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 ...
If Steve and Olaf start eating pork chop sandwiches for breakfast dinner and supper, we'll know they lied about their conversion.
Your post illustrates one of the core problems with Islam. Unlike Christianity, there is no spiritual renewal in which the believer becomes infused with God's Spirit and is able to walk with Him. In Islam, there is only what you say, and your absolute submission to His law. And apparently, to these terrorists at least, at gunpoint is just as good as anything else.
I'm not a Christian. Even given that, I would hope that I have the strength to repudiate islam at gunpoint.
If you were lucky you would merely take a bullet. It is just as likely that you would be butchered alive, screaming out your last while the knife sawed through your neck. Perhaps they would take an electric drill to you first, or worse.
If you weren't the only captive, you might have to witness this treatment of your comrades while you waited your turn.
Anyone standing firm against that would be a Saint.
That's why I am not judging them. I would try not to judge them even if they did profess faith in Christ.
The h*** with the media. They are lapdogs, and it's all about money and ratings anyway. They are just walking the pc route. If they dared write anything negative about Islam, they would get CAIR stirred up and would get a fatwa put on them if they pushed it too far.
I think they see themselves as "enlightened ones", plus most of the intellegentsia crowd has moved past Christianity with some notable exceptions.
The problem is that islam paints all of western civilization with the same brush. This incident just confirms to them that we can be easily frightened into conversion and subjucation.
Wonder what would happen if I presented myself before the local mosque at next Fridays prayers and requested that they take my head of in the courthouse square now rather than later?
You are a fine example of an American. Thank you very much.
Yep. Real prophets climb mountains to be closer to God.
They don't crawl into a hole to listen to the hissings of the Serpent.
My point is ....We the United States, both civilian and military, have to respect/adhere to Islamic rules/laws when in their country
.....or we are either jailed/killed/evicted.
The Islamic focus is to proselytize us, however, by duress/force into their religion....
No similar respect given on their part.
The whole thing is quite interesting. Apparently, we are fighting Islam and its tenets, not just some enemy that wants to impose its ideology on the West.
Of course, conversion at the point of a gun just shows the bankruptcy of the entire belief. Allah could very well be a Satanic perversion since the religion is a perverted mirror image of Christianity.
Would I lie to save my life? Who knows. I've never been in that situation. The newsmen didn't go there as missionaries, nor did they go there to convert the jihadists.
I would like to posit that the intent of the video "conversion" was not to actually claim the two hostages were truly converted to the ways of Islam. Rather, it was a show by the Islamofascists of how they can get the West to become subordinate to Allah by the point of a gun. It was a show of strength and superiority for all the world to see on Fox News. Millions of Muslims are heartened and inspired to see yet another great symbolic victory by the servants of Allah. It matters not what you or I (as infidels) think of the tape. It served its purpose in motivating more kidnappings, beheadings, and bombs.
Thank you. I try...
I tend to agree with you.
Christian Martyer web site...
Thanks!
Doesn't make any difference if he follows Christianity or not. Doesn't matter if he was under duress. If a statement made in public is not the truth then subsiquent statements shoud be made to present the truth.
Goes without saying that private confession is appropriate.
Your right, he doesn't.. though, once home and if he chooses to remain a reporter then I think he should call a spade a spade. If not, then his viewpoint isn't worth a damn.
You exhibit a full understanding. May I recommend perusing the breaking news thread? Anyone even suggesting that these events were a landmark victory for radical Islam was thrashed unmercifully.
I've seen lots of scripture being thrown around by some overly righteous FReepers. Well answer this then. What is the point of the parable of the prodigal son? If you are saying that anyone who strays from Christ will burn in hell for all eternity then why does Jesus say that there is a party in Heaven everytime a soul who strays, returns to Christ.
I really am impressed that you all can speak for God, even though there is scripture that contradicts everything you've all been saying on this thread.
Like I said, put your money where your mouth is. Go to Palestine with a sign that says "Jesus Saves", and see how you react when you're kidnapped and tortured.
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