Christian Churches targeted | INFJ Forum

Christian Churches targeted

just me

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Report: Over 120 Syrian churches damaged by war since 2011
Associated Press 1 hour 15 minutes ago
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FILE - This April 1, 2018 file photo, shows a cross that lies in the rubble of a destroyed church that was blown up by Islamic State militants in 2015, in the deserted village of Tal Jazeera, northern Syria. The Qatar-based Syrian Network for Human Rights, a Syrian war monitor associated with the opposition said in its report Monday, Sept. 9, 2019, that over 120 Christian places of worship have been damaged or destroyed by all sides in the country’s eight-year conflict. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
BEIRUT (AP) — A Syrian war monitor associated with the opposition said Monday that over 120 Christian places of worship have been damaged or destroyed by all sides in the country's eight-year conflict.

Some of the attacks were deliberate, such as the Islamic State group using bulldozers to destroy the ancient Saint Elian Monastery in Homs province in 2015. The majority, however, were caused by front-line combat, shelling or rockets.

Christians made up about 10 percent of Syria's pre-war population of 23 million, who co-existed with the Muslim majority and enjoyed freedom of worship under President Bashar Assad's government.

Most have left for Europe over the past 20 years, with their flight significantly gathering speed since the start of the current conflict.

Around half of all Syrians are now either internally displaced or have left the country.

The report by the Qatar-based Syrian Network for Human Rights, which collects statistics on the war, said government forces were responsible for 60% of the 124 documented attacks since fighting erupted in March 2011. The rest were blamed on IS militants, the al-Qaida-linked group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and other factions of the armed opposition.

There was immediate comment from the government, which rarely comments on reports from foreign organizations.

"Targeting Christian places of worship is a form of intimidation against and displacement of the Christian minority in Syria," said Fadel Abdul Ghany, the founder and chairman of SNHR.

The report said IS was behind 10 attacks on Christian sites, five of which were in the northern city of Raqqa, once the extremists de-facto capital. The group was known for displacing and killing Christians in areas it controlled and confiscating their properties.

Hardest hit was the northern province of Aleppo, with 34 attacks, 24 by rebels and six by the government.

The highest number of attacks by government forces — 27 out of 29 — was in the central province of Homs.

SNHR's report also placed blame on Syrian government allies Russia and Iran, but did not specify how many of the attacks they'd caused.
 
It seems strange to many how many people now in the USA talk like they are against Christianity, or maybe they just don't believe in it.

Yet, they take it very seriously in most Muslim and Arab countries. Islam sees it as a threat, yet they laid claims to many parts of the Bible such as Abraham. Muhammed asked to be named a prophet of God on his way to Jerusalem with others that believed in God. They said they could not proclaim him a prophet of God, so he stopped traveling with them and went back to Saudi Arabia and started a new religion.

I understand how a studious person can be offended, though we teach against it. Islam was born. Muhammed named himself not only a prophet of God, but the final and last prophet of God.

At this time, Mecca was a prosperous city whose wealth and influence were based on the caravan trade and on the Ka‘ba, a shrine and a place of pilgrimage housing the pagan deities then being worshipped by the Arabs. Muhammad’s message, heralding a new socio-religious order based on allegiance to one god—Allah—was unpopular among the leaders of Mecca, and they forced Muhammad and his followers to emigrate north to the oasis town Yathrib (Medina). This occurred in 622, the year of the hijra, or “emigration,” which marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar. In Medina, Muhammad continued to attract followers and, within a few years, Mecca had also largely embraced Islam. Upon his return to Mecca, one of the Prophet’s first acts was to cleanse the Ka‘ba of its idols and rededicate the shrine to Allah. copied "The Birth of Islam"

Although Muhammad died in 632, his followers, led by a series of four caliphs (Arabic: khalifa, “successor”) known as the Rightly Guided, continued to spread the message of Islam. Under their command, the Arab armies carried the new faith and leadership from the Arabian Peninsula to the shores of the Mediterranean and to the eastern reaches of Iran. The Arabs conquered Syria, Palestine, and Egypt from the
Byzantine empire
while Iraq and Iran, the heart of the
Sasanian empire
,succumbed to their forces. Here in these lands, Islam fostered the development of a religious, political, and cultural commonwealth and the creation of a global empire. copied The Birth of Islam
 
by force
 
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They do not believe Christ is the Messiah, so they are certainly NOT fellow Christians.

EDITT: They means Muslims.
 
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I normally do not see MB's posts, but read that before I logged in. Thank you, Pin; I misunderstood you. In English, the last person or persons we mention are who we are talking about. I meant Islam. I pray for the displaced Christians and their churches, too.
 
I normally do not see MB's posts, but read that before I logged in. Thank you, Pin; I misunderstood you. In English, the last person or persons we mention are who we are talking about. I meant Islam. I pray for the displaced Christians and their churches, too.
You should unblock me. I say super cool things...
 
I feel sure I did not like a few things you said, cool as you thought they were, regarding my faith jokingly. I'll unblock you til something rubs me wrong again.
 
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Under a lot of stress right now, so forgive my lack of fun.
 
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If Islam is not for Jesus, they are against Him. They are also against Judaism. They have militants wishing to destroy Israel and Christianity, which said militants were housed in a compound in Pakistan.

From The Gospel Coalition:
5. Islam teaches that Jesus was a great prophet.
Islam affirms that Jesus was born of a virgin, that he lived a sinless life, that he performed mighty miracles, and that he will come again at the end of history. It even calls him a word from God. However, it explicitly denies the deity of Christ and repudiates the title “Son of God” as blasphemous. It also (according to the majority view) denies he died on the cross, claiming that Jesus’ visage was imposed on someone else, who was then crucified, and that Jesus was taken up into heaven without tasting death. Islam explicitly denies the possibility of substitutionary atonement. copied

I know kind Muslims, and have spoken with an Imam who traveled from near Pakistan to visit and talk with me. Something I had written and sent to the Muslims, "We All Have Struggles", had him wish to meet me. Jihad actually means "the spiritual struggle within oneself against sin". I think we parted as friends who both understood the true spiritual understanding of "jihad". Yet, I have better understood now how they describe Jesus. I also understand Muhammed appointed himself the last prophet.
I therefore submit, with much sorrow, Islam is against Christ. If they do not believe what He taught and claimed, they are therefore as antichrist. Are they the antichrist that rose up and worked miraculous things, claiming to be as God? Is Muhammed antichrist, turning away from Judaism and claiming things others did not believe? They have grown into a powerful religion. America now has Muslims in our government, which is how Hezbollah claimed to be part of the Lebanese Government.

Mind you, people in the East take this seriously. We are asleep and stuck in our phones and computers while they are waging a war to take over. Putin, also, has had to deal with them. Who will stand up against them? I could be called antimuhammed.
What would that mean to them? Kill me? They are not going to come into my house and tell me what to do like they have done in so many places. Some leaders allowed Christians to worship as they would; some, did not. People are trying to turn us against each other. We need to learn to stand fast and keep what we have. Those who act like they do not care may have to make a decision one day.

A little more to the right, please.