Christians in the Holy Land and all the Middle East face increasing dangers and persecution from extremists claiming to enforce the teachings of Muhammed and the requirements of the Muslim faith. This has increased dramatically with the rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. To a lesser degree, Hezbollah and Hamas have been pursuing a similar campaign, against both Jews and Christians in Israel and the West Bank. In all three cases, the teachings of Muhammed have been distorted and twisted to fit a radical interpretation of Islam. The following article, taken from the Wall Street journal’s Commentary page, deals with aspects of that distortion and the environment facing the followers of Christ.
-Editor
| Publisher Jeffrey Peter Agnes |
Editor LTC Thomas P. Curtis II |
Contributing Editors Rev. Michael P. Forbes David D. Fautua |
| Readers are encouraged to write in letters to the editor with questions and observations at the following address: tent@smotj.org | ||
Judaism is a monotheistic religion, with the Torah as its foundational text (part of the larger text known as the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible), and supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Mishnah and the Talmud. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the covenantal relationship God established with the Children of Israel.
Islam is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion articulated by the Qur'an, a book considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God (Arabic: Allāh) and by the teachings and normative example (called the Sunnah and composed of hadith) of Muhammad (c. 570 BC – c. 8 June 632 AD), considered by them to be the last prophet of God.
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and oral teachings of Jesus as presented in the New Testament. Most Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God, fully divine and fully human, and the saviour of humanity whose coming was prophesied in the Old Testament. Consequently, Christians refer to Jesus as "Christ" or the Messiah.