Reverend Eric Foley of Voice of the Martyrs, Korea, explains why “private” religious practice will not provoke government persecution and asks if Jesus taught a “private” faith:

The private pursuit of faith rarely raises the hackles of even the most restrictive governments. If Christians around the world would just act like American Christians, privatizing their faith, there would be a whole lot less persecution in the world.

No, the most common form of persecution does not involve home invasions and the roughing up of those who profess a personal relationship to Jesus. Instead, the most common form of persecution is something that, sadly, most American Christians would embrace as actually being quite reasonable and even preferable–certainly understandable at least. It takes the form of a government saying something quite reasonable sounding, like this:

“Religious violence is inexcusable. We may have different ideas about God, but God sure doesn’t want us killing each other. Therefore, we need to make some laws that govern how religions behave when they are out in public.” Yes, that is very true, thinks the average American Christian. Religious people shouldn’t be killing each other, you know. And so the government continues its pursuit of reasonability:

“No one should have religious propaganda shoved down their throats, after all. Let everyone who wants to, be able to freely seek out information about religions that interest them–on their own terms. None of this telemarketing-during-dinner type behavior with evangelists shouting at us on the streets.” Yes, quite right, thinks the average American Christian. Why should someone interfere with my freedom? If I want to find out more about a religion, I will Google it on my own time.

And so certainly it will strike many as reasonable that children should not have their parents’ religion shoved down their throats, either. Let the children choose for themselves when they are of age. Until then, the government will assiduously guard their right to, uh, freely not know.

See? No baseball bat anywhere in sight. No heads being bashed like watermelons. And even the average Christian nodding sagely that protecting rights means restricting rights. If you can’t yell fire in a crowded movie theater, you sure shouldn’t be able to share your faith just because you think I need to accept it for myself.

Or so the prevailing wisdom goes.

And this is why when people ask me, “How can I prepare for the coming Christian persecution in America?” I reply, “If you are not presently being persecuted, I wouldn’t worry about it a whole lot.” Because Christian persecution is not the result of state malfeasance. It is the result of seeking to live a godly life in Christ Jesus.

You may have read last week about our upcoming fall campaign, 100 Days of Worship in the Common Places, as the North Korean underground church teaches the rest of us a thing or two about how to get your government to launch a full scale persecution of Christians. (Make sure to check out our Facebook page to learn more about and sign up to join the campaign.) The essential point is this:

Today, persecution follows worship in the common places like day follows night. If you quietly, peacefully, insistently carry out basic worship (in the case of our campaign, we’ll be using a liturgy drawn from the Four Pillars of underground North Korean Christian worship) in the common places of life–home, work, front porch, school, coffee shop, store–you will be persecuted.

No, likely not with baseball bats. Reasonability is the far more popular weapon of Christian persecution today and, interestingly, always has been. You’ll be safe in your home with your personal (i.e., private) relationship with Jesus. But if that thought brings you relief, you may be safe and yet not be saved. That was what Wesley meant when he made his famous (and nearly universally misunderstood) comment that all holiness is social holiness. This is what Wesley said:

Directly opposite to this is the gospel of Christ. Solitary religion is not to be found there. ‘Holy solitaries’ is a phrase no more consistent with the gospel than holy adulterers. The gospel of Christ knows of no religion but social; no holiness but social holiness.

And this is the sad paradox about American religious life:

The private practice of religion according to the dictates of one’s own conscience is likely assured for Americans for the forseeable future.

But the private practice of religion according to the dictates of one’s own conscience is wholly antithetical to what Paul meant by seeking to live a godly life in Christ Jesus.

It would almost be easier to get Christians to respond if the government got out the baseball bats.”

Incomplete nutrition, not “senility,” is the culprit behind many types of memory loss and cognitive failure among seniors, reports Edward Group from the Global Healing Center (via LRC).

The notion that the elderly are unable to think for themselves and constantly forgetting the most mundane things is a bad and unfair caricature. In reality, senility only strikes 5% of Americans, so the odds are in your favor. With a little prudence, a lot of age-related declines in mental function can be avoided.

Scientists from Tufts University conducted a review and discovered that vitamin deficiencies — not brain decay — were responsible for many of the symptoms of senility.

According to the review, scientists discovered that low folate levels in the elderly can cause forgetfulness and even depression. Vitamin B6, required for the synthesis of neurotransmitters, may contribute to peripheral neuropathy, a disorder of the nervous system that causes numbness and tingling in the legs. Vitamin B12 ensures nerves are protected with a myelin sheath and mood disturbances can occur when levels fall well below normal.

The unsettling thing about nutrient deficiencies is that they’re often overlooked. In fact, an older individual can be lacking in certain vitamins for years without dramatic signs of a deficiency. How many people are slowly decaying simply as a result of a very fixable nutrient deficiency? Mental symptoms may not show up immediately, and even usual blood tests are not always reliable. ^[1]
Perhaps one of the biggest myths about maintaining good health through the aging process is that nutritional needs stay the same. Every age range has different nutritional needs, and the elderly are no exception.
Experts are still arguing about if diet truly needs change with age; however, it is true that a good, sound diet with plenty of raw vegetation is ideal. Still, it’s estimated up to 40% of independent elderly are deficient in a wide range of nutrients for multiple reasons. Chronic illness, both mental and physical, can contribute to nutritional issues and deficiencies. Various medications can also impair nutrient availability or discourage eating due to appetite loss. Even ill-fitting dentures can be painful enough to prevent a person from eating. Elderly who live alone may feel isolated and may even forget to eat due to a lack of social cues.

But even if you are healthy during old age, aging itself generally alters metabolism and physiology. Stomach acid usually declines, thus affecting some nutrient absorption — especially B12. Aging also dampens the body’s appetite center and it’s suspected that an older palate doesn’t detect those tastes that drive us to the dinner table, namely salt and sweet. ^[2]

Some recent examples of the erosion of freedom to express or practice Christian beliefs in the West:

1.  USA June 4, 2012

World Net Daily:

The Telegraph, UK:

“The country’s parliament voted through the new law on same-sex marriage by a large majority, making it mandatory for all churches to conduct gay marriages.”

3. USA  November 24, 2014

The Atlanta Journal Constitution:

From The Cardus Daily, a report on the difficulties of being a practicing Christian lawyer or doctor in Canada today:

“With the TWU battle raging, another overt campaign to drive out or silence Christians in the legal community was commenced. The Legal Leaders for Diversity (LLD) and is made up of the heads of the legal departments from more than 70 major corporations. The campaign involves its own form of community covenant by these 70+ corporations (including BMO, Ford, The Globe and Mail and the Edmonton Oilers) to restrict hiring of law firms for their legal work to those who have a commitment to “diversity” and “inclusiveness.” The LLD’s definition of these words requires approval of same-sex marriage and excludes Christians or others who might have a different opinion.

The LLD publicly opposed TWU’s proposed law school on the basis that TWU’s Community Covenant is not “inclusive.”

This direct attack on Christian lawyers is meant to create a chilling effect in the legal profession. Lawyers who work for law firms seeking to do business with these corporations will hesitate, and perhaps even be barred from voicing their religious and moral beliefs, or for acting for religious clients in human rights cases dealing with these issues. It’s a scary time to be a Christian lawyer in Canada.

For Christian physicians, the most recent attack was triggered by a series of media stories about doctors in an Ottawa clinic who do not prescribe contraceptives because of their religious beliefs.

In the wake of this coverage, the College of Physicians and Surgeon’s of Ontario (CPSO) decided to revise its policy which sets out physicians’ obligations and expectations vis-à-vis the Ontario Human Rights Code. Despite several submissions from various lawyers and organizations—including myself on behalf of two groups of Christian physicians—that set out the legal basis for which the CPSO was required to protect the religious and conscience rights of physicians, the CPSO has released a draft policy which specifically requires physicians to provide referrals for procedures, treatments, or pharmaceuticals they object to on religious or moral grounds.

For some, such referrals are as morally problematic as doing the procedure itself. If a physician has the moral or religious conviction that abortion or euthanasia is the taking of an innocent human life, then the physician who formally refers a patient to the abortionist or euthanist has contributed to the taking of that life and, therefore, the doing of harm.

If the CPSO policy is finalized as currently worded, Christian physicians are no longer welcome in the medical profession unless they are willing to compromise their religious and moral beliefs. Dr. Marc Gabel, who chairs the group which produced the draft policy, has publicly stated that physicians who refuse to refer for procedures or pharmaceuticals they object to should leave family medicine. It’s a scary time to be a Christian doctor in Canada.”

First the white view:

Andrew Henderson at Nomad Capitalist  writes that so-called “white worship” in Asia is greatly exaggerated and that when it does occur is mostly derived from Asian admiration for wealth and success.

As more Asians become prosperous, he claims,  “white is right” no longer works.

Henderson:

“Sure, many Asian women prefer white guys with blond hair. For some, it’s a fad; for others, it’s a type. However, I don’t hear anyone complaining that the Kardashians seem to share a “type” in the guys they date.

Nor do I hear the westerners hurling arrogant stereotypes at Asians accusing the $10-an-hour secretary in Chicago of being “just out for money”. $1.50 or $2 an hour in Vietnam can go a lot further for a young person than $10 an hour in the USSA. Yet few – including the 200 commenters on that Facebook post I mentioned – would accuse an underpaid secretary of being “only out for money”. (And, of course, not all white people living in Asia have money.)

As Asians gain more and more wealth, a lot of men and women are choosing to marry within their culture. Go to China and try to get with a model. You’d be hard pressed to do it. The wealthiest and most attractive women there, just like in any culture, have their pick of the litter, and it’s a lot easier to marry someone from the same background. They’re not lining up to date white people.

So if you think white people are living the perfect life in Asia with a parade of women begging them for dates daily, think again. Likewise, not everything is about money here. Yes, many Asian cultures place a high value on entrepreneurship, working hard, and building wealth. Those are reasons I respect the culture and feel comfortable here.

Just don’t confuse a desire for success with a parasitic eye toward white people.”

Henderson’s view strikes me as exceedingly limited and roseate.

My own views on the subject are closer to those of a reader of Nomad Capitalist, who responded thus:

R. Jerome Harris:

“Skin whitener products are big business in Thailand and in Japan. Thai women avoid exposure to the sun like a plague. Dark-skinned Thai do not get the “good jobs” that involve exposure with the public – especially – with visiting foreigners. You do not see dark-skinned Thai airline stewardesses, bank tellers, etc.

Driving from any one of the two Thai airports you will see billboards of White European or American models. The few advertisements you see along the roads that have Thai models in them, their skin is so bleached White, they look White.

Black people are not preferred. If no Black people lived in Thailand, it would be OK with most Thais. Unless, you have money.

Money is everything to Thais because they need it to take care of their families. If you happen to be Black and you have money, “What’s love got to do with it” as one Thai lady told me.

A White friend of mine (pale skinned guy from Australia) was walking down a village road when a elderly Thai woman sitting with her daughter or grand daughter yelled out to my white friend – who they did not know – to “give daughter baby.” In other words, they wanted him to have sex with the young woman to make her pregnant.

In Thailand, light-skinned children are a prize and hold much value in the Thai family. They are a goldmine for the family because that child – when it grows up – will have privileges a darker skinned Thai child will never have.

Thai parents are desperate for English speaking foreigners to teach their children English. They will give you all they have if you tutor them … if you are the right color.

I am a teacher by profession. But Thai parents will not allow Black persons – no matter what your credentials – teach their Children. They want a Farang – a White person to teach them.

I was at one of Thailand very popular 5-star hotels awaiting my turn to serviced. I was next in line. Yet, a White couple showed up with their bags in tow and instead of looking at me and saying, “May I help you” the hotel check-in clerk bypassed me as if I was not there and addressed the White couple. But here is the thing: The White couple did not have the decency or courtesy to say, “He was here before us.”

In Thailand and in Japan, White-skin is “preferred.” But when all of the layers are peeled back, it is really White people worship.

What readers have been given by Mr. Henderson is a White man’s perspective and that is all. I am not saying that what he is saying is all in error. I am saying a lot is missing.

The things in the world cannot always be told all the time through the eyes of a White person.”

A famous Malaysian-based Chinese astrologer and Buddhist  Feng-Shui Master, Thean Y Nang, who reportedly predicted 9/11, is out with predictions for 2015.

More from International Business Times, via Lew Rockwell:

“The Year of the Wood Goat is associated with the wood element as well as the earth element, but unfortunately, the earth element is unfavourable this year. This means that there will be a multitude of disasters and mass casualties such as landslides, bridge collapses and problems relating to construction. Countries along the Pacific Ring of Fire where earthquakes commonly occur will also be affected. Added to this, the combination of elements means that there will continue to be a volatile political situation which will cause “irregular fluctuations” to the global economy, and that is why financial losses might occur.

Property and currency prices will fluctuate

“Property prices will decrease due to disaster, causing less demand in the market, so think twice before you invest,” writes Thean. “Drastic currency swings may happen that are hard to predict. Investments could be problematic but if you must invest, take extra precaution and make sure you consider thoroughly before making any money-related division. “Otherwise you may encounter predicaments and obstacles e.g. serious cash outflow or even bankruptcy.” In the Year of the Wood Goat, there is also a lack of the metal element, which is a good thing, as the prices of gold and silver will likely increase.”

LRC republished this piece without comment, but on this blog we are a tad more skeptical of any “Ancient Eastern Master” that gets into major media.

There are many ancient Eastern masters and most of their teaching is the object of ridicule, distortion, plagiarism, libel, or censorship in the mainstream.

When one of them escapes that destiny, I’m inclined to wonder why.

I note that Malaysia, despite well-known feisty remarks about Zionism from former PM Mohammed Mahathir, is itself a police-state of sorts.

It has its own share of financiers hooked into the global elites.

And it seems to be a target/player in some recent and spectacular international crises,  the downing of the Malaysian airline over Ukraine  being one.

Remember the mysterious Chinese blogger who also “predicted” that downing ?

He made a great Daily Mail headline. So does Master Thean Y Nang.

I wrote this in 2007:

http://dissidentvoice.org/2007/08/tom-tancredo-takes-out-mecca-us-forces-take-out-al-badri/

A Chinese astrologer who predicted 9/11 and now predicts the movement of gold and silver, bridge and building collapses, and currency fluctuations?

Could someone want to spook the real estate industry and prop up the bullion market?

Who has stock positions where?

And would they whisper into the ear of an ambitious professional seer?

If cartoons can be a weapon for the global hierarchy in their war on the mind, any reason why astrology might not be?

ADDED:

Please note that I do not endorse JONAH or its individual practices/therapies in any way.

My point is simply that free speech is routinely curbed in the West, so to claim it is an inviolable principle is misleading.

Note also that a JONAH  counselor has been charged with abuse of clients by noted pro-gay activist, Wayne Besen.

[Wayne Besen is a prominent critic of the “ex-gay” movement and was instrumental in attacking many conservative/Republican figures through ex-gay associates.]

See this blog for a fascinating exchange in which Besen slipped and admitted that in diagnostic classification by the APA (American Psychological Association) in 1973, homosexuality was dropped as a mental illness simply because of political pressure, not science.

Note that the exchange was scrubbed from Besen’s site and is only available now because the blogger preserved it on his site.

In connection to that, note that the  judge in the JONAH lawsuit (Hudson County (NJ) Superior Court Judge, Peter Bariso Jr) has also made it “fraudulent” for reparative therapists to offer statistics of success or use client testimony.

In other words, the court has banned evidence that contradicts the preferred political position of the ruling classes.

Final point. The plaintiff in the case against JONAH is none other than the notorious Southern Poverty Law Center, a self-styled anti-bigotry watch-dog that engages in one of the few bigotries that remains acceptable today – prejudice against conservative religious beliefs.

The SPLC has called the Christian organization, Focus on the Family, a “hate” group simply because it advocates traditional Christian positions.

Meanwhile, the head of the SPLC, Morris Dees, who has made a career of bankrupting outfits that he targets as “hate-filled,” is himself a multi-millionaire.

And, at least according to papers filed by his former wife, moral crusader Dees is prone to violence and other abusive actions, to put it delicately.

Gory details, for those so inclined, can be found here. Caveat lector. It is a divorce proceeding, after all.

ORIGINAL POST

A US court has ruled that JONAH, a Jewish group that  offers reparative therapy to homosexuals, is committing a violation of the Consumer Fraud Act.

However, if Jonah were simply calling homosexuality “disordered” and prohibited by religion, the court conceded, the group might be afforded First Amendment protection.

So much for the endlessly hyped dogma that free speech is sacred in the West.

Bah, humbug.

Eric Hyde, an orthodox Christian and psychotherapist, has a list of the ten most popular arguments made by atheists against Christians and the reasons why they fail.

Here are the last three arguments on his list:

“8. History is full of mother-child messiah cults, trinity godheads, and the like. Thus the Christian story is a myth like the rest.

This argument seems insurmountable on the surface, but is really a slow-pitch across the plate (if you don’t mind a baseball analogy). There is no arguing the fact that history is full of similar stories found in the Bible, and I won’t take the time to recount them here. But this fact should not be surprising in the least, indeed if history had no similar stories it would be reason for concern. Anything beautiful always has replicas. A counterfeit coin does not prove the non-existence of the authentic coin, it proves the exact opposite. A thousand U2 cover bands is not evidence that U2 is a myth.

Ah, but that doesn’t address the fact that some of these stories were told before the Biblical accounts. True. But imagine if the only story of a messianic virgin birth, death, and resurrection were contained in the New Testament. That, to me, would be odd. It would be odd because if all people everywhere had God as their Creator, yet the central event of human history—the game changing event of all the ages—the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ had never occurred to them, in at least some hazy form, they would have been completely cut off from the prime mysteries of human existence. It seems only natural that if the advent of Christ was real it would permeate through the consciousness of mankind on some level regardless of their place in history. One should expect to find mankind replicating these stories, found in their own visions and dreams, again and again throughout history. And indeed, that is what we find.

9. The God of the Bible is evil. A God who allows so much suffering and death can be nothing but evil.

This criticism is voice in many different ways. For me, this is one of the most legitimate arguments against the existence of a good God. The fact that there is suffering and death is the strongest argument against the belief in an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God. If suffering and death exist it seems to suggest one of two things: (1) either God is love, but He is not all-powerful and cannot stop suffering and death, or (2) God is all-powerful, but He does not care for us.

I devoted a separate article addressing this problem, but let me deal here with the problem inherent in the criticism itself. The argument takes as its presupposition that good and evil are real; that there is an ultimate standard of good and evil that supersedes mere fanciful ‘ideas’ about what is good and evil at a given time in our ethical evolution, as it were. If there is not a real existence—an ontological reality—of good and evil, then the charge that God is evil because of this or that is really to say nothing more than, “I personally don’t like what I see in the world and therefore a good God cannot exist.” I like what C.S. Lewis said on a similar matter: “There is no sense in talking of ‘becoming better’ if better means simply ‘what we are becoming’—it is like congratulating yourself on reaching your destination and defining destination as ‘the place you have reached.’”

What is tricky for the atheist in these sorts of debates is to steer clear of words loaded with religious overtones. It’s weird for someone who does not believe in ultimate good and evil to condemn God as evil because He did not achieve their personal vision of good. So, the initial criticism is sound, but it is subversive to the atheist’s staging ground. If one is going to accept good and evil as realities, he is not in a position to fully reject God. Instead, he is more in a position to wrestle with the idea that God is good. This struggle is applauded in the Orthodox Church. After all, the very word God used for his people in the Old Testament—“Israel”—means to struggle with God.

10. Evolution has answered the question of where we came from. There is no need for ignorant ancient myths anymore.

This might be the most popular attempted smack-downs of religion in general today. It is found in many variations but the concept is fairly consistent and goes something like this: Science has brought us to a point where we no longer need mythology to understand the world, and any questions which remain will eventually be answered through future scientific breakthroughs. The main battle-ground where this criticism is seen today is in evolution vs. creationism debates.

Let me say upfront that there is perhaps no other subject that bores me more than evolution vs. creationism debates. I would rather watch paint dry. And when I’m not falling asleep through such debates I’m frustrated because usually both sides of the debate use large amounts of dishonesty in order to gain points rather than to gain the truth. The evolutionist has no commentary whatsoever on the existence of God, and the creationist usually suffers from profound confusion in their understanding of the first few chapters of Genesis.

So, without entering into the most pathetic debate of the ages, bereft of all intellectual profundity, I’ll only comment on the underlining idea that science has put Christianity out of the answer business. Science is fantastic if you want to know what gauge wire is compatible with a 20 amp electric charge, how agriculture works, what causes disease and how to cure it, and a million other things. But where the physical sciences are completely lacking is in those issues most important to human beings—the truly existential issues: what does it mean to be human, why are we here, what is valuable, what does it mean to love, to hate, what am I to do with guilt, grief, sorrow, what does it mean to succeed, is there any meaning and what does ‘meaning’ mean, and, of course, is there a God? etc, ad infinitum.

As far as where we come from, evolution has barely scratched the purely scientific surface of the matter. Even if the whole project of evolution as an account of our history was without serious objection, it would still not answer the problem of the origin of life, since the option of natural selection as an explanation is not available when considering how dead or inorganic matter becomes organic. Even more complicated is the matter of where matter came from. The ‘Big Bang’ is not an answer to origins but rather a description of the event by which everything came into being; i.e., it’s the description of a smoking gun, not the shooter.”

At A Voice for Men, Amit Deshpande reports on misandry in India:

“In modern day India, all things developmental are considered due to encouraged participation of women in public life and all things bad and lethargic are due to patriarchy and the attitude of men.

For feminists in India, “Patriarchy” is considered to be a virtue worth jettisoning, without giving up the women’s privileges that come with it.

Indian feminism is caught up largely in the 1980s with help of increased funding from the West.

There were a slew of laws created which haunt the Indian men to this date.

The first weapon feminists used, was a woman’s share in her paternal property, termed as “dowry”.

India saw an increased reportage of bride-burning and dowry harassment cases in media. The cry was made shrill enough to drown any sane voice, if ever there was any.

An anti-dowry harassment law, Section 498a of the IPC was created in 1983 which is draconian and most misused. It gives a woman complete power to get anyone from her husband’s family arrested.

Then came the Dowry death law –Section 304B of the Indian Penal Code. It considers any unnatural death of a woman within 7 years of marriage as dowry death – meaning it assumes the husband and his relatives as guilty for her death and they are put behind bars immediately.

There have been many other anti-men laws that have come up regularly. Misandry in India, overall, can be gauged with the high number of suicides of men and crime against men: According to the National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs – 62,433 married men and a total of 87,839 men committed suicide in 2011 — and this figure is increasing every year. The same bureau report shows that 92% of all crime happens against men and the society is still not even considering issues of men as a topic worth attention.”