Photos of Dubai

Great photos of Dubai here. I am so fascinated by that city, God willing we will visit it some day.

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/showcase-85/?hp

The Night Before Christmas and the PC Police

Twas the month before Christmas *When all through our land,* *Not a Christian was praying* *Nor taking a stand.* *See the PC Police had taken away,* *The reason for Christmas - no one could say.* *The children were told by their schools not to sing,* *About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.* *It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say* * December 25th is just a ' Holiday '.* *Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit* *Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!* *CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod* *Something was changing, something quite odd! * *Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa* *In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.* *As Targets were hanging their trees upside down* * At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.* *At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears* *You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.* *Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty* *Are words that were used to intimidate me.* *Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen* *On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !* *At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter* *To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.* *And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith* * Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace* *The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded* *The reason for the season, stopped before it started.* *So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'* *Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.* *Choose your words carefully, choose what you say* *Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS, not Happy Holiday !*

Jordanian Blogger on Ramadan

[Per the request of the blogger at Black Iris of Jordan, this entire post has been removed. Sincerely, Abu Daoud.]

The Dark Side of Dubai

This is a very excellent and interesting article on the present state of the Emirate of Dubai. Pretty amazing. It is a long article, but is very well-written and engaging. Most interesting to me was the part about the environment and the sewage being pumped out into the sea, which, of course, is where people swim while they are there on vacation.

Also new to me was the info about the carbon footprint, which is very high per capita bc of the huge amount of energy used for desalination.

[One hotel employee talks about the beaches:]"It started like this. We began to get complaints from people using the beach. The water looked and smelled odd, and they were starting to get sick after going into it. So I wrote to the ministers of health and tourism and expected to hear back immediately – but there was nothing. Silence. I hand-delivered the letters. Still nothing."

The water quality got worse and worse. The guests started to spot raw sewage, condoms, and used sanitary towels floating in the sea. So the hotel ordered its own water analyses from a professional company. "They told us it was full of fecal matter and bacteria 'too numerous to count'. I had to start telling guests not to go in the water, and since they'd come on a beach holiday, as you can imagine, they were pretty pissed off." She began to make angry posts on the expat discussion forums – and people began to figure out what was happening. Dubai had expanded so fast its sewage treatment facilities couldn't keep up. The sewage disposal trucks had to queue for three or four days at the treatment plants – so instead, they were simply drilling open the manholes and dumping the untreated sewage down them, so it flowed straight to the sea. [...]

HT to JS, the complete article by Johann Hari is over at The Independent. Kudos to them for this excellent journalism.

Evangelical Crypto-sacramentalism?

OK people, tell me if this is way too harsh, maybe even venomous, or if it sounds more or less reasonable:

[E]vangelicalism is in many of its forms a contextualization that reacted against what was (at times, justifiably) perceived as ossified and lifeless ritual, the search for inner contact with God and the individualization and emotionalization of religion go hand in hand. Ritual was sublimated, but since humans need ritual to preserve a sense of identity, the local cultural symbols of America were drawn upon, thus arose a form of uniquely evangelical crypto-sacramentalism centered around a bizarre amalgamation of Scripture, pietism, entertainment, and consumerism.

Sterling Hayden on Life, the Voyage, and Financial Unrest

To be truly challenging, a voyage, like life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen, who play with their boats at sea - “cruising” it is called. Voyaging belongs to sailors, and to wanderers of the world who can not fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.

'I’ve always wanted to sail the South Seas, but I can’t afford it.' What these men can’t afford is NOT to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of 'security.' And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and before we know it our lives are gone.

What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat, shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That’s all - in the material sense. And we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention from the sheer idiocy of the charade.

The years thunder by. The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it the tomb is sealed.

Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?

--Sterling Hayden

Jerusalem Patriarch of the Orthodox Church

Much of the Middle East falls under the territory of this Patriarchate. (N. Africa is all under the Patriarch of Alexandria.) But interestingly enough the Patriarch and the bishops are all Greek, even today. Atallah Mansour in his "Narrow Gate Churches" ascribes the rather severe numerical decline of Orthodoxy in the Holy Land to the fact of Greek hegemony. The word Roum in the following paragraph means Greek as in the Byzantine Empire which was still the Holy Roman Empire, it does not mean Roman as in Latin or Italian. Roman Catholics here are called Latin Christians. Greek Catholics (Melkites) are simply called Catholic. Eastern Orthodox are called Orthodox or Roum:

Even in Arabic, most publications call that church Roum-Orthodox despite the fact that over 99% of their church members in the Holy Land call themselves Arab, speak Arabic as a mother tongue and fail to understand their church leaders rituals in the Greek language. The Greek clergy insist the church is Greek and the church's assets belong to Greek nationals--thus they refuse to appoint Arabs to membership in the Holy Sepulchre Fraternity since this might force them to share with Arab natives the church's material assets. Many faithful Orthodox Christians voted against the Greek clergy's hegemony with their feet by joining other churches.

Narrow Gate Churches by Atallah Mansour
p. 204-05

While I have a great deal of respect for Orthodoxy from a theological point the pastoral care (if one can call it that) that they provide for their flock is truly disastrous. It is hard, given these circumstances, for me to feel sorry for the Orthodox even though they are historically the original church through much of the region.

And since we're on the topic, here is an example of Orthodox chant in Arabic:

Muslim conversions and money?

I wonder if the rosy numbers you often hear about Muslim conversions to Christianity are artificially inflated "to keep the donors donating." How much of that practice is there?

This question is from an anonymous reader.

This is a really good question, so let me just make a couple of points.

1) Some ministries are way more guilty of number inflation than others. I would say this is especially true of radio and TV ministries and probably more true in the charismatic ministries. Why? Because when your ministry is based on the premise that you are special because the Holy Spirit is more active with YOU then you have to produce better numbers.

2) Numbers are very hard to come by. Converting from Islam is illegal in most every Arab country so it is not the kind of thing that you can easily get info about, so we have to do the best we can with the information we have. Some ministries and individuals exaggerate, some probably under-estimate numbers. It is one thing to high-ball an estimate and another thing (I think) to intentionally lie.

3) Pay attention to language: if an internet ministry says they receive 300 inquiries per month, that is what it means. They are inquiries. It could be something like, "Can you help me get a visa to emigrate?" or "I would like to marry a Christian woman, can you help me find one?" Those are inquiries, just like, "I would like to have a Bible, where can I get one?" or "Can you direct me to a church where I can be baptized?" or "Haven't you read the Quran, and don't you know you are going to hell?" So pay attention to the language. Often it is the receiving end that misconstrues what has been said.

I have told people myself, "In any given week I have several conversations about things like Jesus, religion, and the Bible." Which is true. Some people conclude from this that each person I speak with has received an adequate explanation of the Gospel--which is not what I said at all.

4) Size of ministry matters: if you support the Jones missionary family in Whateverstan then they will be able to give you good, detailed information on the people they are investing their time in. You can even ask them year over year, what happened to Mahmood and his family? and they will be able to answer your question. This is why in general I think that it is a good idea to use some of your missions tithe to support individuals or families, and not just big ministries. (Obviously I belong to the former group so perhaps I am biased.)

5) All that having been said, the number of converts certainly is going up. There can be no denying that. Is it millions? Of course not. Is it tens of thousands per year? Certainly. Hundreds of thousands? Hard to say. Will some of them fall away? Yeah. But in the end, some of those conversions are sincere and life-changing. It is, we should not be surprised, much like the parable of the sower.

I hope that answers your question. If you doubt a ministries numbers ask how they arrived at those figures. If they try to explain it to you and admit that these numbers are estimates, then they are probably trustworthy. If not, then I wouldn't support them financially.

Israelis debate Torah-mandated sabbatical for the land

[Abu Daoud says: OK, so the blog is not called Islam and Christianity and Judaism, but what happens in the Holy Land affects everyone, and the article is really interesting and well-written.]

Israelis debate Torah-mandated sabbatical for the land
by Steven Erlanger

JERUSALEM: As Israel's Jews start a new year, the country finds itself in the middle of a fierce religious dispute about the sanctity of fruits and vegetables.

Rabbis are pitted against one another, the interests of the state and the religious authorities are in conflict, the Supreme Court is involved, the devout are confused and the cost of produce is rising.

And a country in love with flowers, proud of "making the desert bloom," is, in its own disputatious way, letting much of its land go to seed.

This year, 5768 by the Jewish calendar, is a shmita, or sabbatical year. Jewish-owned land is supposed to be left fallow, whatever grows there is supposed to be free for everyone, and at the end of the year, all personal debts are supposed to be forgiven.

[...]

That presumably worked fine in a primitive economy before decent fertilizer, but shmita presented problems for the new Jewish state. Zionism was founded on the notion of a return to the land, but a modern country cannot live on what falls to the ground, and Israel's agribusinesses would fail.

So a compromise was found by respected rabbis from both the Ashkenazi and the Sephardic communities of Israel, including Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook and Rabbi Yaakov Shaul Elyashar. Charged with interpreting religious law, or halacha, they came up with the idea of "heter mechira," meaning sale permit, which allows Jews to "sell" their land pro forma to non-Jews for the shmita year, so the land may be cultivated.

[...]

Islam and Commercialism

Jesus is the reason for the season! Well, Muslims may well be facing the challenge of formulating something like this for Islam. But really, Muhammad was very pro-commerce, having been a merchant himself before his calling/decision to be a prophet.

Alas, here is the link. Starbucks in Mecca! Egad!

Commercialism_in_Mecca