Persecution

On an earlier post, I got the following comment.  It seems that this warrants a full entry, rather than just replying to the comment.

Mike,
I would like to hear your comments on the Afgan man that is on trial to be sentence to death by beheading for switching his view on Allah and deciding to follow Christ.

First, I want to start out by noting that the man is going to be set free by the government, however, I am sure that he will face a great deal of persecution as he is released.  Nonetheless, his release is reason to rejoice!

Anyway, before I get to my comments on this case, I need lay out some of my beliefs.  These are not unique to me, but are part of what it means to follow Christ as we know from the Bible.

--I believe in one God in three persons (God, Holy Spirit and Christ) that is intimately involved in the workings of the world today and in people's personal lives.
--I also believe that the only way to enter into presence of God (heaven) when we die (and now as we live out the rest of our earthly lives) is through believing in what Christ did on the cross and committing our lives to following Him.  --I believe that people trying to get to heaven by any other means (i.e. other religions) will fall short and will be barred from the presence of God, in Hell.  I also believe that Christ followers, do not deserve to be in the presence of God any more than anyone else (we are all guilty of sin) but it is our willingness to follow Christ who gives us the gift of salvation.

That being said, I do believe that our beliefs are our own and the jurisdiction of no one else.  I do not believe that any government or person can or should try to force any other person to believe one thing or another.  I do believe that we are to tell others about this gift, but that we cannot and shall not force anyone to follow Christ (and thus, someone should not be forced to become a Muslim. )

So, yes I believe it is wrong to sentence someone to death for following Christ.

However, the Bible makes it clear that following Christ is not easy and that we have to be willing to endure persecution and death as Christians.  Contrary to what many people who attend church say and live out, a happy, safe, comfortable life is not the goal of the Christian.  The goal is to follow Christ with a faith that trivializes our life-even to the point where we are willing to fully give it up for Christ.  This man, although now free from his captors, knows much more about faith in Christ than any of us do.

We need to realize that our comfort and safety as Christians is not typical around the world.  For this reason, we need to keep our eyes open to the world and pray for our brothers and sisters who do endure this persecution.  Further, we need to pray for this man's captors and we need to love our enemies--that is what Christ commanded.  

What a wonderful day it would be if the men pressing for this man's execution could see Christ through his faith and would follow Christ themselves.

Mike
        

Currently Listenting--Appropriate Dipstick

Since my last post was such a downer, I figured I should post something positive.

Last night when I was on my way home I was listening to the radio (yes, NPR) and I heard an Irish song that just made me smile. So I went on Itunes and downloaded it--and it is a good thing you can't wear out an MP3

It is on the Natalie Macmaster cd Blueprint and is called "Appropriate Dipstick" All I can say is that I wish the song would go on for another 20 or so minutes.

http://www.nataliemacmaster.com/audio/blueprint/02.m3u

If you listen closely there is so much dimension and counter melody to this song, the use of the octave violin (sounds like a cello) is ingenious. Even the guitar has some bright jazzy nuance to it (you won't hear that on the sample-but will have to buy the song to hear that part).



Mike