Hello Pei,
Originally posted by Pei
You lot are aware that the incident in question was not conducted by Muslims but by members of a pre-muslim religion: the Yezidis?
The excuse given was that the girl had had the temerity to fall in love with a muslim man and was accused of converting to Islam: see http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGMDE140292007
My sincere apologies. To tell the truth, I took it at face value that what was being reported here - that it was a Muslim honor killing - was true when I responded. I've been desperately sick for the last few days and I haven't done much news watching or reading. I'll also admit that I've reached a certain level of "horror fatigue" lately and the idea of searching for a video of a young girl being stoned to death by her relatives was more than I could bear. Anyway, I got lazy and responded to what was being said rather than doing the fact checking myself, and for that I'm sorry.
As you pointed out, the killers were Yazidis, a relatively tiny segregationist religious sect whose relationship to the Muslims can be roughly analogized by comparing the relationship of Sikhs to Hindus. In any event, they were upset about what they thought was a sexual relationship outside the Yazidi community, and the Yazidis share the same view of "honor killing" for illicit sexual relationships that Shi'ites and Sunnis in the region do. In response, to the killing, Sunni Muslims stopped a bus and took 23 Yazidis off and executed them.
My original point, however, still stands. Honor killings are a dime a dozen in the region and Islamic countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia still stone as a legislative punishment for Adultery. So how is it just to heap blame on Fundamentalist Christianity or fundamentalists like myself, when demonstrably we do not practice honor killing or stoning for adultery and who when martyred (as was the case with the three Christian workers in Turkey recently) do not spawn worldwide riots or seek out 23 Muslims and kill them in revenge killings. Rather the response, for instance, to the killings in Turkey has not been revenge or terrorism but calls to pray for the killers.
I might also add that some of the posts disregarding the evil present in
the heart of every natural man and lauding a peaceful vision of a godless society have been what I can only describe as flights into fantasy-land. When one considers the brutality of the officially atheistic Chinese Communists towards Christian and Falun-Gong prisoners up to and including harvesting organs from living political prisoners and selling them on the black market, or the extreme brutality practiced in officially atheistic regimes such as Enver Hoxa's Albania or Ceausescu's Romania (see Wurmbrand's classic
Tortured for Christ for a dramatic practical differences between evangelical Christianity and atheistic communism) one can immediately see that the problem is the fallen and sinful nature of humanity and not the presence of religion. Oh and incidentally, having spent time visiting jails, I can tell you that its not the atheists that you want to find yourself locked up with.
I had lunch a couple of weeks back with a guy who was converted in prison and asked him his story. He got busted for dealing Cocaine and spent time in various federal pens. When he got in an older prisoner told him to seek out the evangelicals, telling him that while he might find their attempts to convert him to be irritating, they are not going to stick a shank in you, steal your food, or make shower-time a dreadful experience. Eventually, their witness and their actions (one story of kindness in particular that would take to long to relate) and most importantly the work of the Holy Spirit won him over to Christ.
In any event guys, while there are many things I can do, I cannot "taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8) for you. I spent many years as a pagan, and over a decade as an evangelical Christian, it was not in my time as a pagan that I found or showed
kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another and I certainly did not
love my enemies and live for others as a pagan, neither did I find that or anything approaching forgiveness and peace in my wanderings in the occult and other world religions.
Anway, speaking of serving others, if I don't get my extremely sick frame into bed and get some serious sleep I'm going to do a very poor job of doing that tomorrow morning. Hope those of you who observe it have a blessed Lord's day - remember to keep Doob's wife in your prayers.
- SEAGOON
