Saturday, July 23, 2011

Which Fundamental? (Updated)


My stomach turned a little this morning when I was listening to the news and heard the terrorist who perpetrated the attacks in Norway referred to as a "Christian fundamentalist." My question is, which fundamental of the of Christian religion was on display during the tragedy in Norway? The fact is that anyone who would do such a thing must be very deluded to consider himself a Christian, much less a Christian fundamentalist. It seems akin to taking the Lord's name in vain who said, "But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you," to refer to one as a Christian, a Christ-follower, who would do such a thing to those he considered his enemies.


My prayers are with the people of Norway. May God have mercy on them and may justice come to the guilty.

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep.


Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love's sake. Amen.



UPDATE: An excellent analysis from The Whitehorse Inn here.



8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I totally agree with you. I believe this is just more anti-Christian propaganda by the "liberal" news media. God bless you and your medical ministry. - http://bnafreedom.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

Hi Matt,

So, if 'Blessed are they that are persecuted for My name's sake', what about those that are persecuted for other gods? What is the eternal fate of those who suffer at the hands of Christians?

Hope you are having a good week.

love,
Scarlet

Matt said...

Hey SP,

I'm pretty sure Christ was referring to Himself when He said "my name's sake" so I can't imagine how those persecuted for following other gods could be seen as being blessed in any way according to Christ's words.

The eternal fate of those who suffer at the hands of Christians? First of all because you asked that question on this post I want to re-iterate that I don't think this Norwegian scoundrel can be thought of as a Christian by any definition of that word, especially when you read the link to White Horse Inn which I included in my update.

Secondly, the eternal fate of a person has nothing to do with whether they perished at the hands of Christians or anyone else. It has everything to do with our guilt before a Holy God because of sin and God's mercy in making a way for sinners to be saved through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thankfully it's not up to me to figure out who's going to be in heaven and who's going to be in hell but I do know I have a responsibility to preach the gospel which is for the salvation of sinners and I know that there is "no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" than Jesus Christ. I'm comfortable to find both peace and an urgency in sharing the gospel in those facts.

Jacob M. Aho said...

The Whithorse Inn article was excellent. Thanks for putting the link up on your site.

Norah said...

hmm, followers of any faith should be alarmed at how quickly the media tries to label and categorize a murderer such as this. We want easy answers, and there rarely are any in these cases. It's most likely much more complicated and we may never know the true motives for this tragedy. Thoughts and prayers to those who are suffering loss and injured.

Ed said...

An article on the subject that you might find interesting:

http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=325765

Jacob M. Aho said...

The article was interesting, however I liked the Whitehorse Inn a little bit better.

Josh Monen said...

Hey Matt, the mainstream media has a way of turning my stomach too. Thanks for sharing this.