Faithfulness Okom

This is exactly why Paul writes that the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men. Sometimes I try to imagine how fatal a mistake it would have been if God had given Israel the warrior-king messiah they desperately wanted. That would have been the most amateur move in history. Jesus would have been one of many strong men, and strong men are the most perishable thing on earth. Strength intrinsically depreciates. Every generation redefines it upward. Improved technology means faster and cheaper ways to kill more people, and there will always be someone more powerful coming behind you. The power model has a ceiling. It always has. God chose differently. Jesus did not conquer by force. He was executed by the people with the force. And 2000 years later he is still being followed. His teachings still shape ethics, civilization, and the moral imagination of billions of us. He stands in a class of his own not in spite of the non-violence but precisely cos of it. Juxtapose him against the most vicious warlord in recorded history and he stands out. Juxtapose him against the most peaceful statesman alive today and he still stands out. Nothing touches him on either end of the spectrum. Durant who Bibi quotes was describing history, not eternity. Jesus said the meek shall inherit the earth and in doing so he was revealing a logic that runs deeper than any military strategy. The cross looked like defeat and foolishness to everyone watching. But in reality it was the most decisive victory ever recorded. God is amazing in his wisdom!

This is exactly why Paul writes that the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men. Sometimes I try to imagine how fatal a mistake it would have been if God had given Israel the warrior-king messiah they desperately wanted. That would have been the most amateur move in history. Jesus would have been one of many strong men, and strong men are the most perishable thing on earth. Strength intrinsically depreciates. Every generation redefines it upward. Improved technology means faster and cheaper ways to kill more people, and there will always be someone more powerful coming behind you. The power model has a ceiling. It always has. God chose differently. Jesus did not conquer by force. He was executed by the people with the force. And 2000 years later he is still being followed. His teachings still shape ethics, civilization, and the moral imagination of billions of us. He stands in a class of his own not in spite of the non-violence but precisely cos of it. Juxtapose him against the most vicious warlord in recorded history and he stands out. Juxtapose him against the most peaceful statesman alive today and he still stands out. Nothing touches him on either end of the spectrum. Durant who Bibi quotes was describing history, not eternity. Jesus said the meek shall inherit the earth and in doing so he was revealing a logic that runs deeper than any military strategy. The cross looked like defeat and foolishness to everyone watching. But in reality it was the most decisive victory ever recorded. God is amazing in his wisdom!

NOW - Netanyahu: "Jesus Christ has no advantage over Genghis Khan. Because if you are strong enough, ruthless enough, powerful enough, evil will overcome good."

This is exactly why Paul writes that the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men. Sometimes I try to imagine how fatal a mistake it would have been if God had given Israel the warrior-king messiah they desperately wanted. That would have been the most amateur move in history. Jesus would have been one of many strong men, and strong men are the most perishable thing on earth. Strength intrinsically depreciates. Every generation redefines it upward. Improved technology means faster and cheaper ways to kill more people, and there will always be someone more powerful coming behind you. The power model has a ceiling. It always has. God chose differently. Jesus did not conquer by force. He was executed by the people with the force. And 2000 years later he is still being followed. His teachings still shape ethics, civilization, and the moral imagination of billions of us. He stands in a class of his own not in spite of the non-violence but precisely cos of it. Juxtapose him against the most vicious warlord in recorded history and he stands out. Juxtapose him against the most peaceful statesman alive today and he still stands out. Nothing touches him on either end of the spectrum. Durant who Bibi quotes was describing history, not eternity. Jesus said the meek shall inherit the earth and in doing so he was revealing a logic that runs deeper than any military strategy. The cross looked like defeat and foolishness to everyone watching. But in reality it was the most decisive victory ever recorded. God is amazing in his wisdom!

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Joe Kent on why we actually went to war with Iran.

I genuinely sympathize with many of them. The implications are not all abstract, they are personally devastating at times. For instance, if you are a 25 yr old Muslim who lost a beloved parent or grandparent who died practicing Islam, and you are now faced with the potential veracity of the gospel, you are also faced with a terrifying conclusion that your beloved parent is in hell. That is not easy. That is not a small thing to process. Culturally, this is all you have ever known. All you have ever been fed. But also for men especially, Islam is simply cheaper. It does not war against the flesh. It accommodates it. Four wives? Ouuuf tantalizing 😋. You have a model to follow who married eleven women, two of them war captives, married his adopted son’s ex-wife after engineering the divorce, slept with a nine-year-old, killed men in battle, and is still declared perfect, borderline sinless, the supreme example of human conduct. What a convenient standard. What a delightfully low bar. We Christians do not have that luxury. We are called to follow a man who was literally perfect. Sinless in thought, word, and deed. That costs something. Islam does not ask you for a relationship with God. It asks for submission on the factual and undeniable basis that God is bigger and greater than you (of course). So bow your big ass head, follow the laid-down pattern, keep the five pillars, and paradise is yours, complete with seventy-two virgins waiting on the other side (again tantalizing innit? 😬). You do not need to know God. You do not need to be transformed by Him. You just need to comply. That is a very appealing offer. Especially to a man who does not want to be changed. And history tells us that if the men are happy and well taken care, you can trust that they will make it hard for women to leave. Voila.

Joe Kent has offered NOTHING but words. Zero evidence. And all of it on top of a history of saying all of the opposite. Which Kent do you believe? Because one was or one is full of shit. He offered no explanation for his shift. At least give us a “why”.

“I have transitioned from Christianity to Islam for the past nine years. I was born into a Christian home but I married a Muslim. I wasn’t forced into Islam.” — Chef T, aka Diary of a Kitchen Lover, shares how she converted from Christianity to Islam.

Met someone like this recently and it left me genuinely unsettled. Her parents are Muslims but her grandma was a Christian who raised her mom as one. Her mom later converted to Islam. She doesn’t firmly identify with either religion right now cos her mom told her to wait and see who she marries and basically align with him. She is perfectly willing to marry either a Christian or a Muslim. The first thing that crossed my mind was, you genuinely do not understand what either religion is actually claiming. Cos if you did, how could you delegate the destiny of your own soul to a marriage prospect? This is also why I no longer do the kumbaya “we all worship the same God” performance. I have Muslim friends and colleagues. I can sit with you, eat with you, genuinely enjoy your company, and still tell you plainly that I do not believe in the substance of what you are doing, that I think it is completely baseless and remarkably flawed. I have always maintained that friendship and sharp disagreement are not mutually exclusive. Sports, religion, I will tell you directly. The exceptions for me are human rights and politics. Not this. Christianity makes a claim that cannot be softened, Jesus is God. Not a prophet. Not a moral teacher. God. And He is the only path to salvation and eternal life. If that claim is true, Islam is not an alternative road to the same destination. It is a fabrication from the pit of hell. Paul did not mince words; “even if an angel brings another gospel, let them be accursed.” Under Christianity, Islam is accursed. The being that appeared to Mohammed was not Gabriel. It was a demon, which is precisely what Mohammed himself believed in that cave before Khadijah talked him out of it. You cannot sit with that honestly and remain passive. It is not an option. Floating between the two is a serious sign of existential unseriousness. I will respect the committed Muslim far more than the one swimming with the tides, cos at least the committed Muslim has grasped that the stakes are real. And tbh there is a weight to this. Accepting Jesus as Lord can mean confronting what that implies about your late Muslim grandmother or cousin, or best friend. That is not a small thing. But that weight is not an excuse to commit to nothing. You never find peace with that. You just find a softer way to dodge the question. Lukewarm is not neutral, far from it. It is a answer in and of itself. And frankly imo it is the worst one.

Met someone like this recently and it left me genuinely unsettled. Her parents are Muslims but her grandma was a Christian who raised her mom as one. Her mom later converted to Islam. She doesn’t firmly identify with either religion right now cos her mom told her to wait and see who she marries and basically align with him. She is perfectly willing to marry either a Christian or a Muslim. The first thing that crossed my mind was, you genuinely do not understand what either religion is actually claiming. Cos if you did, how could you delegate the destiny of your own soul to a marriage prospect? This is also why I no longer do the kumbaya “we all worship the same God” performance. I have Muslim friends and colleagues. I can sit with you, eat with you, genuinely enjoy your company, and still tell you plainly that I do not believe in the substance of what you are doing, that I think it is completely baseless and remarkably flawed. I have always maintained that friendship and sharp disagreement are not mutually exclusive. Sports, religion, I will tell you directly. The exceptions for me are human rights and politics. Not this. Christianity makes a claim that cannot be softened, Jesus is God. Not a prophet. Not a moral teacher. God. And He is the only path to salvation and eternal life. If that claim is true, Islam is not an alternative road to the same destination. It is a fabrication from the pit of hell. Paul did not mince words; “even if an angel brings another gospel, let them be accursed.” Under Christianity, Islam is accursed. The being that appeared to Mohammed was not Gabriel. It was a demon, which is precisely what Mohammed himself believed in that cave before Khadijah talked him out of it. You cannot sit with that honestly and remain passive. It is not an option. Floating between the two is a serious sign of existential unseriousness. I will respect the committed Muslim far more than the one swimming with the tides, cos at least the committed Muslim has grasped that the stakes are real. And tbh there is a weight to this. Accepting Jesus as Lord can mean confronting what that implies about your late Muslim grandmother or cousin, or best friend. That is not a small thing. But that weight is not an excuse to commit to nothing. You never find peace with that. You just find a softer way to dodge the question. Lukewarm is not neutral, far from it. It is a answer in and of itself. And frankly imo it is the worst one.