Well, it's been a couple of years that my blog has languished without any input from me. Been all caught up in the facebook thing, and only recently have realized that it has no eternal value. Can't seem to help myself though. It's a good way to connect with family and friends, and I enjoy finding others who think like me.
Speaking of which, what does it mean to find someone who "thinks like me"? What I've found in my lifetime is that even though you may find others who think like you in many different ways, there always seems to be something that they will believe in that will have you in dismay.
Let's face it, reality is that humans are intricate beings with different ways of thinking that will confound each other easily. But how important is it that we think alike? Well, when it comes to Christianity, it is very important, and allows us to develop creeds that bind like-minded individuals together in spiritual unity.
Let's take the term "evangelical." There has been of late a concerted effort on the part of liberals and progressive-leaning individuals to hi-jack the term. You might ask, "To what end?" I'll answer that: because the conservative message has dominated in religious circles for several decades to the dismay of theological liberals and progressives. Because of this domination of the conservative message, the message of liberals and progressives has been effectively marginalized. So, in an effort to build legitimacy for their positions and beliefs, they have asserted that they are "evangelical".
Of course the term, properly understood in its historical context, is much different than what individuals such as Mr. Throckmorton wish to portray. Coming up through the 70's, on up to the 90's, and into the 2000's, we have heard it said in the media that evangelicals (used as a term to describe religious conservatives) either showed up at the polls, or didn't show up, as the case may be.
When we think of the Family Research Council, and Focus on the Family, and Liberty University, and Regent University, we also identify those institutions with their founders: Gary Bauer, James, Dobson, Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson. Along with identifying these individuals, we attach the tag "evangelical" to them.
Those of us old enough to know these individuals from news reports and from following them through their foundations, have also come to understand how the world views them. Not only did the World refer to them as "evangelical", but they also referred to them as "fundamentalist". Hence, an evangelical was one who fought for political issues that mirrored their religious beliefs.
However, Mr. Throckmorton wants to tell you that he is an evangelical too. He won't tell you if he voted for Obama, though I would suspect that he is especially enamored with him (though I admit this is conjecture on my part).
What I have found is that liberals tend to engage in sophistry and wordplay to obfuscate and confuse their perceived enemy. In this case, the enemy is the conservative voice which is typically anti-homosexual, anti-abortion, and anti-socialist.
So, when an evangelical conservative should run into someone who claims that they are "Christian", and "evangelical", and yet is opposed to one of the three aforementioned conservative positions, it causes us to question the validity of such claims, and to seek credentials which can establish the authenticity of such claims.
In the case of Mr. Throckmorton, what we find is an individual who claims the label "evangelical" yet rejects the "anti-homosexual" doctrine which is espoused by evangelical conservatives.
There are many of us that reject the notion that you can be an evangelical, AND believe that homosexuality is not a sin against God.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
ISIS or ISIL - Does it matter?
Ok, so it's been a few years that I haven't posted anything, and I'm asking myself, "Why do you even leave this blog up?" I had a purpose when I first started, and that was to expose the lies that stream through our media, but specifically from the lips of influential church people, or others who want to speak morality for America.
Today, America finds itself in dire straits when we speak of the morality of our country. We have come so far as a nation, but it has been in the wrong direction. Today, we have a president who not only has inserted himself repeatedly into moral questions of the day (primarily those regarding racism), but (in my opinion) has specifically encouraged our country to change the direction of our morality to meet that of the Devil's.
One issue that highlights this is his usage of the term "ISIL" when referring to the terrorists who are running amok on the world stage, killing people who they disagree with. Most recently, they have removed the heads of 21 Christians. In response to this, the State Department issued a statement that refused to acknowledge that the victims of this mass beheading were "Christian", or that the perpetrators were "Terrorists" or "Islamic".
And that falls in perfectly with his use of the term ISIL when referring to such murderous groups of people. That's because ISIS stands for "The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria" while ISIL stands for "The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant."
Both of those terms embrace the concept that this group of terrorist people desire to install a Caliphate that encompasses the lands of Syria and Iraq. But if you read the actual Arabic from which the terms are derived from, it is the following: al dawla al islamiyye f'il iraq w'al sham.
According to the website, Quartz, it is the last word (sham) which lends a more accurate meaning, being typically rendered as "Levant". But Levant encompasses much more area than just Iraq and Syria. According to Wikipedia, the Levant's geographical area includes the countries and regions identified as Cyprus, Egypt, Hatay (a province of Turkey), Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria, and Turkey.
The interesting thing as you read through the geographical areas that ISIL covers is that it includes this little place called "Israel." So while ISIL continues to march forward with its murderous goal of installing the Caliphate of the Levant, we see that our President seems to be much more knowledgeable regarding its ultimate goals than the general population of America is.
Now, it doesn't matter if the President is trying to send a signal of affirmation to Muslim countries that he understands and sympathizes with their cause. It only matters that YOU ARE IGNORANT of its meaning. As long as we stay ignorant of its meaning, we remain ignorant of their ultimate goals.
Why should it matter that Israel is included in this Muslim utopia? Because this has been the stated goal of all Muslim countries since the inception of Israel as a nation in 1948. The goal has always been to surround Israel from 3 sides and to "push Israel into the sea".
The terrible irony is that this ongoing effort to destroy Israel means that Arabs have paid the higher price. Their ongoing focus on the destruction of Israel and her interests have prevented the Palestinian Arabs from achieving their own potential as a nation and economy in their own right.
So much effort goes into destroying Israel, that Palestinians have no real economic engine to build their economy, and must rely continuously on whatever the United States and other countries give them in aid to keep their economy running. The politics of Palestine are focused, not on ways to improve the life and standing of its people, but on the means of destroying Israel.
As Daniel Pipes makes note, "The result is plain to see: Arabs are among the world leaders in percentages of dictatorships, rogue states, violent conflicts, and military spending."
So, is Obama propagandizing for ISIL? As I said, it doesn't matter. The whole point of this post is to educate you on the morality of the issue, which is that regardless of which acronym you use to describe these terrorists, their main goal is to destroy not only our way of life, but to destroy the nations that define themselves as autonomous states within the geographical area of the Levant. Their goal is to create a super-state that comprises a significant geographic area. Their goal is to rid all opposition to their ideology, which is a pure, Islamic Caliphate.
Go educate yourself. As for me, I'll be referring to them henceforward as "ISIL" to denote their true self and goals.
Today, America finds itself in dire straits when we speak of the morality of our country. We have come so far as a nation, but it has been in the wrong direction. Today, we have a president who not only has inserted himself repeatedly into moral questions of the day (primarily those regarding racism), but (in my opinion) has specifically encouraged our country to change the direction of our morality to meet that of the Devil's.
One issue that highlights this is his usage of the term "ISIL" when referring to the terrorists who are running amok on the world stage, killing people who they disagree with. Most recently, they have removed the heads of 21 Christians. In response to this, the State Department issued a statement that refused to acknowledge that the victims of this mass beheading were "Christian", or that the perpetrators were "Terrorists" or "Islamic".
And that falls in perfectly with his use of the term ISIL when referring to such murderous groups of people. That's because ISIS stands for "The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria" while ISIL stands for "The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant."
Both of those terms embrace the concept that this group of terrorist people desire to install a Caliphate that encompasses the lands of Syria and Iraq. But if you read the actual Arabic from which the terms are derived from, it is the following: al dawla al islamiyye f'il iraq w'al sham.
According to the website, Quartz, it is the last word (sham) which lends a more accurate meaning, being typically rendered as "Levant". But Levant encompasses much more area than just Iraq and Syria. According to Wikipedia, the Levant's geographical area includes the countries and regions identified as Cyprus, Egypt, Hatay (a province of Turkey), Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria, and Turkey.
The interesting thing as you read through the geographical areas that ISIL covers is that it includes this little place called "Israel." So while ISIL continues to march forward with its murderous goal of installing the Caliphate of the Levant, we see that our President seems to be much more knowledgeable regarding its ultimate goals than the general population of America is.
Now, it doesn't matter if the President is trying to send a signal of affirmation to Muslim countries that he understands and sympathizes with their cause. It only matters that YOU ARE IGNORANT of its meaning. As long as we stay ignorant of its meaning, we remain ignorant of their ultimate goals.
Why should it matter that Israel is included in this Muslim utopia? Because this has been the stated goal of all Muslim countries since the inception of Israel as a nation in 1948. The goal has always been to surround Israel from 3 sides and to "push Israel into the sea".
The terrible irony is that this ongoing effort to destroy Israel means that Arabs have paid the higher price. Their ongoing focus on the destruction of Israel and her interests have prevented the Palestinian Arabs from achieving their own potential as a nation and economy in their own right.
So much effort goes into destroying Israel, that Palestinians have no real economic engine to build their economy, and must rely continuously on whatever the United States and other countries give them in aid to keep their economy running. The politics of Palestine are focused, not on ways to improve the life and standing of its people, but on the means of destroying Israel.
As Daniel Pipes makes note, "The result is plain to see: Arabs are among the world leaders in percentages of dictatorships, rogue states, violent conflicts, and military spending."
So, is Obama propagandizing for ISIL? As I said, it doesn't matter. The whole point of this post is to educate you on the morality of the issue, which is that regardless of which acronym you use to describe these terrorists, their main goal is to destroy not only our way of life, but to destroy the nations that define themselves as autonomous states within the geographical area of the Levant. Their goal is to create a super-state that comprises a significant geographic area. Their goal is to rid all opposition to their ideology, which is a pure, Islamic Caliphate.
Go educate yourself. As for me, I'll be referring to them henceforward as "ISIL" to denote their true self and goals.
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