There are FReepers that will be spouting this stuff as the jihadi blade slits their throats. It'll be tough to bring more sheep to the flock when the flock is destroyed.
There are FReepers that will be spouting this stuff as the jihadi blade slits their throats. It'll be tough to bring more sheep to the flock when the flock is destroyed.
When there are no more sheep to gather, the gathering will stop, and Jesus will put an end to the insanity. Meanwhile, the Great Commission Jesus actually gave us is precisely that of making disciples. It really is the main thing Christians are supposed to be busy with until He returns.
Don't misunderstand. I don't want the jihadis to win. But I have to ask, how is what we talk about here going to stop them? Be pragmatic. What plan of attack has the best chance of actually accomplishing the mission? Political containment won't work. There are too many of them. Technological containment won't work. There are too many leaks. A war of eradication? Who will fight that war for us? We are compromised at the highest levels, and we won't even fight tooth and nail to get back control of our own country, let alone what we'd have to do to take the fight to them in a hard-hitting way. Half the country is deluded, and the other half is too sheep-like to do anything about it. It's a bad situation. I don't like it, and I think all the time about ways I can personally do something to push back.
But our options are limited. What we do here on FR is mainly fantasize fighting it. So, great. We stop trying to win lost souls to Christ, and instead spend all our newfound free time writing snarky, witty comments about how we ought to be fighting back against Islamic incrementalism, or communist incrementalism. Etc. And then nothing changes, and the one really helpful thing we were doing, sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, has stopped. I don't think that's the right way to go.
As a matter of Christian testimony, I totally agree we should always be civil. Like Paul said, to the extent possible, we should be at peace with everyone (Romans 12:18) But we are also supposed to "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 1:3). Because Jesus didn't come to bring peace, but a sword (Matthew 10:34). There will be contention over the truth. It's actually part of the plan:
For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
(1 Corinthians 11:18-19)
So we are engaged in the single most important Christian activity according to Jesus, making disciples, and the contention it stirs up is an acknowledged part of the plan. Those are our marching orders. Jesus told us there would be wars and rumors of war. But that's not the signal of His return. When does He say the end will come, when He will finally put a stop to the nonsense?
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
(Matthew 24:14)
That's the marker. And we're not there yet. And that's why sharing the Gospel is and will be until the end of the age the single most important and practical thing we can do. Not saying we give up the other fights. As impossible as it seems to win them, we have no choice but to keep trying. This is a war of multiple fronts. But there have been more people leaving Islam for Christianity than ever before in human history. Check this out:
http://www.worldmag.com/2014/07/the_rising_tide_of_muslim_converts_to_christianity
God cannot be stopped. But we do have to take His marching orders seriously. Physical self-defense, as a nation and as individuals, is a good and just thing to pursue, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the main event. We have to get it right (our in-house debates), and we have to get it out there (missions).
Peace,
SR