Tonight at my church's weekly prayer meeting, Pastor Steve, who leads the meeting, had us meditate on the second part of the first line of the Lord's Prayer, "Who art in Heaven." While asking the Lord what He wanted me to see in it, here are some of the things I came up with:
1) He is the Ruler over all principalities and powers in the spiritual realm. Every power in heaven, earth and hell is subject to "Our Father in Heaven."
2) He sees the "Big Picture." Like a helicopter flying over a freeway can "see" and even predict accidents about to happen because of it's perspective, God sees and knows everything going on at once (being outside of time) and even what is going to happen at any given time.
3) He knows us completely, being the Creator of all. Check out Psalm 139 as well.
4) He is all powerful, being over all and knowing all.
5) He is worthy of worship, based on all the above. How could I NOT?
6) He is worthy of trust. If He knows more than I do, sees what I can't, and is above all evil "forces," then I can trust Him and don't have to struggle for control of things I can neither help nor understand or change. What a relief!
7) I'm not (any of above numbers 1-6)!
How humbling is that?
Welcome to Springs in Baca, based on Psalm 84, a quiet place to reflect and be encouraged by a fellow pilgrim, on our way to our eternal Home.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Not Hate but Knowledge
I have been reading a lot of articles lately by those who raise arguments against the so-called “Muslim-bashing” or “Muslimophobia” as described by Daisy Khan, wife of Imam Rauf and many others, including yourself and many Muslims in response to the proposed building of the Ground Zero mosque.
• Not all Muslims are terrorists. (TRUE) I have had opportunities to work with several Muslims in a school setting as a teacher, both with bilingual assistants as well as parents and students. I got along well with all of them and had some excellent discussions with one in particular with whom I shared a classroom. In many ways we had more values in common than either of us did with many of the more liberal staff. My difficulty is not with Muslim people—it is with Islamic ideology.
• The Muslims who are trying to build the “Community Center/Mosque” near Ground Zero have our country’s Freedom of Religion to worship as they please. (TRUE). However, there is a difference, as we have just seen with the controversial pastor in Florida, between having a right to do something that may be legal but still WRONG. They have a right to worship as they please. BUT they need to practice what they want others to do for them=sensitivity must go two ways. They have sought and DEMANDED that our culture, including government, schools and businesses be “sensitive” to their culture, even holding “sensitivity trainings.” Now, when they are asked, even by the Governor of NY, David Patterson, to find another location because this one infuriates and offends the “sensibilities” of 70% of New Yorkers and a large number of Americans, they staunchly refuse. Does anyone (of the many groups that think they are fighting the “hatemongering, Anti-Muslim, Anti-freedom right-wingers and Christians) stop and even bother asking themselves WHY?
Like me, I believe that a lot of Americans since 9/11 have been learning about Islam and Sharia Law. Knowledge of the FACTS, not ignorance, hate or bigotry, is what is fueling the negative feelings about Islam as a belief system and ideology. I feel sorry for the many moderate Muslim people who get caught in the crossfire while simply trying to go about their daily business. Violence against anyone cannot and should not be condoned, whether in the name of bigotry, hate or religion. However, the increasing push for Sharia Law, (including by the Imam of this proposed Mosque/”Community Center”) as well as specific verses in the Koran itself, say to me and many others that this is not just about a few “bad eggs.” In 1998, Omar Ahmad, co-founder and longtime Board Chairman of CAIR Council on American-Islamic Relations), said this: “Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth.” (After he received unwelcome publicity as a result of this statement, Ahmad denied saying it, several years after the fact. However, the original reporter, Lisa Gardiner of the Fremont Argus, stands by her story.
So what is CAIR? It is an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case — so named by the Justice Department during the trial of the Islamic charity known as the Holy Land Foundation. CAIR has a long record of duplicity and deception. Although it has received millions of dollars in donations from foreign Islamic entities, it has not registered as a foreign agent as required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), despite spreading Islamic supremacist propaganda within the United States. Although it presents itself as a civil rights group, CAIR actually has numerous links to Islamic supremacist and jihad groups. Lies and deception, which ARE acceptable, even encouraged in the name of proselytizing non-believers to Islam.
Look at YouTube to find instances, not only in Taliban-controlled countries but our own, about the increasing number of Honor Killings occurring, muslims who leave Islam are threatened with their lives (according to the Koran and Sharia that they should be killed for deserting their “faith.”) Is this the meaning we want for “Freedom of Religion”?
Imam Rauf (of the proposed infamous Ground Zero Mosque and “Community Center”) has stated his support for Islamic Sharia Law which strips women of most of their rights. In countries that have fully implemented Sharia Law, girls are not allowed to be educated; women may not be seen in public without a man; they may not work, drive, or be uncovered. Under Sharia Law they may even be stoned to death or given 99 lashes for adultery, or for such things as having a picture of themselves without their covering. ( I haven’t heard of these same penalties being given to men, who presumably were the ones sharing in the act of adultery.) Women’s statements in court and their inheritances are worth half that of a man’s, and they can be routinely beaten by their husbands, a punishment sanctioned by the Koran (Surah 4:34 There are many more examples of intolerance under Islamic Sharia Law.
According to the Koran, non-Muslims must be fought against until killed, converted or “subdued.” As Surah 9.029 states:
“Fight those who believe not in Allah… nor acknowledge the religion of Truth [Islam], (even if they are) of the People of the Book [Jews and Christians], until they pay the Jizya [protection tax, extortion] with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”)
In Islamic countries, non-Muslims, as second-class citizens, cannot get the good jobs reserved for Muslims, must pay extra taxes as non-believers, and have no freedom of religion or speech expressing any disagreement with Islam or anything associated with it. To this day, Muslims who want to convert to Christianity or other religions, fear for their lives as they might be killed at any time by relatives or members of their mosques for doing so. I have read many such reports.
Add to that the historic fact that a victory mosque has been erected in every place Muslims have conquered since Islam began in the Seventh Century AD. This is entirely consistent with the Koran, which states in Surah 18:21: “Erect an edifice over them-- their Lord best knows them. Those who prevailed in their affair said: We will certainly raise a masjid [mosque] over them.” The most famous example of these victory mosques is the Dome of the Rock, built in 688 AD atop the foundation of Judaism’s most holy site, Solomon’s Temple. This is the reason why the location of the Ground Zero mosque is important, as well as the plan to build a crescent-shaped “memorial’—which, again, has all of the design elements of a mosque—at the Flight 93 crash site in Pennsylvania.
Surah 18:21 also explains why the promoters of the Ground Zero Mosque refuse to accept offers by the Governor of New York and others to assist in finding a less controversial site. Though they are being promoted as “memorials,” the Ground Zero and Flight 93 crash site mosques are designed to be symbols of Muslim Conquest, pure and simple.
Americans are becoming aware and growing tired of the duplicity practiced by Islamic leaders, claiming one thing but in actuality being something quite different. So naturally we will be hearing a lot about “Muslim-bashing” and Islamophobia.” In this way Islamic leaders are using the politically-correct rhetoric of the American culture to subdue it and ultimately replace it with Sharia Law.
You are right about one thing: many Muslims have come to America to experience the freedoms of this country. Those include the freedom NOT to be bullied and tormented by religious leaders/systems (i.e. Sharia Law). Americans like the freedom to choose how, who and/or what we worship. And even though we often must agree to disagree with each other about our individual beliefs, we have managed until now to respect the other’s rights to believe what they will.
Freedom is what they came for. Freedom is what those of us who are against the Mosque at Ground Zero are FOR. This is NOT a “Republican” or conservative fight (though some liberals seem to desperately want it to be, though I can’t see why. It wasn’t just Republicans or conservatives or “right-wingers” who were killed on 9-11). It’s a fight against those who would take away our Freedom long fought for and declared in our Declaration of Independence (“Inalienable rights given to us by our Creator.” ) Not to be taken away by some radical and hate-filled group that sees itself as Supreme and WOULD go against the First Amendment’s “Establishment of a Religion” clause because of their Koran. America, wake up before it’s too late! Look at the world that IS controlled by Islam.
Is that what WE want? I don’t think so! If you do, then, great - move to Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan or the many other places that practice Sharia Law. And enjoy practicing your faith. But leave the rest of us to Democracy and Freedom.
• Not all Muslims are terrorists. (TRUE) I have had opportunities to work with several Muslims in a school setting as a teacher, both with bilingual assistants as well as parents and students. I got along well with all of them and had some excellent discussions with one in particular with whom I shared a classroom. In many ways we had more values in common than either of us did with many of the more liberal staff. My difficulty is not with Muslim people—it is with Islamic ideology.
• The Muslims who are trying to build the “Community Center/Mosque” near Ground Zero have our country’s Freedom of Religion to worship as they please. (TRUE). However, there is a difference, as we have just seen with the controversial pastor in Florida, between having a right to do something that may be legal but still WRONG. They have a right to worship as they please. BUT they need to practice what they want others to do for them=sensitivity must go two ways. They have sought and DEMANDED that our culture, including government, schools and businesses be “sensitive” to their culture, even holding “sensitivity trainings.” Now, when they are asked, even by the Governor of NY, David Patterson, to find another location because this one infuriates and offends the “sensibilities” of 70% of New Yorkers and a large number of Americans, they staunchly refuse. Does anyone (of the many groups that think they are fighting the “hatemongering, Anti-Muslim, Anti-freedom right-wingers and Christians) stop and even bother asking themselves WHY?
Like me, I believe that a lot of Americans since 9/11 have been learning about Islam and Sharia Law. Knowledge of the FACTS, not ignorance, hate or bigotry, is what is fueling the negative feelings about Islam as a belief system and ideology. I feel sorry for the many moderate Muslim people who get caught in the crossfire while simply trying to go about their daily business. Violence against anyone cannot and should not be condoned, whether in the name of bigotry, hate or religion. However, the increasing push for Sharia Law, (including by the Imam of this proposed Mosque/”Community Center”) as well as specific verses in the Koran itself, say to me and many others that this is not just about a few “bad eggs.” In 1998, Omar Ahmad, co-founder and longtime Board Chairman of CAIR Council on American-Islamic Relations), said this: “Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth.” (After he received unwelcome publicity as a result of this statement, Ahmad denied saying it, several years after the fact. However, the original reporter, Lisa Gardiner of the Fremont Argus, stands by her story.
So what is CAIR? It is an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case — so named by the Justice Department during the trial of the Islamic charity known as the Holy Land Foundation. CAIR has a long record of duplicity and deception. Although it has received millions of dollars in donations from foreign Islamic entities, it has not registered as a foreign agent as required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), despite spreading Islamic supremacist propaganda within the United States. Although it presents itself as a civil rights group, CAIR actually has numerous links to Islamic supremacist and jihad groups. Lies and deception, which ARE acceptable, even encouraged in the name of proselytizing non-believers to Islam.
Look at YouTube to find instances, not only in Taliban-controlled countries but our own, about the increasing number of Honor Killings occurring, muslims who leave Islam are threatened with their lives (according to the Koran and Sharia that they should be killed for deserting their “faith.”) Is this the meaning we want for “Freedom of Religion”?
Imam Rauf (of the proposed infamous Ground Zero Mosque and “Community Center”) has stated his support for Islamic Sharia Law which strips women of most of their rights. In countries that have fully implemented Sharia Law, girls are not allowed to be educated; women may not be seen in public without a man; they may not work, drive, or be uncovered. Under Sharia Law they may even be stoned to death or given 99 lashes for adultery, or for such things as having a picture of themselves without their covering. ( I haven’t heard of these same penalties being given to men, who presumably were the ones sharing in the act of adultery.) Women’s statements in court and their inheritances are worth half that of a man’s, and they can be routinely beaten by their husbands, a punishment sanctioned by the Koran (Surah 4:34 There are many more examples of intolerance under Islamic Sharia Law.
According to the Koran, non-Muslims must be fought against until killed, converted or “subdued.” As Surah 9.029 states:
“Fight those who believe not in Allah… nor acknowledge the religion of Truth [Islam], (even if they are) of the People of the Book [Jews and Christians], until they pay the Jizya [protection tax, extortion] with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”)
In Islamic countries, non-Muslims, as second-class citizens, cannot get the good jobs reserved for Muslims, must pay extra taxes as non-believers, and have no freedom of religion or speech expressing any disagreement with Islam or anything associated with it. To this day, Muslims who want to convert to Christianity or other religions, fear for their lives as they might be killed at any time by relatives or members of their mosques for doing so. I have read many such reports.
Add to that the historic fact that a victory mosque has been erected in every place Muslims have conquered since Islam began in the Seventh Century AD. This is entirely consistent with the Koran, which states in Surah 18:21: “Erect an edifice over them-- their Lord best knows them. Those who prevailed in their affair said: We will certainly raise a masjid [mosque] over them.” The most famous example of these victory mosques is the Dome of the Rock, built in 688 AD atop the foundation of Judaism’s most holy site, Solomon’s Temple. This is the reason why the location of the Ground Zero mosque is important, as well as the plan to build a crescent-shaped “memorial’—which, again, has all of the design elements of a mosque—at the Flight 93 crash site in Pennsylvania.
Surah 18:21 also explains why the promoters of the Ground Zero Mosque refuse to accept offers by the Governor of New York and others to assist in finding a less controversial site. Though they are being promoted as “memorials,” the Ground Zero and Flight 93 crash site mosques are designed to be symbols of Muslim Conquest, pure and simple.
Americans are becoming aware and growing tired of the duplicity practiced by Islamic leaders, claiming one thing but in actuality being something quite different. So naturally we will be hearing a lot about “Muslim-bashing” and Islamophobia.” In this way Islamic leaders are using the politically-correct rhetoric of the American culture to subdue it and ultimately replace it with Sharia Law.
You are right about one thing: many Muslims have come to America to experience the freedoms of this country. Those include the freedom NOT to be bullied and tormented by religious leaders/systems (i.e. Sharia Law). Americans like the freedom to choose how, who and/or what we worship. And even though we often must agree to disagree with each other about our individual beliefs, we have managed until now to respect the other’s rights to believe what they will.
Freedom is what they came for. Freedom is what those of us who are against the Mosque at Ground Zero are FOR. This is NOT a “Republican” or conservative fight (though some liberals seem to desperately want it to be, though I can’t see why. It wasn’t just Republicans or conservatives or “right-wingers” who were killed on 9-11). It’s a fight against those who would take away our Freedom long fought for and declared in our Declaration of Independence (“Inalienable rights given to us by our Creator.” ) Not to be taken away by some radical and hate-filled group that sees itself as Supreme and WOULD go against the First Amendment’s “Establishment of a Religion” clause because of their Koran. America, wake up before it’s too late! Look at the world that IS controlled by Islam.
Is that what WE want? I don’t think so! If you do, then, great - move to Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan or the many other places that practice Sharia Law. And enjoy practicing your faith. But leave the rest of us to Democracy and Freedom.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Faith on Wheels
Everytime I get into panic mode over ANYTHING (and I'm so GOOD at it!), God comes along again and teaches me another lesson on trusting Him! And this week He did it again.
Last week (Aug. 26th, to be exact), I was driving with a friend to a bookstore on Lake City Way when suddenly, right in front of us a car pulls from the center lane into a restaurant parking lot! Since he was no more than about 20 feet away when he pulled in front, no amount of braking could have helped to avoid him, so - CRASH we went!
Thankfully, no one was hurt (on either side) and the young man who caused the accident apologized profusely, asked if we were ok, and explained that his sister was getting married in two days, and he was starving, so a little distracted. We exchanged insurance info and did all that fun stuff. My car still worked and so my friend and I (who were also hungry) decided to opt out of the bookstore and calm ourselves down with some dinner.
Thankfully, the young man's insurance company were able to arrange for a rental and the following day the company picked up my car to have it assessed.
Well, this week I heard back from the insurance company that they decided to total my car, though it still worked internally, probably because it was 10 years old. Then they said that I would only be able to keep my rental until Saturday the 4th of Sept. (today). I started to break into a cold sweat. A couple of days later, I spoke with a different representative of the same company, and this one told me that I could have the rental until I got a CHECK from them, so my panic abated a bit, and I started thinking of how I was going to acquire a new car! I signed up with a car broker, but he told me that it could take a week to a MONTH to get a new car. NOOOO!!! Panic swept in again. Then I finally got back in touch with the original insurance adjuster. No, I couldn't keep the car until I got the check - I had to give it up on the 4th. That was yesterday. Panic deepened.
Then I remembered, or God planted a thought into my pea-brain, not sure which -- that right in front of my apt. building was an Enterprise (I've lived there for 3 years this very weekend and always thought it was a car rental place until I had to rent a car via this accident and found out that it is a car SALES place, not rental). So I thought, "Why not?" So after work and running a few errands afterwards (in case I wouldn't have a car after today- woman of faith, right?), I ambled over there and walked in. I won't bore you with details, but the long and short of it is this: I tried out a car on the lot, liked it, and am going to get it (or a different-color model they had to bring in from Renton) when I get my settlement on Tuesday or Wednesday! Meanwhile - here's the best part for NOW - THEY are going to pay to extend my rental until then!!! So - ta-da! I don't have to be "Wheel-less in Seattle"!!!
When will I learn?
Last week (Aug. 26th, to be exact), I was driving with a friend to a bookstore on Lake City Way when suddenly, right in front of us a car pulls from the center lane into a restaurant parking lot! Since he was no more than about 20 feet away when he pulled in front, no amount of braking could have helped to avoid him, so - CRASH we went!
Thankfully, no one was hurt (on either side) and the young man who caused the accident apologized profusely, asked if we were ok, and explained that his sister was getting married in two days, and he was starving, so a little distracted. We exchanged insurance info and did all that fun stuff. My car still worked and so my friend and I (who were also hungry) decided to opt out of the bookstore and calm ourselves down with some dinner.
Thankfully, the young man's insurance company were able to arrange for a rental and the following day the company picked up my car to have it assessed.
Well, this week I heard back from the insurance company that they decided to total my car, though it still worked internally, probably because it was 10 years old. Then they said that I would only be able to keep my rental until Saturday the 4th of Sept. (today). I started to break into a cold sweat. A couple of days later, I spoke with a different representative of the same company, and this one told me that I could have the rental until I got a CHECK from them, so my panic abated a bit, and I started thinking of how I was going to acquire a new car! I signed up with a car broker, but he told me that it could take a week to a MONTH to get a new car. NOOOO!!! Panic swept in again. Then I finally got back in touch with the original insurance adjuster. No, I couldn't keep the car until I got the check - I had to give it up on the 4th. That was yesterday. Panic deepened.
Then I remembered, or God planted a thought into my pea-brain, not sure which -- that right in front of my apt. building was an Enterprise (I've lived there for 3 years this very weekend and always thought it was a car rental place until I had to rent a car via this accident and found out that it is a car SALES place, not rental). So I thought, "Why not?" So after work and running a few errands afterwards (in case I wouldn't have a car after today- woman of faith, right?), I ambled over there and walked in. I won't bore you with details, but the long and short of it is this: I tried out a car on the lot, liked it, and am going to get it (or a different-color model they had to bring in from Renton) when I get my settlement on Tuesday or Wednesday! Meanwhile - here's the best part for NOW - THEY are going to pay to extend my rental until then!!! So - ta-da! I don't have to be "Wheel-less in Seattle"!!!
When will I learn?
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