None As Blind As

I used to think, as many teach, that one of the strongest arguments for the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the dramatic change and conviction in the early disciples. It made sense to me that no one would stake his or her life on a known lie. Had those early disciples thought that Jesus was still in the grave, they would have faded into history like so many other followers of false messiahs. It only recently occurred to me that this opinion must ignore the fact that Mohammed's followers have down through the centuries made the same costly commitment. As have the disciples of Joseph Smith, Jim Jones or David Koresh and many others.

Today, Barak Obama seems to be ignoring the implications of this radical type of faith. It is not surprising since he shows no signs of having any such faith personally. Neither he nor his supporters apparently acknowledge the existence and the power of life-altering political views. Obama's recent declaration that we won't use nuclear weapons against an enemy if they attack us with other than nuclear weapons reveals this weakness. This parallels earlier statements regarding the use of certain types of interrogation techniques. He seems to operate under the assumption that if we are nice to them, our enemies will be nice to us. Similarly, the New York Times and other media outlets have divulged information critical to our national security which they seem to think demonstrates a spirit of journalistic fairness.

Now, I am not a warmonger. I do not wish to see Muslims dead because they follow Mohamed. I firmly believe that in this country, citizens must be free to practice whatever religion does not restrict the rights of other citizens. This is the only path I know that will ensure that I may hold my Christian faith freely. Yet as all rights are limited by the coexistent rights of other citizens, no religion which denies "unbelievers" equal rights can be tolerated. This is what Obama and his administration have forgotten. The people who attacked us on September 11, 2001, were radically unconcerned that they were depriving thousands of Americans the right to live as they chose.

In the same way that the appeasers of the 1930's allowed Adolf Hitler to annex more and more of Europe, Obama and the liberals across the globe are now ceding ever larger physical and moral territory to the radical Muslim agenda. These are not people with whom we can coexist. They seek our destruction unless we convert to their way of thinking and believing. While the economic policies of the Obama administration are obaminable [sic,] his foreign policy is so naive as to be dangerous. He doesn't realize that the people he is trying to be nice to will murder him at the first opportunity. He has no real concept of the power of religious belief that is radical.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the sine qua non of Christianity: without it, there is no religion to believe in. But this reality rests on a mundane, elementary, level. As Paul says, our faith is empty without confidence in the resurrection (1Corinthians 15:14.) This intellectual basis for faith is less exciting than the experiential, feeling based commitment; in the end though, it is far more substantial. The Muslim homicide bomber believes he is earning himself a heavenly harem based on the words of a long dead prophet. I believe when I die, I will be welcomed into paradise by the living Lord who purchased my entry with his own life, then rose from the grave to seal the deal. Both paths require faith and commitment; the difference is the person in whom we each place our faith. The object of my faith is alive; no one has ever claimed that for the prophet Mohamed.