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Ray S. Offline OP
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Saudi Arabia response to the crisis in Syria and Iraq is to help by building 200 mosques in Germany. Saudi Offers To Build 200 mosques [independent.co.uk]

How nice of them.

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John
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Europe will change drastically in the next few generations. It will be majority Muslim and the few Christians that are left will have to fight for survival. Secularists (and even most Christians) do not seem capable of comprehending this.

Many in the West like to speak positively of "multiculturalism". But that only works where there are an underlying shared values. The Irish, Italians, Poles, Jews and everyone else who came from (mostly) Europe from the late 19th through middle 20th century all had very similar Judaeo-Christian values. Islam holds different values and does not have a 'live and let live' mentality. We see what's been happening in Europe the past decade or so. There are numerous examples of Muslims being elected to city councils, then demanding the prohibition of things like Christmas Trees and decorations because they are offensive to Islam, then voting to spend money to promote Islam-friendly teachings. In Holland and a few other places schools no longer teach about the Holocaust. In Belgium and France, those choosing "Islamic Studies" now approach those choosing the Catholic and non-confessional studies. It is difficult to work with people who religiously believe that all others are beneath them. Not to mention a people who have multi-generational patience in creating an Islamic Europe.

I'm not forgetting places like Eastern Europe. If nothing changes, Russia will be majority Muslim in about 50 years. Like Europeans, ethnic Russians are not having children. [The vast majority of Russians who identify as "Orthodox" are not Christian in any meaningful way.] But Muslims typically have 3 or 4 children. The problem is known and I would not be surprised at all if Putin finds a way to set aside a large area and just hand it over to Christians who wish to migrate from the Middle East. It could bolster the non-Muslim population.

The sad part is that it is an opportunity that is being missed. The vast majority of Muslims are cultural Muslims (they are not very religious). They could be converted to Christ. Not long ago I watched an Evangelical recount his visit to Egypt, where he is supposedly in demand to speak. He reported that large numbers of people reject the violence that is Islam and are skeptical towards any religion but not closed to it. These people could be brought to Christ. The same can be done with Muslim migrants to Europe, but in Europe Christianity is frowned upon and most Christians are only cultural Christians. Muslims see they are not serious Christians and dismiss Christianity.

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Dear John,

First of all, happy Old Calendar Feastday of the Beheading of St John the Baptist, your patron!

You are more than correct. Christianity cannot be reduced, even though it is, to being a cultural phenomenon which is quickly fading as a result.

Christians need to get serious about what they believe and how they live what they believe.

But outward forms are truly important as well. Evangelical Christians tend to offer a Christian POV that is stripped of many of the historic Christian traditions, sacraments etc.

Many of those who have come to Christ are telling us that they became Catholic or Orthodox Christians because these Church's traditions practice outward forms that reflect what they experienced in their own religions and which therefore made them feel at home. (One Buddhist who became a Catholic once said that he liked the Catholic images since Buddhism has them as well and the like.)

It reminds me of the conversion of a friend of Andre Frossard the son of the one-time leader of the French Socialist Party ("God Exists -I have met Him").

After coming to Christ in the Catholic Church, he formed a group of of his colleagues who attended Mass every morning at 6:00 am.

One of their number, an atheist, was impressed by their faith and practice and asked them how he could obtain such faith.

They told him to join them every morning for Mass for . . . thirty days and this would convert him.

Well, he did that and after 25 days they kept asking him if he had any faith. But no, their friend said, no faith yet. After the thirty days, he still had no faith.

The next day, as the group came to Mass, there was their friend in Church! They surrounded him to ask if something had happened during the night to convert him. He told them that nothing did happen and that he still didn't have faith.

Then they asked him what he was doing in Church?

"I cannot live without the Mass . . ." their friend replied.

He eventually did obtain faith, but on God's terms, not anyone else's.

The point is that we need outward forms and practices to allow other cultures to see them and "glorify the Father in Heaven."

Alex

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Originally Posted by Administrator
Europe will change drastically in the next few generations. It will be majority Muslim and the few Christians that are left will have to fight for survival. Secularists (and even most Christians) do not seem capable of comprehending this.

Many in the West like to speak positively of "multiculturalism". But that only works where there are an underlying shared values. The Irish, Italians, Poles, Jews and everyone else who came from (mostly) Europe from the late 19th through middle 20th century all had very similar Judaeo-Christian values. Islam holds different values and does not have a 'live and let live' mentality. We see what's been happening in Europe the past decade or so. There are numerous examples of Muslims being elected to city councils, then demanding the prohibition of things like Christmas Trees and decorations because they are offensive to Islam, then voting to spend money to promote Islam-friendly teachings. In Holland and a few other places schools no longer teach about the Holocaust. In Belgium and France, those choosing "Islamic Studies" now approach those choosing the Catholic and non-confessional studies. It is difficult to work with people who religiously believe that all others are beneath them. Not to mention a people who have multi-generational patience in creating an Islamic Europe.

I'm not forgetting places like Eastern Europe. If nothing changes, Russia will be majority Muslim in about 50 years. Like Europeans, ethnic Russians are not having children. [The vast majority of Russians who identify as "Orthodox" are not Christian in any meaningful way.] But Muslims typically have 3 or 4 children. The problem is known and I would not be surprised at all if Putin finds a way to set aside a large area and just hand it over to Christians who wish to migrate from the Middle East. It could bolster the non-Muslim population.

The sad part is that it is an opportunity that is being missed. The vast majority of Muslims are cultural Muslims (they are not very religious). They could be converted to Christ. Not long ago I watched an Evangelical recount his visit to Egypt, where he is supposedly in demand to speak. He reported that large numbers of people reject the violence that is Islam and are skeptical towards any religion but not closed to it. These people could be brought to Christ. The same can be done with Muslim migrants to Europe, but in Europe Christianity is frowned upon and most Christians are only cultural Christians. Muslims see they are not serious Christians and dismiss Christianity.

I agree on all points;a very informative post.

...Islam is slowly conquering Europe, and in this conquest they are being handed it on a silver platter.

Regards,
Alice

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Putin is setting himself up to be the new Constantine.

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Originally Posted by Thomas the Seeker
Putin is setting himself up to be the new Constantine.


How so?

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He is encouraging the rennaisance of the Russian Orthodox church after a long period of severe persecution; granted, not as long as the first centuries of Christianity

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Dear Thomas,

However, Putin has stated emphatically that the worst "tragedy" of the 20th century was the fall of the very same USSR that persecuted Christianity.

He has also said that he regards Lenin's body as a "holy relic" like the "relics of the Kyiv Caves Lavra."

Joseph Stalin (who was once an Orthodox seminarian) also went behind the Russian Orthodox Church (and Russian nationalism) in order to oppose Hitler.

Let's be very careful about comparing Putin with the Emperor Saint Constantine.

There really is no comparison, even though Western conservatives may feel inclined to see in him a defender of Christian values.

St John Maximovych of Shanghai and San Francisco always warned against trusting the Soviet Union. That should also go for post-Soviet leaders as well.

Alex

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But the real enemy is our post-Christian society.

How is it to be re-evangelized today?

An adequate answer to that question will save Europe, North America and the world.

Alex

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Africa will re-evangelize America.

talking about the mosques, I've been Curious. Has anyone else seen/wondered if there is a correlation between the rainbow starting at the 9/11 tower the day before 9/11. Then the crane falls on the main mosque, then yesterday it gets hit with lightning?

I just don't think it's an accident!

I feel so bad about the injuries and loss of life, over 200 now. The cranes are owned by a German company, however, they are being used by Osma Ben Ladens family.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, forgive us our sins and have mercy on us all!

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Originally Posted by Thomas the Seeker
He is encouraging the rennaisance of the Russian Orthodox church after a long period of severe persecution; granted, not as long as the first centuries of Christianity


On the contrary, he is encouraging the continued dependence of the ROC on state support and nationalist ideology, the same phenomenon that rotted the church from within in Tsarist times and allowed for the spectacular collapse of 1917. While there's no doubt that some of the revival is genuine, much of it is a sham.

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I think that both Fr. Thomas and Swany are correct. Putin wants a strong Russian Orthodox Church, but one that supports him and is subject to him. And some of the revival is indeed genuine, but from the people I talk with a lot of Russians see Orthodoxy more as a part of Russian nationalism than as a saving faith. That is why the bulk of Russians identify with Russian Orthodoxy but only about 5% ever worship in an Orthodox temple.

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Dear Swan,

I look forward to reading and learning from your posts!

Please do post as much as you can!

Alex

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Dear Administrator,

I hope you post more too! smile

Alex

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