A Martyr is a Martyr...
Nothing like a little heresy to shake things up...
Are our martyrs different from their's? Is going up on the cross different from plowing a car or plane into a building?
Westerners cannot imagine what is in the radical Islamist's mind. How can they perpetrate martyr missions, a desecration of life? But is there any analogy in our own culture to this seemingly arbitrary madness?
The one is a meek lamb, sacrificing only himself, while the others are taking innocent and unwilling victims along with them. But that's not how the Roman's saw it.
Jesus welcomed and sought out his own martyrdom. He was no meek lamb. If we view Jesus in the Essene tradition, then the Romans executed him because He was a threat to their occupation of Palestine. The current Christian thought denies the violent nature of Jesus, but the takeover of the temple illustrates the physical threat, to both the Jewish and Roman leadership.
Because Jesus was a threat to the power of the state and the pharisees, He was arrested, tortured in accordance with Jewish and Roman law, and executed as an enemy of the state. This savior was required to be a martyr in order to fulfill biblical prophesy, and Roman law kindly complied.
The Romans feared Jesus was leading a movement that would force them out of the Jewish holy land. The suicide bombers are employing martyr operations to get America out of their holy lands. They are not opposed to our freedoms and liberties; they are opposed to the occupation of their Islamic homelands.
The Islamists believe the messiah has already arrived in the form of Mohammed, and has charged them with expunging the infidel from their lands. They illustrate their piety and conviction by attempting to repulse the occupiers from their lands. Islamic terrorists believe they are fulfilling Koranic prophesy via their martyrdom, just as Jesus fulfilled biblical prophesies through his martyrdom.
They bomb in the name of Allah (their Father), so it is an observant and selfless act, inasmuch as these things can be. Of course the Islamists, like their pious Christian counterparts, hope for their place in heaven by fulfilling a social function in this life.
Everything in the radical Islamic religious training brings them to this point. After all, the occupiers or perceived persecutors are heathens, and so destroying them would be benficial. Onward Christian, er, Muslim, soldiers.
Religious fanaticism is not constructive, but it brought us Jesus and suicide bombers.
I am no terrorist apologist. However, I am not so ethnocentric that I miss the parallels.
--Lisa
Are our martyrs different from their's? Is going up on the cross different from plowing a car or plane into a building?
Westerners cannot imagine what is in the radical Islamist's mind. How can they perpetrate martyr missions, a desecration of life? But is there any analogy in our own culture to this seemingly arbitrary madness?
The one is a meek lamb, sacrificing only himself, while the others are taking innocent and unwilling victims along with them. But that's not how the Roman's saw it.
Jesus welcomed and sought out his own martyrdom. He was no meek lamb. If we view Jesus in the Essene tradition, then the Romans executed him because He was a threat to their occupation of Palestine. The current Christian thought denies the violent nature of Jesus, but the takeover of the temple illustrates the physical threat, to both the Jewish and Roman leadership.
Because Jesus was a threat to the power of the state and the pharisees, He was arrested, tortured in accordance with Jewish and Roman law, and executed as an enemy of the state. This savior was required to be a martyr in order to fulfill biblical prophesy, and Roman law kindly complied.
The Romans feared Jesus was leading a movement that would force them out of the Jewish holy land. The suicide bombers are employing martyr operations to get America out of their holy lands. They are not opposed to our freedoms and liberties; they are opposed to the occupation of their Islamic homelands.
The Islamists believe the messiah has already arrived in the form of Mohammed, and has charged them with expunging the infidel from their lands. They illustrate their piety and conviction by attempting to repulse the occupiers from their lands. Islamic terrorists believe they are fulfilling Koranic prophesy via their martyrdom, just as Jesus fulfilled biblical prophesies through his martyrdom.
They bomb in the name of Allah (their Father), so it is an observant and selfless act, inasmuch as these things can be. Of course the Islamists, like their pious Christian counterparts, hope for their place in heaven by fulfilling a social function in this life.
Everything in the radical Islamic religious training brings them to this point. After all, the occupiers or perceived persecutors are heathens, and so destroying them would be benficial. Onward Christian, er, Muslim, soldiers.
Religious fanaticism is not constructive, but it brought us Jesus and suicide bombers.
I am no terrorist apologist. However, I am not so ethnocentric that I miss the parallels.
--Lisa
Labels: failure of prophesy, martyrs
posted by rangeragainstwar at 3:24 PM
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