ROMEOs: The Retired Old Men Eating Out have a standing meeting 9-10 a.m. Monday-Friday at Waid's, Sante Fe and K-7, Olathe, KS. Not all are retired, just most. Among the ranks are academics, physicians, airline pilots, skilled tradesmen, businessmen, pastors, former pastors. The passions include politics and theology in equal amounts. All are evangelicals with backgrounds in Wesleyan Christianity. Laughter and holding one another accountable sharpens their minds and spurs them to continuing discipleship. Ebenezer is a blog based upon this fellowship.
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Thursday, February 2
Two Items in the News Illustrative of "The Conflict of Civilizations"
by
ebenezer
on Thu 02 Feb 2006 11:09 PM CST
American news media are taking a drubbing for
their timidity and double standard in coverage of the story involving
cartoons of the prophet Mohammad published in Europe.
A new film featuring American actors depicts U.S. soldiers as mass
murderers and Jews as organ thieves gets its drubbing here.
Its story line includes:
In the most expensive Turkish movie
ever made, American soldiers in
Iraq crash a wedding and pump a little boy full of lead in front of his
mother.
They kill dozens of innocent people with
random machine gun
fire, shoot the groom in the head, and drag those left alive to Abu
Ghraib prison where a Jewish doctor cuts out their organs, which he
sells to rich people in New York, London and Tel Aviv.
They Are Watching Us
by
ebenezer
on Thu 02 Feb 2006 05:28 PM CST
We meet Monday-Friday in a very
public place. There are people, some regulars, who cannot help but
overhear our discussions. I remember several times in the past when
our oldest member would give us warnings that the sectarian discussion
we were engaging in might offend a couple across the way that followed
another faith tradition. It has been a long time since our elder
member has given us such a warning, and it has been a long time since I
have seen that couple at our meeting place.
We know much less about the beliefs of others who regularly sit around
us and can overhear our conversations. As we engage in verbal
sparring, sometimes spearing, and other aspects of our fellowship, we
should keep in mind that others are watching and listening. An article
that focuses on this aspect of our conversations is found here.
Do we as Christians
really stop to think about how we are representing God? Have you ever
thought about how the things we do and say affect non-Christians? Sure,
we all worry about what our Christian friends and acquaintances think
about the things we say and do, but how often do we really think about
how non-believers view us?
In fact, what we do and say
affects the non-Christians around us far more than it does the
Christians. Pastor Lee Strobel said one of the most profound things I
have ever heard. I'm paraphrasing because I can't remember the exact
quote, "for those of us who calls ourselves Christians, we need to know
that the hypocrisy meter is scanning our lives." In other words, those
who have chosen not to believe are looking for us to fail so they can
justify their non-belief. Think about the responsibility that is
inherent in that statement. Do we really understand that we can be
either good or bad ambassadors for Christ simply by the words we speak
or the way we live our lives?
Read the whole thing and let us
reflect on our public witness.
Whatever Happened to Christian History?
by
ebenezer
on Thu 02 Feb 2006 03:32 PM CST
We talked about a number of
interesting topics this a.m. from the role of Jews and Israel in the
end times to the history of the founding generation of the American
Revolution and several topics in between. I mentioned an interesting
essay I had read recently about Christian history and Christian
historians and promised to share it here.
If you are interested in the questions raised by people of faith who
are also professional historians, check it out.
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