Religion | Ain't Complicated

Lured Kids?

It matters to the security of people here at home if we don’t work to change the conditions that cause 19 kids to be lured onto airplanes to come and murder our citizens.

Kids, Mr. President?

Lured?

That is stunning to me.

And when it comes to causal conditions, were none of those fellows educated and such?

And what about those other “kids” more recently in trouble in the UK? You know, those doctors?

Amazing.

I really do think Mr. Bush or Tony Snow or somebody at the White House needs to clarify that. (But it probably can’t be done.)

Fencing Fantasies

Waxing Reaganesque — “Mr. Bush, take down this fence!”

Happy talk aside, relations between the two neighbors have worsened since Bush last year signed a law calling for construction of fencing along the long border the two countries share. Calderón has ridiculed the fence, likening it to the Berlin Wall.

Since I’ve already posted on this subject here and here, I’ll not say anything further.

However, there’s also this:

Church groups led marches along both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border to protest the use of fences to stop migrants.

Nearly 100 members of churches in Arizona and Mexico marched Sunday on either side of a wall near the town of Naco, which straddles the border.

On the Mexico side, Father Guillermo Coronado of La Iglesia San Jose in Naco, Sonora, said more people need to organize similar demonstrations.

“This is a sign of what needs to be done in all the border states rather than rejecting and ignoring other human beings,” he said. “The greatest gift we have is that we are human beings with a mission to love and be happy. God has no borders.”

Señor Coronado, a question, please.

Does your church have any borders?

Also, does your church take any action to stop activity it deems immoral?

And finally, do you see any valid parallels between your answers to the previous questions and what you’re protesting against?

Presidential Perspective

"We guard against the forces of anti-Christian aggression."

“No greater thing could come to our land today than a revival of the spirit of religion. . . . I doubt if there is any problem — social, political, or economic — that would not melt away before the fire of such a spiritual awakening.

“Name the optimistic president of the past 80 years who said that and added, “We guard ourselves against all evils — spiritual as well as material — which may beset us. We guard against the forces of anti-Christian aggression, which may attack us from without, and the forces of ignorance and fear which may corrupt us from within.”

Who said that?

And more importantly, was he right about all that?

Franklin D Roosevelt on anti-Christian aggression

Original source: World Magazine

FDR at Madison Square Garden, 1940

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.

Why?

Falwell’s Friends’ Fears:

The Rev. Jerry Falwell says a White House run by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton would energize his base of religious conservatives even more than if the devil were the Democratic nominee.

Mr. Falwell, why?

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!