“Islam does not countenance accepting part of the Koran and disdaining the rest. Islamic authorities insist that all of the Koran is God’s word settled in heaven from eternity past — abrogations, hell-threats and war verses included. Thus the Koran itself is a de facto crowbar radical Muslims can use to leverage moderate Muslims away …
Worth Knowing
“At least 40 millions Muslim youth in the Muslim world’s religious schools, called madrasas, are avidly memorizing the entire Koran plus a generally extremist body of related traditions—the hadiths” (Don Richardson, Secrets of the Koran, p. 69).
House of War
“Both the Koran and the hadiths effectively divide all of mankind into two camps. Muslim commentators call them the ‘House of Islam’ and the ‘House of War.’ Translation: Anyone who is not a Muslim is assumed to be rejecting Islam. Rejecting Islam equates to attacking Islam, Mohammed and even God. Attacking Islam makes one its …
A Clash of Faiths
Why should Christians learn about Islam? Why teach on it? Why discuss it? Why stir up yet another debate or controversy? One time, during the debates over the formation of the U.S. Constitution, someone proposed that the United States be prohibited from having a standing army of more than 15,000 men. I forget the exact …
Complete Reversal
“The impotence of the Islamic world confronted with Europe was brought home in dramatic form in 1798, when a French expeditionary force commanded by a young general called Napoleon Bonaparte invaded, occupied, and governed Egypt. The lesson was harsh and clear—even a small European force could invade one of the heartlands of the Islamic empire …
A Second Battle of Tours I
Introduction: We have noted before that we have a responsibility as Christians to understand the times. We do not seek to do so infallibly, but we do want to live our lives in wisdom. This said, there are many good reasons for believing that the conflict between the Christian faith and Islam will occupy in …
Islam and the West
“For many centuries, the world of Islam was in the forefront of human civilization and achievement . . . And then, suddenly, the relationship changed. Even before the Renaissance, Europeans were beginning to make significant progress in the civilized arts. With the advent of the New Learning, they advanced by leaps and bounds, leaving the …
Was John Calvin An Intolerista?
In a debate with Dan Barker a couple weeks ago, he brought up his view that anyone who thinks John Calvin was a good guy has to be morally bankrupt. And since I maintained that Calvin was a good guy, and a faithful servant of Christ, that made me morally bankrupt. But the politics of …
Biblical Absolutism
Cal Beisner makes a sharp distinction between biblical slavery as found in the Old Testament and ungodly chattel slavery. In this he is quite right, and this distinction is one that I have made myself a number of times. But he then leaves out another category, which is in fact the only category that is …
Accuracy and Objectivity
The World magazine article was a striking instance of inaccurate reporting. It was inaccurate in two ways, and for two reasons. Mark Twain once said, “Often, the surest way to convey misinformation is to tell the strict truth.” He was exactly right, and this is the fundamental way in which the article conveyed a world …