Voice in the Wilderness.

As usual, there’s been a story in the news the past few weeks that I’ve continued to ignore, because it has more to do with people wanting to push some agenda than an actual problem. But, as usual, it’s gotten so big and blown out of proportion that I can’t help but comment on the matter…

Here goes nothin.

The story starts with several different political commentators going on their national television shows and railing on about a Mosque being built on top of Ground Zero in NYC. Then, they start saying one of two things: 1. That it is part of a plan to culturally sway America into a Muslim nation. 2. That it is part of a plan to train Muslim radicals to be terrorists.

Then, it comes out that the Mosque is actually proposed to be built a couple blocks away from Ground Zero, and that actually it’s a Muslim Community Center/Mosque. The commentators still hold that their two assumptions apply despite a lessened proximity to ground zero.

The plot thickens, when a pastor of a church in Florida announces that he will hold a public book burning of the Qur’an at his church, in order to “send a warning.” Many government officials of other nations urge him not to do it, because the Qur’an is a holy book and it would be disgraceful to do so. Many government officials of the United States urge him not to do it for the same reasons, in addition to the fact that this burning could foreseeably cause such great anger overseas, that people in Muslim nations will rise up and put our soldiers at greater risk. General Patraeus of the US armed forces agrees. The pastor says he’s taken these objections into consideration, but has decided to go through with his book burning anyway.

Then, the pastor was told by an Imam that should he cancel his plans, this Mosque/Community Center will not be built as scheduled. Apparently, whether there was miscommunication or he was lied to, this isn’t the case. So, the pastor in Florida now feels he has been lied to, and is considering going through with the book burning. Everyone waits to see what this one man will do this Saturday.

Now’s the part where I talk all about it.

Here’s my thoughts on this whole shebang, play-by-play.

First, the political talkshow hosts claiming the Mosque would be built literally ON ground zero is misinformation, caused by one of two things: A failure to fully research the issue before talking and getting people riled up about it. This would be bad journalism. The other “thing” is that the facts were intentionally altered, which shows a lack of integrity. People on these shows need to realize that a nationally televised talk show is a big responsibility. It takes both a job well done, as well as at least the moral character not to lie to people who believe in you. We really need to realize the power of journalism and start holding our journalists accountable, before someone gets hurt. (And many people would argue that people already have been hurt)

Second, the political commentators claims that this Mosque is being built to train terrorists is a farfetched claim with little to no facts to back it up. It is simply meant to play on the fears of Americans to sway them to a certain opinion. See the above note concerning journalistic integrity. Their other assumption, however, is very much true. Namely, the assumption that the Muslims plan to culturally transform America into a Muslim Nation. Of course this is true. Islam is an evangelical religion. The goal of any evangelical religion is ultimately to convert individuals and, thus, nations. This fact would probably be common knowledge to more Americans if we didn’t make the word “evangelical” into a political label, thus forgetting it’s real meaning. Christianity is an evangelical religion, too. Missionaries go to other countries every day in order to culturally transform them into Christian Nations. Is that a bad thing? No. I believe it’s a very good thing because I believe Christianity is true. But we need to realize that we have competition. On the one hand, we shouldn’t be worried about these claims of Islam taking over, because our God is the one true God. Think of Elijah and the prophets of Baal in the Old Testament. His God versus theirs. His God won, because Baal does not exist, and because God is jealous for the affections of His people. He will show Himself. However, remember that the confrontation between Elijah and the prophets of Baal took place in a time when very few Jews still worshipped God. The majority of them worshipped Baal, because Israel had been “culturally transformed” into a Baalist Nation. Sound familiar? But here’s the catch: They weren’t a Baalist Nation because they allowed the Baalites to set up one too many community centers. They were a Baalist Nation because they allowed their relationship with God to become a boring, stale religion. They went to Temple on the the Sabbath and went through the motions, and every other day of the week, they lived no differently than they had before they were followers of God. In fact, they looked more to their King and government than they did to God. Sound REALLY familiar?

Next soapbox.

Okay, so this Imam. Whoever it was who made the decision to build the Mosque a few blocks from ground zero. Yes, there is nothing technically wrong with this decision, under the law. But, does that make it a good decision? Since when is the government the deciding factor in morality. I seem to remember my American Constitutional Development professor teaching that the ethical and social philosophers who founded our country based the Constitution off of their belief in “Divine Law.” In other words, an objective morality that is higher than any other law ever to exist. (I could get on a whole new tangent here about Post Modernism and how very few Americans actually believe in objective truth now-a-days, but I’ll spare you) The point is, the law of this land is the best the government is able to do, but not the best a person is able to do. I personally think this Imam showed a disregard for wisdom in his decision. And, I find it ironic that Christians are held to a higher standard of political correctness, than any other group in the US. Christian teachers, for example, are not allowed to share the gospel with kids at school, because they might offend someone, but this Mosque’s construction will offend many people, yet it is being defended.

Moving right along to Reverend McBurn-the-Qur’an. Where to begin? First, I’ll point out the ironic double-standard against Christians again. People of all races and beliefs gather around the world every day to burn Bibles and murder missionaries (over 400 a day, to be exact), but our media focuses all it’s attention on a pastor who wants to burn a Qur’an. Perhaps the problem is that Muslims take it personally when they are persecuted and Christians don’t. Most Christians in America aren’t that bothered by the immense persecution of the brothers and sisters around the globe because they live in blissful, American comfort. So, because of this double standard it’s okay to burn the Qur’an, right? Of course not. Aside from the obvious recklessness of putting soldiers in danger, it is simply wrong! This pastor has apparently forgotten when his mother said “don’t you stoop to their level.” Be the bigger man, dude! Don’t you worship a guy who said “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”? Why not hold a prayer rally for Islamic terrorists? Why not raise money to support missionaries living in Afghanistan? Why not get off your couch and GO to Iran and tell Muslims the good news? They’re trying to do that here, and the best counter-offense you can come up with is to burn their book?

In closing.

People complain all the time about how broken America is, and it truly is pretty broken. Doesn’t seem to be headed towards being fixed any time soon, either. The problem isn’t that people put all their hope in their god. the problem is that their gods are weak and pathetic and have no power to save any of them. The gods they worship are Political Parties, Comfort, Themselves, etc… They think these things will fix our country, but the problem is that they can’t fix our country, because they’re NOT Omnipotent Benevolent Beings. Sure, we go to church on Sundays, but we don’t worship Jesus. We sing songs to the air. We hang cute plaques with Bible verses on our walls, but we don’t read the Bible. An old professor of mine recently polled one of his classes and found that, in a group of 22 students, 3 had read the entire Bible (A total of 807,361 words), while 20 had read all seven Harry Potter books. (a total of 1,084,170 words) This was at Baylor University, the largest Baptist University in the world. I was going to say something clever about how we do something reminiscent of prayer but don’t really pray, but we don’t even do that. We just don’t really pray. At all. And if we do, we will literally exhaust every other option before we resort to prayer. Really? Asking God, who loves you and is capable of doing anything… That should be plan A, not plan Z. Unless, of course, you don’t really believe one of the following: (God loves you. God wants to help you. God can help you) All 3 of which, the Bible clearly states is true.

I’m not trying to be one of those people who say over and over again that we need to get back to our values, though I guess that’s exactly what I am in posting this rather long rant. The difference is this: When most politicians say “We need to restore our values,” they mean “We need to vote for (insert name here), who believes in values.” They never really go very in-depth into what they mean by “values,” either. When I say “We need to restore our values,” I mean “Break out the sack-cloth and ashes! We need to repent before God for OUR sins. Not other peoples’ sins. We need to beg Him to save us, not the Government. And we need to live the way He taught us to live, which includes teaching others how to live that way.” You want to talk about Founding Fathers? How about the Founding Fathers of American Spirituality? You can keep your George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, thanks. They’re great people and all, but I’d prefer John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, George Whiefield, and John Woolman.

This concludes my rant. I’d be surprised to find that anyone has read it in it’s entirety. It was more for me than anything else. This was in my head, and it didn’t belong in my journal or my conversations, so I thought I’d put it on the old blog.

Sorry if I’ve offended you. If this sparks discussion, or criticism, I probably won’t respond to it. I haven’t got the time, and any opponents of anything I’ve said will appreciate getting the last say, anyway. I would, however, ask that you not accuse me of being a flaming liberal, or an intolerant conservative. If you’ve truly read and understood what I’ve said, then you would know that I am neither. If you’ve read this in it’s entirety, and still accuse me of pushing a certain political agenda, then let’s be honest. You shouldn’t be on the internet. You should be at home, coloring… Ahhh! That was too mean, I’m sorry!

Cheers,

Adam K Amberg

PS- Glenn Beck is not a Christian. He is a Mormon. It’s not exactly a secret. Have the “evangelical voters” realized this yet?