melanie wrote:We can't defeat ideology.
It's not an army but an ideal.
We can conquer governments but not sentiments.
How do we lesson it?
We stop fuelling it.
When the West has far too much political interest in a region for whatever reason, in this case MONEY or aka OIL then we place ourselves in that position.
When we fund and arm radicals then we help to set the stage, until they turn on us. Then we do it again and don't learn.
When we topple governments and leave armies and regions upheaved and disempowered and directionless for our own benefit based on false intelligence. Leaving a region and men open to being requited for anti western and extreme ideologies.
When pictures emerge of these men being tortured by the US military with dog collars around their neck, naked and being urinated on this was claimed by intelligence as the key turning point of massive numbers joining extremist groups.
When social media is splashed with hatred towards Arabs and Muslims backed by political and religious leaders calling them dogs, pigs, unworthy of belonging or entering our nations.
Basically anything that feuls their ideology. Which we are doing a mighty fine job of.
I think it was in the 1958 Movie,
Teacher's Pet with Clark Gable and Doris Day that an interesting and true new concept was introduced in the plot of the movie. Very funny movie too.
However, the point in the movie had to do with the new role of reporting news being taught in schools not to list facts but rather look into the reasons why criminals commit heinous crimes. In other words, sympathize with them by understanding their plight. Maybe it was poverty or society that didn't give them a fair chance. In other words, have folks sympathize with the heinous criminals and and their acts.
This style of reporting the news took off during the Vietnam War era. Films in the late 1950's to current also focused on justifying deviant behavior by blaming others or society for creating them and making criminals criminal or deviants. Some of this came from an effort to reshape society by use of behaviorism desensitization techniques used in film and news reporting. In other words, a traceable and well documented effort was launched to call evil good, and good evil. There is no nice way to say this.
I mention this as I read your post Mel...
I see it in your words. In fact, in the west whole generations of youth have and are being brought up in the educational systems to to look for scapegoats to blame for criminal acts and not the criminal being simply deviant/evil. So it is the West's fault or Bush's fault or Australians fault for provoking Muslims to attack and slaughter lives. The fault of Australians and their TV ads, movies, their dress, the way women act in Australia that provokes terrorist attacks. It is the Australian foreign policy or corporations selling cars in Muslims countries that provoke, only if we could just understand it will somehow stop.
Better yet, it is all evil America's fault, or capitalism, etc and etc is the reasons Muslims commit 99 percent of all terrorist attacks. So the answer as it has been propagated by western educational systems is that we must show a new moral superiority to sympathize with evil as evil has a reason to be evil and by such sympathy evil can be appeased and won over to look at the world with the same moral superiority and thus all will get along with a one world group hug.
This is terribly naive. There is evil in the world that seeks to enslave entire countries for geo-political control of all resources. This has been going on since Cain slew Able and Nimrod made in vogue. Evil points out the existence of the human sin nature to eschew the words of God in exchange for the superiority of human reason.
I know FL as well as myself have worked in the field of criminal justice. I worked in the Jail as well as a case manager monitoring treatment for Child Sex Offenders. Very charming these sex offenders are, and they will play people’s emotions in order for one to let down his or her guard so they can continue to offend in the vilest manner. We have seen evil. Many combat vets returning from the Middle east seen evil too in greater degrees from Muslims against their own and themselves. Law enforcement sees evil in crime scenes and vile nature. There is no sympathy for such evil as there is no one physical cause for it. Such evil is pathological and can only be stopped by use of force. Love, in the eyes of the evil, is simply a tool to exploit in order to secure more victims. That is a fact - it is truth.
We like to divide Muslims into two camps, radical and moderates. However, the religion of Islam is pathologically evil, devious, malicious no matter how much sugar coating is applied. Muslims are quick to incite that the bible teaches in the OT how God commanded Joshua to conquer the promised/covenant land of Abraham.
Let me respond to that charge: That was a one-time event and was never touted as the norm for spreading Judaism. It was a necessary historical event in a period of history in the most brutally dark times in paganism whose religions of the winged Lion, Devouring Bear, Leopard, dragon, demanding total submission to paganism beliefs, disease causing perversion, and human sacrifice on a scale we fail to recognize due to modern way of sympathy. These calls in the OT were temporary, and there was never any injunction for these to be continue as part of Judaism to spread around the globe.
However, in Islam, the injunction to slay the infidel, force world wide conquest of Islam (peace by submission) by all means possible has not ended. There is no historicalness in their writings that the warfare of conquest of the world has ever ceased. They are commanded to spread Islam by subterfuge, migration, warfare, infiltration, terrorism to this day. They do not serve the same God as Christians do. It is Islam, itself, that breeds and justifies criminal acts. These acts are not the result of western policies, or movies, videos, it is religion of warfare/fortresses and submission of will to a synthesized blend of pagan religious gods around the area of Mecca into one being.
It would be good for folks to realize this, that there is real evil in the world.
Yes, there are nice Muslims out there who deny their religion and not live true to it. Many of these folks are coming to Christ and forsaking Islam and its works based salvation that justifies in Muslim heaven the pleasures not permitted in this life for strict obedience to Islamic law. However, not all Muslims will come to Christ and because they are nice one day does not guarantee they will remain so once Islamic law is fully implemented.
It would be nice to actually have an open dialogue with moderate Muslim without the political correct cr--p. To actually discus works verse the grace of Jesus Christ. However, often what happens when one does begin such discussion with moderate Muslims is that they seem to lose moderate perspective and true colors show. I am thankful that The Lord is moving amongst Muslims and Muslims giving up Islam for faith in Jesus Christ in great degrees. However, all I can do is simple suggest not to be naively influenced by the modern news speak of sympathizing with evil.
Every Nation as well as all native tribes through out world history has wars in which they slew the entire populations of entire villages, raped and carried off women and children. This act is not confined to light colored skinned Europeans but all peoples. The struggle for world domination and control of all resources has been going on for centuries as well ad the taking of land.
The Message of Christ came as revolutionary - Forgive...
Act with wisdom toward all by use of goodness governed by wisdom (not governed by emotions or groupthink to overcome evil)
Have no fellowship with darkness but rather expose evil
Do not be a companion of fools or scoffers
Come out and be separate from the world
Though we live in the world system, we are not part of it so walk with wisdom towards those in the world with kindness, gentleness, truth, fairness... etc...
Friendship with the world (system) see James 4:4
Do not lose your saltiness
Be not unwise about the will of God (his love, mercy. justice, or grace)
Be sober minded - sound in your ability to reason
And so much more that adds insight into how God's love actually works to list further.
It is also good to know that unfortunately, that all people will not come to Christ because they will not due to their own free choice. However, we do not know who will or will not so we present the message of the cross to all with all wisdom that comes from God on such matters.
Blessings...
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