Reply to Mr. Tovey- Jesus Saves indeed.

Submitted by Chris G. (United States), Jul 24, 2007 at 21:23

Mr. Tovey, I respect your religious beliefs and understand why you may think these are the "end times." Muslims believe in that as well many of them (including probably the President of Iran) are engaged in this idiotic self-fulfilling prophecy trying to get the Imam Madhi to come back. Personally I am quite concerned about the current Iranian leadership. But on the same token I know that the current Iranian leadership is EXTREMELY unpopular in Iran right now.

I too my friend am not that young and I remember most of those events you speak of. I was born in Iran to American citizens abroad before the revolution. My parents witnessed first hand how brutal the Shah's government was in their attempt to crackdown on any group that threatened their regime. Let me tell you a bit about the context of the Muslim hatred you speak of.

Iranian Revoluion- Was against an extremely brutal regime that was put in place by the United States. Iranians were a bit miffed at the United States for both sticking the Shah into power and for supporting the Shah's regime. We also supplied him with nice AH-1 Cobra gunships, CH-47 chinooks, F-14 tomcats, F-5's, and lots of other goodies that they have reversed engineered and are still operating today. But at that time their military was used to crush Islamists who wanted a change and we supported the Shah in crushing them brutally.

Sadly the great promised revolution has now turned into an equally savage regime that forces religion upon them, tortures them, executes and imprisons them for minor crimes, and is essentially a very oppressive regime with only the trappings of democracy that is very very weak. For a short time period, there were peace offerings made and attempts by the Iranians at reconcilation and modernization, but these were rebuffed by the United States and their status as a mortal enemy was pretty much solidified by George W. Bush's infamous "Axis of Evil" speech. This was despite large spontaneous outpourings of support for America right after 9/11 in the form of mass candlelight vigils in memory of the 9/11 victims.

Bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon- This was done after the US Forces began shelling Shi'a and Druze positions in direct support of Lebanese government troops thus eliminating the Multi-National Force's appearance of neutrality. This was during September of 1983 and the suicide bombing in response was in October 1983. That whole mess was in large part triggered by the chaos unleashed during the 1982 Israeli invasion in which different sides swapped alliances and you had a huge range of groups running amok trying to stake territory. So basically we were already pretty unpopular in Lebanon to begin with for supporting the Israelis in that invasion.. Shelling Shi'a and Druze positions only heightened that unpopularity. Even worse later on after those bombings, the US Navy had the battleship New Jersey go into action with its main guns. In the process they killed a large number of civilians with those massive shells that were fired almost randomly in retaliation for the suicide bombing..

As for Christianity being intolerant, lovely. My 83 year old Southern Baptist Bible teacher taught me different at a missionary school in Indonesia (he was a retried minister and a WWII combat veteran), but hey everyone's entitled to their opinion.
Still I can't help but ask where Jesus says to hate those who do not accept his words? Are you sure you read the Book of Mathew in its entirety?
Check out Mathew 5-7. Let us look at the beatitudes and look at Mathew 5 Verses 1-10 in the New International Version of the Bible (if you like I can look these up in other versions):

1 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them saying:

3" Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Do you see anywhere where it says "Blessed are those that go to war against their enemies"??? I don't.
Then you have verses 17-21 which are a bit confusing as they seem to go against the doctrine that as long as you believe in Jesus that you're going straight to heaven. These verses sound like Islam to me.
But that's besides the point...moving on.... Verses 38 to 42 say about vengeance:

An eye for an eye
38 "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' 39 But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Then we have the bit about dealing with our enemies that conservative Christian preachers just avoid like the plague. It says in verses 43 to 48:

Love your Enemies
43"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

This passage of the Bible is perhaps the most difficult part for Christians to follow. Yet even from a secular psychological perspective it is the section that in my experience actually works miracles when it comes to dealing with radical Islamists.

So I ask you sir, why is it that more Christians don't follow that and instead are preoccupied in trying to increase hatred towards Muslims, supporting more Israeli settlements (to drive out the Palestinians), supporting more military action in the Middle East, and in effect, trying to increase the chances for a world war?

If Christians are to truly believe that Christ is coming back before Armageddon, then will he not do so on his own time??? If these are the end times is he not supposed to come down from heaven and lead Christians against the anti-Christ? If so, shouldn't Christians chill out and wait for Christ to come (while continuing to spread his word) rather then trying to support hatred and war? Ask yourself that as a Christian after reading the above Biblical verses. If Israel will be saved, Christ (who is also God) shouldn't need you or any other Christian to do it for him before he comes. When he comes and he calls for you, you will hear his calling and if you have been true to God, you have nothing to worry about. God is all powerful and will make what he says will happen, happen. Otherwise God is not all-powerful.
So please have some faith in God.

Chris G.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".