THE EUROPEAN SITUATION ROOM - A weekly EU-Digest editorial column
INFIDELS TO OUR OWN BELIEFS?
By Rick Morren
For centuries some Muslims have been calling Christians Infidels, but most of us either brushed it aside as just another battle cry coming from radical Muslims, or something we rather did not want to deal with.
But what is the literal meaning of Infidel. A dictionary will tell you that In´fi`del - is a person who does not acknowledge or know God's ways.
That definition sets you to thinking, because it also seems to indicate we are talking about different Gods and different moral standards … theirs and ours. Now that’s fine, but if there are several distinct Gods and moral standards, are we in the so-called western world true to the standards of our “own God”?
Does any preacher in the western world ever protest to what is going on in our market driven society, as we relate it to what Christians are commanded to do in the Ten Commandments (Exodus, verse 20) of the Bible? From Stockholm to Rome, and Amsterdam to Budapest, people seem to be suffering from a “bottom-line" mentality that judges every action as productive, only if it produces more money and power. Do corporations, regardless of the fact that some of their corporate officers bravely go to church every Sunday, really give one hoot about the Commandment “you shall not steal”? It also seems strange in this context that the EU, proclaimed by the Vatican and right-wing politicians as the bastion of the Judeo – Christian movement, now has more shopping malls, bars and porno shops, than schools, libraries or places of worship?
In the area of family and inter-personal relationships, do we really “honor our father and Mother, that our days may be long upon the land, which the Lord your God is giving you”. Many of today’s families are based on one parent, who provide their spoiled and obese children everything they don’t really need. Do we ever seriously consider taking care of the old and the sick, instead of letting them fade away. Some do, most people can’t care less.
Do we celebrate and “remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy”, when we visit 24 hour super stores, and overcharge our credit cards, or, when we pray, “ for God to make us win the one million Euros Lotto”, instead of praying for someone other than ourselves.
We all believe “You shall not murder“, but how come some of us will condemn abortion, but still find it the most normal thing in the world to indiscriminately drop bombs on our so called enemies, killing large numbers of innocent civilians? Unfortunately we have become the Infidels to our own beliefs and call that democracy.
Europe needs to find a “new way”, where all beliefs and cultures adhere to a different bottom line, replacing the empty culture of materialism, selfishness and hypocracy, with compasion, generosity, forgiveness and love.
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