Recently a video has been released listing three facts about Islam. They were too good to pass up so I transcribed the video which you can watch here, or read below.

1). Islam has not been hijacked. That Islam has been hijacked is what people naturally assume, because they assume that all religions are the same. The reason non-Muslims are so easily confused is that most of us don’t realize the difference between the Qur’an and every other religious book we are familiar with. The Christian Bible is a collection of writings from various authors, written hundreds of years apart, with parables, advice and dreams all collected together into one book. Same with the Jewish Torah. Even those of us in the west who are neither Christians, nor Jews, are still familiar enough with  these religions to know this much, and therefore we assume that the same is true for the Qur’an. But the Qur’an is only one book, written by one man in his own lifetime. It is meant to be taken literally, and it is not full of symbolism or vague analogies. It is mostly direct commands. Of course, the Qur’an contains contradictory statements, just like other religious books, but the Qur’an itself provides the reader with a way to know what to do with the contradictions. It’s explained in the Qur’an that if you have two passages that contradict each other, the one written later supersedes the ones written earlier. Most westerners are unaware that the peaceful, tolerant passages were written early in Mohammad’s prophetic career. According to the Qur’an those passages have been abrogated by later, more violent and less tolerant passages. So when most westerners hear Jihadists quoting violent passages, from the Qur’an and then peaceful Muslims quoting peaceful passages, they interpret that the way they would if someone was quoting the Bible or the Torah. They think to themselves, “Oh, there must be many different and contradictory passages like there are in other religious books, so Muslims can pick and choose what they like and justify whatever actions they want to take.” But the Qur’an is nothing like that. There is no picking and choosing. It says very explicitly and in no uncertain terms that a Muslim must not alter or ignore any part of it’s very clear and direct message or they will burn in a fiery torment forever.

2). Trying to institute worldwide Shari’a law is a religious duty. Many people don’t realize how politically oriented Islam is at it’s core. In fact, Islam is less of a religion then it is a religious ideology. It includes a mandatory and highly specific, legal and political plan for the whole society: Shari’a. There is no separation between the religious and the political in Islam, rather, Islam and Shari’a constitute a totalitarian means of ordering society at every level, including: ritual worship, transactions and contracts, morals and manners, beliefs and punishments. In the Qur’an, Allah makes it clear that man-made governments (such as a democracy) and free speech (such as criticizing the Qur’an) are abominations and must eliminated. The modern expression, “creeping Shari’a” is used to describe the slow and deliberate methodical advance of Shari’a law in non-Muslim countries. Official Shari’a courts already operate in the UK, handling cases ranging from divorce and financial disputes to domestic violence. Attempts to introduce Shari’a in the legal system in Germany, Sweden and other European countries are ongoing. While Shari’a already has a foot in our door in the matter of minor disputes like inheritance and domestic violence, it should concern you that Shari’a commands that drinkers and gamblers should be whipped, allows husbands to hit their wives, allows an injured plaintiff to exact legal revenge, literally an eye for an eye. Commands that a thief must have a hand cut off, commands that homosexuals must be executed, orders unmarried fornicators to be whipped and adulterers to be stoned to death. Orders death for both Muslim and non-Muslim critics of Muhammad, the Qur’an and even Shari’a itself.  Orders apostates to be killed, commands offensive, aggressive and unjust Jihad. As written in the Qur’an, Shari’a is the law of Allah. Any other form of government is a sin. It is the duty of every Muslim to keep striving until all governments have been converted to Shari’a law.

3). Muslims are allowed to deceive non-Muslims if it helps Islam. For non-Muslims, this principle called taqiyya, is another surprising concept of Islam. While most other religions speak highly of truthfulness, the Qur’an instructs Muslims to lie to non-Muslims about their beliefs and political ambitions to protect and spread Islam. There are many examples of today’s Islamic leaders saying one thing in English for the press and then saying something entirely different in Arabic a few days later. Deceiving the enemy is always used in a way and Islam is at war with a non-Islamic world until the whole world follows Shari’a law. All non-Muslims living in non-Islamic states are therefore enemies, so deceiving westerners is totally acceptable, even encouraged if it can forward the goals of the spread of Islam. As a recent example, the Islamic American Relief  Agency were seemingly raising money for orphans, but were in giving the money to terrorists. They deceived good-hearted western infidels into giving money to organization that were actively killing western infidels! Do the research yourself, this is not an isolated case.

Muslim organizations worldwide often declare Islam is a religion of peace. But what does that really mean? It seems easy for a Muslim to quote a peaceful verse from the beginning of the Qur’an while, by following the principle of taqiyya, neglecting to mention the fact that it has been officially abrogated by later, more violent verses. According to the Qur’an the world will be at peace only when Islam and Shari’a reign in every country and never until then. This  is why every Muslim can truthfully say that Islam is a religion of peace. If any of these points took you by surprise – then there is surely much more you still don’t know. This subject will effect you in the near future, so take the chance to inform yourself now, before it does.

I didn’t know Mrs. Harris. She was diagnosed with an advanced stage of cancer in early May and she died on July 4th. I wasn’t privileged to be one of the ones who met her, one of the ones who congratulated her on her fine looking family. In fact, if I passed her on the street I wouldn’t recognize her and I’d most likely walk by without a word. But I can describe her for you, that’s not hard at all.

Mrs. Harris was an encourager, supporting Mr. Harris in his mission, supporting her sons and daughter in their callings – Ministry, music, speaking, she helped them grow with a word here, a caring hand there. She was a constant servant, laying down her desires for God and for her family. She was a missionary in the truest sense of the word and she was courageous, entrusting each of her children to the Lord. She was a diligent worker, preparing her children for the future. She was a woman of faith, not afraid to die, knowing that she would live to see Jesus soon.

A complete characterization? Hardly. But I don’t need to go on. You can see her life reflected in her children. Her legacy lives on in the way they live their lives. Her ultimate goal? That they should know Jesus and bring others to Christ.

“This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!” – Romans 8: 15-17

My prayers and thoughts are with you, Harris family. Your mother was truly an incredible person. Meeting almost all of you at various times gave me a partial view of what your mother must have been like – she was a lovely lady.

In which Eric attacks Facebook just to be mean and make people feel bad.

I’ve considered writing the titles of the Facebook Chronicles in french, but the fact is that online translators only botch up sentences and asking my friends just results in arguments over translations. About.com has a funny article about using machines to translate french. Take a look at how they destruct this simple sentence:

My translation: Combien de fois est-ce qu’il t’a dit de l’écrire ? or Combien de fois t’a-t-il dit de l’écrire ?

Sentence: Every summer, I drive up to the lake house and cruise around with my friends.

A longer and more complicated sentence.

Online Translator	Translation	Reverse Translation
Systran	Chaque été, je conduis jusqu’à la maison et à la croisière de lac autour avec mes amis.	Each summer, I lead to the house and to the cruising of lake around with my friends.
Reverso	Chaque été, je conduis(roule) jusqu’à la maison de lac et la croisière autour avec mes amis.	Every summer, I lead(drive) (run)((drive)) up to the house of lake and the cruise all around with my friends.
FreeTranslation	Chaque été, je conduis jusqu’à la maison de lac et jusqu’à la croisière environ avec mes amis.	Every summer, I drive to the house lake and to the cruise about with my friends.
InterTran	Tout été , Je conduis en haut aux lac villa et être en maraude autour de à mon amis.	All been , I am driving up at the lake cottage and cruise about the one mine amigos.
Google Translate	Chaque été, je conduis à la maison et le lac autour de croisière avec mes amis.	Every summer, I drive at home and around the lake cruise with my friends.

But we’re not here to pick apart online translators, we’re here to get on Facebook’s case. The last two Facebook Chronicles covered the reasons why Facebook could be a waste of time and, alternately, how Facebook could be used positively. However, I did promise to point out some of Facebook’s flaws as well. I’m only going to cover three because there are just too many to list.

1). Facebook Lacks Privacy – Even though Facebook claims to be extremely private, more information is available online than you may know. When Facebook recently updated the website, many profiles accidentally went public when users failed to change their settings back to private. This allowed many people to view pictures and see personal information without any restrictions. Facebook also keeps your information and without following long, arduous processes, you can’t erase your account.

1a). Facebook Tells Everyone Who Your Friends Are – Sounds a tad stupid, but people don’t need to know who my friends are. Not even my friends need to know who my friends are. Do I have anything to hide? Nah, but you’ve got to realize that Facebook revolves around showing everyone exactly who your friends are and there are perfectly legitimate reasons to hide your friends. (I must note that there are settings to hide your friends from each other, but they’re just a pain to set up).

2). Facebook is a Time-Eater – We’ve already determined that Facebook is a time-waster and the fact of the matter is that  no matter how much or how little time you spend on Facebook, you will be making a sacrifice. The question remains: Will the time used on Facebook be worthwhile?

2a). Annoying Application Requests – We’ve all got at least one friend who does nothing but play annoying video games and then talk to everyone about them. They might be able to convince you to play one of their games, but somehow you never find the same level of enjoyment from it as they do. With Facebook, they can ask you to play the same game again and again until it drives you mad. Farmville anyone?

2b). Farmville – I couldn’t let a post complaining about Facebook go by without actually talking about Farmville. The question is though, what is there to say about it? Farmville is stupid and it’s based around Facebook, therefore Facebook is stupid.

3). Facebook Makes Us Conform – I hate to place myself in an anti-conformity category but lets face it (No pun intended) – Facebook makes us conform to a social standard. If you think about it, Facebook was started by geeks for an invisible (but presumably there) geek nation. Somehow it caught on and geekified our whole culture.

Stick around for the last edition of the Facebook Chronicles where I wrap up all the loose ends in the cyber world

“The only way any human being on this earth will ever be saved is through Jesus Christ. Because you need to realize that the Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and you have no idea what that means. That we were born radically depraved and God hating, that we would have never sought God, never come to God, we have rebelled against God, broken every law. It’s not just an issue that you have sinned, the issue is you’ve never done anything but sin! Apart from the grace of God revealed in Jesus Christ our Lord the only thing left for you is the wrath and  fierce anger of God. God is a holy God and the only way you and I could ever be reconciled to a holy God is through the death of God’s own Son, when he hung on that tree! Because when Jesus Christ was hanging on that cross He bore your sin, the sin of God’s people and all the fierce wrath of God that should fall upon you, fell upon His only begotten son. The only thing that could save a people like us- The death of God’s own son, under the wrath of His own Father, paying the price, rising again from the dead, powerful to save! This is the gospel of Jesus! Repent and believe the gospel!” – Paul Washer

1). Don’t answer your email: It’s a great feeling to know that people have a reason to contact you, and it’s also pretty neat that they’re taking them time to sit down and write you an email. Unless you have a valid excuse (I.E. Grandpa fell down in the holler and I was trying to find him for a few days), you’re unprofessional if you don’t answer your email promptly.

2). Say you’re going to give an interview and then don’t: Believe it or not when someone tries to interview you, they’re putting a lot of work into the process. They’ve got to write an introduction email/letter, write up questions, contact you through your press agent or personally, and then wait to see if you’ll grant the interview. If you choose not to do the interview, you’re hurting your own publicity and the people who want to interview you. If you’ve already said you would do an interview for someone and you back out then you’re unprofessional.

3). Refuse to link back or comment: If someone links to you or writes about you online, it’s always nice to write back and let them know you appreciate their comment it or post a link back to the comment on your site. Failing to reciprocate can be viewed as unprofessional.

4). Forget to credit and link – When you use someone else’s work, you always need to be sure you credit them and link back to their site. If you don’t, you’ll not only label yourself unprofessional, you could be breaking copyright laws.

5). Use crummy graphics: As my friends know this is a pet peeve list, so if I didn’t include this, my dearest peeve, the list would be incomplete. Using crummy graphics on your site is one of the worst things you can do to devalue your professional image. If you aren’t a graphic designer don’t try to be one! There are plenty of us out here who will design graphics for a small fee or even sometimes for free. Just ask. I think Proverbs says, “It’s better to leave graphics off your site then to make lousy ones and look like a fool.” Oh, the Bible doesn’t say that? Well it should!

I work in the design industry so a good amount of my time is spent on other designers websites stealing ideas gleaning inspiration.

On one site I stumbled across, a designer listed his rules to live by:

1. You must not dilly-dally. 2. You must be your word. 3. You must have good intentions. 4. You must admit to being the maker of meaning. 5. You must not feel sorry for yourself. 6. You must have a vision that you are striving for. 7. You must tie creativity and experimentation with survival. 8. You must be the change you want to see. 9. You must rally others with your vision. 10. You must stake your reputation on your better self. 11. You must be comfortable with the consequences of being who you are. 12. You must share. 13. You must make your own advice and take it. 14. You must manage your stress, health, and clarity. 15. You must make time to enjoy things. 16. You must study your mistakes. 17. You must retry things you don’t like every once in a while.

Not all of those rules are extremely bad, but they reflect the non-christian worldview that plagues modern society. What should I have expected?

The Bible is our ultimate guidebook to life. It not only contains the “active ingredients” to make a healthy life, but shows us the struggles and victories of great men and women of faith so we can learn from their mistakes and avoid the traps they fell into.  If there is any book that we should look to for 17 rules to live by, it’s the Bible. And if there is any book of the Bible that we can study for rules to live by, it’s the book of Proverbs. Take a look at this list of 17 biblical rules to live by:

1. Seek wisdom – Proverbs 1:20-33 2. Trust the Lord with all your heart – Proverbs 3: 5-6 3. Stay away from immorality – Proverbs 5 4. Don’t accrue debt – Proverbs 6: 1-5 5. Accept reproof – Proverbs 12: 1-2 6. Don’t hang out with stupid people  – Proverbs 14: 7 7. Make your living honestly- Proverbs 16: 8 8. Commit everything you do to God – Proverbs 16: 1-4 9. Read your Bible – Proverbs 16: 20 10. Don’t base your life on pleasure – Proverbs 21:17 11. Be generous – Proverbs 22: 9 12. Be business minded – Proverbs 24:27 13. But don’t base your life on the desire of wealth – Proverbs 23: 4-5 14. Walk in integrity – Proverbs 20:7 15. Be generous – proverbs 3:10 16. Work hard – 6:16-11 17. Put God first – 3:9-10.

Are these principles all you need to get you through life? No. Obviously you need to read the rest of the Bible to get an idea of grace, mercy,  forgiveness and the character of God. However, for the Christian, these are biblical principles that we need to be striving to follow.

“Cross-Eyed is a great resource and we’ve heard some great stories about people finding encouragement through the site, but the fact is, we can’t compete with books. Go to the Christian section of your local bookstore, pull out almost any old book and you’ve got us beat. Why?

Kimi Harris, sister-in-law of Alex and Brett Harris, puts it this way, ‘Blogs often contain short-lived opinions. Most likely all of us have at one point or another felt strongly about a certain principle or issue, but upon additional experience, time and wisdom, realized our original conclusion was wrong. We are much more likely to write about a passing belief on a blog, than in a book. We can easily share opinions on blogs that have not been tested with further thought, feedback or experience. This is an important aspect of blogging to keep in mind when reading them. Books on the other hand, are not so vulnerable to this tendency. [On the other hand] Books open the door to the wisdom of the ages. If we are only aware of the wisdom of the present day we will be limited in our knowledge. Every century, even decade, has its own strengths and weaknesses in thought and practice. If we read only the newest, most recent blogs, newspapers, and magazines (and books!) we will be restricted to the wisdom and faults of our age. But if we read older books, we can learn from their insight as well as their mistakes, and develop a more well-rounded knowledge.’”

Click Here To Continue Reading

I bookmark blogs like crazy. I want to read them, but I don’t. They sit there for months in my bookmarks until finally one day I lose some browser settings and trash all the files including my favorites. It’s happened before, it will probably happen again.  What a better way to save these blogs than to put them in a blog post. Right?

Meet Me In The Meadow – I originally bookmarked this site just because of the beautiful design.It’s one of my all-time favorites. However, with a second look, you’ll find that the blog is actually that of the Day Spring Cards owner. He provides excellent Biblical perspective and inspiration. Highly recommended.

(In)Courage – Sure, I know it’s supposed to be a blog for ladies, but who wouldn’t like that design? Though it feels a bit cluttered, the 30 women who write for it (including Ann Voskcamp, a writer I’ve unsuccessfully tried to snag) do a great job.

Stuff Christians Like - I can’t figure out Jon Acuff. Is he making fun of Christians or just using them to make a quick buck? I do know he has a great following and a TON of people are buying the book, but still, I don’t know what to make of it all. Plus I’ve only read two or three blogs on the site, so for all I know he could be trashing Christians. Maybe when I get some time I’ll explore more.

Eclectic Whatnot – Stumbled across this blog a few days ago and though I can’t say it’s the most ascetically pleasing site ever, Ruthanne takes beautiful photography. Definitely a site I’ll be stopping at from time to time, just to look at the pictures!

Reflections of a Ragamuffin – I found this blog while researching for my article, An Introduction to Wearing Pants. I bookmarked it solely because  they had a link to a large picture of the Dockers ad that I wanted to use. However, on visiting their homepage a few days later, I pleasantly surprised to find some great reading, written by a guy blogger. (Which you should know is semi-rare).

Note: Just to keep you safe I’ve got to say, I didn’t read everything at the links above so there is a chance that one of the sites will have some dirt. If you go clicking around and find incorrect theology you might get upset. Not even I know if you will get upset.

In which Eric uses Google to translate the phrase, “Pros and Cons.”

In the last episode of Facebook Chronicles, we determined that Facebook could be a waste of time if used incorrectly. However, we didn’t go much further into the matter. What are the Les Avantages Et Les Inconvénients of Facebook?

Fellow blogger and (amazing) illustrator, Breezy Brookshire wrote an entry back in Oct of 2009 about how she wasn’t going to be getting a Facebook account any time soon. But now she has one! In a brief interview, I was able to pick her mind a little about what prompted her change of mind:

Eric: Back in October ’09 you said you weren’t going to join Facebook. Why sign up now?

Breezy: I finally decided that I would use it glorify God and to keep up with long-distance friends.

Eric: How do you manage your time on Facebook? Have you felt yourself drawn to the computer/online since you joined?

Breezy: Many of my friends were on Facebook and warned me that it was a time-waster. Before I signed up I decided I would not play any of the games, use the chat feature, or spend much time looking at photo albums. Setting boundaries before I even sit down at the computer helps as well.

Yes, there is an extra temptation to get online. Before I joined FB I would check my blog, email, and Bloglines and it was hard not to waste time on each of those. But using FB has made me more aware of how much time I spend online in general and has made me re-think my “life online.”

Eric: In what ways has Facebook helped you grow personally?

Breezy: The Lord has used it to show me that He has given me only so much time to live and use for His glory, and I need to use it wisely. Even though I have already wasted time on FB, the realization has spurred me to take hold of my assets and honor the Lord.

Eric: What would you say are the pros of Facebook?

Breezy: Conversing with long-distance friends, finding good quotes for my quote journal, and discovering thought-provoking articles. Many of my friends are also using FB to embolden others in the Lord, so FB is generally a place of encouragement for me.

Eric: Would you recommend that others join Facebook?

Breezy: Yes and No. If you want to use FB to play games and gossip, then don’t join. But if you can use it to bless others, then go for it.

There you have it. The two sides of the coin, so to speak. I agree with Breezy, Facebook can be a huge waste of time if used incorrectly. But what about ways to use it correctly?  In this episode of Chronicles of Facebook I’ll touch on the pros and next time I’ll write about the cons.

The Pros of Facebook
Facebook
-Allows me to keep in contact with long distance friends – Like Breezy said, it’s nice to be able to keep up with people, even when you’re states apart.
-Allows me to keep in contact with my business partners – I spend 75% of my time using Facebook as a business tool.
-Allows me to network with people I don’t know and create new business contacts – Creating fan pages for products or businesses allows me to alert people when I’ve got an update.
-Allows me instant feedback on my ideas and thoughts – such as finding out it’s Les Avantages Et Les Inconvénients not Avantages Et Inconvénients. (and then having five people argue about if the translation is right or wrong).

What do you think are the pros and cons of Facebook? Let me know below in the comments!

I haven’t posted regularly on my blog for a while, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t writing. Truth be told, I’ve written a ton during this psudo-absence and some of those jottings ended up on the net in other places. You’ve probably already read them, but I’m going to post the links here, just in case.

An Introduction To Wearing Pants – 2-22-2010
Written as an introduction to Timothy Stone’s post, Wear the Real Pants, I tried to get a little bit of outside opinion on Dockers’ “Wear The Pants” campaign. It ended up being a little funny, but dead serious at the same time: “I agree with the Dockers ad. Men should be men – get off the couch of adolescence in their mother’s basement of complacency and change the world. Lets all go buy khakis!” – Written for Cross-Eyed Blog and Webzine.

Fighting The Culture War – 12-7-2009
I tried to be as open and honest with myself as I was with the audience when I wrote this article. Based off of the teaching at the World Vision conference by Brannon Howse, the article basically summed up the futility of the culture war before the return of Christ. “In order for biblical prophecy to be fulfilled we have to actually lose some of these battles to make progress towards a perfect earth!” – Written for Cross-Eyed Blog and Webzine

An Appeal to Modesty – 7-22-2009
Modesty can seem like a huge deal to some people, but I don’t think we talk about it enough. I wanted to write an appeal to women and girls, asking them to think about how they dress and the effects it has on men. However, I also wanted to make sure that the appeal was written in a way that wasn’t sexist, (since I’m not sexist at all), chauvinistic, or demanding: “When you dress immodestly you force us to dumb you down. We essentially see right past your intellect and only see your body. It’s not intentional, it just happens. When you dress modestly it forces us to appreciate you for your character, not your outer appearance.” – Written for Cross-Eyed Blog and Webzine’s Modesty Week

Masculine Modesty – 7-22-2009
This headline drew many raised eyebrows and I think guys read it more out of curiosity then real interest. It wasn’t based around how guys should dress, but more how they should act. A great friend of mine took the time to write a long quote in the middle and she really hit the nail on the head. Actually she drove several nails all the way home. I think the ending statement summed the article up neatly: “Among God’s people we understand that a man is to protect a woman; to protect a woman’s honor; to protect a woman’s heart; to protect a woman’s reputation; sometimes even to protect a woman’s health, her safety. Guys, that’s our job, God gave it to us. Woe unto the man who fails in that responsibility.” – Written for Cross-Eyed Blog and Webzine’s Modesty Week

A Note to Modest Girls – 7-22-2009
This article was really important to me personally, as I think it’s really important to thank ladies for being modest. It was cosigned by some great guys I know – Benjamin Parrish, Micah Warner, Timothy Stone, Timothy Estabrooks, Cameron Keith and  Paulie Suarez. “When I see a girl dressing modestly it makes me appreciate her for her femininity and for the thoughtfulness she has put into her wardrobe. The way a girl dresses reflects her heart and forces guys to see if she really cares about Christ or if she holds an inordinate identification and fascination with sinful cultural values.” – Written for Cross-Eyed Blog and Webzine’s Modesty Week

To sum up, most of the articles I wrote on my off time were for Cross-Eyed. In the future I think I’ll post excerpts like Amanda Read does.

While we’re on the subject of Cross-Eyed Blog, we just acquired a new Biblical Womanhood writer. You may remember her from her original reviews of, Emma, Bride Wars, The Dark Knight,  and The Widow’s Might. Welcome back, Phyllicia Duran!