I wanted to start the week out by thanking all of you for leaving me comments last week.  As you know I hit hard the tragedy of the three girls who were brutally beheaded in Indonesia and I posted one picture to show you how serious Christian persecution is.

Amy your comment about appreciating a warning is appreciated, and I think I did warn by naming the post the way I did.  Unfortunately because this blog is about persecution and persecution isn't pretty sometimes there might be things on the site that you find offensive.  We apologize for that, but hope you understand that this is a serious issue and we have to present the facts, and sometimes that is with pictures.

Origena, you posted that I was a hater.  That is not true.  I am passionate about the love of Christ towards all and it is that love that compels me.

Bill & Mike you both posted scripture as encouragement to me.  Thank you for that.  As in the days of the beginning of our faith, and the persecution was great, today it continues and God will reward those who have been martyred in His name.

Sandra,  your comment especially touched my heart.  You are the reason I posted the picture, and I'm glad that you have been awakened to things you didn't see before.  May the Lord bless you as you continue to grow in your faith and knowledge of Him.

Nick, thank you also for your comments.  I do not have any hard feelings toward you at all.  However, I must say that you took a scripture out of context and misapplied it to make your point.  Despite that fact, I understand what you are saying, however I think posting the picture was good.

And finally Brad, thanks for your comment and tie in to the Passion of the Christ.  The very reason that movie was so powerful was because of how graphic it was (and I don't think that even came close to reality).

Keep on commenting because we are listening !

Comments

[Nic]

Hi Stacey,

To me the scripture Philippians 4:8 is relevant and not really out of context. But, maybe my point was a little obscure!

We can always see the cup as half full or half empty, and so we can see the evil in the world, or the good.

I think that Paul is encouraging us to actively see & fill our mind with the good things rather than the bad. He closes that thought with a promise that the *God of peace* will be with us.

I read over your original posting about studying the picture and feeing outrage and doing something about it, and, and I come back to Paul's encouragement to seek out the lovely.

Maybe the evil one wants us to see the horror and feel despair or anger - that may cause us to take our eyes of Jesus, and then he wins, even if only a small victory.

If we are going to do something (as you suggest), let's make sure we do it from love and faith rather than from anger.

Anyway, whether we agree or not on this one, we are on the same side, and, in faith and by grace, we are on God's side.

Also, if I may speak on behalf of our brother/sister Origena in Indonesia - the comments about *hate* are real. He/she has first hand experience in Indonesia right now.

Christians everywhere are encouraging each other NOT to take revenge, even in their hearts, over this.

Many muslims too. We don't hate each other, but the trouble-makers want us to.

The trouble-makers *want* Christians to be outraged and to take revenge. Even self-defence will then be misrepresented as revenge, and will be the cause of more violence.

I think Origena is asking you not to contribute to the risk of moe trouble for the Christians, and also to be sensitive to the victim families right now.

Blessings to you, Stacey.

[Amy]

Stacey,

Thanks for your reply. I know that good people can disagree on if the photo should have been published. That's not what my following comment is about.

My concern was the lack of warning.

You said, "I think I did warn by naming the post the way I did."

I don't really understand this reply. When your page loads in people's browsers or feed readers they don't just see the post heading first and choose to read more. The entire page loads. Any heading directly above a graphic picture can't be considered adequate warning since the photo will ususally be viewed first. Perhaps this would work for someone with a slow dial up connection, but for readers with a higher speed internet connection there was no warning.

Now I know not to visit this site when my pre-schoolers are on my lap or playing on the floor behind me... I wish I would have known sooner.