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Posted on 12/11/2001 1:28:15 AM PST by lavaroise
December 6, 2001 File: 186
WHY IS THE CHRISTIAN WORLD SILENT ?
Why is the Christian world silent in the face of anti-Christian terror ? Alarm bells of Moslem anti-Christian conduct have been evident for years.
Many Muslim-ruled countries have dismal records when it comes to religious freedom and tolerance. Christians are particularly discriminated against. Why is the free world's reaction too often muffled ? Why are Christians silent ? Is it because we are afraid to step on the sensitive toes of "Big Oil" a.k.a "Arab Oil" ? Jews, once a majority in Medina, have long disappeared from Saudi Arabia as well as from most Arab countries. By Islamic laws . Jews were always second class citizens. After Five Arab nations attacked the newly established State of Israel, 800,000 Jews fled from their ancestral homes in 22 Arab lands abandoning everything they owned. Christians throughout the Moslem world are facing the same pressure: coercion, intimidation , constraints and extortion. By contrast, roughly 1.8 million to 2 million Muslims in the U.S. are free to construct mosques, set up their own nonprofit groups, evangelize for their own religion and raise funds here -- protected by the First mendment.
Here are some facts:
1. Christianity is banned in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Kuwait. Saudi Arabia has refused a U.S. appeal to release more than a dozen Christians accused of practicing their faith .
2. The U.S. State Department rates Afghanistan among the worst religious freedom violator -- along with Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Sudan, where leaving Islam for another religion is a capital offense.
3. "First the Saturday people [Jews], then the Sunday people [ Christians]." This Moslem strategy seeks to impose Islam not only on Jews [ Saturday people] but also on Christians. Moslem anti-Christian hatred has also come to the fore in Israel; The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee heard expert testimony that "vandalism of Christian graves" in the PA-controlled areas has been on the rise of late. From one town of Beit Sahour (Bethlehem-area) fifty Christian families tried to emigrate in just one month. Christians have fled from Bethlehem, Nazareth and other cities out of fear, coercion and duress.
4. Turkmenistan -- Four Baptists were tortured for having religious literature in their car.
5. . Former U.S. Senator Connie Mack, upon returning from Israel, told the Senate, " I met one evening, privately - secretly - with Arabs who were being persecuted for the Christian faith... One man [who was arrested by the Palestinian Authority police] was beaten and hung from the ceiling by his hands for many hours on charges of selling land to Jews, [but] he was poor and had no land. [His son said he was] held hostage to prevent him from talking with people about his faith... It caused me to ask, 'How can the people of Israel find peace when the Palestinian Authority engages in coercion and torture based only upon religious beliefs?'"
6. Nigeria, Indonesia and Sudan lead the world in actual death tolls of Christians, according to the Center for Religious Freedom at Freedom House -- and the number of Christians and animists who have perished in Sudan is estimated at 2 million.
7. In January 2000, the Palestinian Authority forcefully took over the Russian Orthodox church in Jericho. In July 1997, PA para-military police burst into a monastery in Hebron, beat and dragged out the monks and nuns, injuring five monks and three nuns.
8. A Christian member of Congress Rep. Mike Pence (R-Indiana), testified that the desecration of Jewish history on the Temple Mount is "an outrageous example of an attempt by the Palestinian Authority to show no regard to the important claim that both Jewish and Christian history have on that site." "Millions of believing Christians and Jews across America cherish that site.... $125 million is being used (by the P.A.) to excavate the site without any regard to its unique history and without any regard to standard archaeological protocol"
9.. Maronite Catholic Church has accused Syria undermining Lebanon's existence. In a statement the Council of Maronite Bishops said Lebanon was fast losing its identity because of Syrian "tutelage." Fear and intimidation are but two of many reasons why Christians have fled from Lebanon, especially since Syria "annexed" Lebanon.
10. Moslem gunmen attacked a Christian Church in Southern Pakistan killing 15 Christians in a Pakistani church. Christians feared they could become targets if unrest broke out in Muslim Pakistan over opposition to the U.S. attacks on neighboring Afghanistan's ruling Muslim Taliban militia.
11. American courts recently granted asylum to Palestinian Christian Arabs, on the grounds that they would be persecuted for their religious beliefs if they return to PA-controlled territory.
Sources: Julia Duin, "Christians Face Dismal Plight in Islamic Realms," Washington Times, November 6, 2001; various Jerusalem Post and New York Times articles.
Sincerely, Ben Eliahou Manalapan, NJ 07726
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The muslims have an ongoing economic boycott on Christian owned shops and businesses thereby forcing them out because they have lost their livelihood.
The Christians in the West Bank have recently formed their own armed militia to protect their community from Arafat's gunmen - its going to be Lebanon all over again.
Remember Damour.
Not sure I get your meaning. Care to elaborate?
God said "with LONG life will I prosper thee," and Paul said that in Hebrews that the martyrs REJECTED a deliverance from the Lord---their choice---in order to obtain a "more perfect salvation." Now, I don't know what that is, cause the salvation I have is about as perfect as you can get. I suspect Paul meant that IN THEIR MINDS there was a "more perfect salvation."
But I notice that Jesus Christ ROUTINELY escaped crowds that sought to kill Him, and that ONLY when it was His appointed time did He offer Himself up. I notice that Paul did not hesitate to take a bucket over the walls of Jerusalem, and only when he IGNORED the prophetic warnings of the Holy Spirit not to go to Jerusalem was he imprisoned.
I understand this steps on the toes of those Christians who either want to be martyrs (go right ahead---where is your plane ticket to Saudi Arabia? Why are you still here?) or those who see all Biblical martyrs as somehow superior. I have no doubt about the sincerity of the martyrs, but I notice that NOT ONE PERSON, EVER, was directly converted as a result of a martyr. Oh, there was lots of mourning. But notice just the opposite happened EVERY TIME there was a healing! People flocked to the Gospel. Yes, Jesus told Peter that he would be killed, but Jesus did NOT tell any other apostle that directly, and to one he said, "Hey, dude, what is it to you if I tell you to wait here for all eternity?" In other words, Jesus had a specific plan for Peter. I think there are GREAT lessons in the Biblical martyrs, especially how not to be one and how to live for Christ rather than die for a "cause." Even Paul said "to live for Christ is GAIN."
But as I say, there will be those who see this as blasphemy, and all I can say to you is, "Go ahead, then, and demonstrate your faith by flying over to Yemen or the Sudan."
Somebody needs to tell the world that the use of SUVs kills christians. All that money flowing into Saudi has to get spent somehow or other and an awful lot of it gets spent on giant contrcts with Boeing, Douglass et al. for aircraft and military equipment, and there's been at least one post on FR recently describing one such contract as having quid pro quo for American bombing of innocent christians in Bosnia, the contract being signed days after the bombing.
Don't own an SUV or van as your only vehicle. If you have to have one, use it when you really need it and have something smaller to bomb around in. There are simple things you can do which will help. Learn to drive a stick shift if you don't already know. The difference in mileage between the automatic and 5-speed version of the Neon is 10 mpg. That's an extra 100 miles per tankful for free.
We know our friends from our enemies.
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