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 Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2015 3:23 pm
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Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2015 2:13 am
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Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2015 2:30 pm
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Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2015 3:47 pm
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Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2015 7:06 am
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There's a chance that it was for the sake of argument/comparison to help the audience reason, but I don't agree with his views on modern-day terrorists attacks (that they're not comparable to what's happening in the bible). It's easy for him to see that the terrorists attacks in the bible are justified because a prophet of God is explaining the justifications for the attack from God's perspective, which Israel themselves is enduring. But we need discernment to see how the attacks happening today are just as justified—he shouldn't be so quick to call it absolutely, morally evil. He may have been alluding to that by saying, "I could argue none of them were innocent" but I don't think he said enough to rectify that statement.
Even if a group of atheists just wanted to destroy for the sake of destruction, a group who witnessed no miracles from God, God still uses them as he did in the biblical examples. In essence, "I'll punish you later for the malice in your heart, but I do not DIS-agree with you that these people should die; so, in the mean time, as you go about your destruction, you're useful: come judge these people over here for me, I'll give you victory—for now". Exactly like the Assyrians:
Isaiah 10:5-11 (NIV)
5 “Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger,
in whose hand is the club of my wrath!
6 I send him against a godless nation,
I dispatch him against a people who anger me,
to seize loot and snatch plunder,
and to trample them down like mud in the streets.
7 But this is not what he intends,
this is not what he has in mind;
his purpose is to destroy,
to put an end to many nations.
8 ‘Are not my commanders all kings?’ he says.
9 ‘Has not Kalno fared like Carchemish?
Is not Hamath like Arpad,
and Samaria like Damascus?
10 As my hand seized the kingdoms of the idols,
kingdoms whose images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria—
11 shall I not deal with Jerusalem and her images
as I dealt with Samaria and her idols?’”
The Assyrians do not have service to the Holy God of Israel in mind. The King of Assyria thinks YHWH is just another idol, an image, and some people today think of YHWH as a mere figment of our imagination—not an intelligent, omniscient being to be dealt with. Assyria thinks their army is acting in their own strength as they're defeating the nations and defeating their idols/gods. They really only have intentions of conquest in mind, not to be agents of YHWH's wrath, but YHWH was using them as judgment against Samaria (the kingdom of Israel), Jerusalem (the kingdom of Judah) and the many Gentile nations simultaneously. From the king of Assyria's perspective, he was coming up with his own ideas; there are no miracles here either (though I would think their unimpeded success was a miracle in and of itself, but they failed to realiize this). The King of Assyria is not talking to YHWH or receiving revelation from him. But it is still YHWH acting and sending them. Because had YHWH been against their actions, he would've impeded them from touching Israel (like he did against Pharaoh and his army, putting the cloud and his angel as an obstacle so the Israelites could get away).
ISIS is similar to Assyria, except they fully intend, as a conscious choice, to be a vessel of God's wrath—like Samson. We can't, after reading Samson's history, say that God commanded Samson to make the building collapse on himself, thus killing himself, in his attempts to kill the other idolators around him. That was Samson's idea. Samson asked God to restore his strength so that he could kill off a large number of Philistines by killing himself in the process (by bringing the building down on himself and everyone else). YHWH didn't ask Samson to do it, but he clearly approved of Samson's idea (because he granted Samson's request / facilitated his plans instead of impeding them).
And going back up to Isaiah 10, the people (whom YHWH sent the Assyrians to) did have theistic beliefs, but YHWH still calls them a "godless" nation because they weren't obeying him (the Most High, the Living God) the way it is written. That could be said of the United States of America, as well as all the European countries under attack by these "terrorists" right now, today, even if they call themselves Christians/Jews. "They have spiritual beliefs, and some even in my name, but it denies me, my commands". YHWH tends to send terrorists (ferocious enemies to attack) when a nation abandons him / his way, resorting to paganism, worldly ways/philosophies, mixing the holy with the profane.
Jeremiah 7:30 (NIV)
30 “‘The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the Lord. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it.
Isaiah 42:24 (NIV)
24 Who handed Jacob over to become loot,
and Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the Lord,
against whom we have sinned?
For they would not follow his ways;
they did not obey his law.
Falling into the hands of enemy, under attack, because we forsake him, speak against him, for generations. So he smites us with terrorists in order to heal us of our sins (make us abandon the behavior / practices)—or on another level, to test our loyalty to the truth of the resurrection, preaching the truth even if it means we die at the hands of the hostile (but that's another topic lol).
In keeping with terrorists attacks brought about by God in response to our disobedience, YHWH makes us turn away from all those things we were confiding in to save us that aren't him ( idols—whether it be technology, political alliances, wealth, talismans / superstitions, mediums, or mere entertainment). He heals us of our idolatries by physically destroying our idols OR making us see how useles our idols are and cast those idols aside out of our own free will (he usually moves us into this realization by bringing suffering / calamity, and then, when our idols fail to save us from the problem, we must turn and call out to God, the last resort, but he finally gets us to turn and cast those idols aside—unless we love our idols so much that we'd rather die).
Obviously, this was Israel's case with the Babylonian and Assyrian exiles. But YHWH does this with Gentile nations too. Egypt in Isaiah 19 is an example of this: YHWH made them fight each other, created social unrest, and devastated their economies, put ruthless people to rule over them, and then after they resorted to all their mutterers, mediums, and sorcerers with no success, they finally cried out to YHWH to save them from their oppressors and YHWH sent a savior. He wants people to cry uncle (or rather, Father), give up their godless ways, not try to save themselves without repentance, because until they turn back to him, he's not letting up on the suffering.
That said, and perhaps yet another mere logical exercise for the audience's sake, but: I don't know if I'd call the F-16's heroes. The more likely scenario is that they may have been impeding God's judgment (juddgment which clearly has not stopped because this nation won't repent). I think the F-16's acted in futility, like the Israelites who fought against Babylon when YHWH wanted Israel to surrender and repent of their sins instead. YHWH desired Israel to be destroyed and exiled (the violence was from YHWH; the judgment was coming from him; ergo, surrender to his discipline so that he can restore you later).
Jeremiah 21:8-10 (NIV)
8 “Furthermore, tell the people, ‘This is what the Lord says: See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death. 9 Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Babylonians who are besieging you will live; they will escape with their lives. 10 I have determined to do this city harm and not good, declares the Lord. It will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will destroy it with fire.’
Some Israelites resisted Babylon to the end, instead of surrendering, and all they ended up doing was losing their own lives because judgment was coming to the nation whether they liked it or not. :l Likewise the F-16's just ended up killing themselves and the plane-load of people, but it did not end God's judgment against the nation. There's the possibility that they were looking at the situation from a worldly perspective ("Babylon is the enemy, we must impede their attacks by all means posible even if we must die"). Reality: futile fighting against God's judgment. I'm not trying to be calloused or unfeeling, and maybe the F-16 pilots did believe they were doing the right thing, for the right motives. But maybe it was needless sacrifice / loss of life.
I agreed with everything else he said aside from his view on modern-day terrorism. Discernment, discernment, may God give us more. And thank God for the discernment he has already given. |
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 2:32 am
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 4:14 pm
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cristobela There's a chance that it was for the sake of argument/comparison to help the audience reason, but I don't agree with his views on modern-day terrorists attacks (that they're not comparable to what's happening in the bible). It's easy for him to see that the terrorists attacks in the bible are justified because a prophet of God is explaining the justifications for the attack from God's perspective, which Israel themselves is enduring. But we need discernment to see how the attacks happening today are just as justified—he shouldn't be so quick to call it absolutely, morally evil. He may have been alluding to that by saying, "I could argue none of them were innocent" but I don't think he said enough to rectify that statement.
Even if a group of atheists just wanted to destroy for the sake of destruction, a group who witnessed no miracles from God, God still uses them as he did in the biblical examples. In essence, "I'll punish you later for the malice in your heart, but I do not DIS-agree with you that these people should die; so, in the mean time, as you go about your destruction, you're useful: come judge these people over here for me, I'll give you victory—for now". Exactly like the Assyrians:
Isaiah 10:5-11 (NIV)
5 “Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger,
in whose hand is the club of my wrath!
6 I send him against a godless nation,
I dispatch him against a people who anger me,
to seize loot and snatch plunder,
and to trample them down like mud in the streets.
7 But this is not what he intends,
this is not what he has in mind;
his purpose is to destroy,
to put an end to many nations.
8 ‘Are not my commanders all kings?’ he says.
9 ‘Has not Kalno fared like Carchemish?
Is not Hamath like Arpad,
and Samaria like Damascus?
10 As my hand seized the kingdoms of the idols,
kingdoms whose images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria—
11 shall I not deal with Jerusalem and her images
as I dealt with Samaria and her idols?’”
The Assyrians do not have service to the Holy God of Israel in mind. The King of Assyria thinks YHWH is just another idol, an image, and some people today think of YHWH as a mere figment of our imagination—not an intelligent, omniscient being to be dealt with. Assyria thinks their army is acting in their own strength as they're defeating the nations and defeating their idols/gods. They really only have intentions of conquest in mind, not to be agents of YHWH's wrath, but YHWH was using them as judgment against Samaria (the kingdom of Israel), Jerusalem (the kingdom of Judah) and the many Gentile nations simultaneously. From the king of Assyria's perspective, he was coming up with his own ideas; there are no miracles here either (though I would think their unimpeded success was a miracle in and of itself, but they failed to realiize this). The King of Assyria is not talking to YHWH or receiving revelation from him. But it is still YHWH acting and sending them. Because had YHWH been against their actions, he would've impeded them from touching Israel (like he did against Pharaoh and his army, putting the cloud and his angel as an obstacle so the Israelites could get away).
ISIS is similar to Assyria, except they fully intend, as a conscious choice, to be a vessel of God's wrath—like Samson. We can't, after reading Samson's history, say that God commanded Samson to make the building collapse on himself, thus killing himself, in his attempts to kill the other idolators around him. That was Samson's idea. Samson asked God to restore his strength so that he could kill off a large number of Philistines by killing himself in the process (by bringing the building down on himself and everyone else). YHWH didn't ask Samson to do it, but he clearly approved of Samson's idea (because he granted Samson's request / facilitated his plans instead of impeding them).
And going back up to Isaiah 10, the people (whom YHWH sent the Assyrians to) did have theistic beliefs, but YHWH still calls them a "godless" nation because they weren't obeying him (the Most High, the Living God) the way it is written. That could be said of the United States of America, as well as all the European countries under attack by these "terrorists" right now, today, even if they call themselves Christians/Jews. "They have spiritual beliefs, and some even in my name, but it denies me, my commands". YHWH tends to send terrorists (ferocious enemies to attack) when a nation abandons him / his way, resorting to paganism, worldly ways/philosophies, mixing the holy with the profane.
Jeremiah 7:30 (NIV)
30 “‘The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the Lord. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it.
Isaiah 42:24 (NIV)
24 Who handed Jacob over to become loot,
and Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the Lord,
against whom we have sinned?
For they would not follow his ways;
they did not obey his law.
Falling into the hands of enemy, under attack, because we forsake him, speak against him, for generations. So he smites us with terrorists in order to heal us of our sins (make us abandon the behavior / practices)—or on another level, to test our loyalty to the truth of the resurrection, preaching the truth even if it means we die at the hands of the hostile (but that's another topic lol).
In keeping with terrorists attacks brought about by God in response to our disobedience, YHWH makes us turn away from all those things we were confiding in to save us that aren't him ( idols—whether it be technology, political alliances, wealth, talismans / superstitions, mediums, or mere entertainment). He heals us of our idolatries by physically destroying our idols OR making us see how useles our idols are and cast those idols aside out of our own free will (he usually moves us into this realization by bringing suffering / calamity, and then, when our idols fail to save us from the problem, we must turn and call out to God, the last resort, but he finally gets us to turn and cast those idols aside—unless we love our idols so much that we'd rather die).
Obviously, this was Israel's case with the Babylonian and Assyrian exiles. But YHWH does this with Gentile nations too. Egypt in Isaiah 19 is an example of this: YHWH made them fight each other, created social unrest, and devastated their economies, put ruthless people to rule over them, and then after they resorted to all their mutterers, mediums, and sorcerers with no success, they finally cried out to YHWH to save them from their oppressors and YHWH sent a savior. He wants people to cry uncle (or rather, Father), give up their godless ways, not try to save themselves without repentance, because until they turn back to him, he's not letting up on the suffering.
That said, and perhaps yet another mere logical exercise for the audience's sake, but: I don't know if I'd call the F-16's heroes. The more likely scenario is that they may have been impeding God's judgment (juddgment which clearly has not stopped because this nation won't repent). I think the F-16's acted in futility, like the Israelites who fought against Babylon when YHWH wanted Israel to surrender and repent of their sins instead. YHWH desired Israel to be destroyed and exiled (the violence was from YHWH; the judgment was coming from him; ergo, surrender to his discipline so that he can restore you later).
Jeremiah 21:8-10 (NIV)
8 “Furthermore, tell the people, ‘This is what the Lord says: See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death. 9 Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Babylonians who are besieging you will live; they will escape with their lives. 10 I have determined to do this city harm and not good, declares the Lord. It will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will destroy it with fire.’
Some Israelites resisted Babylon to the end, instead of surrendering, and all they ended up doing was losing their own lives because judgment was coming to the nation whether they liked it or not. :l Likewise the F-16's just ended up killing themselves and the plane-load of people, but it did not end God's judgment against the nation. There's the possibility that they were looking at the situation from a worldly perspective ("Babylon is the enemy, we must impede their attacks by all means posible even if we must die"). Reality: futile fighting against God's judgment. I'm not trying to be calloused or unfeeling, and maybe the F-16 pilots did believe they were doing the right thing, for the right motives. But maybe it was needless sacrifice / loss of life.
I agreed with everything else he said aside from his view on modern-day terrorism. Discernment, discernment, may God give us more. And thank God for the discernment he has already given.
The only thing I am hessitant to accept that you have said is this;
ISIS is similar to Assyria, except they fully intend, as a conscious choice, to be a vessel of God's wrath—like Samson.
They may have an understanding of a a few of God's commandments because Islam borrowed from Judaism, but it is not really the God that they worship since He is portrayed differently in the Qur'an than in the Bible.
Allah is not truly personal, knowable, or approachable. The Qur’an depicts him more judgmental than gracious. He exists as a singular unity who has no “partners.” In fact, to call Jesus the Son of God is to commit the unpardonable sin, or shirk. Of the 99 names for God in the Qur’an, Father is not one of them. In Islam, it is considered blasphemous to “presume” that one can know God or claim any sort of close, personal fellowship* with Allah. He reveals his will, not himself.
*Yet there are people in the Bible God called friend (Isaiah 41:8.).
I have talked to Muslims who find even the cross to be idolatry, and have been told that they would remove even this from the Churches if they could. I did attempt to explain that we do it in memory of what Jesus did for us, and not to worship it as a separate entity with divine powers, but he did not understand. Their concept of idolatry seems different from that of the Bible.
I think they are taking the second commandment out of context and ignoring how Moses understood it, in there is the danger. They read it as in that all image making is forbidden because they see the text as if it means that making images is idolatry. A digression, but I think shows underlying problems with their understanding. It is symptomatic.
I also don't feel it is right to group Samson with these people. It is not doing Samson justice. He is one of the Heroes of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11:32. ISIS is not a group of people who are heroes of faith. It is not by faith they are doing what they are doing. |
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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 12:29 pm
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Garland-Green The only thing I am hessitant to accept that you have said is this; ISIS is similar to Assyria, except they fully intend, as a conscious choice, to be a vessel of God's wrath—like Samson. They may have an understanding of a a few of God's commandments because Islam borrowed from Judaism, but it is not really the God that they worship since He is portrayed differently in the Qur'an than in the Bible. Allah is not truly personal, knowable, or approachable. The Qur’an depicts him more judgmental than gracious. He exists as a singular unity who has no “partners.” In fact, to call Jesus the Son of God is to commit the unpardonable sin, or shirk. Of the 99 names for God in the Qur’an, Father is not one of them. In Islam, it is considered blasphemous to “presume” that one can know God or claim any sort of close, personal fellowship* with Allah. He reveals his will, not himself. *Yet there are people in the Bible God called friend (Isaiah 41:8.). I have talked to Muslims who find even the cross to be idolatry, and have been told that they would remove even this from the Churches if they could. I did attempt to explain that we do it in memory of what Jesus did for us, and not to worship it as a separate entity with divine powers, but he did not understand. Their concept of idolatry seems different from that of the Bible. I think they are taking the second commandment out of context and ignoring how Moses understood it, in there is the danger. They read it as in that all image making is forbidden because they see the text as if it means that making images is idolatry. A digression, but I think shows underlying problems with their understanding. It is symptomatic.
Judging by their attempted attacks on the sports arena and the concert, ISIS does have a grasp on idolatry the way we do, to that degree. However, I do not doubt there exists Muslims who don't have accurate views of idolatry, who fail to view idolatry in the way Moses did.
To be fair, the Muslim you spoke to may have come across Christians who DO use the cross as more than a mere reminder of Jesus—like many of my Catholic family members did (and possibly still do); they use it as a talisman for protection, as if the physical trinket of a cross has any inherent power to protect you just by virtue of it being in the room, or by hanging it on the rear-view mirror of your car, or around your neck. This behavior (of taking something inherently not-idolatrous but turning it idolatrous) is not unique to Christians. Even images that YHWH himself commanded Moses to build became idolatrous depending on the Israelites' behavior towards it. Like the bronze serpent:
Numbers 21:8-9 (NIV)
8 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.
2 Kings 18:4 (NIV)
4 He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.[a])
Footnotes:
a. 2 Kings 18:4 Nehushtan sounds like the Hebrew for both bronze and snake.
It wasn't inherently idolatrous, but it became idolatrous because of what some believers did with it / how some viewed it.
A Muslim's interaction with individual believers may prejudice them to think a certain way about our religion and what the bible actually supports. The idolatrous Christian ruins the testimony of others (who don't use the cross as a talisman for protection, but as a mere reminder of Jesus / external decoration to unashamedly affiliate with Christ—and a note about openly affiliating with Christ: a cross could and does communicate unashamed affiliation, but our words, behavior, and attitudes are what should demonstrate this, first and foremost, just sayin').
I think that, in the fear of anyone using the cross in an idolatrous way, some Muslims would rather get rid of it entirely. And that is understandable. How can they tell who has the idolatrous heart? They can't. (Also, because of the Quran misleading them into believing that Jesus was never killed nor crucified, they find it entirely false; ergo, a lie that must be ridded).
And about their mis-perceptions of God's nature: they not only borrow from the Old Testament, but from the New Testament as well, and water it down just as much.
Using the very example you brought up, that God can't be known? If we take these Old and New Testament verses to an extreme, you'll get the same idea:
Job 11:7-8 (NIV)
7 “Can you fathom the mysteries of God?
Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
8 They are higher than the heavens above—what can you do?
They are deeper than the depths below—what can you know?
Romans 11:33 (NIV)
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and[a] knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
Footnotes:
a. Romans 11:33 Or riches and the wisdom and the
...what can we know? Nothing! That is the erroneous interpretation of God's nature we would get if the bible was only made up of just these three verses or if i'm being unstable with these verses, refusing to acknowledge other parts of scripture.
What Islamists do is repeat that watered-down concept ad naseum in the commentaries ABOUT the Quran. Emphasis on commentaries about the Quran because I've yet to see someone quote a Surah in the Quran that explicitly states that he is unknowable. Let alone produce a similar verse in the Quran to the passages I quoted above from the Old Testament and New Testament. And if one exists, then who is to say that it should be interpreted any other way than we do the biblical ones? Is it not their theologians (their teachers of the law) passing this idea off as if it were scripture (that he is unknowable, never personal)? Leaven of the Pharisees. This is just like the Jews: elevating the Talmud—though it contains scriptural sayings, is just the opinions of Rabbi's—and they're elevating it up to the level of scripture / the Tanakh. Just like the Catholics: elevating the words of the pope, early church fathers, and traditional songs, to the level of the Word of God to the point of nullifying what the rest of the New Testament has to say.
What bothers me the most are the unjust accusations against the Quran that indirectly attack the authority of the bible. It's an attack on the bible because the bible expresses the same concept. I see Christians attacking the Quran without knowing that the bible makes the same statement within its pages—or in some cases has a verse that the Muslims are not interpreting correctly because they refuse to read the whole bible and are only listening to some vague watering down of the same concept found in the Quran.
Again, Islam is following in the way of the Pharisees (as Judaism and Christianity fall into as well): traditional interpretations and sayings that have become more important than what the Torah, Prophets, Psalms and Gospels actually document in their every word. The murderous zeal of ISIS members reminds me a lot of Paul's murderous zeal prior to his conversion / prior to "seeing the light" and hearing Jesus' voice. Paul use to be a Pharisee: someone who denied what the written Torah and Prophets said because traditional interpretations, and prestigious rabbinical opinion, had gained a lot of weight in the religion and that's what was being taught instead. The Quran is like the Talmud: commentary, personal opinion, and interpretation, that isn't necessarily scripture, mixed in with truth from scripture.
So, yes, their concept of God will be off, just like the Pharisees were (and still are) off in certain areas. But, as erroneous as they may be, that they are pursuing the Most High God, and wanting to be of his service, is not something we can deny.
Garland-Green I also don't feel it is right to group Samson with these people. It is not doing Samson justice. He is one of the Heroes of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11:32. ISIS is not a group of people who are heroes of faith. It is not by faith they are doing what they are doing.
That's only because we know Samson trusted in his Nazirite Vow to give him strength against God's enemies. But Samson showed no respect for his Nazirite Vow and the commands of God (the will of God) prior to his suicidal / kamikaze act. Prior to his "suicide attack", all I see behind Samson's motivation to kill the Philistines is petty vengeance—as petty as, "aw, you cheated! you found out the answer to my impossible-to-solve riddle only because you used my wife to get the answer. Now you die". Are you serious, Samson? What does that have to do with faith in God? Nothing: it was greed and pride; Samson wanted to unjustly gain material goods by coming up with a riddle that had no chance of being figured out logically. He was a swindler. And when they figured the riddle out and Samson found himself in a position where he was the one who had to pay, he refused to live up to his promise (naturally, if he's violating his Nazirite Vow to God, then he'd violate his oaths with people too; violate the greater and you'll violate the lesser as well). Then, after he runs away in anger, and he comes back for his wife, and finds out she's been given to someone else, he sets a whole field on fire, tying torches to the tails of living foxes and lighting said torches on fire. There's a whole back and forth between the Philistines and Samson. You did this to me? Now I do this back to you! Oh? You did this to us? now we go after you! Samson was not motivated to fight them out of his faith for God (until the end, after his humiliation, hair snipped off, eyes gouged out and imprisoned), he was motivated because of the desires of his flesh.
I don't have a high opinion of Samson at all—aside from his shallow faith in the Creator. That's why he is considered just: justified by faith, trusting in God means you're reconciled to God, but his life is overwhelmingly sinful (which had its consequences). Samson is a hero of the faith because he killed idolaters / fought against the enemies of God. It could be said that he trusted in the Living God in some way, shape, or form, enough to recognize God's enemies—but Samson was deeply in sin / living contrary to God and contrary to God's divine revelation throughout his whole life: Samson yoked himself to an idolater via marriage, fornicated with a prostitute, violated his Nazirite Vow, was greedy and ruthless, ate honey from a Lion's decomposing carcass, and gave it to others to eat as well, WITHOUT telling them where it came from, this guy was all sorts of unclean and sinful. Samson's faith in God was nebulous all up until the last moments of his life. He may have trusted in a higher power and supreme deity, like ISIS believes in—a supreme deity who is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our forefathers—but he (and they) were hazy on the details of who he is and what he commands (this is the Book of Judges afterall, people doing what is right in their own eyes, with some vague notion of YHWH, who are walking deviantly or ignorantly against what he revealed about himself and his standards).
I think people have too high a view of Samson (or rather, too low a view of ISIS?). He is exactly like ISIS: suicide-to-kill-the-idolaters, ignorant of YHWH's full revelation, some trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, experiencing the power and aid of God, but ultimately ignorant.
The guy who orchestrated the attacks on Paris, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, said, "Allah blinded their vision and I was able to leave and come to Sham (Syria) despite being chased after by so many intelligence agencies. All this proves that a Muslim should not fear the bloated image of the crusader intelligence. My name and picture were all over the news yet I was able to stay in their homeland, plan operations against them, and leave safely."
http://www.aol.com/article/2015/11/18/suspected-paris-attacks-leader-boasted-of-crossing-borders/21268327/
Allah blinding their vision? That is straight up bible. I don't know if it has to do with his Catholic school background (which the article mentioned) or if it's something he learned under Islam, but he does have faith in the Most High. That is exactly what God did for Elisha against the Arameans (Syrians!), particularly in verse 18:
2 Kings 6:8-23 (NIV)
8 Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, “I will set up my camp in such and such a place.”
9 The man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there.” 10 So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.
11 This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, “Tell me! Which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?”
12 “None of us, my lord the king,” said one of his officers, “but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”
13 “Go, find out where he is,” the king ordered, “so I can send men and capture him.” The report came back: “He is in Dothan.” 14 Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.
15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.
16 “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
18 As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this army with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.
19 Elisha told them, “This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to Samaria.
20 After they entered the city, Elisha said, “Lord, open the eyes of these men so they can see.” Then the Lord opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside Samaria.
21 When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “Shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them?”
22 “Do not kill them,” he answered. “Would you kill those you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master.” 23 So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel’s territory.
Elisha moving about right in front of his enemies' eyes. Of course, the difference is that Elisha was seeking to do good to his enemy not kill them. But for examples about destroying the enemy, there are other examples where YHWH confuses the enemy to give Israel the victory in their war endeavors (like Joshua 10:10, defeating the worldly confederation of kings that came against the Israelites, with YHWH's supernatural help).
My point: we cannot allow popular sayings said against Islam/Muslims make us indirectly insult the Word of God or inaccurately label their followers as evil / faithless. We need to be fair and judge them in light of the whole counsel of the Word of God. Some claims against Islam are legitimate, but some allegations attack what scripture documents. And in light of Samson's life, I do not think it is unjust to compare him to ISIS. They had the same level of ignorant faith and ignorance of the scriptures if you ask me (again, the era of the Book of Judges was characterized by ignorance of YHWH and rebellion against his Covenant). If we can recognize Samson's faith—as ignorant and disobedient as it was—then why can't we recognize the faith of Muslims? how can we say that Muslims, like Abdelhamid Abaaoud, do not have faith in the same God? They do, even if they're ignorant of the Trinity and the crucifixion, because their Talmud-equivalent-document (the Quran) has misled them. BUT the God it speaks about is the God of Abraham and Moses. And their hatred of idolatry is equivalent to YHWH's. I can't hate them for that. Just like I can't hate on the Westboro Baptist church for hating on unrepentant homosexuality, what God calls abomination. It's biblical. Just because the news decides to report on them a certain way, it doesn't mean God agrees with the news reporters. We need to view them from a proper, biblical perspective. I agree with them to the extent that they agree with the Old and New Testaments. That's justice, not injustice. They act out of their faith in God just as much as ISIS and Samson.
edit: the chapters about Samson, from birth to death, are Judges 13-16. |
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