9-11 Reflections

I joined the Marine Corps after 9-11-01 to kill fanatical Muslims who wanted to die for a faith that professes to "love death more than we love life." Well, as the Marines would often say, "It is up to God to forgive and up to the Marines to arrange the meeting." That resonated deeply within me and gave me an outlet for the rage that consumed me in those days after nearly 3,000 people were killed. So off I went to the recruiter's office. How times have changed for me.

Many would say that my change was due to the resultant "mellowing" of one's nature as the years elapsed. I must disagree with that statement. Truthfully, I was adrift at the age of 19 with a religion that left me hopeless and seething. Anyone of a religion that is their own making will eventually come to such a conclusion. But now I have Jesus and He changes everything. It is written of Him:

"Remember that you were at that time se
parated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility."

I have since become a man more in touch with sorrow and grief for those who are perishing. As for God, it is my desire that "no man should perish, but that all should reach repentance" so, though I was again full of anger for the wickedness of the terrorists of ISIS, I was directed towards an approach of life-giving instead of life-taking. Don't get me wrong, their actions are deserving of death, but I began praying for the brutal men who found their sense of purpose in the slaughter of innocents. After all, was I not the same brutal man whose sin spilled precious Jesus' innocent blood on that cross? But God had mercy on me and gave me life. I must now do the same for God's enemies if I am to proclaim myself to be a friend of Jesus.

Q'uran burnings and double standards.

A friend of mine recently posted some logical and very well-reasoned questions on the 9/11 Q'uran burning:

Ok, let me first say that I do not support burning the Quran, I am not defending this pastor, and I'm not saying this action reflects all Muslims, BUT, why is there no public outcry over actions like this: "In Afghanistan, hundreds of Afghans burned an American flag and chanted "Death to the Christians" to protest the ...planned Quran burning."??? (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/quran_burning)

So let me get this right...to protest a hateful act by one American (which is also an act of "protest" according to the pastor), HUNDREDS of members of this religion burn an entire country's flag and chant "DEATH to ALL Christians". Is it just me, or does there seem to be a double-standard here?

After a pretty extensive conversation with some other posters, my thoughts clarified with the thought that Jesus gave His life to save us from such inconsistencies of behavior and belief. I responded:

An important thing to remember about Christianity in relation to Islam is that Christians don't consider it blasphemy to burn the bible. The Word is not on paper so that human hands can destroy it. The Word became flesh in the form of Jesus... and was absolutely crushed by God for bearing the weight of our sins. So, a true Christian is one who admits the sickness in their heart, sees the wickedness of such actions, and looks to Jesus for forgiveness of their wrongdoings. After all, what is worse: Burning the written word of one religion or murdering the incarnated (enfleshed) Word and leader of another?

If Jesus was killed for His faith in the Father, why would His followers fare any better? If Christians are citizens of heaven first (which will last forever), why would we care if the flag of the nation we live in (that will pass away) is burned? Answer those questions and you will understand the double-standard and realize why, for the most part, true Christians are concerned more with the salvation of sinners and not wrongdoings perpetuated against themselves.

Christians should consider that their personal sin is responsible for the death of Jesus before calling judgment upon sinners who don't even know Jesus. That is the humility Jesus calls us to upon our repentance. This is why the Q'uran burning is foolish and why the double-standard is comprehensible.

Thoughts? Words of wisdom? Share them, please!

On the "Religion of Peace" from Instapundit.com

A few days ago, I attended a small lunch for Kurt Westergaard, the Danish cartoonist whose image of Mohammed with a bomb for a turban is the most famous of the so-called “Danish cartoons” that occasioned one of those periodic paroxysms of rage, mayhem, and murder among followers of the religion of peace.

The lunch was off-the-record, so I’ll just say that Mr. Westergaard, now 74, is a gentle, soft-spoken fellow with a wry sense of humor. I liked his definition of a cartoon as “an idea with a line around it.” He was on his way the next day to Branford College at Yale, where he spoke before some 65 Yale students and faculty. You won’t be surprised to hear that Mr. Westergaard deplored Yale’s decision to censor Jytte Klausen’s book The Cartoons that Shook the World by forbidding at the last moment publication of the cartoons and other artistic representations of Mohammed.

Rabbi Jon Hausman was at the event and, guess what, the “Yale community” was the opposite of welcoming.

“The crowd was hostile, Rabbi Hausman reported in an interview.

There were a number of self-described Muslims. Those who did ask questions expressed displeasure with Westergaard’s work. The questions from these people were repetitive. One person described himself as a mildly Evangelical Christian who lived for a number of years in a Muslim country working. Yet, he took what I call a dhimmi view in his question — how far can Westergaard go in his work before endangering Christians who live in Muslim countries? I found this to be the most disturbing question and attitude of all.

Asked for his overall impression of Yale, Rabbi Hausman was blunt:

Honestly, I would not send my child to any school where there is such uniformity and conformity of thought and attitude. I was disappointed at the inability of those in attendance amongst the Yale community to place responsibility for the violence that has transpired on those who manifest such responsibility. Westergaard drew, but it was the Imams from Denmark who took those cartoons one year after publication and whipped up violent frenzies, destruction of Danish Embassies in the Muslim world, threats to the physical safety of Danish personnel, violence against indigenous Christian populations. Every questioner seemed to want to misplace blame.

Further, it is clear that the university suffers from the malaise of relativist truth and the multicultural ethic. There are no universal truths any longer. When I was in college, it seemed that the point of education at the university level was to use the subject matter under study to encourage independent, critical thinking. Today, all truths are equal. I abjure this notion.

In the final analysis, I believe that the university is lost.

That sums it up neatly, doesn’t it?

Christian Persecution.

"If I had stayed in Ohio, I wouldn't be alive," Rifqa Bary, a Christian convert whose parents are Muslim immigrants from Sri Lanka said. "In 150 generations in family, no one has known Jesus. I am the first — imagine the honor in killing me."

"There is great honor in that, because if they love Allah more than me, they have to do it. It's in the Koran."

The video is a powerful testament to what it means to follow Jesus. What would you give up just to know God more?



As for Rifqa, Christ died so that she could have eternal life! Though there is much in her life that seems fearful, the Lord has conquered death so that her death, however it may come, may be swallowed up in life!