Sunday, April 28, 2013

Jesus gave us freedom in order that we might show the world the true face of God

On April 6, 2013, I wrote a post noting that the Army, in a briefing to a Pennsylvania Reserve Unit had equated Evangelicals and Catholics with radical Muslim groups such as Al Quaida and Hamas. I noted that the difference was that radical Christians didn't kill people. That alone should have made them realize the huge difference, but today at the American Thinker, Trevor Thomas goes further in an article entitled Radical Christians vs Radical Muslims. Thomas notes that radical Christians have gone to the far ends of the earth to provide education, healing, and comfort to the down trodden and the poor. Christians routinely operate soup kitchens for the homeless. Catholics operate 1,100 hospitals in the US alone.

Thomas takes us on a tour of these various missions, highlighting the work of people like Jim Elliot who evangelized the Quechua Indians, or Millard and Linda Fuller who founded Habitat for Humanity.  He notes the great universities, the first hospitals, all founded by Christians, and contrast these with Muslims who seem bent on filling those hospitals up.

What Thomas doesn't say, because his is a national audience, is that Catholic diocese and Protestant Churches operate child care centers, elementary, middle, and high schools.  My own congregation runs an early education school.  My grandson goes to a Baptist day care center.  Hundreds of local Christians provide the volunteer logistics to gather and transport donated foodstuffs to the local food bank, and stock and distribute food to needy families.  My own congregation also provides through donations, school supplies so that poor kids have a backpack with notebooks, pencils and pens, paper etc when the go to school.  The people who do these things do them quietly, because they feel called to do them.  Jesus gave us freedom in order to perform good in the community, to show people the true face of God, and that is what radical Christians have done. 

So, there you have it.  These people are your radical Christians.  Interestingly, they would do more if government got out of the way.  Unlike groups like Planned Parenthood, they do not take a dime from the government.  Which would you rather have in your community, radical Christians, or radical Muslims?    

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