Read more about the sufferings of the Christians of Iraq in recent weeks here, here and here. Pray for them.
Their fear has become so great that, in Basra, the Christians have not only canceled their Christmas celebrations in order to avoid Shiite retaliation, they will also send delegations to the Shiite mosques to "show their respects" on the Shiite "holy day" of Ashura (which falls this year on December 27). Let no one condemn them -- the terror caused by the "Religion of Peace" can only be imagined.
Their fear has become so great that, in Basra, the Christians have not only canceled their Christmas celebrations in order to avoid Shiite retaliation, they will also send delegations to the Shiite mosques to "show their respects" on the Shiite "holy day" of Ashura (which falls this year on December 27). Let no one condemn them -- the terror caused by the "Religion of Peace" can only be imagined.
28 comments:
What's really sad is that nobody is going to help them. They only hear from people sitting comfortably thousands of miles away on their soft armchairs in air-conditioned apartments that they should turn the other cheek.
Anonymous 09:41, do you expect some kind of Crusade or what? It is Jesus who told us not to resist evil. Who are you to complain at His words? Persecution is to show love toward enemies, not to fight back. Rejoice that your brethen are persecuted.
I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. Ye have head that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.
/Stephen
Please God send a hoard of elephants to trample over their mosques!!!
May God have mercy on the persecuted Christians of the Middle-East.
May God have mercy on the followers of the false religion of Islam.
God will defend them. Who knows, maybe that wild pack of elephants, will destroy a few mosques. Their day of justice will come.
Strangely, the US will sooner allow a Muslim Iraqui into the US than a Christian one...
Stephen,
Jesus' words are the ideal, but if someone is trying to kill one of my children in the name of religion, I will kill defending her.
The Church teaches that violence is sometimes necessary, even to the point of war.
"Jesus' words are the ideal, but if someone is trying to kill one of my children in the name of religion, I will kill defending her."
"The ideal" is life according to virtues, including justice (giving everybody what they deserve) and prudence.
Think: if Our Lord had told us to turn the other cheek always and every time He will be advocating injustice, anarchy and effectively terror, things that are satanic.
But sometimes the offense is little or its punishment will do greater harm - in that case don't worry, He will avenge you with elephants or anything, either on this world or in the afterlife, and you will be made up for that thousand times.
Unfortunately, there are no quotations from the New Testament that support this virtue claim, but it was pretty obvious for everybody before the era of re-examination of Catholicism by secular humanism and Protestant "sola scriptura".
Some sects (like Jehovah's Witnesses) that split from the Tradition of the Church try to interpret it literally, so they think that they should abstain from taking part in civil governance and military service, as it means using or commanding violence. That's why the Church used to be against private interpretation and private reading of the Scripture.
If you want to know the true interpretation of some passage, always refer to Catena Aurea, where St. Thomas Aquinas collected Church Fathers' commentaries to every fragment of the Gospel.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/catena1.ii.v.html
Page 196.
Stephen:
Christ's words do not mean an absolute condemnation of violence. In fact, there are several cases which violence is not only licit, but also necessary. If someone attacks at your son, for instance, it is obligatory for you to succur him, even if that implies violence.
You can and shall always be prepared to receive ofenses and attacks from your enemies, and you can tolerate them without fighting back. But if the offenses are to Christ or to the Catholic Church, it is just to reppel them and fight back.
Merry Christmas,
JRB
the Church used to be against private interpretation and private reading of the Scripture.
I doubt it can be said that the Church favors or blesses those things now, the practices in certain quarters notwithstanding.
Praise his people, ye nations, for he will revenge the blood of his servants: and will render vengeance to their enemies, and he will be merciful to the land of his people. (Deut. 32:43)
"Anonymous 09:41, do you expect some kind of Crusade or what? It is Jesus who told us not to resist evil. Who are you to complain at His words? Persecution is to show love toward enemies, not to fight back. Rejoice that your brethen are persecuted."
We have God's law and civil law, and we have a right to justice, catching and cincivitng a criminal is actualy the act of charity, for he/she/they may repent. Get real and do not confuse things.
Get them out of Iraq and put them on Christian land (not Europe, since ti is still Islamic land. Go to, say Philipine or Malta).
Let us pray for our brothers and sisters in the lands of Islam. They experiencing another persecution like the early Church. The blood of Christian martyrs will renew the Church in those lands. God will cleanse those unGodly nations and bring the faith of Christ to them. Only then will there be peace, the peace of Jesus Christ.
God established the Commandments and on God's law is based secular law, God would not contradict Himself. Without law we would live in chaos, no society would survive. Our Lord warns us against being revengful, which is exactly paying evil for evil. That is all. We have right to defend ourselves, our loved ones, and our property. I would recommend to Steven studying some basic theology.
Beng, the earth is the Lord's and its fullness. Iraq IS Christian land, as are all lands -- or looking at it another way, since we have here no continuing city, Iraq is as much Christian land as Malta or the Philippines.
Jay;
Who do you think called for the violent defense against and destruction of the Saracen fleet at the Battle of Lepanto?
Heres a hint, he is a canonized saint and one of the greatest Popes in history.
Jay;
Who do you think called for the violent defense against and destruction of the Saracen fleet at the Battle of Lepanto?
Heres a hint, he is a canonized saint and one of the greatest Popes in history.
To Dan Hunter, I do not follow why you are addressing this excellent example to me. Maybe you should address it to Stephen instead?
These are the kinds of refugees most Maltese would gladly take in. Instead, the EU fascio-commies force Malta to take 3000 Muslims in each year, about 1% of our population each year.
Last year a group of these Muslims, not happy with the mosques the Maltese people have erected for them out of respect took to the most popular piazza en masse to do their 3pm prayers and complained to the EU rights commission when the police forced them to disband. My brother in law is an undercover policeman and he has told me of some of these immigrants looking at him in the eye saying "One day we will kick you off this island".
Taking in Christian Arab refugees just makes so much more sense.
My prayer is that the Holy Father will re-instate the Christian Military orders - the Knights Hospitallers of St John - also known as the Knights of Malta - still exists and is a recognized member of the UN as the oldest international order in the world - but the Popes since the 1970s have stopped promoting their military character.
I can easily see thousands of Christian soldiers joining such traditional military orders to defend Churches and Christians worldwide and would put these murderous Islamic cowards in a place to consider the effects of their actions before they take them. Appeasement will only encourage them to grow their abuses.
In God and Mary's hands
A Knight of Malta
Jay,
Please forgive me.
I meant to address my post to Steven.
I am sorry.
...but the Popes since the 1970s have stopped promoting their military character...
Paul VI restituted the kemalist and staunch anti-catholic republic of turkey in the erarly 1970s the standard of the defeated ottoman fleet at Lepanto. What wretched mockery against the catholic heroes of Lepanto 1570.
Anonymous 28 December, 2009 15:56,
I totally agree with you. We're are heading to a disaster, and it is being done intentionally. The Church badly needs a more militant and lively attitude.
To Stephen,
Since when is self defence against the laws of God.
There seems to be a strain of "pacifism" running through the Church.
In those famous words "Your goin to get me killed."
Let's not forget Christ's behaviour towards those who tried Him and killed Him. He didn't call for vengeance, he didn't strike his foes down. He was gentle and humble of heart and he called for forgiveness and meekness: The virtues of the Beatitudes. The hawkish tone that sometimes percolates into the comments of lovers of tradition is worrying. It will convert few to the support of traditional liturgy. This is most regrettable. Furthermore, just war theory has nothing to do with gung ho warmongering language or martial swagger. In life, strange as it seems, we are to emulate Christ's meekness and his apparent failure. The triumph of the elect will not be tangible before the End. Christ's showed us that earthly 'success' and 'victory' is dust. We should not lust after it. The gates of hell won't triumph. Vengeful thoughts and warlike rhetoric are sinful.
Anonymus 1:46 29th Dec
You are very mistaken - the whole Europe would be Islamic today if not victories of Lepanto and Vienna. There would be no Christianity in the world left. You are mistaking the strong passion of vengeance against which Our Lord warns us with lawful defense in particular when faith is concerned. I am very concerned about those Christians who under such a pressure go into the mosque to pay respect on some feast. The next step may be requirement of conversion to Islam to satisfy the opponents, I am afraid. It seems the only solution for those oppressed Christians is to run out of country like this.
And one more thing, we have an example of righteous anger and ACTION of Our Lord when He cleared the Temple of moneychangers (Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-18).
'You are very mistaken - the whole Europe would be Islamic today if not victories of Lepanto and Vienna. There would be no Christianity in the world left.'
And there would be no Christianity, and by extension no salvation, if the all-powerful Creator hadn't submitted to being killed like a common criminal. Christ is the head of the Church, and we are called to emulate him.
Your reasoning is laughably mistaken. Jesus' death accomplished the Redemption. It does not follow, however, that the human race will re-redeemed if the Catholic Church emulates her Lord by being wiped off the face of the earth through the slaughter or apostasy of every Catholic. "Resist not evil" and "turn the other cheek" doesn't mean "never defend yourself" or "be a doormat." Christ's counsels are not absolute commandments to be applied in a letter-of-the-law sense. Just because war or just use of force is not as good as avoiding bloodshed where possible, it doesn't follow that war or just use of force is sinful.
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