Don`t Tread on my Conqueror
First, we had rioting over unflattering portrayals of Muhammad, now we have the criminalization of insults to Ghengis Khan. What next? Will the French ban bad words against Napoleon? Will the Huns arrest Atilla bashers? Will they gate those who mock Alexander the Great?
We live in interesting times.
We live in interesting times.
posted by Timothy Birdnow | 8:28 AM
3 Comments:
I have now a soft spot in my heart for old Genghis. I just finished a revisionist history about him, Genghis Khan, by Jack Weatherford. In it he seems almost a Renaissance figure!
Anyway, you might be heartened by what old Genghis did to the Middle Eastern Moslem world during the years of his conquest of it in the early 1200s. Good lord, I almost feel some sympathy for those members of the religion of peace. Genghis was thorough, I will grant him that.
In any sliding scale of insults Genghis would have preference over Mohammed, as that Mongolian fellow kicked thee stuffing out of so many Moslems.
Mike, I have to agree with you; Ghengis Khan wasn`t as bad as he has been portrayed. He believed he had a divine calling to conquer the world to impose peace.
Yeah, the Great Khan sent envoys to Persia, and they tore out the guy`s beard as a show of disrespect, so Temujin taught them the true meaning of disrespect. You gotta love a guy who doesn`t take any crap out of a bunch of arrogant Moslems.
a few years ago I went on a message board and saw a Moslem defending his religion by pointing to Islam`s conquest of much of the civilized world in such a short time. His argument was that the astounding victories of Muhammad and his followers in war proved the truth of Islam. I pointed out that Ghengis Khan was similarly victorious-as was Alexander, Julius Caesar, Atilla, the Spanish Conquistodors, the Ivan`s in Russia, etc. In short, Muhammad was just another strutting conqueror riding his war machine to crush anyone who opposed him. Can that be proof of divine favor? Or is that proof of the favor of the Prince of this World, the adversary?
Jesus offered something completely new, something that really is at odds with human nature. He offered kindness to all-even the lowliest and weakest. He offered mercy, forbearance, a giving of self which is woefully missing from Islam. Consider the torture and executions of not just Jesus but his followers; would any Moslem find this appealing? Islam applauds martyrdom, but not THAT kind of martyrdom! The Christian martyrs went meekly to their deaths, thus denying their foes the satisfaction of killing a struggling enemy, and those who witnessed this realized that God was truly with them. They were willing to die humbly for their God, not merely in some bloody Jihad. Christianity grew proportionally to the amount of persecution it underwent. Islam had to conquer to grow.
I`ll have to check out the Jack Weatherford book!
Islam expands and conquers as a cancer expands and conquers. Whatever host is infected by Islam becomes sick and impoverished. Before the Moslem conquest you could ride all across Northern Africa under the shade of trees. And now?
Boy, I wish Bush would beat the crap out of some arrogant imam! We could put it on YouTube.
Success at conquest is no sign of divine favor. God uses evil nations at times to further His goals---Assyria for example, a most unholy nation. But it conquered all of the Middle East by 700 BC or so. Because of Assyria ten tribes of Israel were lost to history. And then came Assyria's turn. It vanished in two weeks in 612 BC!
Augustine dealt with this issue in City of God. The pagans were blaming Christians for the sack of Rome in 410 AD. Augustine said, "Not so fast!"
Seen in one light, our invasion of Iraq freed 25,000,000 Moslems. God does not desire any of his children to be enslaved, so Bush played Moses to Saddam's pharaoh. But such a belief would send the Democrats into paroxysms of anguish!
Your last paragraph reminded me of why I am here, of why Christians are here. We are not to avoid the Cross but to take it up, to join Christ on His Cross if He calls.
As you said, Islam has nothing like this. In fact, it has nothing at all save for the oblivion of death.
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