Posted on 09/26/2009 2:37:42 AM PDT by Silly
For years, he was a fixture in Lower Manhattan, as regular as the sunrise. Every morning, Najibullah Zazi would be there on Stone Street with his pastries and his coffee, his vending cart anchored to the sidewalk.
For many on Wall Street — young, old, all in a hurry, the charging bulls of Bowling Green — his was the first hello of the day. Affable and rooted, he lived for 10 years in the same apartment with his family in Flushing, Queens. His father drove a cab for more than 15 years.
He was, in other words, no brooding outcast, no sheltered, suggestible loner raised in a closed community.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
You never know who's selling you coffee. And a smile can be very deceiving.
I retired from Ford Motor Company and while there had occasion to come in contact with many muslim engineers, including one who is now or was in Federal prison on terror related charges. One thing that was absolutely a given, if I ever had a conversation with a muslim about anything at all other than their particular part of the vehicle, they would inevitably turn the conversation to the evils of the Jews and how the US was wrong to support the Jews. I cringed everytime I heard President Bush speak about the religion of peace. There is no such r.o.p. in the political entity known as islam.
(Proper nouns purposely not capitalized because I don't trust or respect them.)
Avoiding Muslims, and refusing to do business with them, may have value to those with a purely political agenda. However, to do so is entirely out of step with the Gospel.
I should have thought about it before posting anything. How "lucky" I am this morning to have posted to someone who just simply wants to out-Christian me.
And they might just be regular guys trying to make it, too.
Suspicion is a wicked thing, being the fuel, as it is, for witch hunts.
On the other hand, it really sucks being having one's goodwill taken advantage of.
Always enjoyed chatting with the coffee vendor on my corner when I lived downtown. Even rented a room from a brilliant and allegedly "devout" muslim once... I have always had a good sense of character and trust these men.
But, too, I've found that, these days, people of all walks, races and creeds seem to be much more adept at being believeable. It's bizarre.
Oh well, speaking of coffee...
that was an interesting exchange.
Believe me, I am no mood to out-Christian you. Like I said, I had no idea either way whether you even professed to be a Christian. (But based on FR stats, I figured the chances were high.)
Christ compels us to obey him whether or not we’re “in the mood” to do so. Do you think he was “in the mood” to be lied about, spit on, arrested and tortured? Of course not. In fact, he even prayed to avoid this. He most definitely did NOT feel in the mood to take the abuse.
However, once you begin to understand the Gospel (not religion), you see the value in befriending Middle Easterners, loving them, and giving them not only your business but your time and energy.
Additionally, turning the other cheek does NOT mean inviting someone to hit you again. In 1st century Middle Eastern culture, to turn your cheek to someone was an offer of an embrace, that is, a gesture of friendship. Many modern Christians misinterpret this verse to mean getting hit in the cheek a second time. Nothing could be further from God’s teaching than to invite someone to sin against you, or to commit a violent act.
Face it. It's not about understanding why people do things -- that's their problem. It's about dealing with what they do.
I never said we should try to understand why people do things. I said we should carry out Christ’s Great Commission and spread the Gospel to everyone.
Of course we should deal with what they do. It is not a choice of either or.
One cannot share the Gospel with people who we avoid and despise. It is simply impossible.
...Chesterton once wrote -- in answer to the charge the Catholicism is too "rigid and authoratarian" [sic] -- that the religious impulse in man is so powerful, wanton and insatiable that, apart from the guidance of the Church -- drives people to do some really weird things, like cut themselves, etc.I don't being a Muslim in America means you're a terrorist. But being a terrorist Muslim does -- that is, a fanatic, a jihadi.Of course he wrote that before people flew passenger jets into skyscrapers, but it's the same idea.
...The authority of the Church is for man's benefit, not the Church's. Of course, most people still don't get it...
In fact, I think this argument is very sound:
This begs the question: what authority is there in Islam to restrain that awful tendency toward wanton religious fervor, to prevent it, for example, from spawning a sect that is an evil cult of death, laughing as it slaughters babies, women, innocents, anything and everything including civilization itself?In civilized western countries, the culture restrains. But the culture is unquestionably Judeo-Christian in its traditions, mores, and laws. Thus it must be acknowledged that Islam is moderated by Judeo-Christianity, its two older siblings. Enough on that for now.
I was quoting the article, Einstein. Didn't you read it?
>>>> How “lucky” I am this morning to have posted to someone who just simply wants to out-Christian me. <<<<<
Don’t feel bad, last week I was engaged here on FR by a guy who wanted to “teach” me that avoiding confrontational political discussions in the workplace was not Godly.
Yes, and a lot of the terrorists are very good at that.
In '04, one of the local nationals who worked on our base at Taji, Iraq was a very affable man, got along with everybody, always smiling, offering to help and was a hard worker.
Intel discovered that he was an Al Qaeda member and would have just as soon killed any of us as not.
Fortunately, he was arrested before he could do any harm, but evidence was found that he had been collecting quite a bit of information about us infidels.
This was in the days before vetting processes were considerable strengthened, but it was a good lesson in how you must keep your guard up at all times, no matter now charming or friendly a person might appear.
What a perfect ploy to reek havoc.
A coffee/hotdog stand filled with explosives on a busy downtown street.
Rush hour......
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
trust but verify.
Oh, I guess you work for the Times.
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