Posted on 08/01/2007 2:10:05 AM PDT by Clive
What are Christian Korean women doing in Afghanistan anyway?
Haven't there been enough horrendous incidents involving missionaries, Christian activists, peace-at-any-price zealots in both Afghanistan and Iraq to dissuade others from plunging into the morass, ostensibly to do the Lord's work?
In too many cases, it's fallen to NATO or other soldiers, who risk their lives to rescue such people from their reckless courage, and refusal to recognize the dangers of their humanitarian selfishness. Especially women, foreign or not, who are Taliban targets.
Presuming most are still alive, the Korean Christians held hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan pose a huge dilemma for the Korean government, the struggling Afghan government of Hamid Karzai, the NATO troops trying to secure peace and reconstruction in that country.
The only ones in the catbird seat are the Taliban of Mullah Mohammed Omar (how come he's still surviving?) and the al-Qaida of Osama bin Laden.
A series of deadlines have passed in the Korean hostage case, with the Taliban demanding captured prisoners be released before they'll free the hostages. Meanwhile, they, the Taliban, are killing the male Koreans one at a time to encourage Kabul's capitulation.
No word at this writing whether the 18 Korean women are still alive.
Of all governments involved, none know better than the South Koreans the folly of cooperating with, or succumbing to, terrorist demands. Since 1953, South Korea has survived, lived and thrived under perpetual threat from North Korea, the world's most merciless and perverted regime.
The Taliban also have German hostages, whom they seem to be killing one by one.
While one has sympathy for anyone in Taliban (or al-Qaida) hands, one also cannot escape the conclusion that it is largely the fault of captives that they are in such a precarious and frightening situation.
In 2005, Canadian James Loney and four members of the Christian Peacemakers Team (CPT) in Iraq were kidnapped and held as hostages by something calling itself the Swords Of Righteousness Brigade. Before being rescued by British SAS troops and Canadian JTF2 specialists, an American member of the CPT, Tom Fox, was murdered.
The gratitude of those rescued manifested itself in Loney refusing to wear a poppy on Remembrance Day, and refusing to testify against his suspect captors later held by the Americans. A similar response came from Norman Kember, a British CPT member who was rescued.
Prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, peace-types made a big hullabaloo about chaining themselves to supposed targets in Baghdad to deter air strikes -- but they cut-and-ran as soon as their demands were ignored and bombs fell.
The martyr complex exists among Christians as well as Muslim suicide bombers. Doubtless the Korean Christians exude sincerity, courage and probably forgiveness. But that's not the point. They shouldn't be there.
The Taliban are not Iroquois whom French Jesuits once felt faith-bound to rescue from paganism -- and suffered torture and death as a consequence. Those were different times, and one would think we, or the church, would have learned a lesson.
Apparently not. Christian groups should be discouraged from dabbling in regions where their religious faith is not appreciated, and where others are required to risk their lives to save them when inevitably they are kidnapped, to be used as political bargaining chips.
On the other hand, the fact that peaceful, decent people like the Korean Christians are captured and killed by such as the Taliban, is more evidence why Canadian and NATO troops are needed in that country -- not for the sake of hostages, but to help bring peace, security and a modicum of freedom to the Afghan people.
When you affimed that quote with “EXACTLY,” I took that to mean that you agreed. Help me understand how you’re using the term “EXACTLY.”
“Oh pious one”? Hm. Maybe after replying to my inquiry above take some time away from FR for a bit. You seem a bit jumpy.
I agree. And furthermore, every one of the foreign missionaries who I know, including my own daughter, do acknowledge that and have prepared themselves to bear whatever price they must pay to carry out the job they were called to do.
Those Christians who are not intimate;y involved in Christian foreign mission outreach usually don't realize the degree of consecration and devotion to Jesus Christ that is required to faithfully fulfill the call to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the unbelieving world. Instead of criticizing those Korean Christians for being a burden on our already over-extended troops, we should be praying that God will deliver them from their Islamic captors without putting anyone else in danger.
“Apparently not. Christian groups should be discouraged from dabbling in regions where their religious faith is not appreciated, and where others are required to risk their lives to save them when inevitably they are kidnapped, to be used as political bargaining chips.”
Not happening....
Sounds like teldon30 finally got a big ole' cup of STFU, too. :)
Get a grip. It wasn’t my quote, you came off as pious. And now you try to spin your own mistake?
Whatever.
Take a day off from being pious...if you can.
As soon as you take a day off from being petulant.
None of that here. It was suggested I made the comment.
I didn’t. I noted it. the other guy began to spin.
No big deal. I’m right, he’s wrong.
And for the record, I don’t want our troops dying because of these misguided Koreans.
Well said, and very true.
I personally know several missionaries who are now working deep inside fundamentalist Islamic countries at the very real risk of their lives. Many of their converts have been forced to flee from their own families to avoid being killed. One young boy was forced to leave home and take refuge in another town because his own mother kept trying to poison him.
The brave men and women who are fighting fundamentalist Islam with guns and bombs are not the only ones who are trying to stop the danger posed by Islam. A relative handful of devoted Christian missionaries are also having an affect on the WOT one convert at a time and also at the very real risk of their lives. It may seem to be a very minor affect now in the overall scheme of things, but the seeds of the Gospel of Christ have been proven to germinate and spread far beyond normal human expectancy.
For the record, if you think these Koreans are misguided I doubt you really care about the troops, either.
There is a small group of Cristian haters here at FReepers and they are having a very hard time dealing with you. And that’s good on you. Bless you and your family and your good deeds.
For the record, it seems you make up things and attribute it to others you’ve never discussed things with in the first place.
You affirmed that quote when you replied “EXACTLY” to it. That’s no spin.
Next time, don’t throw around your affirmation so casually if you don’t actually agree with a comment.
Again, “pious”? How about “literate”?
Next time, don’t throw around your affirmation so casually if you don’t actually agree with a comment.
Next time, don’t post a false accusation as you did here.
Its still not my quote, and your still wrong...and you’ve had a half an hour to rethink it.
Oh well.
“A relative handful of devoted Christian missionaries are also having an affect on the WOT one convert at a time and also at the very real risk of their lives. It may seem to be a very minor affect now in the overall scheme of things, but the seeds of the Gospel of Christ have been proven to germinate and spread far beyond normal human expectancy.”
These are the comments on this thread that underlie the issue. I do not presume to speak for these Korean missionaries, but as to the ones I have met, every one of them had a single purpose—to bring the Gospel to the lost. They felt called to so by God and, filled with a love for souls given to them by the Lord, they embarked on a life of service. Not a one of them ever spoke of government support, the need for government protection, the expectation of being bailed out by governmental officials if things became too dire. Their trust was in God and God alone, the support and help of His people and in the sustaining of His Spirit. Period. From the stories I have heard from these missionaries, it was the as much the life of obedience and faithfulness lived out before their particular “hosts” as it was the Gospel they preached that had the most impact.
Again, the Gospel’s impact on lives—lives “radically” altered is what I believe is the interesting story here. The faithful missionary typifies Christ’s comment, “No greater love hath a man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
I speak not of these particular missionaries, but to those who have been truly “called with a Heavenly calling” to serve abroad.
“Haven’t there been enough horrendous incidents involving missionaries, Christian activists, peace-at-any-price zealots in both Afghanistan and Iraq to dissuade others from plunging into the morass, ostensibly to do the Lord’s work?”
Maybe “blessed are you when they hate you and deliver you up to be killed for my names sake” has something to do with that.
God bless them for continuing to witness for the Lord Jesus Christ when everything common sense wise tells you not to.
I’m sure the Good Lord has a special place in heaven just for them.
Children hiding their eyes and claiming “you can’t see me” do not change the ability of adults to see them.
I suppose it depends on the meaning of “EXACTLY.”
Indeed, and inserting yourself into this increasingly ridiculous conversation is childlike, no denying it.
Nope.
Its not my quote, and thats specific.
So be it, however they should recognize that they are “On their own”. No troops should risk themselves, or their unit, to go looking for someone delusional enough to go preach uninvited in a war zone. If said missionaies go in, they are subject to the laws of the country they are in, and subject to capture by the enemy. They are not uniformed soldiers and do not enjoy the protections of the Geneva Convention.
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