Category Archives: Uncategorized

Telling the Truth about Islam, Part 4

February 4th, 2016 | Dr. Charlie Self

Courage and humility must find active expression as we confront enemies determined to destroy our cherished freedoms. Here are three more strategic insights for this long conflict:

One: We must repent of and repudiate all historical and present forms of oppression, including any divisions of class, gender, race, religion or political opinion. We will not always agree and should freely debate on all matters eternal and temporal. But we must want for all others the liberties and opportunities we desire for ourselves.

Two: We must humbly reaffirm our enduring values and offer genuine hope for better days in our neighborhoods and nations. Politicians must cease posturing and begin working for the common good. Moms and Dads need to place their children’s needs above their own and nurture their marriages. Local churches can commission their members for value creation in all domains of work.

Three: As we engage (tearfully) in military action, we fight to win without reducing our ethics to the dastardly ones of our opponents. We limit civilian casualties as best we can – yet we cannot tie the hands of troops with actionable intelligence. This will be very difficult, but necessary if we desire victory in hearts as well as military success.

The hardest parts of this conflict are the intractable attitudes of our enemies and the long, patient actions needed for victory. This is why character matters. Zealots cannotultimately win if met with greater moral/spiritual as well as military/political forces. Onlytrue humility can forge this better future.

Telling the Truth About Islam, Part 3: The Powerful Weapon…of Humility

January 24th, 2016 | Dr. Charlie Self

In the previous essays, the Islamist ethos of conquest was exposed. We must honestly face this threat to human liberty.

Confronting totalitarian ideology requires military and political courage and wisdom. The policies since 9-11-2001 have been haphazard at best and utter failures at worst.

But there is one more resource needed in the battle for liberty: humility about the moral and spiritual bankruptcy of the West. The battle against fanaticism will never be won without integrity at the core of the fight. At first this sounds counter intuitive. Often folks say that if our opponents fight dirty, so must we. While there may be moments of compromise and subversion in any war, at the heart of success must be an unflinching faith in the values and vision for the civilization we are defending.

One of the Islamists’ most destructive and divisive tactics is their blistering critique of Western decadence, including our materialism, narcissism and racism. Each of these self-centered characteristics creates fertile ground for the poison of ideological extremism.

History loudly exposes the darker side of the West.All of these events embolden radicals with long memories:
• 15th-19th century conquest and exploitation of the Americas;
• 19th and 20th century European “mandates” in Africa and the Middle East;
• The conquest of the North American continent at the expense of indigenous rights;
• And the 20th century American domination of her empire acquired in war.

For the past six decades, the West has struggled to atone for prior evils and bring aid to the world, with mixed results. One thing does ring true, in spite of all the mistakes made:

Everywhere there is freedom of conscience and economic opportunity in the world, there has been some form of Christian and Western influence encouraging values that lead to human flourishing. And Islam has never produced a truly egalitarian democracy. These values include more than “freedom.” Religious faith, personal responsibility, access to markets, property rights and the rule of law are all part of this liberating ethos.

Time for Truth

Courage and humility, joined with reverence for the Almighty and respect for all persons, provide the moral and spiritual core strength for the long battle we must face with the global jihadists. If we continue to waste our energies in amoral and immoral entertainment and cultural distractions, there will not be the energy and focus needed for wise confrontation and defeat of determined enemies.

Telling the Truth about Islam, Part 2

January 13th, 2016 | Dr. Charlie Self

How do we respond to millions of good neighbors and implacable enemies? How can lovers of virtue-based liberty create better policies for the years ahead? Here are three insights:

One: We must be good, loving friends to our Muslim neighbors and engage in mutually enriching conversations that foster human flourishing and safer neighborhoods. Sharing our Christian faith with gentleness is a risk worth taking, if we believe our own Bible.

Two: We must face the truth that millions of Islamists do desire the destruction our cherished freedoms, from ending our First Amendment under the guise of repudiating “hate speech” to the enforcement of Sharia law, locally and globally.

Three: All nations that value liberty of conscience must work together on immigration, military responses to terrorism and economic opportunities in order to secure lasting peace.

Telling the truth is uncomfortable, but needed for moral authority. In the next installment, we will face the truth of Western oppression directly and understand how repentance from historic and present sins joined with generosity of spirit can turn enemies into friends.

Telling the Truth: A Public Conversation

January 7th, 2016 | Dr. Charlie Self

Telling the Truth about Islam, Part 1
As several nations face the scourge of Islamicist terror, telling the truth about Islam has never been more important. After the 9/11 attacks in the USA, Western elites have been falling all over themselves separating the “religion of peace” from radical groups that “pervert” a distinguished monotheistic religion.

It is time for the truth.

Yes, most Muslim neighbors are peaceful people. The same can be said of people of all faiths or none in most circumstances. Most people do not murder in pursuit of power. Yes, there have been historical moments when Christian nations have made war on Muslim nations. And, yes, there have been tragic errors in Israel’s pursuit of security amidst scores of nations and millions of people desiring her destruction.

Qualifiers complete. It is time for truth.

21st century Islamist terrorism is consistent with a conquering ethos that dominates Islam from its inception to its current forms. From the conquest of the Arabian Peninsula by Mohammed’s armies in the 620s to the Ottoman expansions into the 17th century, Islam fosters political, military and social domination, allowing Christians and Jews limited freedoms as second-class citizens and violently persecuting all other religions as a matter of policy.

10-10-732 and 9-11-1683

On October 10, 732, the Frankish troops of Charles Martel repulsed the Umayyad cavalry in a field between Tours and Poitiers. The century prior to 732 was one of unabated Islamic conquest. On September 11, 1683, the army of the Ottoman Empire was defeated at the gates of Vienna (in large part thanks to valiant Polish cavalry), ending centuries of Ottoman conquests in Asia Minor and Eastern Europe.

Crusaders and colonizers: it is complicated.

Politically correct historians and cultural commentators enjoy lambasting Western oppression of Islamiclands, citing the Crusades of 1096-1291 and the European race for Africa and the Middle East between 1870 and 1940 as proof that modern Muslim anger is justified and the West is getting a taste of its own medicine. The Crusades represent a complex series of events originating in both Eastern and Western Christian imperial aims. These included protecting pilgrims and reconquering lost territory. Add to this mix the promises of material and spiritual honor and a toxic mix of motives and methods emerges. After 1291, no Christian presence remained in the Holy Land apart from small religious enclaves.

The colonialism of the 19th and 20th centuries was the result of the vacuum left with the end of the Ottoman Empire. There is much indefensible oppression and one must separate the economic and political power games of Western nations from the humanitarian and spiritual goals of Christian missionaries – they were often at odds with each other. By the 1970s, however, no Western nation controlled Muslim territory and the emergence of OPEC and the untold oil wealth ended the ability of Islamic regimes to blame the West for their economic problems. As one Imam in Cupertino CA recently said, “Given the wealth of many Muslim nations, there should not be a single poor Muslim in the world.” (Name withheld for his personal protection.)

And there is Israel.

The birth of the modern State of Israel in 1948 is considered a great evil in the eyes of global Islam. Extremists deny both the existence of Israelite presence in ancient times and the severity of the Holocaust! They avoid the uncomfortable facts that the Mufti of Jerusalem supported mass extermination in 1941, encouraging Hitler with his plans for the Auschwitz and Saschsenhausen death camps. Moderates claim that this tiny state is a Western colonial imposition and now an “apartheid” oppressor of Palestinians. A few brave Muslims work for peace at the risk of their lives. Israel’s support of religious freedom, the presence of a million Arab citizens and a vibrant democracy and economy do not matter – she must be eliminated. Every radical Muslim group repudiates Israel’s right to exist.

How then shall we live?

Islam is organically incapable of fostering an egalitarian democracy. The Qur’an has no texts allowing for the equality of all citizens in a Muslim nation. Reform groups that catch media attention either repudiate foundational Muslim texts or act as a cover for extremist agendas.

Americans and all lovers of liberty must face the truth about Islam. In next week’s essay, we will explore positive attitudes and actions for a better future.

An Advent of Hope: Christmas 2015

December 27th, 2015 | Dr. Charlie Self

Into a small village in an obscure province of the first-century the Roman Empire, a baby is born during a census. His parents are part of the artisan class, neither “dirt poor” nor “filthy rich.” His birth sparks some local and regional interest as pious Jews in the Temple and humble shepherds declare the dawn of a Messianic Age. Babylonian and Persian scholars journey for months and honor this toddler with lavish gifts. King Herod, a despotic and paranoid appointee of Rome, reacts to a potential rival with a killing frenzy targeting under two-year-old children. Undoubtedly the census helped his soldiers carry out this inhumane task.

Jesus of Nazareth was a real historical figure and the subject of adoration and disdain, deep loyalty and religious animosity. The Gospel records offer enough tantalizing details without the exhaustive data 21st century folks crave. Jewish and Roman sources affirm his existence and importance, especially as a catalyst for a rift in Judaism. His first followers were devout Jews. Their affirmation of Jesus’ Messianic office and Lordship led to expulsion from synagogues, persecution from Roman leaders and the formation of a new faith that now includes both Jews and Gentiles as equals.

Christmas is the celebration of Jesus’ conception and birth. For his followers, it is the dawn of a new hope, the inauguration of a new age of salvation that will reach its fulfillment in Jesus’s crucifixion and bodily resurrection and its consummation with his glorious return in the future. The surprising and transformative news is that there is forgiveness of sins, empowerment for holy love and deep assurance of eternal hope available now, even as final salvation is yet to come.

The audacity of Christian hope is that all who believe enjoy favor with God and deep peace, new fellowship and a sense of divine mission right now. Our eternal security unleashes passions for purity and service. Though final redemption awaits Christ’s return, substantial “providential increases” (John Wesley) are possible today, from personal life-change to social transformations.

Let’s welcome our Lord with awe and humility, wonder and willingness to change. As we allow this real hope to permeate our lives, we join with god in the reconciling of all things.