Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Out of the Ballpark

Margaret has hit another home run, bases loaded, with her latest post on modesty (and Islam) here.  It's on the subject of what modesty really means, and whether it involves looking like a Muslim woman.

A couple of tidbits to whet your appetite:

Christian women are endlessly told to be modest so that we don’t incite our brothers to lust but no-one ever tells a Christian woman not to dress like a walking laundry basket because she’ll incite her sister to derision.

Muslims are Christ-deniers and that’s all that matters about Islam and sadly also about Judaism which I love; the part of Jewry that didn’t accept Him developed in to Judaism which can be yet strangely beautiful and evocative because despite every effort Christ will not be expunged; no-one can read the Jewish service books and not see Christ, no Christian that is. Islam is different. The Jews say Christ was a charlatan, a rebel, a madman, yes, but it’s not in the Torah; the Muslims say he was an ordinary human being, not God, no more than a prophet, that he did not die for our sins, that he did not die at all, that he made another man die a gruesome death in his stead and married Mary Magdalene. I have more time for a Jew who says that Christ was a rebel who went too far and that His followers were heretics than I have for a Muslim who says He was a liar, a coward and a murderer.

There is not a country in the world where Islam has the upper hand that Christians are not persecuted. [Anastasia's note:  and never has been.]  Look at Egypt and the ‘marriage by rape’ of Christian girls to Muslim men (according to various Coptic websites it is relatively common for teenage Christian girls to be kidnapped and then raped, perhaps even gang raped, and for it to be filmed whereupon the girl has a choice between the film being sent to her family/church or marrying one of the rapists), crucifixion of priests on church doors, martyrdom of children ... and then say Islam respects Christ. I saw on a blog a while back the suggestion that the ‘hijab look’ might be particularly appropriate for middle-eastern Christian women but oddly enough hijaberie isn’t too common amongst those whose sisters and daughters are the target of rapists because no-one in their right mind wants to look like the women who raise these men.

2 comments:

Kacie said...

I grew up in a Muslim community and thus push back against times when I feel like Muslims as a whole are being condemned. They are unbelievers, but they are no different than all the rest of unbelievers in the world, and their personal morality varies widely based on the individual. I loved and was loved by my Muslim neighbors, and I often think that if we showed more respect perhaps we would be a better representative of Christ.

Anastasia Theodoridis said...

Kacie, you have an excellent point. Love is always in order and respect is part of that (or else it isn't true love).

I, too, love and am loved by one or two Muslims of our acquaintance. One, in fact, Salman, has shown himself a true friend indeed to my husband and to me, in ways nobody but he could. I was reluctant for a longish while to accept his friendship, because I know what the Koran says about Muslims NOT being friends with Christians. I knew it was forbidden and I knew Salman was devout. So I couldn't put these facts together with his being our true friend. Finally, sorely vexed, because my heart wanted very much to be his friend, I wrote to a wise priest you may have heard of, Fr. Daniel, whom we call the "Enlightener of Indonesia," and asked him my question. His reply was that to love one another is human nature (as originally created), and Salman's real love showed that human nature is stronger than the Koran.

Today Salman and I exchanged e-mail addresses so we can keep in touch during our trip abroad.

Margaret, who wrote the post I mentioned, is ethnically Jewish. So I think we can safely say her attacks were upon two false, Christ-rejecting religions, not upon any of the people who follow them. I've learned a few things about false gods (and goddesses), one of which is that every one of them is a petty tyrant. And every religion except Jesus Christ Himself is a false religion. We may as well say so.