Voluntary victims of shariah

On September 11, 2005, Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty moved to reject the use of Shariah law (or any other religious-based tribunal) in settling family disputes. This was after hundreds of people around the world protested the idea of introducing Islamic law into Ontario.

In February 2006, Islamic blasphemy laws have been effectively brought to bear throughout large portions of the Western world, suppressing cherished freedoms of speech and criticism through threats of murder and acts of violence, oppression and terror.

As Richard Neuhaus wisely notes in his February 8, 2006 posting (emphasis added):

The conflagration is not, as many American and European editorialists are opining, about sensitivity to the religious feelings of others. The same editorialists routinely approve of “transgressive” art and vituperative rhetoric that trashes Christianity. Nor is it about the “hypocrisy” or “unfairness” of Muslims who incessantly publish vile anti-Semitic and anti-Christian caricatures, although what they do is certainly not nice.

No, the teaching of Islam is that it is blasphemy to visually depict Muhammed, whether favorably or unfavorably, but especially unfavorably. It is also impermissible to criticize the teachings of the Qur’an and the hadith. These and many other prohibitions are part of the sharia law that militant Islamists are intent upon imposing upon Islam and, insofar as they are able, on the world.

If you haven't seen the cartoons yet, I urge you to have a look at them (this page, about halfway down). Not to provoke our Muslim neighbours, but so that you will be aware of just how mild these cartoons really are.

Will we be ruled to Shariah law? I am dismayed by the cowardice of the North American media, who refuse to publish these cartoons. Unless people can see how mild these drawings are, they cannot properly understand the issue of this global Islamic violence.

It truly is, as John Neuhaus noted, not about sensitivity but about Islamic law. If for fear of our lives we cannot publish silly cartoons, what is next? Criticism of the Qu'ran is also considered blasphemy. As is criticism of Mohammed.

The next time North American media choose to offend Christians and Jews in the name of freedom of expression, it will ring hollow in the face of this moral cowardice.

Technorati Tags: shariah, cartoons, Islam, violence, cowardice, media

That the next generation might know them...

Psalm 78:4-7 (ESV):

4 will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.
5 established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
6 the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
7 that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;

When we were at our former church, I was asked to preach on the responsibility of parents to their children. Near the end, I warned parents that current trends will result in our children facing far more difficult days as Christians in this society than we could even imagine now. I urged that:

...if we are content now to just do the minimum, we will leave our kids underequipped to deal with this future. The Bible warns about those who have joy in the gospel but little understanding of it, and when the sun comes up and it gets hot, they are like little plants that wither because they have no roots. Or Jesus' parable of the wise and foolish builders. When the storm came, only the wise man, who knew God's word and obeyed it, had a house left standing. I think the storm is coming, and the dry times are coming, and we must ensure that our kids' roots run deep, and their houses are well-founded on the Rock of the Word of God.

Accordingly, my wife and I are always looking for ways to train up our children, whether that be through new traditions, recommended books, or changes to family devotions.

I'd love to know what others who read this blog (or even stumble across this article) are doing to train up their children. To "prime the pump," I'll start by sharing how we do family devotions.

Every evening, starting around 7:30, the whole family gathers on the couch. Our kids, who are 6 and 7, are already into their pyjamas and ready for bed.

We begin with singing. We have a binder of songs, mostly from Sovereign Grace Music, with the song sheets downloaded from their web site. Our church sings these songs, so the kids are familiar with them. My guitar playing is pretty awful, which matches my singing ability, but I have a patient wife with a great voice, so it works out.

After a song, we take a few minutes while I read the Bible to them. We started with picture-based children's Bibles, much like The Big Picture Bible recommended by my pastor. We worked through Bibles with ever-fewer pictures and more text, until they are now reading the ESV Bible. We work sequentially through the Bible (we're just into Exodus now), with the kids listening while I read to them. They are able to read it themselves, but I think it's important for them to hear Scripture as well as read it.

Next we move to the day's installment of the Shorter Catechism. We're using the book Training Hearts, Teaching Minds (which I've talked about in a previous blog entry). This is an excellent book for introducing children (and adults) to the terrific tools of the catechism. The kids use their own Bibles to look up and read out loud the passages referred to by this book. If they're looking sleepy at this point, we do "sword drills".

Then we sing another song.

Finally, we close with an extended reading (15-20 minutes) from another book. Currently we're reading a series of short biographies in a book called Heroes Who Changed the World (we skip Francis of Assisi). At other times we've worked through several pictoral or young reader editions of Pilgrim's Progress. In a year or two I think they'll be ready for the full version.

So, that's the basic outline of our family devotions. It takes about 45 minutes from start to end. I know that the one element we're missing in family prayer. We do pray separately with the children when putting them to bed, but we need to spend time praying as a family.

Any thoughts? Criticisms? Suggestions for incorporating prayer? What do other parents do for family devotions? Please share!


Technorati Tags: parenting, Christianity, children