Tag: Boko Haram

How do we help nurture and grow religious militancy and violence?

How do we help to nurture and grow religious militancy? We do that by our inactions and actions! We help to nurture and grow religious militancy by our covert and overt encouragements!

Conquer Without Violence... June Blog

 

Edmund Burke said,

“All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.”

When religious leaders say nothing against the violence and evil that is perpetrated by some of their fellow believers, they are indirectly helping to perpetrate evil. Some religious leaders do not speak against violence perpetrated against other people because they share the same faith as the perpetrators of the violence and evil.

Some even covertly help with funding, because they know the violence is perpetrated against other religions. They fail to know that, by their inactions and actions, they are indirectly supporting and nurturing militants who perpetrate evil, and that they are training militants who will become a problem in the future.

Under the guise of serving God, militants use their power and control to inflict pain and suffering on helpless people

When they secure power, they turn against their own people whom they regard as not radical. They do not differentiate any more between people of their own faith and people of other faiths.

They claim God has given them the mandate to wipe out every other person who does not share in their way of beliefs.

(Please, make time to visit The Peacemakers…)

We are inundated daily with horrifying news reports of religious militants who claim they are serving a loving God by attacking and killing people.

They claim they are fighting God’s battle. They claim they are proclaiming a God of peace and a compassionate deity who loves people; yet they unleash suffering on people.

Jesus, the Prince of Peace, said that, such people do not know God. They are not promoting the God of peace. He said,

They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.  And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.  (John 16:2-3; New King James Version)

God is Peace and Love; He hates violence
God is Peace and Love; He hates violence

A group of armed terrorists, the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab, forcefully entered the Westgate Mall in Nairobi and unleashed senseless violence upon customers and workers, killing some in the attack …Boko Haram continues to attack and kill people; they abduct women and girls, and force them, as if they are slaves, to marry people they don’t love…   ISIS groups are attacking and killing people… Al-Shabaab militants are invading, attacking schools and killing innocent people… The Lord’s Resistance Army are recruiting child soldiers to engage in senseless wars. All these claim they are fighting on behalf of the peaceful and merciful God!

How can a merciful deity be so unmerciful?

How can a deity who is behind the violence and the pain inflicted on innocent people be seen as peaceful and compassionate? How can a merciful deity be so unmerciful as to instruct people to rape innocent girls?

Why would a powerful deity send terrorists to attack helpless people? How can one perpetrate violence and expect people to see one as non-violent?

This is happening because good people refused to speak when the violence and evil started!

Now we see and hear much violence perpetrated through religion. Religion that is supposed to bring peace and happiness is now unleashing terror!

Why should much of the violence we hear and experience come from the religious quarter? And why is it that one particular religion is noted for that?

Could it be that the leaders failed to educate their people about the true nature of the Creator God? That a merciful and compassionate God does not delight in killing people and making families miserable?

Jesus told His disciples to preach peace and demonstrate peace. He said if people refuse to receive them, they should let them be and go elsewhere. He said they should never use force. They should leave them for the Day of Judgement, (Luke 10:5-12).

He said He came to save lives … not to destroy lives, (Luke 9:52-56).
(Get a copy of “Questions Muslims Ask Christians” by clicking here)

(Persuasion Is Better Than Force)

An eye for an eye leaves the world blind

Al-Jazeera Report on Boko Haram Attack in Nigeria

Al-Jazeera Report on Boko Haram Attack in Nigeria… Please, read this story by Al-Jazeera at…

An eye for an eye leaves the world blind…

Violence does not promote peace. An eye for an eye will deprive us of our sight. Don’t seek to conquer people; seek to win their confidence.

Martin Luther King said, “That old law about an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. was prominently engaged in the African-American Civil Rights Movements in the 1960s. In spite of the attacks and inhuman treatments meted out to him, he believed in what Jesus said about loving one’s enemies and not retaliating.

In 1964, King became the youngest man to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (for his work as a peacemaker, promoting nonviolence and equal treatment for different races). On April 4, 1968, King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, still on peacemaking trails. Today Martin Luther King is an icon in the history of the American Civil Rights movement, and he is well known for peacemaking.

Mahatma Gandhi said, “If we practice an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, soon the whole world will be blind and toothless.”

The Bible advises us to restrain from violence. The Christian is to be like Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

Violent people wreak havoc on people and properties as a way of expressing their anger; they want to conquer by using violence and intimidation. They justify their actions by saying that they are obeying God’s command. Wherever they go they spread violence and cause mayhem. They have no patience and cannot tolerate other people’s divergent opinions.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God,” (Matthew 5:9).

People who practice violence cannot be God’s children. They are not doing God’s will!

Terrorists are angry people who have not been able to get what they want. They turn to terrorism to express their anger. They attack even those who have no quarrel with them.

Unforgiving spirit leads to hate and violence

Proverbs 25:15 says, “By long forbearance a ruler is persuaded — and a gentle tongue breaks a bone.”

Be patient and forgiving. Articulate your views; persuade and convince. Don’t use force.

A Gaelic proverb says, “Patience wears out stones.” Rousseau also intimated, “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”

(You may want to read “Persuasion Is Better Than Force”… click here)

We read news stories like, “15 killed in University Attack, or 30 people killed in a suicide bomb attack…” Sometimes thousands of people are displaced as result of militant attacks. A religious group pops up and declares that it carried out the attacks in God’s name.

One wonders why the Almighty God, who has power to control people’s minds, will not use His Almighty power to make people to do His will, but will send humans who cannot control the minds of other people, to use physical force to make them change? Why would the Judge of Righteousness command people to destroy the lives of helpless and innocent women and children?

In Uganda, some religious extremists threw acid on a religious leader. The victim sustained severe burns that blinded one of his eyes and was threatening the other eye.

A newspaper reported that, in one city, eleven people died when religious militants bombed a worship center and attacked a police station.

Militants do not restrict their attacks to people of other religions. They attack their own fellow believers they think are not radical enough.

Violence does not promote the cause of a merciful and peace loving God. Hurting or killing people does not advertise a loving God.

(You may want to read, “Conquering Without Being Violent” … Click here for more)

Uncontrolled anger is madness

Robert Green Ingersoll asserted that, “Anger is a wind which blows out the lamp of the mind.”

A 43-year-old in New Jersey called police to say he had a knife and was threatening to hurt himself. Apparently, he was angry at something. Officers swooped over his Clay Street home and kicked on the door to his room, which he had blocked with furniture.

When he stood up, he shouted at the officers and frantically stabbed himself all over his body, leaving more than 50 stab wounds.

Officers saw that his intestines were sticking out from the wound in his abdomen. When they tried to approach him, the man allegedly threw some of the skin and intestines at them.

They tried to talk him down, but did not succeed. He slashed at them with the knife. Officers sprayed two cans of pepper spray at him, but it had no effect. They called the Bergen Country SWAT Team, who helped subdue him with beanbag projectiles.

The man underwent emergency surgery and remained in critical condition at the time of the news report.

That was an angry man who was angry with everyone, including himself.

BBC News Report
BBC News Report

 

Anger makes suicide bombers kill innocent people… and getting killed, too!

(Read Rockeybell’s testimony here)

Do we present a killer and rapist God or a savior God?

Do we present a killer and rapist God …. or a savior God?

Do we preach a peaceful and loving God, or a violent and hateful deity? Do we cause destruction and harm when we preach our religion?

Nigeria recaptures town lost to Boko Haram

 

 

 

 

Click to read the full report… Nigeria military claims recapture of key town from Boko Haram

Christianity asserts that God is kind, merciful and loving; …..that God does not destroy innocent lives. He protects and guides in the way of righteousness.

The Christian Bible describes God as

“…long-suffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.” (Numbers 14:18; New King James Version)

Islam, too, proclaims that Allah is merciful… or does it?

Every chapter of the Qur’an, except chapter 9, begins with the character of Allah as “The Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.”
Islamic teachers tell us that Islam is a peaceful religion, and that Islam does not allow violence, except in self-defense.

Unfortunately Boko Haram, ISIS, Al-Shabab, and other militants, contradict them as they continue to perpetuate violence and atrocities in the name of God and religion.

Pointing out the evil that people do in the name of religion is not an attack on religion. It is a cry against the atrocities! Good and loving people will always speak out against atrocities even when the evils are done in God’s name.
The New York Times reported how women were enslaved and raped repeatedly. Each time, before the rapist raped the victim, he performed a prayer in front of the victim, raped her, and then performed another round of prayer in front of her. He justified his action that Allah permitted him to do that because she belonged to another religion.

Read the story here... ISIS enshrines a theology of rape

We can conquer without being violent! We can win people to our cause without attacking them.

Rockeybell has written books on how to win without being violent.
For the electronic versions visit…
Conquering Without Being Violent
Persuasion Is Better Than Force (Electronic version of “Winning Without Attacking – Why Persuasion Is Better Than Force”)

Conquering Without Being ViolentUsing evil does not promote a good, kind, loving and merciful God.
That 12-year-old girl will never love the religion that permitted her to be raped. She will never be able to believe that the rapist’s God is a loving God.

Conquering Without Being ViolentWhy would a merciful God send a rapist to punish her instead of teaching and guiding her to the right path? Why would God allow her to be born into that family, and then punish her for being born into that family?

The saved are to direct those not saved to the right path; not to attack and kill. Jesus would not allow His followers to command fire from heaven and consume the Samaritans as Elijah did, because He came to save lives and not to destroy them, (Luke 9:51-56).

The Bible does not allow rape, fornication or adultery, even when done in God’s name.

Do religious leaders condemn slavery and the slave trade, yet turn round and condone it in their own camp?
When we use force or use atrocities on people because they do not share our religious convictions we make them see the God we present as evil.

No compulsion in religion
The Christian Bible teaches that God does not use force to make people love Him. It instructs Christians to preach the message of God’s love and let the listener himself or herself decide (Ezekiel 3:17-19; Luke 10:5-12; Mark 16:15-16).
The Qur’an also declares,

“Let there be no compulsion in religion. Truth stands out clear from error…” (2:256)
“… And had your Lord willed, those on earth would have believed, all of them together. So, will you then compel mankind, until they become believers?” (10:99)

Persuasion Better Than ForceWINNING WITHOUT ATTACKING...001

Pay us a visit at the PeacemakersTeam

How to make people listen to you, and how to make people accept your message … Part 2

How long have you been battling with the question of “how to make people listen to you”?

Do you struggle with the question of “how to make people accept your message”?

Do you get angry and frustrated when people reject your message?

Do you use the frontal attack as religious militants do?
Market street scene
The frontal attack is combative.

It attacks the listener in the guise of providing information, and triggers a fight response from the listener. It is aggressive in approach and invites same in response. 

It is the method militants use. It is not peaceful, and has no touch of love. It is brutal and does not consider the feelings and rights of others.

Never use the frontal attack; use the reverse method

Explain the benefits of what you are offering. Make the listener see how he or she will benefit. Do not force the listener. Let him or her decide; let him or her choose willingly.  People want to choose what they want, and what they think will benefit them.

The Samaritan woman Jesus met by the well had lived a life of a whore; she had lived with five different people. At the time Jesus met her, she was living with a sixth man, (John 4:17-18). She needed spiritual deliverance.
However, Jesus knew that the existing enmity between the Jews and the Samaritans could make it difficult for her to listen to Him. He, therefore, used the reverse method. He asked her for water. When she reminded Jesus that Jews and Samaritans did not talk to each other, Jesus ignored the remark, and rather stated her spiritual need.
Jesus told her,

“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Please give me a drink,’ you would have been the one to ask him, and he would have given you living water.” (International Standard Version)

Jesus used ‘water’ to get the woman’s attention. Water was her need at that time. She wondered how Jesus would give her  living water when He had no bucket to draw water; besides, moments ago He had asked her for water to drink. Jesus was using a strategy to engage her to talk back so He could explain to her the spiritual gift He had for her. If Jesus had started by telling her He wanted to give her a gift, she would have ignored Him.

When she retorted, Jesus ignored her sarcasm and rather emphasized on her spiritual need. She became interested in the special water that could “become a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14)
He was offering the woman eternal life by using what she valued at the time -‘water’. He got her undivided attention. She was no more thinking about the enmity between Jews and Samaritans. She was now willing to receive from a Jew.
She said,

“Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw water.” (John 4:15)

Jesus now had to make her confess her life of sin. Again, He refrained from using the frontal method. He did not tell her, “You must confess your sin before I can give you this water.” That would have provoked her. She would have called other Samaritans to come and see a Jew who had the audacity to come to the city of Samaritans and insult a Samaritan. Angry Samaritans would have come out to lynch that Jew.
He told her to go and bring her husband, though He knew she had no husband. The woman on her own volition confessed that she had no husband. By her confession she  gave Jesus the opportunity to remind her the number of men she had lived with.

That was a powerful revelation

She wondered, “How can this man know my secret life? Is He a prophet?” She answered back, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.” She proceeded to talk about worship and the disagreement between Jews and Samaritans, providing Jesus the opportunity to teach her.
After listening to Jesus expound on worship and spirituality, and telling her He was the Messiah, she became convinced. She left her water pot, went her way into the city, and told other Samaritans about the stranger who could be the Christ; her testimony drew the people to Jesus.

People will listen to you if you articulate your views convincingly
Do not use force as the Boko Haram, Al-Shabaab, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and other religious militants are doing
Aftermath of Boko Haram Islamic militants attack and destruction of a village and a Christian church in northern Nigeria
Aftermath of Boko Haram Islamic militant attack and destruction of a village and a Christian church in northern Nigeria

 

  • Do not attack people when they do not readily respond to your message
  • Show them the beauty of your cause, not the ugliness and hatred of your cause
  • Patiently discuss how the listener stands to gain when he or she accepts what you are offering.

(Read “Murder and rape in God’s name… God’s Executioners on the loose.”)

The Almighty God, the all Powerful One, does not compel people. Why should you? He says, “Come now, and let us reason together…” (Isaiah 1:18).

 

God’s Executioners: Killing in God’s name… Part 1

Does God need executioners?

Does the Almighty God, who has the ultimate power to do what He pleases, need human beings to force other people do His bidding?

Can’t the Almighty God fight His own battles?

How can we really tell who is fighting on God’s behalf, since many different religious organizations or sects claim to be fighting for God’s cause?
Can all the different religious people, with their differences in doctrines, be fighting for God?
God is not the author of confusion. 1 Corinthians 14:33, “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints (New King James Version). So how can God instruct all the different groups to go out and kill in His name, with their contradictory doctrines?

Murder in God’s  Name

  • In Nigeria, the Islamic militants, Boko Haram, stormed a secondary  school in Yobe and killed 29 boys and burnt the school to the ground. The Police reported that some of the student’s bodies were burnt to ashes.
  • In Maiduguri, fighters killed 90 people in an early morning attack on a remote village. Gunmen surrounded the village of Izge, near the border with Cameroon, sprayed it with bullets, and set off explosions to burn down houses.

These brutalities are done in the name of the Almighty God, “The Compassionate One,” the “Ever Merciful God.”

Jesus taught His followers to conquer by persuasion; not by force

Jesus Christ taught his followers to express their views or beliefs by love. He told His followers they should not compel people to accept their message, (Luke 10:10-12.), because He came to promote peace. That means, Christians who indulge in violence and brutalities are not obeying their Master Jesus.
Using persuasion may take time; that is why violent-minded people do not want to take that course. However, that method is devoid of the deaths, pain and sufferings that follow violence and suicide bombings.

If you are patient, you can use persuasion to get people to accept your suggestions or views.

(You may want to read “Conquering without being violent.” Visit our Website)

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Welcome to “Conquering Without Being Violent.”

Conquering Without Being Violent  WIN WITHOUT ATTACKING  Conquering Without Being Violent 001

Can Violent Militants Change?

Daily we read of Islamic militants (Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, ISIS, etc.), The Lord’s Resistance Army, and suicide bombers using violence to press home their demands. They attack and kill innocent people as they force their decisions and beliefs on them.
School pupils explode in anger and shoot their colleague pupils and teachers.
Islamic militants abduct girls from schools in rural African communities, claiming their religion does not allow females to have education. They rape some of them, impregnating them in the process, and eventually sell them or compel them to marry men the girls do not love.

A loving God does not use hate to make people love Him

“Conquering Without Being Violent” discusses how persuasion convinces people rather than force.
Abraham Lincoln said, we conquer our enemies when we make them our friends.
Jesus told His followers never to use force to make people accept their views. He told His followers to love their enemies; not to hate them.

Topics to discuss on this platform include:

  1. Engaging  people in peaceful dialog
  2. Disagreeing without being offensive
  3. Defending without being polemical

You can conquer by persuasion without being violent

Do you get angry easily?
Are you violent in your reactions?
Do you want to form a new loving and patient habit?
Do you want to turn enemies into friends?

Discussions will include:

  • Using gentle ways in presenting views.
  • Training our angry emotions to calm down in angry situations.
  • Helping the brutish husband to learn to listen.
  • Helping a disrespectful child to learn to listen and obey.
  • Helping the cantankerous wife to learn to listen.
  • Helping the opinionated boss to learn listen to other views.

Truth should be able to persuade and draw people to one’s cause

A person who is persuaded to abandon his or her position voluntarily, will see it as his or her own decision; he or she does not feel coerced.

Is there hope for the chronically angry person?

Why do some people get angry easily?
Can the violent person change?
Can the hot-tempered person change?

Can we control our emotions?