(Sorry I'm late with this ping... just back from a 10-day vacation)
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Posted on 08/27/2006 8:48:04 AM PDT by TaxachusettsMan
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Two FOX News journalists were released by their kidnappers Sunday, nearly two weeks after they were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip.
Steve Centanni, 60, and Olaf Wiig, 36, left Gaza and have since crossed into Israel after their release. The men left Gaza through the Erez border crossing.
The freeing of Centanni, a correspondent, and Wiig, a cameraman, ends the longest-running drama involving foreign hostages in Gaza.
The two journalists were dropped off at Gaza City's Beach Hotel by Palestinian security officials and appeared to be in good health. A tearful Centanni embraced a Palestinian journalist briefly as he entered, then rushed upstairs as Wiig followed.
Centanni, in a phone interview shortly after his release, said "I'm fine. I'm just so happy to be free."
He recounted how he and Wiig were pulled out of their car on August 14 and taken at gunpoint into another car. The kidnappers blindfolded them and handcuffed their hands behind their backs with plastic ties. They were then transferred to another car and driven to a building that they later learned was a garage.
"We were pushed down onto the dirt-covered concrete floor and we were forced to lie face down with our handcuffs on," Centanni said.
"Olaf was in the same room with me. Our shoulders were wrenched back, very painful."
Both of the men were forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint, Centanni said.
"We were forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint," Centanni told FOX News. "Don't get me wrong here. I have the highest respect for Islam, and I learned a lot of good things about it, but it was something we felt we had to do because they had the guns, and we didn't know what the hell was going on."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Yes,Peter denied knowing Jesus Christ three times, before the crucifixion, but when he was crucified upside down on a cross because he said that he was not worthy to die as Christ did, he did not deny Jesus Christ or his faith. As to what I would do, I don't know. But I keep thinking of the Christians in the Sudan, China, etc who have been killed for not renouncing their faith. I do know that I would be in some very deep prayer for strength and guidance to keep faith with Jesus.
Islam is a system of coercion.
Not according to one of the founders of modern radical Islam - Sayyid Qutb.
Sayyid Qutb, the long dead Egyptian fundamentalist scholar, regarded as the father of modern fundamentalism!!? Sayyid Qutb, who has most influenced the al-Qaida leaders. Qutb who was the most influential advocate in modern times of jihad, or Islamic holy war, and the chief developer of doctrines that legitimize violent Muslim resistance to regimes that claim to be !!!
You, Abd al-Rahiim, are so typical of Islamism in their 'peaceful' relations with gentiles, you do not even have the courage to be honest on freerepublic. Lying is a form of violence. Often a thousand more time more harmful than a simple act of physical violence. Lying to someone's face about your intentions to stab them in the back is fit only for the sewage of pigs.
Next thing will be for you to deny that you are a Muslim.
usually involving devotional and ritual observances,
I have daily ritual of bathing, brushing my teeth, and dressing in clean clothes, does that make 'getting up' a religion?
I fail to see in any sense how Islam embodies no concept of spirituality, especially since Paradise is often mentioned in The Qur'an.
A Paradise which embodies gross self indulgence in excess of this physical world, so excessive that it is not even possible in reality. That is not spiritual but complete materialism. There is nothing in this so called paradise which is not available to the princes of Saudi Arabia, at the expense of their peons, all ready.
The Qur'an has many sections on moral code.
The only morality that is demonstrated by these Muslims is that of complete sanctimonious self-indulgent self-righteousness, as they hide behind innocents so that they can lob their bombs filled with ball bearings and poison at civilians.
(Sorry I'm late with this ping... just back from a 10-day vacation)
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my FoxFan list. *Warning: This can be a high-volume ping list at times.
So are they now doomed to go to Hell on judgement day?
I don't care what anyone thinks. Islam is a hateful relgion and anyone who somehow tries to justify this as "Not all Muslims are bad" then piss on you!
I don't want to hear about it anymore. Case closed!
Oh I think they were pretty much IN HELL when it happened.
What an interesting reaction.
Sorry, but your arguements are becoming deadly boring and I'm no longer interested in even attempting to get through to you.
Like I said earlier, have a nice life playing God.
LOL, like I said, you sure love playing God.
"The cameraman's wife seems quite comfortable with the Palestinian view & sympathies.."
She is an ex BBC reporter. What else can we expect.
Here is your answer to 4.
The overly righteous FReepers sitting comfortably in their easy chairs were stating, "I would take a bullet before converting to Islam..."
Another overly righteous FReeper quote, "If you convert to Islam you are denying Christ"
Basically, from the comfort of their computer room these FReepers were stating, how if they were in Centanni's situation they would stand up for Christ, ect...
I said that was a bunch of BS, and they know that too. So they bring up Scripture to defend themselves. I brought up the parable of the prodigal son, that came from Jesus's mouth. I would stake my house that everyone of these FReepers posting from their nice air conditioned homes would do the same thing that Steve Centanni did if they had a gun to their head.
It sure is easy to make decisions behind a computer screen without a loaded gun to the head.
My issue is that these (overly righteous FReepers) are the folks that make outsiders avoid Christianity. They see these holier than thou folks, who can talk all the talk behind a computer screen, but then go out and deny Christ by their actions. It's despicable.
"the Palestinian people are very beautiful and kind hearted," Centanni told reporters.
Stockholm Syndrome?
Sides, Centanni looks to me to be in his late 40's... I had no idea he was 60.
Do you understand what it would take in the anthropology of man to exercise sufficient faith which manifests itself in resisting outward temptation, whether by the flesh or worldly lust or spiritual persuasion?
The answers you have received are sufficient to express the substance of things not seen which are manifest in such boldness, insofar as the things of faith might be communicated from one man to another.
The faith required is only provided by the Holy Spirit and not man. The manifestation of that Spirit in our own and displayed by our heart are responses such as are memorable of many martyrs and as mentioned by many FReepers here who have been blessed so as not having to suffer the physical calamity, but nnetheless display the same faith requisite to withstand such adversity.
Your appeal to the flesh as the reason why they do not submit in adversity to deny Christ or to readily accept another as a false god is the same false appeal used by Satan in the book of Job to God Himself.
When evil exercises force it will ultimately be overcome by greater force, unless by the grace of God the evildoer returns to Him by His protocols. I encourage you to reconsider Job.
Just fatally myopic, IMHO.
Lucifer was the most beautiful cherub in heaven even before he declared his 5 'I wills'.
Apparently that's the same mode of "evangelism" they utilize as well. So much for the vaunted Islamic lie "there is no compulsion in religion".
Islam does display much evidence of spirituality, yet in nearly all the cases I've observed, those cases are counterfeit by using either the flesh, worldly works, or by adversarial spirit, all indicative of a false religion.
For example, God has revealed to us how He regenerates the spirit and under what conditions such a rebirth occurs. This occurs through faith in Him. A great peace accompanies such faith, but if one denies Him, there may be a temptation to counterfeit that peace.
I have observed such a counterfeit attempt in much of the Islamic architecture, many structures which are similarly established in the spirit domain, and I have observed it in blood letting ceremonies by many Muslims, who first work up their emotions through glandular excitement to synthesize some aspects of spiritual peace, but by the flesh rather than the spirit through faith in Him through Christ.
Another appeal to counterfeit what He has provided is an attempt to perform human good works as a substitute for Divine good works through faith in Him, in order to dissuade the conscience of the soul from discerning false spirit.
Morality is not salvation.
Salvation occurs with a simple faith in what God has already provided and is accompanied by a regenerated spirit, which is only provided by God, His grace, and His work. For these reasons and observations, I find the root of Islam which is presented as a religion to be a false relgion.
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