Salam-Hello in Arabic! I (Sal) have an uncle and cousin that both live in the Middle East. In fact, many Filipinos work overseas over in this region because of the vast employment opportunities that fit their hard working skills as nurses, maids, etc... My uncle lives in the United Arab of Emirates and my cousin lives in Saudi Arabia. These two were probably my first relation to the Middle East region.
It wasn't until college-UMM, when I really encountered and meet people from the Middle East. One of the presidents of the International Student Association (student organization) was of Middle Eastern-Kuwaiti background. From him and others that attended UMM, I became more educated and exposed of this unique culture living in the Midwest-Minnesota.
Since meeting these guys and the continued exposure while at this rural college town, I've been interested in meeting people from this region. I continue to meet more after living in Morris-Motown through the college. For example, while attending the Summer Institute of Ministry Training School-Morris Community Church, we had a teacher one week that was a missionary in Lebanon. He shared some stories that made the inner-city violence of America look small.
Arab?
I was watching this movie and found out Iranians are not Arab (just like Guatamalans are not Mexicans), so I decided to do some re"search" on this...
I then began to reflect on the Bible and remembered how Persia (Iranians) was an enemy of Babylon (Iraq), which explains the dispute between Shiites and Sunnites. When the national borders of Iraq was drawn, "ignorant imperialists" did not take this difference of ethnic groups into consideration.
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FROM THE JUNE 30, 2003 ISSUE OF TIME MAGAZINE; POSTED SUNDAY, JUNE 22, 2003
...Some experts see their clumsiness as the product of nondenominational churches lacking the resources for proper training programs. Others suggest that the culprits are "short termers" who don't stay in the region long enough to witness the cycles of retribution their confrontational styles can touch off. Says Robert Seiple, the State Department's Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom until 2000 and himself an Evangelical: "There is a lot more good than bad. The major denominations get it right more than wrong. But what I discovered is that well-intended people have in many, many cases eroded the message they were trying to communicate through inappropriate methodologies. Persecution results, and there are times you wish they had stayed home...."...
....A missions strategist named Ralph Winter suggested in 1974 that Christians turn their attention from areas already exposed to Christ to "unreached people groups" who had never heard the Gospel. The plan held special allure for those who read literally another verse in Matthew suggesting that when every nation is reached, the long-awaited end times can commence. In 1989 Argentine-born evangelist Luis Bush pointed out that 97% of the unevangelized lived in a "window" between the 10th and 40th latitudes. This immense global slice, he explained, was disproportionately poor; the majority of its inhabitants "enslaved" by Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism and, ultimately, by Satan....
..."Henry" and "Sarah" practice a kind of evangelism that might satisfy the staunchest agnostic. In the early 1980s they arrived in the North African country where they serve as missionary-team leaders. "We didn't want to run through, do our thing and preach," says Sarah. "We wanted to live." They founded an adventure-travel business and made friends. They talked sports and taxes and children with their neighbors, went camping with them and gathered with them on Muslim feast days. They didn't hide their faith, but they didn't press it on others, so when a friend's friend who had taken a Christian correspondence course approached them on behalf of his family, they shared Christ on his terms. "They pursued us," Henry insists. The two clans grew close and still are; eventually several of the Muslims embraced Christ. To tentmaking theorists, this is "relationship evangelism." Henry prefers to speak of the difference in connotation between two Arabic words, tansir and tabshir. "Tansir means to coerce people to change their religion," he explains. "Tabshir means to share, to be a witness."...
ASSIST NEWS SERVICE
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September 13, 2001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
INTERNATIONAL MINISTRY RESPONDS TO TERRORIST ATTACK
Wayne, Pennsylvania (ANS) -- Officials at this Christian Satellite Television Ministry to the Middle East and North Africa recently joined with their Arab Christian counterparts on staff throughout the Middle East in reaction to the tragic terrorism attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.
"It is clear that when the disaster hit us here in America, it also struck deep into the hearts of fellow believers all over the Middle East and North Africa," said SAT-7 North America President Ron Ensminger. "We have had such profound expressions of sympathy for American Christians from Arabic fellow believers that I want to pass some of them along as encouragements." [NOTE: a partial text of these quotes is attached to this release].
"At the same time, we have heard positive expressions of support for our ministry in the Middle East from many American Christians. They are encouraging us to continue our efforts to send the Good News of Jesus Christ into homes all across the region with our Bible-based, Arabic-language programming. It would be easy to allow Tuesday's events to turn our hearts towards bitterness to all foreigners," said Ensminger, "Fortunately, Christians are telling us that our job has never been more important and they have specifically expressed compassion and mercy to Christians living in Arab lands."
"We intend to continue our efforts in the aftermath of this terrible terrorist attack and we welcome those who choose to join us," said Ensminger. "We are grateful to our Christian partners who have voiced their encouragements during these difficult days, both our neighbors here and overseas. The joy of the Lord is our strength!"
Thank you for visiting my page at Angelfire. Please come back and visit again!
Persecution by Mideast Police
"This short video documents some of the tragedies that Christians have faced while being persecuted. When a corrupt police dept has already decided to blame one Christian for a murder, they go to great lengths to get a confession out of the people that know him. WARNING! THE DESCRIPTIONS IN THIS CLIP CAN BE GRAPHIC"
Persecution in the Middle East v1
"Christian persecution"
Youth
Young Voices from the Middle East
" The Jordan, Baghdad, and Iran clips are from Chat the Planet. Visit them at chattheplanet.com.
Let the Youth from the Middle East say what they really feel. These are just some excerpts from topics ranging from religion and war to family values and sex. Inshallah I will able to get more of these because dialogue is the most powerful tool.
tags: marriage friends dialogue chat the planet link tv lebanon beirut baghdad cairo jordan amman syria iran tehran farsi arabic pakistan hindi urdu spanish bush iraqi saddam execution koran george bush hussein muslims young youth marriage sex family interfaith guns death murder killing tanks lebanese israel israeli jewish christian christianity kuwait"
