When is the last time you read about
a Christian strapping a belt of high explosive materials around a child’s waist,
then sending him or her into a crowded market where the explosives would be
detonated, killing the child along with dozens of others, most of whom are women
and children? (Children as
Suicide Bombers in Islamic Countries) Where are the Christian groups who are
kidnapping large numbers of young women and selling them as slaves, literally
pricing them according to age and attractiveness? (ISIS
states its justification for the enslavement of women - CNN.com) Have you
recently read about a Christian who chose to practice another religion being
sentenced to death because of said conversion? (Sudanese
woman sentenced to death for converting to Christianity - Yahoo News) How many “extremist” Christian sects have you
heard about recently beheading and burning alive their captives?
Or consider this… How many Bible
believing fundamentalists are out there demonstrating and arguing for a woman
to be able to destroy her unborn child at any state of development for any
reason? How many advocates of euthanizing
our elderly and infirm are Christians? How
many of those who believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God are lobbying
for gay marriage and gay adoption rights?
Is it accidental that three of the worst mass murderers of the twentieth
century (Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Pol Pot) were not believers in God?
What
you believe does make a difference.
I’ve had opportunity to travel to
different parts of this world. It is
glaringly obvious that belief systems have a direct effect on all aspects of
human life. It would be ridiculous to
argue that the Hindu belief system is not directly responsible for much of the
human misery you find in India. A belief
system which says in this life you are receiving your just rewards for a
previous life supports both a caste system of fixed social classes and a cultural
unwillingness to aid those in poverty.
After all, according to karma, those who are suffering deserve it. Those who are wealthy and well fed also deserve
it. Hinduism holds that what one
experiences in this life is balancing his or her karma, and to disrupt that karmic
process is a bad thing, not a good thing.
What you believe does make a
difference.
As another example, who would disagree that
the animistic beliefs of many of the natives in Africa have a direct effect
upon their lives? I have seen, and been
confronted by, the superstitions and paranoia that accompany that belief
system. Many live in constant fear of retribution
from unseen spirits. There is a kind of
fatalism which marks animistic belief.
There exists little drive or impulse to change or improve one’s lot.
What
you believe does make a difference.
So it really troubles me when I hear
our President trying to establish a false equivalency between Christianity and
Islam. They are not the same – theologically,
morally, or practically. The Christian
message is one of reconciliation and love.
The Christian faith builds hospitals and orphan homes, it doesn’t
promote and foster the horrors I cited above. It does not seek its converts, as does Islam,
via terror and war. To seek to link, as
the President recently attempted, the excesses of the Christian crusades a
thousand years ago with modern day Islamic terrorism is to construct a bridge
too far. There are glaringly obvious
differences in the two belief systems – as Jesus said, “By their fruits ye shall
know them” (Mt 7:20).
What you believe does make a
difference.
Do we really want a world dominated by Sharia
law as advocated by many Muslims? Would
this country be ennobled and improved if a belief in reincarnation as taught by
Hinduism was embraced by all? Will we be
better off if morals end up being dictated by popular vote and court decisions rather
than tied to a transcendent standard? Atheist
activists would certainly agree. There
are all kinds of implications and complications that go with various belief
systems. To act as if they all produce a
similar result culturally and morally is willfully, abysmally blind.
As Christians, we have a
responsibility to show and share our faith. More than ever, I believe this is critical,
not only to the salvation of souls, but to the preservation of freedom as we
have known it in this country. No other
belief system provides the moral imperatives coupled with a respect for
individual rights that Christianity does. If the light of Christian belief is snuffed
out in this country, what will replace it can only be a darkness which I do not
wish upon my children or grandchildren.
What you believe does make a
difference.
Dan
Rouse
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