EXCELLENT reference resources, HERE
Month: July 2016
Sky News on #Turkey (Failed Coup D’etat)
They note how Turkey’s President, Recep Erdoğan, is eroding freedom and the military dissenters were trying to protect the secular constitution/government from the Islamization of it. This could have been like another Egypt. But alas, no.
Does Erdogan want his own Islamic state?
Parliament Speaker Ismail Kahraman unexpectedly sparked controversy in Turkey when on April 25 he declared that Turkey’s new constitution should forgo mention of “secularism” and instead be a “religious constitution” referencing God. His words reignited Turkey’s always tense “secularism debate,” which has been amplified since 2002 when the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power. Kahraman’s remarks led to protests in a number of cities, a call by the main opposition leader for him to resign and allegations by secular pundits that the Speaker had shown the AKP’s “true face,” its “real intentions.” Because Kahraman is a known confidant of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, many also suspected that his statement was part of a scheme being orchestrated by Turkey’s leader.
In the next two days, however, the major figures in the AKP disowned Kahraman’s position on a “religious constitution.” The AKP’s Mustafa Sentop, chairman of parliament’s constitutional commission, said that Kahraman’s view was not a “party stance” and that “secularism is preserved in our constitutional draft.” Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu asserted, “In the new constitution that we are preparing, the principle of secularism will be included.” He added that it would be a “liberal interpretation” of secularism, not an “authoritarian” version. In also addressing the controversy, Erdogan not only professed support for secularism, but even offered an inspired defense of the principle.
Defining secularism as the state’s “obligation to stay at an equal distance to different faith groups,” he explained why it is a good idea: “If the faith of all religious groups in this country is guaranteed in the constitution, and the state’s equal distance to all religious groups is a foundation, why do you need to emphasize Islam? If I can live my faith as a Muslim the way I want to, the issue is over. If a Christian can live his/her Christianity, if a Jew can live his/her Jewishness or an atheist can live his/her atheism, the issue is also over for them.”
Will Erdogan’s powerful statement ease the tensions over secularism? Probably not, because many secularists fear that they have not yet seen the AKP’s “true face.”…
BREAKING NEWS – Military Coup Happening in Turkey
THIS IS NO JOKE!
This is a helicopter firing at ground targets… I do not know who is in control of the chopper?
Remember, first reports are bad… but the Prime Minister says this is happening. The Chief of the Army is reported to be a hostage… the coup is taking place on 42nd anniversary of coup in CYPRUS. Turkey has the largest military out of the NATO countries. [Um… who let them into NATO again? That was a big PC f-up!]
Low flying F-16s (this isn’t a movie… has to be pretty scary for those that were living their everyday lives):
Some fighting on the ground:
VIDEO: Intense firefight between unknown forces in #Ankara #Turkey – @Mr_Ghostly / @iha_sondakika pic.twitter.com/YQc9zZvfVK
— Conflict News (@Conflicts) July 15, 2016
Tanks… no coup is complete without them:
Various:
Democrats Insatiable Need To Regulate (Gay Patriot)
I assume there will be more regulation on these mom-and-pop business ventures at some point than there is on abortion clinics:
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders took stands against Uber and its threat to the heavily regulated and unionized taxi industry. Now, Liz “Fauxcahontas” Warren is going after Air BNB to protect the hotel industry (which has a lavish lobbying arm).
In both cases, they are moving to protect old industries with outdated business models; the buggy whip manufacturers of the 21st Century.
Remind me again which party it is that can’t deal with change?
An oldie but goodie:
Islamic State Posters and Eschatology (Doctrines of Demons)
The below are two online “posters” from the Islamic State that portray jihadism in France… put online after the most recent attack by the religion of peace. Take a look at the posters… and then I will comment to my fellow believers.
The above are, to me, an almost cliche of what is doctrine of demons. IF, the devil did exist –and were to cause a movement embedding the hatred for everything good and Godly…
…mankind being a shadow of this goodness via the Imago Dei (“image of God”)…
…Satan, wishing to destroy this image at all costs would seem to come to fruition in this radical jihadi movement.
And so this evolving terrorism that is prompting NATO to declare war on the Islamic State (or at least the last attack France was asking them to do so, and now with this new attack we may see a renewed push to do such) is almost a fulfillment of the foresight of Godley men in the Old Testament and the New.
To fight this evil IS a righteous act — that is, putting a stop to this heinous evil. But, I also see it as a “hook in the jaw” of the West that may kick off a larger battle — or an era of peace [or both]. However you view the steps in end-time eschatology.
- “I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws, and bring you out with all your army, including horses and riders, who are all splendidly dressed, a huge company armed with shields and bucklers, all of them brandishing swords.” (Ezekiel 38:4, HCSB)
So, an evil like none we have seen (evil done to strike fear and for sadistic pleasure), seems to be drawing the West into an area that Napoleon said could accommodate the worlds armies:
The French military and political leader Napoleon Bonaparte once stood at the valley of Megiddo, which is a large tract of land and inland valley south of the Lower Galilee region in Israel, and remarked, “All the armies of the world could maneuver their forces on this vast plain.” Napoleon at that time either knowingly or unknowingly made a prophetic statement, because the Bible specifically states that one day all the world’s armies will indeed converge on that location and be met in battle by God Himself.
“Pivot”
Another “unrelated” story revolves around Putin… who, in Stalin like fashion, sacked every commander in his Baltic Fleet mainly due that these commanders were refusing orders to engage U.S. warships in a harassing manner. Presumably trying to instigate something like the previous SU-24 flying 30-feet over the bow of one of our warships, or the continuous close calls with NATO. Russia also has the hook in their jaw and has decided to send additional advanced aircraft, including K-52 helicopter gunships, to Syria “in order to strengthen the Russian military grouping that takes part in anti-terrorist operations.”
While the above means almost nothing to my non-religious readers… in eschatological terms and in the idea that we “battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens,” it means a lot.
Cutting a Tree Down Like a Boss! (Praising Thee BOSS)
This is turning into one of my favorite videos. For a few reasons… and it is why I chose to post the longer video of these guys. They talk about the wind, the logistics, etc. The guy doing the cutting looks like he is examining the part of the tree he is cutting into in order to surmise where he has to cut — like a boss! The other reason I love this video is that a theme today at a men’s Bible group focused a bit on pride. Then, driving home from the doctors office a guy called into the Dennis Prager show with a Bible verse. Dennis made the point that academics listening would roll their eyes at a Bible verse being used as a resource for wisdom, whereas, they would have listened more closely if it were Marx, Chomsky, or the like… noting the secular aspect and bias in modern-day academic pursuits. The conversation included “pride” IN-THAT secularism is the poster-child for a pride that much of the Bible speaks to. Because it makes the individual person the ultimate source for all values, which leads to self adulation.
Which brings me BACK to this video. I love how the guy… with all his knowledge and prep… fell to his knees and praised God. Love it.
Colion Noir on the Media and Philando Castile (UPDATE)
Anti-gun media outlets have made much of the NRA’s refusal to rush to judgment in the shooting death of Philando Castile to push the narrative that the organization “doesn’t care about black people.” Colion Noir fires back against that claim, pointing out that the NRA fights effectively for the constitutional rights of people of all races.
UPDATE:
Here is Philando Castile permit!
Charlie Wolf – The United States is Not Institutionally Racist
David Webb – The United States is Not Institutionally Racist
Joe R. Hicks – The United States is Not Institutionally Racist
Feminists Say the Darndest Things (Sargon of Akkad)
A collection of the most outlandish things I’ve ever heard from feminists.
Some Basic Differences Between Islam and Christianity
Among the major differences between Islam and Christianity is that of the character and nature of God as understood by the Bible and the Qur’an. For the Bible, Yahweh is a relational God, a God who appears to his people throughout the Old Testament, who took on flesh in the incarnation of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, and who will be present, the Bible claims, in heaven with us once again: “For now we see through a glass, darkly,” wrote the apostle Paul; “but then face to face.” [76] This is very different from Allah in the Qur’an, a God who is distant and remote, transcendent and lofty, who does not deign to step down into his creation, and is not present in Paradise. As Muslim theologian Isma’il al Faruqi writes:
Allah does not reveal Himself to anyone in any way. Allah reveals only his will… Allah does not reveal himself to anyone… that is the great difference between Christianity and Islam.[77]
Central, too, to the Christian understanding of God is that Yahweh is loving; indeed, the Bible goes as far as to boldly make the claim that God is love,[78] the one whose character and nature define what love actually is. You will commonly hear people opine that all religions teach that God is love, but this is simply not true – for instance, nowhere does the Qur’an claim that “Allah is love.”[79]
Finally, at the heart of Christianity stands the belief that, in Jesus, God has experienced suffering, paying the price of the cross in order to reconcile humanity to himself. Now atheists may choose to dismiss, laugh at, or even scoff at that claim, but it is a claim unique to Christianity.[80] It is certainly not an idea found in Islam, where the Qur’an goes as far as to deny that the historical event of Jesus’ crucifixion ever happened.
It has long fascinated me that when Christianity talks about the cross and the suffering of God, it is doing something quite startling, namely reversing the traffic pattern of every other religion, world view, and belief system. All other religions of which I am aware tend to work in one of three basic ways: they claim that if you know the right things, do the right things, or experience the right things, then you will achieve paradise, nirvana, wisdom, a higher state of consciousness, good teeth — whatever it is you are looking for. Islam adopts this model (“Keep the commandments”), as does, incidentally, the New Atheism, whose message is that if you think the right way — think good, secular, scientific thoughts — you’ll be one of the smart ones, one of the brights,[81] one of the elite, the elect.
[76] 1 Corinthians 13:12 (KJV).
[77] Isma’il al Faruqi, Christian Mission and Islamic Da’wah: Proceedings of the Chambésy Dialogue Consultation, Leicester: The Islamic Foundation, 1982, pp. 47-48.
[78] 1 John 4:16.
[79] And many Muslim theologians argue that Muslims should not use the word “love” when talking about Allah; see e.g. Murad Wilfried Hofmann, “Differences between the Muslim and the Christian Concept of Divine Love” in 14th General Conference of the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, Amman, Jordan, 2007. See also Gordon Nickel, “The Language of Love in Qur’an and Gospel” in Juan Pedro Monferrer-Sala and Angel Urban, (eds), Sacred Text: Explorations in Lexicography, Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2009, pp. 223-248.
[80] If you wish to understand this idea (which, whatever you make of it, is the central claim at the heart of Christianity), a great place to start is John Stott, The Cross of Christ, Leicester: IVP, 2006.
[81] A nauseatingly self-congratulatory term coined by some of the New Atheists to mark themselves off from the rest of the world, whom they clearly perceive as dimwits. See Daniel Dennett, “The Bright Stuff“, The New York Times, 12 July 2003.
Andy Banister, The Atheist Who Didn’t Exist: Or, The Dreadful Consequences of Bad Arguments (Oxford, England: Monarch Books, 2015), 62-63.