Student says Advocate columnist shows ignorance of christianity

By Trudy Gonzalez-Polanco, Special to The Advocate

In response to the column “Americans make Christ look stupid,” by Jason White which ran Feb. 17 in issue 17. Gonzalez-Polanco is a student majoring in television production and resides in Vancouver.

Your article has some valid points; however, it fails to present facts that, in all fairness, should be pointed out.

I believe you based some of your information on the major news sources. Those commercial sources only report negativity, sensationalism, and sports because it’s profitable. You’ll seldom, if ever, find those commercial sources reporting good news about constructive accomplishments our American troops are responsible for. Schools are open now, and adults and children can attend and learn. Many lives have been saved and turned from devastation to hope. Medical clinics are operating again, and diseased, hurting people are being rescued. Laws favoring citizens are in place for the first time in years. These are just a few things Americans and their allies are accomplishing in the Middle East.

How do I know this? I watch Christian and non-profit newscasts (ones not targeting high ratings and profits) as well as the ones you watch. That way I get both sides of the story.

The majority of Islamic believers aren’t warmongers or “terrorists”. They’re simple family people who would love to have a peaceful environment, stable economy, education for all, and a constructive government system that favors the people instead of the warlords.

The fact is the people in those Middle East countries have been deliberately kept very poor, ignorant, and powerless by oppressive, clannish rulers to prevent the overthrow of their ruling system. They need the help of a strong, organized, determined ally, and it isn’t up to us when American troops withdraw. Leave that to the experts.

The scriptures teach Christians to “love your enemies and do good by them.” But, it doesn’t say “never find fault with them,” or “close your eyes and ears, and don’t have opinions about them.” It doesn’t instruct Christians to be stupid. It also reminds Christians that “by their fruits, you shall know them.” In other words, it’s pretty easy to see what type of fruit grows on a tree. Is it good, or is it rotten?

Your comparison of 3,000 9/11 deaths to the 180,000 deaths of Afghanistan and Iraqi civilians at American hands, which, by the way, is part of war, conveniently ignores the numbers of Americans the jihads have already killed. The figures you chose to display don’t paint an accurate picture, but it is convenient.

You pointed to the Danish cartoon issue that inflamed the Muslims. What doesn’t inflame them? They totally reject, and outlaw freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and even freedom of individual expression, if they can. To them that’s a foreign language. It’s simply unheard of in their society.

That’s pretty obvious when you see broadcasts of great hordes of them jumping in the streets, chanting together over and over ‘I will die for Allah,” and “Death to all infidels,” and “Death to all Jews.”

Then you more or less asked what the result would be if the Danes designed a similar cartoon about Christ? I think you know the real answer to that question.] However, rather than go into that, you conveniently sidestepped it, so I’ll answer that for you. Americans, even Christian Americans, and most of the rest of the world would just pass it by as freedom of the press displaying its usual bad taste. I doubt you would see Americans filling the streets chanting insults and threats at the Danes, or even bothering to peacefully demonstrate against them.

Changing gears, here’s a fact for you. In most cases, serious Christians’ search out through reading and dissecting the scriptures, on their own. what their beliefs are based on and what that means. Ninety percent of Muslims, who worship, ritualize, and chant from the Koran, do it completely by memory. That’s because the majority of them are illiterate.

In other words, they base their beliefs on what they’ve been told, not what they’ve read, dissected, or searched out. That suggests to me they might easily be misled by designing individuals.

Another fact – the seventh chapter of the Koran plainly instructs ALL Muslims in this manner: “If you want to know about God, go to the people of the book”- meaning the Jews, the very ones the Muslims want to wipe off the face of the earth.

Muhammad knew that centuries ago, and recorded it in the Koran very plainly. OK, then, why don’t Muslims “go to the people of the book”? Because ninety percent (at least) don’t know chapter seven of their own “holy book” says that. They can’t read it for themselves.

So, the headlines in your article, as I see it, don’t actually clearly prove themselves. They do, however, clearly voice some of your personal views. We all have personal views, but few of us actually write them down, and publish them. It’s also interesting that you chose the end of a semester to publish this article.

This is the time most students are concentrating on final exams, choosing classes for their next semester, and generally scurrying around on their own business. That means even if they read your opinions, they won’t respond. They’re just too busy. You probably counted on that.