Category: Random

Yes we recognize the horror of the crimes done in the name of Christianity because we can see them etched on world history. As Christian, I am personally ashamed of all of those. But we must also recognize, with the same vivid intensity, the good things that Christianity brought to our personal lives and the entire world. If we don’t, we will be guilty of selective intellectualism, highlighting the things we don’t like and forgetting the things that actually did us so much good. That, I think, is like cutting the base of the tree while you are nicely perched on one of its branches. If the whole thing crumbles down, thanks to all your tirades, you might find yourself suffering the most fatal blows of the crash.

—Jojo Agot 

I had this very interesting Facebook conversation with an old friend who is now working for the US Navy. We were college classmates but it was not until she migrated to the US that we started having serious exchange of ideas. Her name is Ruth. She’s smart and very down to earth. Despite the tight nature of our discussion, I assure you that this is a friendly exchange between us. This entry is published with her kind permission.

Ruth: More people have been slaughtered in the name of religion than for any other single reason. That, my friends, that is true perversion.

Jojo: I agree that it is perversion but I genuinely disagree with your statistics and the way people came up with these numbers (not to mention the insinuation it paints in the mind). The flip side of this is that more good has been done to the world by Christianity than any other religion and atheistic philosophy; one of which is our freedom of speech. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to post something like this in a public forum like Facebook.

Another notable gift of Christianity to the world is the elevation of the value of women and children. In pre-Christian era, women were maltreated mercilessly and female children were either killed or left to die by exposure. Christianity is not perfect, it has a bloody history (like the witch hunts and the crusades) but it is the first religion to embrace the leper, feed the poor, build orphanages, fought for humanity’s inalienable rights and freedom of speech, ended cannibalism, and promoted education for everyone.

Continue reading Defense for Christianity

The greater our sphere of leadership influence, the higher our impact on the world around us. And the more people we lead, the greater the potential damage caused through our poor decisions and actions. This is one of the sobering realities we must face when we accept the mantle of leadership. —Hans Finzel, The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make

So let the horn sound. Challenge boys and men to follow a different path. Model what this looks like. Show them how to live for Christ, and to serve family, church, and society. Absolutely.