“British Hostage Beheaded in Iraq, Video Shows”
I’m sure sorry about all this. I have quite a few Islamofacist rants left in me, but I just don’t feel going into one today.
Why are non-Iraqi, non-military people doing over there anyway?
I find myself asking this question every time I hear of another beheading. There are various reasons, but still…
What if some maniac started hacking off heads “in the name of Christ”? What would be my reaction? Am I too hard on so-called moderate Muslims?
This runs through my mind from time to time.
Why does God allow this?
Please read carefully these words from the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry, a site I frequent:
God may be letting evil run its course in order to prove that evil is evil and that suffering, which is the unfortunate product of evil, is further proof that anything contrary to God’s will is bad, harmful, painful, and leads to death….God gave Adam dominion over the world (Gen. 1:28). When he rebelled against God, he set in motion an entire series of events and changed the very nature of man and creation. Both were affected by sin. Creation was no longer a paradise, but bore thorns and thistles (Gen. 3:17-18; Rom. 8:22). People became sinful (Rom. 5:12; Eph. 2:3), who were haters of God (Rom. 3:19-12), etc. The only conclusion to such a situation is death. Jesus said, “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matt. 24:22).
Sin is rebellion against God and His created order. But God has not left us alone in this fallen world. He continued to enter this world, pointing us to Himself, to truth, to morality, purity, and love. He used the evil of the world (liars, perjurers, the envious, etc), to bring His Son to the cross so that we might have the opportunity of eternal life. In this, God has not stepped away from fallen creation, but has stepped into it by becoming Jesus. God works within the fallen world to affect change and He uses fallen people to accomplish His will. In this, He is proving His sovereignty over evil, suffering, and rebellious people, proving that sin and evil are utterly futile, and that He is worthy of honor and glory.
Bittersweet words. The Savior had to die for the sins of those he came to save, and evil was a necessary factor. I understand these words and believe them. Still, I’m sure sorry for the losses.
Links…. Good news in the Islamic world from Chrenkoff.
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La Shawn Barber offers insight into the beheadings of hostages from a different….
Private citizens from America are some of the most highly trained professionals in the world. They build majestic buildings, startup electric power plants, establish governance systems for public and private enterprises and contribute to all forms of life-improving technological institutions.
It’s work. And, though there are terrorist over there and they are awful people, we can’t stop living and working and neither can the Iraqi people. There’s aren’t enough military personal to replace the technicians, laborers, engineers and other management personnel that the US has contributed to the reconstruction of Iraq. Private non-military Americans do a lot of good in the world. And, these people are over there doing a job that must be done.
It may sting when one is killed by a terrorist. But you are asking the wrong question. Why shouldn’t Americans travel and work in Iraq to help the people have a better and more comfortable life?
There have been plenty (I won’t call them maniacs, as we all fall short) who have hacked off heads in what they consider “the name of Christ”. Abortion clinics have been bombed, Black children fire-hosed in streets, Native Americans forbibben their long hair, ceremonial dress and dance,and Jews tortured during the Spanish Inquisition, all w/ scriptural rationale cited. Religious persecution is not new, it’s older than the Saduccees and the Pharisees.
I know, but I meant some widespread “Christian terrorists” wreaking havoc in the present day. I cringe whenever I hear that an abortion clinic bomber is a “Christian.”
Bijan – I forgot to add this: Around here, we Americans born in America are also Native Americans.
“Black children fire-hosed in streets,Native Americans forbibben their long hair,ceremonial dress and dance,” and this was done in the name of God, and with the support and sanction of a church?
The inquisition, while it happened, also happened long, long ago.
Yes SCSIwuzzy, the dress code and haircut policy were instituted to “Christianize” the indigenous Americans. It was done in Australia as well. And the plank of the segregrationists was firmly rooted in the story of Ham, as well as interpretations of the Mark of Cain, of folk cursed to be burden-bearers, of scripture about “diverse seeds” and intermarriage. Too lengthy to detail, you’d have to research it. Many cases are more recent (11 a.m. Sunday is very segregated in many regions of U.S.)
La Shawn,
I read on your site and saw some of the pictures of Demond over in Iraq. I would be interested in hearing first hand some of his experiences and perceptions.
I have a neighbor who is a contractor there. His boy is the same age as mine. He will go over for six months at a time and then come home for a month. Anyway, he tells me it is not anything like the media portrays. He was completing a construction project and noticed a dilapidated elementary school. He took his own funds, crew and equipment and remodeled the school. The community rejoiced!
Obviously it’s not as safe as we would hope, however, he said there are places in this country where he would be equally concerned about safety.
It’s through my conversation with my neighbor that has helped me keep an appropriate perspective. Maybe Demond would be willing to help others obtain or keep an appropriate perspective as well.
Thanks again,
A side note…There is a sacrifice being made by contractors and their families as well. Yes, it is voluntary, but my neighbors son doesn’t have a dad for six months at a time. His wife has become a news junky glued to the TV everyday seeing what the latest is. His wife even told him (she told me this personally) that he better carry a couple of handguns on him at all times, and that if he got kidnapped, she wanted him to go down shooting. She didn’t want to see him on the news getting beheaded and being used for propaganda. That’s a bit harsh but a reality of the situation.
The message behind the terror we see in Iraq, is not just for the “invaders”, it’s also for any Iraqi who would help or encourage a change take place within that country. Those people who are in favor of a change have to be terrified like anyone else. And remember, the US abandoned these people the last time around,they might not be sure the US will keep it’s word this time. So I understand the silence on the part of citizenry.
SCSIWuzzy- among the many verses that clergy used to justify racial separation were Deut. 7:3,4 “Do not intermarry with them…” and 1 Kings 11:2 “They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites…” Not to mention those who cited Colossians 3:22-24, where Paul admonishes slaves to be good to their earthly masters. But my point was, all manner of head-chopping has been done w/ religion given as the impetus. The Irish-Protestant fighting in Ireland is about religion, so was the criticism and title-stripping of Muhammad Ali.
I meant “Catholic-Protestant”.
A whole lotta violence takes place “in God’s name” (Serbs & Croats, e.g.). And as for disrespect of one’s faith (from whence there’s a slippery slope to head-chopping), many folk were insisting on calling Muhammad Ali “Cassius Clay” before there was a “9-11″.
Bijan, you’re not preaching to the choir. You should check out the archives.
In response to the first comment here – how about acknowledging that it isn’t just Americans losing their lives? I find it unbelievable that a comment posted about the death of a British man receives a response about Americans who are killed.
My dear friend who is with the US army, a 23 year old Christian woman, is now in Germany after spending a year in Iraq. Every time I used to hear of a bombing or mortar attack I wondered if it was her. She narrowly escaped death on more than one occasion. Others nearby didn’t.
I don’t pretend to know what God is thinking or doing. All I can do is talk to him about these things.
I’ll say this though – we need a generous attitude. There are a lot of people losing their lives – from the USA, Britain, Iraqis, and other countries.
If you want world support, and from what I understand both presidential candidates have indicated they do, then give the world some acknowledgement.
As the apostle Paul said, “give honor where honor is due”.
It is absolutely tragic that these three men – two American and one British, have lost their lives while in the process of trying to assist a war ravaged country. There is no greater form of love.
Catez
Catez – I don’t think the commenter meant any disrespect to the other human beings losing their lives. His focus is not so much on who is killed but why. Let’s not read insult and slight where there aren’t any, OK? There’s enough contentiousness in the world.
It is sad that some anti religious (or let’s be blunt – antiGod) folks use activities that people may have used bible verses to defend yet were clearly not “Christian” to obscure the basic difference between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. There are specific instances in the Bible where God told the people to basically kill them all (Old Testament) because of the evil within them, but there was also an instruction on how to treat strangers (kindly). And Jesus himself said that those who killed his followers would think they were doing God a favor.
There’s an interesting story about someone who wanted to get guidance from God. He flipped through the pages and poked his finger on the page. The verse was “Judas hanged himself”. The person wanted something better, so he repeated the process and found “Go thou and do likewise”. He gave it one more shot and found “What thou doest, do quickly”.
La Shawn – with respect sister, and we are sisters, I didn’t say the commenter was being deliberately disrespectful. It is the absence of acknowledgement that stands out so starkly. Listen – the opinion of those of us in other countries may not mean much to you – but I think when you post a picture of a man hostage in a cage from the country that was my place of birth, and then the first comment I read goes on and on about private American citizens – well if it were you I think you’d find it odd to say the least. He had a family. In Britain. Let’s have some resopect – and respect goes to acknowledgement. Acknowledgement goes to working together. Working together goes to a solution. As for contention – I have seen more contention in US Christian blogs than anywhere else in my life. I’m serious.
Catez
After re-reading this post, I decided to delete it. I was unjustifiably angry, and it showed in the way I responded to a commenter. Very unbecoming. – LB
I get very frustrated when I hear folks ask “Why are non-Iraqi, non-military people doing over there anyway?”
To be sure, there are probably some there who shouldn’t be. But I suspect the vast majority who are there have a good reason. They are rebuilding schools, hospitals, water treatment plants, etc.; defense contractors, doctors, educators… Without their willingness to put themselves at risk, the rebuilding of Iraq would be very difficult indeed. We should be grateful for the sacrifice these men & women are making, rather than passing judgment on them.
I wasn’t intending to turn it into a newspaper. I appreciate your opinion on the commenter. I have mine. Look I’m not insulted about my place of birth – I was trying to show something about how it is for some-one else. My comment on contention was just to point out that there is a lot of it in blogs. I’m sorry that I singled out US Christian blogs – I apologise for that. I don’t entirely understand your comments about this is a medium for no-one except yourself. I was quite honestly replying to a commenter. I had no other agenda and still don’t. I mean no offence but I’m very unsure of what you are saying in some ways. I have several very good friends who are from the US and one led me to Christianity – so I’m not anti-USA. I just think what if that were my Dad, you know. I had the same reaction when I saw the American man sobbing minutes before he was killed. I hope it’s ok to say this – it is about your post.
Catez
“To be insulted or whatever because someone doesn’t mention dead people from the country in which you were born? Come on… ”
No, no – I think we can acknowledge each other is what I mean. Honor where honor is due. I think its part of the way forward.
This is my first entry on a blog and I am glad that I have found this site. The acts of barbarism by the Islamic terrorists are such that it should strength our resolve to see this war to its final conclusion. I personally watched on the internet the beheading of one hostage(Armstrong). Anyone who saw the heinous act will understand exactly what we face with these individuals.
As for the question of what it would be like to have a crazed murderer doing such deeds in the name of Christ? I would be deeply ashamed by such acts. The same as what the Islamic community should be conveying to the rest of the world with these beheadings.
Thanks for commenting Dominic, and welcome to the blog.
Everyone – I appreciate all participants, and I don’t typically get in the middle of discussions or try to steer them in a different direction. This is the second time I’ve done so today, and I won’t do it again. I’ll let commenters freely respond to others’ assertions and defend themselves as long as my #1 rule is honored: no name-calling.
Bijan,
I should have said, were they done soley because of christianity, or was christianity invoked to help excuse the policies they had put into play or the goals they were trying to achieve?
Slavery was in practice in America long before the bible was invoked to justify it, as an example.
And it was Christians who started the movement to outlaw human bondage.
We need a Special Forces Beheading Team to go in and teach these monkeys how to REALLY create terror. Since we don’t have women over there other than a couple of reporters and ARMED “soldiers” we need to take this beheading thing up a level to show them that we are as serious as they are.
In response to Viet Cong guerilla tactics, President Kennedy formed SF or “The Green Berets.” We should do the same for Iraq. We need teams of well trained “pychos” armed with jungle machetes to start “kidnapping” Iraqi insurgents and beheading THEIR ENTIRE FAMILIES (except for the kids) until they quit this buffoonery. We should just start executing the prisoners at Gitmo and wherever else they are being held until we don’t have any more of the filth sitting around wasting taxpayer money. We should then bury them in pig chitlins.
COME ON PRESIDENT BUSH!! Once re-elected you need to get REAL nasty.
Raymond, you had me up until “beheading THEIR ENTIRE FAMILIES.” We should definitely get more aggressive over there. About Gitmo, I agree that we need take it to a different level. As far as executing is concerned, I prefer a Nuremberg-style trial and executions. These people need to be tried before they’re executed, if at all. The last thing we need to do is round up Islamofacists and killed them without formal charges.
Raymond,
)… it is always better to just disappear them than to kill them. And if you kill them and leave the body to be found, do it quick, clean and efficiently. When you put down a rabid dog, you don’t torture it or take joy in it. You chamber the bullet, fire, and move on.
I think you’ve had too mach caffiene.
Besides, ask anyone in the mafia (just because I live in NJ, doesn’t mean I know any
I am still baffled why we don’t hear about coalition snipers or SF taking out targets and slinking away into the night…
Esp considering how effective the Polish have shown themselves to be… GROM impresses even the old hands over at the CIA and in Isreal.
OK, maybe the families thing was too extreme for public offering, but we need to go back on offense. We need to take the governors off the troops and let them do what they are trained to do.
These clowns can’t behead anyone if we raise the temperature in the cities and areas where they hide 2,000 degrees in .5 seconds. Time for Iraq to start losing some cities. We’ll give the innocents 48 hours to get out.
No, I’m just a “former” US Army Ranger who can’t stand seeing good Americans and allies being killed like dogs.
CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR!!!!!!!!
Yeah GROM and KGB/FSB were good at teaching lessons. I’m all for the Gen Pershing method as well. But the goal should be the perps, leave the women & children out of it.
As for coalition snipers, they’re hard at work, just no one to tell the tale, per se.
Raymond, you really need to take a cruise over to Captains Quarters, Belmont Club, ejectejecteject and My Pet Jawa if you want to discuss upping the offensive.
Here’s a question, what should we do about Iraqi/Arab-Americans that go over to serve the coalition, either as US soldiers or contractors and wind up assisting the insurgents — such as giving signals to direct incoming mortar fire from within the DOD compounds?
Rick- just because I’m not bigoted, doesn’t mean I’m “anti-God”. You don’t even know me. Jesus forgave too and he wasn’t anti-God. But the parable of the Samaritan demonstrates he wasn’t hung up on ethnicity.
LaShawn,
I, too, have moments where I want the Americans to do like the “spies” did with Rahab when they destroyed Jericho. Because she hid them and protected them, they told her to get her family into her home, and they would be spared. Well, she did and they were. I would like to see us go in, tell the innocent townfolk to get out of town by thus and such a time,leaving the terrorists there, and then bomb the snot out of the town. However, the other part of my brain also realizes that this probably isn’t feasible.
Then, I must remember that the Lord tells us that vengeances is His, and He WILL repay. God is going to have vengeance on these disgusting people, and they will be paid back. I also have to start looking at this in light of what God’s Word says, and eternity. I truly believe we are heading toward the endtimes, and the Middle East will be the most prominent region during those times. We may not always like how things are going in our world, but we must also remember that God is still in control, and he knows the final outcome. I thing that when we look at these difficult times in light of eternity, we can begin to see God bringing about His plan, and that means that we will be all that much closer to Glory.
I hope this brings you some comfort when we hear about another person being beheaded. It’s hard to hear that.
Also, I don’t think that it’s an accident that people are being beheaded in the M.E. Revelations mentions that those who accept the Lord during the Tribulation will be martyred by beheading. I don’t think it’s a coincedence that most of those who have been beheaded so far are Jewish or Christians.
I also want to point you to an Iraqi blogger who is extremely angry about the beheadings, and denounces the terrorists who perfom them. Warning: strong language used. His blog is Hammorabi.blogspot.com He also explains the difference between peaceful Muslims like him who appreciate the coalition and what they’ve done for Iraqis, and the Islamofascists. I can’t say I necessarily agree 100% with what he says, but it is interesting to read.
Andy,
Put them in one of Uday’s grinding machines.
I was going to say that I’m sure there are terrorist just disappearing, not only in Iraq, but worldwide. And as Andy mentioned, the snipers are hard at work. Those are details we will never hear about, but I do trust under this administration, it is happening.
SCSIwuzzy said “…slavery was in practice in America long before the Bible was invoked to…” History doesn’t bear this out. One of the earliest slaveships to these shores was named “The Good Ship Jesus”, and the settlers of the first colonies came here to practice religious freedom. Where was the time window between the two? And LaShawn, among the first to protest and reject slavery were the Africans subjected to it. The Amistad story is not unique (see the history of say, Haiti)
La Shawn,
I may be opening a can of worms by addressing your last question.
“Why does God allow this?”
I am assuming you mean the beheading specifically, but also all the “Bad stuff” in the world generally. I like to think there are basically three reasons adversity and daily struggles comes upon us;
One- Because we have our agency. We make choices everyday. The choices we make have consequences, seen and unseen. Often, when bad things happen in our lives, it is simply do to poor choices we have made.
Two- Because we are here on this Earth. “The Lord sends rain on the just and the unjust alike…” There are certain things out of our control. We’ve just witnessed hurricanes and other disasters. Bad things happened. I don’t think someone’s home was singled out to be demolished while another’s was untouched. Along this line of thinking, is also the fact, we as people are subject to our respective governments, countries and cultures. I don’t know why some people are born in Iraq while others are born in the USA, while others are born in Sudan. Some are born into freedom while others suffer through poverty and dictators. I don’t know why that British man was kidnapped while thousands of other contractors and workers are untouched. It is through Faith we recognize an Omnipotent and Loving God will reconcile these apparent injustices within His timeframe, not ours.
Three- Because a loving God may choose to school and teach us. We know Abraham was tested when instructed to offer up his son Isaac as a sacrifice. Think of the turmoil and grief Abraham must have gone through. We know that Noah and Job had struggles and tribulation as well. We know the Savior was allowed to suffer in Gethsemane. Yes, he knew what the purpose of his suffering was and he was prepared for the crucifixion, however, he still asked that, “…this bitter cup be taken from me…” and said, “Father, why hast thou forsaken me?” We often gain strength through struggle and adversity. Although not pleasant, we are often better prepared to handle the next “lesson” that comes along. Whenever I start getting down on life’s struggles, I think to myself, the Son of God has suffered and given his life for me. The least I can do is struggle through life’s problems with the best attitude I can muster.
I know this isn’t perfect, but it’s a perspective that helps me to answer some of the tough questions that have been posed.
Bijan, if you want to get that explicit, I think a significant portion of those slaves would rather be sold into slavery rather than get slaughtered by enemy tribes.
Anyhoo, slavery pre-existed the settling of America and that’s getting off-topic from the diaperheads’ wholesale slaughter of innocents.
Raymond; nope under our rule of law, you ship em back to the States if CID can’t prove anything.
If you can, lock em up in Abu Ghraib for disposition by the Iraqi Govt.
LB, I’ve been reading your blog off and on and I really appreciate your point of view.
Just one comment on the issue of SF and Raymond’s comments…it’s got to be difficult now. We say “leave the women and children out of it” but it’s my understanding that women and children are increasingly being involved in terrorist activity. I didn’t want to know about what happened in Chechnya, but it’s my understanding it was reported that some of those who shot the kids were women. Visit http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com and you can see a slide show of little toddlers in terrorist get-ups and armed teenagers. It’s sad.
Uh, Andy, LaShawn asked what if Christians be-headed folk. I’m on topic. And I know- slavery was good for us po’ cullud folk. Civilized us from havin’ bones in our noses & grass skirts on, eh? Paul approved in Colossians, not Jesus.
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