video is in Arabic and subtitled in English. The narrator, Rashid, is a Christian from Morocco who is the host of Life TV's Amazing Question. This program has had a significant impact on the Islamic world and many Muslims have converted to Christianity on the basis of this program.
After 18 seconds, the program will start to show the English subtitles. In the worlds of Rashid, this program is not enjoyable, but it is important.
Monday, November 22, 2010
What Asia Bibi Revealed...
Praise God that Asia Bibi, Christian mother of four in Pakistan has been set free from jail and pardoned after a year and a half of incarceration. Unfortunately for Christians in Pakistan, Asia Bibi was set free not because of the recognized injustice of the blasphemy law, but because the accusation was untrue.
This is the second greatest injustice of the law, that it is used to settle personal scores since any accusation, no matter how unfounded, immediately lands someone in prison (if he/she is not a Muslim). The greatest injustice of the law is that it is a barbarous continuation of Muhammed's mentally-ill violence against all critics. No slight was too small to escape his retribution. His followers quickly learned that a wonderful way to ingratiate themselves to him was to kill some helpless woman who had laughed at him or criticized him in some small way.
Asia Bibi was sent to jail for eighteen months after a dispute over water. Her Muslim co-workers did not want her to dip water out of the same barrel because as an unbeliever she is unclean. Islam seems to breed this kind of exclusivist pettiness like bacteria in a dumpster. And a bitter work rivalry is turned into a jail sentence and near execution. Asia's ordeal reveals the inherent and functional injustice of the blasphemy law.
Another revelation is the dehumanizing effects of Islam. Islam twists her co-workers into resenting her for drinking water. Islam inspires them to attempt to judicially murder her. Islam creates a system where this kind of incident occurs with frequency. And not only do we hear that Muslims are going to take to the streets to protest her release, but she has to be in hiding, because in Islamic cultures, if you've been accused of blasphemy, you WILL be killed, and it doesn't matter if you are demonstrably innocent of the charges.
But the most revealing report out of all of this is found in a CNN article. The imam who reported Bibi to the authorities, Qari Muhammad Salim, told reporters that the death sentence was "one of the happiest moments in his life." When he heard the sentence, "tears of joy poured from my eyes."
The blogger Hesperado has made a name for himself by getting kicked off of Jihad Watch for writing that Muslims are not human. Many have interpreted him as being genocidal facist, but he's more likely just very provocative (and probably a little mean). He's arguing that they don't exhibit the characteristics that we commonly associate with being human. If that's his point, he's certainly got one.
The Asia Bibi case, and many thousands of others, demonstrates how Islam dehumanizes people on a large scale.
This is the second greatest injustice of the law, that it is used to settle personal scores since any accusation, no matter how unfounded, immediately lands someone in prison (if he/she is not a Muslim). The greatest injustice of the law is that it is a barbarous continuation of Muhammed's mentally-ill violence against all critics. No slight was too small to escape his retribution. His followers quickly learned that a wonderful way to ingratiate themselves to him was to kill some helpless woman who had laughed at him or criticized him in some small way.
Asia Bibi was sent to jail for eighteen months after a dispute over water. Her Muslim co-workers did not want her to dip water out of the same barrel because as an unbeliever she is unclean. Islam seems to breed this kind of exclusivist pettiness like bacteria in a dumpster. And a bitter work rivalry is turned into a jail sentence and near execution. Asia's ordeal reveals the inherent and functional injustice of the blasphemy law.
Another revelation is the dehumanizing effects of Islam. Islam twists her co-workers into resenting her for drinking water. Islam inspires them to attempt to judicially murder her. Islam creates a system where this kind of incident occurs with frequency. And not only do we hear that Muslims are going to take to the streets to protest her release, but she has to be in hiding, because in Islamic cultures, if you've been accused of blasphemy, you WILL be killed, and it doesn't matter if you are demonstrably innocent of the charges.
But the most revealing report out of all of this is found in a CNN article. The imam who reported Bibi to the authorities, Qari Muhammad Salim, told reporters that the death sentence was "one of the happiest moments in his life." When he heard the sentence, "tears of joy poured from my eyes."
The blogger Hesperado has made a name for himself by getting kicked off of Jihad Watch for writing that Muslims are not human. Many have interpreted him as being genocidal facist, but he's more likely just very provocative (and probably a little mean). He's arguing that they don't exhibit the characteristics that we commonly associate with being human. If that's his point, he's certainly got one.
The Asia Bibi case, and many thousands of others, demonstrates how Islam dehumanizes people on a large scale.
Asia Bibi Released!
Pakistan Releases Christian Woman
Sentenced to Death for 'Blasphemy'
Washington, D.C. (November 22,2010)–International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that today the president of Pakistan has pardoned a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy.
Asia Bibi was sentenced on November 8 after a court in Punjab province found her guilty of making blasphemous statements against the Islamic prophet Muhammad. According to Pakistan’s blasphemy law, it is a crime punishable by death to blaspheme the Islamic prophet.
Her release came after intense international pressure by politicians and church leaders as well as coverage by several media outlets.
Asia has now been taken to an undisclosed location for her safety. In the past, Christians have been killed by vigilantes after being accused of blasphemy. On July 19, gunmen killed Pastor Rashid Emmanuel and his brother, Sajid Emmanuel, while police were transporting them from the court in Faisalabad to jail. The gunmen also seriously wounded a policeman accompanying them.
Some Muslim lawyers and other fundamentalist Muslims are preparing to demonstrate against Asia’s release.
ICC’s Regional Manager for South Asia, Jonathan Racho, said, “We are delighted to learn about Asia’s release and we would like to commend Pakistan’s president for taking the right action. It’s high time for Pakistan to repeal the blasphemy laws that have caused so much persecution against Christians and other religious minorities.”
Reposted from International Christian Concern.
Sentenced to Death for 'Blasphemy'
Washington, D.C. (November 22,2010)–International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that today the president of Pakistan has pardoned a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy.
Asia Bibi was sentenced on November 8 after a court in Punjab province found her guilty of making blasphemous statements against the Islamic prophet Muhammad. According to Pakistan’s blasphemy law, it is a crime punishable by death to blaspheme the Islamic prophet.
Her release came after intense international pressure by politicians and church leaders as well as coverage by several media outlets.
Asia has now been taken to an undisclosed location for her safety. In the past, Christians have been killed by vigilantes after being accused of blasphemy. On July 19, gunmen killed Pastor Rashid Emmanuel and his brother, Sajid Emmanuel, while police were transporting them from the court in Faisalabad to jail. The gunmen also seriously wounded a policeman accompanying them.
Some Muslim lawyers and other fundamentalist Muslims are preparing to demonstrate against Asia’s release.
ICC’s Regional Manager for South Asia, Jonathan Racho, said, “We are delighted to learn about Asia’s release and we would like to commend Pakistan’s president for taking the right action. It’s high time for Pakistan to repeal the blasphemy laws that have caused so much persecution against Christians and other religious minorities.”
Reposted from International Christian Concern.
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