For those who still haven't figured out that Islam is not just a colorful, ethnic version of Christianity, I offer the article "The Rape Jihad" by Robert Spencer. Ethical, moral Muslims the world over need to do some serious soul-searching and think about what kind of God they want to serve.
I'm not surprised that this entry has stimulated the first real storm of comments on this blog. People the world over are wondering about Islam and related topics. The nature of God, truth, and religion should be the big topics of the day. Russell Mann has been dealing with the same topic, with some of the same comment contributors.
Thanks for your comments. View my reply back at the same comments box. It is easier than conducting discussion in more than one location.
ReplyDeleteHappy to continue dialogue with you there - so long as you are prepared to face hard truths. It is all very well to talk about disdaining religion in favour of faith, but the subject of your faith has to merit faith in the first place. I am not sure that yours does.
TruthSeeker.
By the way, I was interested by your LoTR bible study ideas, and particularly by your comment about Tolkien:
ReplyDelete"his strong personal Christian faith shines through"
Tolkien was a Roman Catholic, and his intention was to create a work with a Catholic worldview rather than a Christian worldview in the sense that you as an evangelical Christian would describe it. I assume you are an evangelical Christian.
I have no preference - you are all as batty as each other, as far as I can see. Just seems a bit inconsistent that you should refer something that is fundamentally Catholic to help support something driven by the 'truths' of the Protestant reformation. But hey, perhaps you got sucked in by Mel Gibson too?
See you at Russell's house...
Last time I checked, most Roman Catholics ARE Christian, or at least operate under that assumption.
ReplyDeleteBatty Nebbo :)
Agreed - in the broad sense that they are not adherents to another major world religion, and claim connection to Jesus Christ. It is rare, however, to find someone within Protestantism who is prepared to accept Catholicism as true Christianity. The whole issue of justification by faith alone as the way that a person is saved from sin through Christ is a bit of a problem for Roman Catholics.
ReplyDeleteAlmost none of your 'orthodox' fellow Protestant preachers would class them as truly Christian. The whole Mariolatry thing, combined with prayers to saints, for the dead, auricular confession, the blasphemy of the Mass (or have you forgotten all those smouldering Reformers?), purgatory, the nature of the priesthood and 'sacraments' etc, etc - all a bit of an issue...
In the same way, our RC friends have a bit of an issue with you Prots. No magisterium, no Pope, no transubstantiation, baptismal regeneration, confession, last rites, etc... Mr Gibson, for example, is happy to call his wife a saint, but fully expects her to be in hell because she is not RC. Catholicism is exclusive - you Prots are demon-fodder as far as they are concerned(in the nicest possible sense!), because there is no salvation outside of the Holy Mother Church.
But hey! I applaud your single-handed reunification of Rome and Geneva/Wittenberg. You are a good example of modern secular tolerance and postmodern relativism. So you have to abandon all the principles that your Protestant forbears died for - so what?
Good thing, as far as I can see. Less infighting that way. Better to have doctrinal mush than battling clerics!
two things,
ReplyDeleteFirst, on the string of comments: Jesus was judicially murdered by an organized religion. Why should we now accept another organized religion that would surely do the same thing. The Catholic Church's current abysmal performance in dealing with sexually abused children proves that they are the direct descendants of the Pharisees. As both with the Pharisees and the catholic hierocracy, they just want to protect their pitiful rackets. If the catholic hierarchy actually believed in God or Jesus, they would be terrified of God's wrath. Obviously, they are not. They are just terrified of loosing money, just like the Pharisees. And like Jesus said, you judge a tree by it's fruit.
Second, on the article: There is a bad habit of judging all Islam by the actions of a few particular sects. This is like judging all Christendom by the actions of the Moonies. I'm not even too sure about how bad actual Wahabi's are. Both the Sunnis and the Shiites seem to be in bad need of reform, but what about the Ismalis and the Sufis? One should be very careful about anything that one reads on the FrontPage site. David Horowitz used to be very good on the culture wars, but ever since 911 he has tended to print a lot of stuff that can only be called propaganda. There has been a very strong attempt to create in peoples minds the concept of a monolithic Islam when there isn't such a thing.
Evil Roy
Anon: "I applaud your single-handed reunification of Rome and Geneva/Wittenberg. You are a good example of modern secular tolerance and postmodern relativism. So you have to abandon all the principles that your Protestant forbears died for - so what?"
ReplyDeleteI beg your pardon? You seem to be making some pretty sweeping assumptions about my philosophical mindset. I am not tolerant of falsehood. I am not tolerant of the RC juggernaut. I am not a relativist: I believe in absolutes. I am grateful for the sacrifices of my ancestors (although I am dismayed by the anti-Semitism of people like Martin Luther).
Roy: I don't think Muslims are evil for being Muslims. I have some good Muslim friends. I DO think that the more one studies Islam the more one runs into the fact that one can be a genocidal terrorist and remain fully within the precepts of the Q'uran. I think that part of the reason there is no general outcry against the actions of the fundamentalist extremist sects is that they wouldn't have a scriptural leg to stand on! Islam is truly a "pick and choose" kind of religion. You can follow the "golden rule" (which is not found anywhere in the Q'uran, BTW) and be a model citizen, or you can rape women (as long as they are not married) and murder children (as long as they are infidels) and still be on the radar.
I guess I just have a hard time with the universalists who keep trying to convince folks that Allah=the God of Abraham.
I apologise if I have misjudged your philosophical mindset. However, it was you who equated Catholicism with Christianity, you who used Tolkien's LoTR as a foundation for stimulating biblical thinking, and if I remember correctly from scanning your blogs, you who had something positive to say regarding Mel Gibson and his 'Passion of the Christ' Vatican Roadshow.
ReplyDeleteWhoops. I obviously misread those three consecutive issues and wove them foolishly into an assumption. Wherever did I get that from?
TruthSeeker.
Anon: You read my previous posts correctly. However, it seems like a pretty big leap to say that my spotting of basic Christian doctrine (eg. redemption by sacrifice) in Tolkien or an honest portrayal of the betrayal and crucifixion of Jesus Christ are endorsements of Roman Catholicism.
ReplyDeleteApologies. My general annoyance is obviously making me cranky. Criticism withdrawn. Thanks for the response at Russell's house. I think I will end my interaction and just leave you all in peace.
ReplyDeleteBlessings as you seek whatever truth there is out there to find...
TS
Peace to you, as well! May you find the truth you seek!
ReplyDelete