Soul and Spirit

Christianity 101

God loves Muslims.

So don’t be insulted or offended or mad because of the Tennessee governor’s Christmas card:

A Nashville pastor is questioning why Governor Bredesen chose to paint a picture of a teenage Muslim girl for his annual Christmas card.

Bredesen’s card shows a young Muslim girl that he met in Afghanistan last March.

Pastor Maury Davis of Cornerstone Church told W-K-R-N-T-V in Nashville that the governor’s message is convoluted and could be interpreted as an insult to Christianity.

On the back of the card, Bredesen wrote that it may seem odd to put a portrait of a Muslim on a Christmas card. But he said that the season should serve as a reminder that God loves his children most of all.

Bredesen also wished for peace and hope for the woman and her country.

Pastor Davis, it’s OK. Let it rest.

Money for Killer’s Family

Wow!

In what’s being called a stunning example of “the imitation of Christ,” the Amish community devastated by the cold-blooded murder of five of its schoolgirls is raising money for the killer’s family.

Amish residents of rural Lancaster County, Pa., have started a charity fund to help not only the victims’ families – but also the mass-murderer’s widow and children, reports the New York Times today. The killer, Charles Carl Roberts IV, 32, committed suicide at the end of Monday’s attack, in which he shot 10 girls. Five of them, aged 7 to 13, died.

Here We Go Again?

Israel on higher alert status.

Syria threat over Golan puts Israel on war alert

Israel has gone on heightened alert over a possible war with Syria amid reports that President Bashar Assad may be considering military strikes to regain the Golan Heights.

For years Israeli military intelligence has down-played Syria’s capacity to launch a meaningful attack against Israel, and the threat level has been kept “low”.

But Israeli reports have revealed that the threat level had been raised after intelligence assessments that Damascus is “seriously examining” military action.

The raised threat level comes as Israel prepares for Monday’s Day of Atonement, known as Yom Kippur, a solemn Jewish holiday when the entire country effectively shuts down as residents fast and seek forgiveness for sins.

Religion of Peace?

What a convert has to say.

Well . . . .

Mr. Soloman speaks with knowledge, credibility and conviction. He has memorized large sections of the Koran and tells me, “There’s not a single verse in the Koran talking about peace with a non-Muslim, with the Jews and the Christians. Islam means submission. Islam means surrender. It means you surrender and accept Islamic hegemony over yourselves.”

Is he right?

Rating Religious Adherents

I wonder what conclusions he would draw from my life about the God I profess to love and follow and serve.

Over at WizBangBlog, Jay Tea has this excellent post: Explosively Unique…

So as a matter of practicality, I don’t judge the religions on their beliefs, but by the behavior of their adherents

While I do measure doctrines, I also believe the practical outworking of said doctrines is important. Extremely important, in fact.

The Bible tells us to try the spirits. It also tells us that by their works shall we identify the false and the true.

That said, I wonder how JT would evaluate me. And I wonder what conclusions he would come to about my Christianity and my Anabaptism.

More importantly, I wonder what conclusions he would draw from my life about the God I profess to love and follow and serve.

Here’s a piece from Hebrews 11:16 — “Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God.” Oh wow!

Child Sacrifice?

Children should get better than this:

This is not a clash of civilizations, as child sacrifice is one of the hallmarks of uncivilization. This is a struggle for our survival as a race, as one side sheds every trapping of civilization, of decency, of humanity in an effort to win through sheer revulsive behavior.

What has happened to mankind’s inborn love of children, especially our own?

I agree with the writer above — it is uncivilized to sacrifice children for an adult campaign, an adult struggle, an adult agenda.

Sacrificing children because of adult selfishness is abominable.

I can condemn the Palestinians for that.

I can condemn abortion providers and consumers for that.

I can condemn abusers for that.

And I suppose such condemnation is not mine alone.

But how do children — my own children — suffer because of my own selfishness and my own agendas?

The above article highlights such a tragedy.

But what is happening in our own country, in our own communities, in our own churches, and in our own families?

Wrongly wound children at your own peril! God will most surely avenge them in His own time.

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Above all, love God!