Saw this on Facebook. Occurred to me that American Christians are so babified that we think any political disagreements, any insulting phrases against us, amounts to persecution. I can tell you – I’ve had insults thrown my way, ugly things said, seen some things that make me question the notion of religious liberty – but you know what, I know for a fact I still do not know what persecution is.
This is persecution:
The blood-spattered Bible on the cover of this newsletter is a graphic symbol of what it means to be a Christian in northern Nigeria. The Bible was retrieved from the Deeper Life Church in Gombe state after a Jan. 5, 2012, attack by Boko Haram militants. Church leader Chenma Ngwaba was speaking during a Thursday evening prayer meeting when three young e xtremists suddenly began firing weapons through the church window. “They were shooting everybody there,” said Chenma, who lost his wife and 10-year-old son that night. Chenma’s six-month-old daughter survived, but eight other believers were killed, and more than 20 were injured.
Despite horrific attacks like these, courageous believers at the Gombe church and others throughout Nigeria refuse to give in to fear. “Christians are not discouraged,” said Rev. Dr. Soja Bewarang, president of the Church of Christ in Nigeria. “We believe the scripture that Jesus told us, that if they persecuted him they will do the same to us. We are not discouraged, but rather our faith on a daily basis has been increased.”
Stop whining. You are making me sick.
Joel L. Watts holds a Masters of Arts from United Theological Seminary with a focus in literary and rhetorical criticism of the New Testament. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific discoveries of the past century. He is the author of Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark: Introduction and Commentary (Wipf and Stock, 2013) and a co-editor and contributor to From Fear to Faith: Stories of Hitting Spiritual Walls (Energion, 2013).
Website: → Unsettled Christianity
Connect
But, you know, some clothing retailers don’t call their shopping season “Christmas,” and a hardware store tried selling “family trees” a few years ago.
That’s almost the same thing, isn’t it?
Couldn’t agree more.
Today is Barnabas Aid: International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church
I wonder how much interest it will garner in our comfort zone….
A very important point. The coddled and cajoled Christians in the US have little exposure to the reality of the horrors of life in physically persecuted states. They think having someone say “Happy Holidays” is equivalent to the grenade, rifle, and mob attacks against peaceful, worshipping Christians. When I’ve attempted to teach on the differences the pushback had been ridiculous. I’m never more disappointed than after those conversations.
I actually remember when I was going to go to Jos, Nigeria (plateau state) again last January, but I had a prior engagement on the exact day they had a Muslim uprising, where they burned churches and parishioners! The missionaries we support luckily got word about it before hand and him and the church split the area. Unfortunately, others didn’t make it.