refugees

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Escaping ISIS

I watched a documentary today that cemented my feelings and beliefs about Christianity’s role in helping refugees. 

PBS Frontline did a special last July on women prisoners of ISIS. 

Escaping ISIS documented the fate of the women and children of a particular sect of Islam, the Yazidi, who ISIS views worthy of being decimated because the Yazidi make the Islamic faith impure. 

When ISIS went into their villages, they killed the men and captured the women and children. 

There is a small group of Yazidi men who are working diligently to free their relatives from ISIS, creating an underground network of spies within and without ISIS territories. 

The saddest part of the documentary was watching the story of the woman caught in adultery (see John 8:2-11) with a horrible ending. 

ISIS leaders filmed a woman accused of adultery and sentenced to be stoned to death. The woman’s father was present and she asked him, “Father, can you please forgive me?” 

His response broke my heart: “God will not allow me to forgive you.”

The woman continued to ask for forgiveness, sobbing, as the leaders began to stone her. Her father joined in as well. 

For anyone who believes that God and Allah are one and the same, you’re dead wrong. 

The One True God is a loving and forgiving Father. His heart beats with love for us. 

This woman was killed and there was no forgiveness given to her like Jesus extended in John 8.

I understand that there’s no way the countries of the world can take in all the refugees. 

I understand it is dangerous to allow the refugees into our countries because ISIS infiltrates the refugee camps. 

But we as Christians can NEVER hate Muslim people. We can NEVER give up being involved in creative solutions to reach out to the refugees. 

I saw the tears of the women who recounted their brutal treatment under the ISIS regime. They lived in fear every day of their captivity. 

In fact, many women kill themselves because they feel utterly hopeless to escape the torture of the ISIS regime. 

There was an 18 year old girl who said, “I don’t know if I will ever be free from my fear, the nightmares that haunt me.”

I screamed at the TV, “Yes, you can be free! Jesus can heal your broken heart!”

This documentary has wrecked me…

The Muslim world is crying out for help, for hope. Don’t let ISIS win by poisoning your heart toward these people. 

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Safety vs. Risk

The key word in terrorism is terror and the purpose of terror is to put fear in our hearts. 
The debate over the Syrian refugees really has me thinking….

Maybe all the articles and videos about ISIS turning us against the refugees isn’t that far off. 

Let’s look at the facts:

  1. Most of the terrorists were European nationals
  2. ISIS magazines and videos state that they want the Muslim world to hate the West
  3. The other outbreaks of ISIS related activity following the Paris attacks should not to be surprised since the point is evoking terror (and it worked so well the first time)
  4. Most of Europe–and now America–is not helping the refugees. 

With these facts in mind, is terrorism winning?

Our culture continues to respond exactly the way the enemy wants. 

Instead of talking out solutions, governors are making rash statements that lack  empathy and reek of platform building stances.  

These actions remind me of our nation’s–and the world’s history. 

Hasty judgment is prevailing. 

Ignoring the suffering refugees will not make this problem disappear. I recognize the concerns about safety. I want to be safe too. 

I’m torn, though, because helping the refugees means there’s a risk involved….

But isn’t there always a risk involved?

I don’t claim to have all the answers. The reason I’m writing this out is to think this issue through. 

I’m just wondering if our concerns and fears about safety are allowing the tenets of terrorism to prevail. 

What are your thoughts on this topic?