Friday, March 21, 2008

Equipamentos e seu consumo de energia quando em standby

Equipamentos e seu consumo de energia quando em standby

Mesmo quando estão desligados a maioria deles ainda consome eletricidade. O standby pode ser passivo (relógio do microondas) ou ativo (video-cassete programado para gravar algo). Os números abaixo mostram a média de consumo anual e o quanto custam (assumindo 11 centavos de dólar por quilowatt-hora).














Rádio 13.1 $1.44
Telefone sem fio 28.9 $3.18
Monitor LCD 22.8 $2.51
Computador 311 $34.21
Laptop 144.5 $15.90
Impressora Laser 113 $12.43
TV Plasma 1452.4 $159.76 (standby ativo)
Video-cassete 92 $10.12 (standby ativo)
DVD 78.8 $8.67 (standby ativo)
Video-game 233.9 $25.73 (standby ativo)
Micro-ondas 35 $3.85
Escova de dente elétrica 12.3 $1.35

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Piadas com padre

Essa velha, mas é boa:

Eu estava tão nervoso na minha primeira missa, que no sermão não conseguia falar. Antes da segunda missa, dirigi-me ao Bispo e perguntei como devia fazer para relaxar. Este, por sua vez, recomendou-me o seguinte:

- Coloque umas gotinhas de vodka na água, vai ver que da próxima vez estará mais relaxado.

No Domingo seguinte, apliquei a sugestão do meu Bispo, e estava tão relaxado, que podia falar alto até no meio de uma tempestade, tão descontraído que estava. Ao regressar a casa, encontro um bilhete do meu Bispo, que dizia o seguinte:

Caro Padre:

1º - Da próxima vez, coloque umas gotas de VODKA na água e não umas gotas de água na VODKA;
2º- Não há necessidade de por limão e sal na borda do cálice;
3º- O missal não é, nem deverá ser usado, como apoio para o copo;
4º- Aquela casinha ao lado do Altar é o confessionário e não o WC;
5º- Evite apoiar-se na imagem de Nossa Senhora, e muito menos abraçá-la e beijá-la;
6º- Os mandamentos são 10 e não 12;
7º- 12 são os apóstolos, e nenhum deles era anão;
8º- Não nos devemos referir o nosso Salvador e seus apóstolos como “JC & Companhia”;
9º- Não deverá referir-se a Judas como “filho da puta”;
10º- Não deverá tratar o Papa por “O Padrinho”;
11º- Judas não enforcou Jesus, e Bin Laden não tem a ver com esta história;
12º- A água Benta é para benzer e não para refrescar a nuca;
13º- Nunca reze a missa sentado nas escadas do Altar;
14º- Quando se ajoelhar, não utilize a Bíblia como apoio ao joelho;
15º- Utiliza-se o termo ámen e não “ó meu”;
16º- As hóstias devem ser distribuidas pelos fiéis. Não devem ser usadas como aperitivo antes do vinho;
17º- Procure usar roupas debaixo da Batina, e evite abanar-se quando estiver com calor;
18º- Os pecadores vão para o inferno e não para “a puta que os pariu”;
19º- A iniciativa de chamar os fiéis para dançar foi plausível, mas fazer um “comboio” pela igreja…
20º- Não deve sugerir que se escreva na porta da Igreja HOSTIA BAR.

P.S.:
Aquele que estava sentado no canto do Altar ao qual se referiu como “paneleiro travesti de saias” era eu!!… Espero que estas suas falhas sejam corrigidas no próximo Domingo.

O Bispo

----------------

E tem ainda a história de bebum que chegou dentro da igreja aos berros, convidando todos para o bar.

O coitado do padre, que estava dentro do confessionário, botou a cabeça pra fora e teve que ouvir:

- Ei, você que tá cagando também tá convidado.

Roth IRA or Traditional IRA?

Roth IRA or Traditional IRA?

An IRA can be an effective retirement tool. There are two basic types of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA): the Roth IRA and the Traditional IRA. Use this tool to determine which IRA may be right for you.

Online Calculation Tool

Orthodox Church unholy alliance with Putin

Orthodox Church unholy alliance with Putin

By Adrian Blomfield in Omsk
Last Updated: 3:34am GMT 26/02/2008

Russia's Orthodox Church, despite decades of brutal repression under Soviet rule, is putting its trust in the KGB to ensure that a remarkable religious revival does not fade with the departure of President Vladimir Putin.

President Vladimir Putin meets Alexei II, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church
President Vladimir Putin meets Alexei II, leader
of the Russian Orthodox Church

In an unusual move, Alexei II, the Church's patriarch, has endorsed deputy prime minister Dmitry Medvedev ahead of next week's presidential election.

The influence of his support on Russia's estimated 100 million Orthodox worshippers is immense.

It also illustrates the unholy alliance the Church has forged with the Kremlin since Mr Putin came to power eight years ago.

The president, a proud adherent, has allowed the Orthodox Church to regain much of its Tsarist-era lustre and has won the enthusiastic support of religious leaders in return.

With his hand-picked successor almost guaranteed victory in the March 2 poll, Mr Putin is determined to maintain the arrangement by holding on to the reins of power as prime minister.

The relationship might seem odd. It was the KGB, after all, that led persecution of the Church in Soviet times, when priests were regularly jailed, tortured and executed. Neither this nor accusations that Mr Putin is restoring many of the attributes of Soviet rule seem to bother Alexei.

Although he has never confirmed it, the patriarch, like the president, is a former KGB agent codenamed Drozdov, according to Soviet archives opened to experts in the 1990s.
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Many in the Orthodox hierarchy are also accused of working as KGB informers, a fact that critics say the Church has never fully acknowledged.

"Essentially, the Orthodox Church is one of the only Soviet institutions that has never been reformed," said one priest, who declined to be identified for fear that he could be defrocked. That fate already befell another colleague, Gleb Yakunin, in the 1990s when he called on Church leaders with KGB links to repent.

Yet it is not just the KGB that binds the Church and the Kremlin. In the Tsarist era, the Church was a committed supporter of the imperial rallying cry "orthodoxy, autocracy and nationhood." Critics say that Mr Putin, who draws as much of inspiration from imperial Russia as he does from the Soviet Union, has adopted the same mantra - making the president and the Church ideal bedfellows.

Both have blossomed from the relationship. The number of Russians who identify themselves as Orthodox has doubled in the past decade, with two-thirds of the 140 million population proclaiming the faith - quite a feat after seven decades of official atheism.

Yet most Russians say they follow Orthodoxy for national rather than moral reasons. Deeply patriotic and with a declared intention of making Russia great again, the Church has milked the sentiment.

Priests are regularly seen on television sprinkling holy water on bombers and even nuclear missiles, a blessing that reinforces Mr Putin's own militaristic philosophy.

The Church has even supported Mr Putin's repression of democracy, with a senior bishop last year comparing human rights activists to traitors.

When a prison chaplain suggested that the jailed oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a personal enemy of the president, was a political prisoner, he was promptly defrocked.

Late last year, Sergei Taratukhin - who served five years in a Soviet gulag for defying the authorities - recanted, falling to his knees in front of television cameras and won a partial reprieve. He is now employed as a rubbish collector at the cathedral in the far-eastern city of Chita, near where Khodorkovsky is jailed.

In return, Mr Putin has worn his religious credentials very publicly and is regularly shown on state television kissing icons at Church services.

Given his popularity, Mr Putin's example has been emulated by many Russians. The business and political elite have assiduously followed instructions to fund the rebuilding of churches destroyed by the Soviets across the country.

Last year the magnificent Assumption cathedral in the Siberian city of Omsk, blown up by the Bolsheviks in 1935, was rebuilt with donations from the city mandarins.

The result is that Russia, at least in religious terms, is beginning to take on a Tsarist-era hue - and not just in terms of architecture.

Sister Varvara, who lived under a tree for many years before locals helped her to build a wooden church, is Omsk's local prophetess, healer and mind reader - a throwback to the wandering mystics such as Rasputin, who dominated religious rural life at the turn of the 19th century.

Dignitaries from across Siberia visit her to hear their fortune or just get advice. Sometimes, she gives Mr Putin a helping hand. A few years ago she told Tatyana Chertova, a retired actress with a shock of red hair, that she would become famous by writing a play about the president.

Mrs Chertova's play, Putin's Holiday, premiered last year.

Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium without licence. For the full copyright statement see Copyright

Candlestick holders in Russia

Candlestick holders in Russia


One thing about Lent


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Russians use a special term to describe the state officials who pay brief visits to the glorious liturgies that mark the holy days of Orthodox Christianity.

This politician is called a "podsvechnik," or "candlestick holder."

"He walks in, lights a candle at an icon, stands around awhile, makes the sign of the cross, and he usually messes that part up, and then leaves as soon as the photographers have taken his picture," said journalist Lawrence Uzzell, who leads the Keston Institute at Oxford University, which monitors religious-liberty issues in Russia and the old Communist bloc.

"He's paying his respects to the church, but he's just going through the motions."

These "photo-ops" are especially poignant when they occur during news events that offer glimpses into the Russian soul. Witness the recent funeral of Lt. Capt. Dmitri Kolesnikov, who wrote a note describing the last moments of 23 doomed sailors trapped near the rear of the sunken nuclear submarine Kursk.

The funeral was a cathartic moment for millions as they wrestled with their grief and fears about the state of their country and its military. The candlestick holders had to be there.

It's easy to be cynical. But the truth is that the ancient symbols of Orthodoxy continue to hold great power, even if Russia and its leaders are not completely sure what they mean or why they matter so much. It's true that 1 percent of Russia's 146 million citizens regularly attends church, said Uzzell. But it also is true that 50 percent now claim some link to Orthodoxy.

"Russia today is much more like Sweden than America," said Uzzell, who frequently works out of Keston's Moscow office. "Russia still is profoundly secular. ... At the same time, it's clear that modern Russia is a nation of spiritual truth-seekers. People are asking the big questions and searching for answers. There is a sincere spiritual hunger there."

And Russian Orthodoxy? "Serious Orthodox Christianity is a counter-cultural movement inside modern Russia," said Uzzell.

Outsiders must remember that this is taking place only a few generations after the Communists closed 98 percent of Russia's churches and, in one brief period, killed 200,000 bishops, priests and nuns and then sent another 500,000 believers to die in labor camps. Millions later died in Stalinist purges. KGB records indicate that most clergy were simply shot or hanged. But others were crucified on church doors, slaughtered on their altars or stripped naked, doused with water and left outdoors in winter.

The KGB records also contain the stories of clerics who yielded. Russian Orthodoxy was a complex mosaic of sin and sacrifice, during the era of the martyrs. The Keston Institute has been at the center of efforts, for example, to document the complex interactions between the KGB and the Russian church's current leader, Patriarch Alexy II.

Many ask, in effect, if some of the church's bishops are mere candlestick holders -- or worse. Two weeks after the 1991 upheaval that ended the Soviet era, I visited Moscow and talked privately with several veteran priests.

It's impossible to understand the modern Russian church, one said, without grasping that it has four different kinds of leaders. A few Soviet-era bishops are not even Christian believers. Some are flawed believers who were lured into compromise by the KGB, but have never publicly confessed this. Some are believers who cooperated with the KGB, but have repented to groups of priests or believers. Finally, some never had to compromise.

"We have all four kinds," this priest said. "That is our reality. We must live with it until God heals our church."

This analysis is sobering, but the facts back it up, said Uzzell, who is an active Orthodox Christian.

"There are signs of hope, mostly at the local level," he said. "There are wonderful priests and wonderful parishes, if you know where to look. But you will find ice-cold parishes and others that are vital and alive, in the same city or town. ... I think the Russian Orthodox Church has a glorious future, just as it has had a glorious past. But I must admit that I'm not terribly optimistic about the near-term prospects."

Monday, March 17, 2008

Common Logical Fallacies Made By Muslims

Common Logical Fallacies Made By Muslims

by Robert A. Morey
© 1996 Research and Education Foundation

Christians must be prepared to answer the typical objections made against the Gospel. Most of the objections are based on simple logical fallacies. The following is a list of some of the most common fallacies used by Muslims.

Note: The average Muslim does not know that his arguments are logically erroneous. He is sincere in his beliefs. Thus you must be patient and kind in sharing with him why his arguments are invalid.

1. The Fallacy of False Assumptions: In logic as well as in law, "historical precedent" means that the burden of proof rests on those who set forth new theories and not on those whose ideas have already been verified. The old tests the new. The already established authority judges any new claims to authority.

Since Islam came along many centuries after Christianity, Islam has the burden of proof and not Christianity. The Bible tests and judges the Qur'an. When the Bible and The Qur'an contradict each other, the Bible must logically be given first place as the older authority. The Qur'an is in error until it proves itself.

Some Muslims violate the principle of historical precedent by asserting that Islam does not have the burden of proof and that the Qur'an judges the Bible.

2. Arguing in a circle: If you have already assumed in your premise what you are going to state in your conclusion, then you have ended where you began and proven nothing.
Circle If you end where you began, you got nowhere.

Examples:
#1 Proving Allah by the Qur'an and then proving the Qur'an by Allah.
#2 Proving Muhammad by the Qur'an and then proving the Qur'an by Muhammad.
#3 Proving Islam by the Qur'an and then proving the Qur'an by Islam.
3. False Analogy: Comparing two things as if they are parallel when they are not really the same at all.
Examples:
#1 Many Muslims erroneously assume that Muslims and Christians share the same concepts of God, revelation, inspiration, textual preservation, the Bible, prophethood, biblical history, conversion, etc...

#2 Because a false analogy is drawn between Islam and Christianity, some Muslims think that any argument which refutes the Qur'an will likewise refute the Bible; any argument which refutes Muhammad will also refute Jesus Christ, etc...

#3 For example, many Muslims claim that Muhammad and all prophets were sinless. They even deny that Abraham was an idol worshipper. Thus when a Christian points out all the wicked things that Muhammad did (mass murder, child abuse, lying, etc.), the Muslims will say, "If you are right, then you must also reject your biblical prophets for doing wicked things as well."

What he is really saying is, "If you reject my prophet, then you must reject your prophets as well. If Muhammad was a false prophet, then your prophets are false as well."

The root problem is that the Muslim concept of prophethood is not the same as the Christian concept of prophethood. We teach that prophets sin like anyone else. Thus while Islam is refuted by the sins of Muhammad, Christianity is not jeopardized at all. The Muslim is guilty of setting up a "false analogy."

Whenever a Muslim responds to a Christian attack on the Qur'an, Muhammad, or Allah by flipping the argument around and applying it to the Bible, Jesus or the Trinity as if Islam and Christianity either stand or fall together, he is guilty of the fallacy of false analogy. Islam can be false and Christianity be true at the same time.
4. The Fallacy of Irrelevance: When you introduce issues which have no logical bearing on the subject under discussion, you are using irrelevant arguments.
Examples:
#1 Some Muslims argue, "The Qur'an is the Word of God because the text of the Qur'an has been preserved perfectly." This argument is erroneous for two reasons:

a. Factually, the text of the Qur'an has not been preserved perfectly. The text has additions, deletions, conflicting manuscripts, and variant readings like any other ancient writing.

b. Logically, it is irrelevant whether the text of the Qur'an has been preserved because preservation does not logically imply inspiration. A book can be perfectly copied without implying its inspiration.

#2 When Muslims attack the character and motives of anyone who criticizes Islam, they are using irrelevant arguments. The character of someone is no indication of whether he is telling you the truth. Good people can lie and evil people can tell the truth. Thus whenever a Muslim uses slurs such as "mean," "dishonest," "racist," "liar," "deceptive," etc., he is not only committing a logical fallacy but also revealing that he cannot intellectually defend his beliefs.

#3 When confronted with the pagan origins of the Qur'an, some Muslims defend the Qur'an by answering, "So what! Didn't you Christians get Christmas from the pagans?"

This argument is erroneous for several reasons.

a. It is a false analogy to parallel the pagan origins of the rites commanded in the Qur'an with the present day holidays nowhere commanded in the Bible. What some modern day Christians do on Dec. 25th has no logical bearing on what the Qur'an commands Muslims to do (eg. the Pilgrimage, the Fast, etc.).

b. It is irrelevant that some Christians choose to celebrate the birth of Christ. Since the Bible nowhere commands it, it is a matter of personal freedom. But Muslims are commanded in the Qur'an to believe and practice many things which came from the paganism of that day.

c. The Muslim by using this argument is actually admitting that the Qur'an was not "sent down" but fabricated from pagan sources. This means he has become an unbeliever (Surah 25:4-6).

#4 Some Muslims argue that the Qur'an is the Word of God because it contains some historically or scientifically accurate statements. This argument is irrelevant. Just because a book is correct on some historical or scientific point does not mean it is inspired. You cannot take the attributes of a part and apply it to the whole. A book can be a mixture of true and false statements. Thus it is a logical fallacy to argue that the entire Qur'an is true if it makes one true statement.

When a Muslim argues that history or science "proves" the Qur'an, this actually means that he is acknowledging that history and science can likewise refute the Qur'an. If the Qur'an contains just one historical error or one scientific error, then the Qur'an is not the Word of God. Verification and falsification go hand in hand.

#5 The present meaning of a word is irrelevant to what it meant in ancient times. The word "Allah" is a good example. When confronted by the historical evidence that the word was used by pagan Arabs in pre-Islamic times to refer to a high god who was married to the sun-goddess and had three daughters, some Muslims will quote dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc. to prove (sic) that "Allah means God." They are thus using modern definitions to define what the word meant over a thousand years ago! What "Allah" means now has no bearing on what it meant before Muhammad.

5. The Fallacy of Equivocation: If we assume that everyone has the same definition of such words as God, Jesus, revelation, inspiration, prophet, miracle, etc., we are committing a very simple logical fallacy.

#1 When a Muslim says, "Christians and Muslims worship the same God," he is committing the fallacy of equivocation. While Christians worship the Triune God of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Muslims worship a Unitarian deity. Obviously, they are worshipping different Gods.

#2 When a Muslim says, "We believe in Jesus too," he is committing the fallacy of equivocation. The "Jesus" of the Qur'an is not the Jesus of the Bible. Islam preaches "another Jesus" (II Cor. 11:4). The Jesus of the Bible is God the Son who died on the cross for our sins. But the "Jesus" of the Qur'an is not God the Son and he did not die on the cross for our sins. Thus it is erroneous for Muslims to tell Christians that they believe in Jesus, too.

#3 When a Muslim assumes that Christians have the same concept of revelation as Muslims, he is guilty of the fallacy of equivocation. According to Islam, the Qur'an was written in heaven by Allah and has no earthly sources. When we prove that it comes from earthly sources, this threatens the inspiration of the Qur'an.

On the other hand, the Bible does not claim that it dropped out of heaven one day. It openly quotes from earthly sources. It uses pre-existing sources without any difficulty whatsoever, Thus while the Qur'an is threatened by historical sources, the Bible is actually confirmed by them.

#4 When a Muslims tells you that the word "Allah" has only one meaning: "the one, true, universal God," he is assuming a fallacy. The word "allah" has many different meanings.

a. It can be used as a generic term like the English word "God." Thus it can be applied to any god or goddess regardless if a true or false god is in view. (ex. The "Allahs" of Hinduism.)

b. The Nation of Islam uses it to refer to Wallace Dodd Ford, Elijah Muhammad, and Louis Farrakhan as "Allah" and teaches that all black people are "Allahs."

c. It has been used by some Christians in Arabic speaking countries as a generic name for the Holy Trinity.

d. It was used in pre-Islamic times by pagan Arabs to refer to the moon-god who was the father of al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat.

e. It is used by Muslims to refer to their god.

Islam and Christianity do not worship the same God. The Christian worships the Holy Trinity while the Muslim worships a unitarian deity.

6. The Fallacy of Force: The Qur'an commands Muslims to wage war against non-Muslims and apostates (Surah 5:33; 9:5, 29).

Some Muslims use a false analogy to answer this argument. They respond by saying, "Well, what about the Crusades? You Christians use violence just like Muslims."

It is logically erroneous to set up a parallel between Muslims killing people in obedience to the Qur'an and Christians killing people in disobedience to the Bible. While the Qur'an commands Jihad, the New Testament forbids it.

7. The Fallacy Of Confusing Questions of Fact with Questions of Relevance: Whether something is factually true is totally different from the issue of whether you feel it is relevant. The two issues must be kept separate.

Examples:
#1 When a Christian argues that some of the beliefs and rituals of the Qur'an came from pre-Islamic Arab paganism, the Muslim will deny it at first. But as more and more evidence is given, the Muslim will often do a flip-flop and begin arguing, "So what! Didn't you Christians get Christmas from the pagans?" The Muslim has now committed three fallacies:

a. The "So what!" argument is dealing with the issue of relevance, not fact. You must stop the Muslim at that point and ask him, "Since you are now dealing with the issue of whether the pagan origins of the Qur'an are relevant, does this mean that you are now agreeing to the fact of the pagan origins of Islam?"

b. The Muslim has also committed the fallacy of equivocation, The Bible is not threatened by historical sources. It freely refers to them and even quotes them (Acts 17: 28). But the Qur'an denies that it has any earthly historical sources (Surah 25:4-6).

c. He also committed the fallacy of false analogy. The Bible and the Qur'an are two totally different books. The inspiration of the Bible does not depend upon the fate of the Qur'an because what Muslims claim for the Qur'an is not what Christians claim for the Bible.

8. Phonic Fallacies: The phonetic sound of a word should not be used to twist its meaning. For example,

a. Some Muslims try to prove that the word "Allah" is in the Greek New Testament because of the Greek word alla. But while the word is pronounced "alla," it only means "but" in Greek. It has nothing to do with the Arabic "Allah."

b. Some Muslims have claimed that the word "Allah" is in the Bible because the Biblical word "Allelujah." They then mispronounce the word as "Allah-lujah" But "Allelujah" is not a compound Arabic word with "Allah" being the first part of the word. It is a Hebrew word with the name of God being "JAH" (or Yahweh) and the verb "alle" meaning "praise to." It means "praise to Yahweh." The Arabic word "Allah" is not in the word.

c. The same error is found in the Muslim argument that the word "Baca" (Psa. 94:6) really means "Mecca." The valley of Baca is in northern Israel.

d. Some Muslims have tried to go from "Amen" to "Ahmed" to "Mohammed!" Such nonsense is beyond belief.

9. "Red Herring" Arguments: When a Muslim is asked to defend the Qur'an, if he turns around and attacks the reliability of the Bible, the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the Crusades, etc., he is introducing irrelevant issues that have no logical bearing on the truthfulness of Islam. He is trying to divert attention from Islam to other issues.

Furthermore, he is assuming that if he can refute the Bible, then the Qur'an wins by default. If he can refute the Trinity, then Allah wins by default. But this is logically erroneous. You cannot prove your position by refuting someone else's position. The Bible and the Qur'an could both be wrong. Muslims must prove their own book.
10. Straw Man Arguments: When you put a false argument into the mouth of your opponent and then proceed to knock it down, you have only created a "straw man" argument, Muslims sometimes either misunderstand or deliberately misquote the arguments Christians give them.
Example:
Some Muslims have built a "straw man" argument that claims that we teach, "The Qur'an teaches that Allah is the Moon-god and that Muslims knowingly believe in and worship the Moon-god and his daughters." They then knock down this "straw man" argument and claim victory. Of course, we never said such nonsense. What we have said is that while the Qur'an claims that Allah is God and Muslims think they are worshipping the one true God, in reality they are worshipping a false god preached by a false prophet according to a false book.

Conclusion

The average Muslim has been deceived by Muslim apologists who use such logical fallacies without regard to reason, fact or honesty. But there are many Muslims who want to be rational in their religion and thus have an open mind to rational discourse. Once they see that their arguments are based on logical fallacies, they will be open to the wonderful news that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died for our sins on the cross.

For further documentation write
Faith Defenders
PO Box 7447
Orange, CA 92863
www.faithdefenders.com

Mohamed Sifaoui: "I Consider Islamism to Be Fascism"

Mohamed Sifaoui: "I Consider Islamism to Be Fascism"

Middle East Quarterly
Spring 2008, pp. 13-17

Mohamed Sifaoui was born on July 4, 1967, and spent most of his childhood in Algeria. He holds a master's degree in political science and studied theology for two years at the University of Algiers and for two additional years at Zeitouna University's Institute of Theology in Tunis. In 1994, he began work for the Algerian daily Le Soir and survived a February 11, 1996 bomb attack at Le Soir's headquarters at the Maison de la Presse. In 1999, the French government granted him political asylum after he received death threats both from Algerian Islamists and the military. In Paris, Sifaoui works at the French weekly Marianne. Between October 2002 and January 2003, he infiltrated an Al-Qaeda cell in France in order to research his book, Mes frères assassins: Comment j'ai infiltré une cellule d'Al-Qaïda. (My assassin brothers: How I infiltrated an Al-Qaeda cell).[1]

Sophie Fernandez Debellemanière, a former intern at Le Figaro and The Weekly Standard, interviewed Sifaoui in Paris on September 12, 2007, after meeting him at a 9-11 ceremony on the Champ de Mars.
In Islamism's Cross Hairs

Middle East Quarterly: Did you flee Algeria because of the terrorist attack on Le Soir?

Mohamed Sifaoui: No. Throughout the 1990s, I was determined to stay. I only left in 1999 when I was sentenced to one year in jail for insulting the head of state. I had criticized President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's reconciliation policy because I considered it unfair to grant amnesty to a terrorist without even judging him. The Algerian government talked about peace without ever recognizing there was a war. The terrorists suddenly got themselves released with the same rights as the victims' families. Bouteflika's behavior towards his people was criminal. They wanted to send me to jail at the same time they were releasing criminals.

MEQ: You stayed longer than most. Were people right to leave Algeria?

Sifaoui: The intellectuals and journalists who left Algeria when the murders started in 1992 were right to do so because the risk was real. Survival instinct is natural and legitimate. It would be indecent to judge them because fear is a legitimate human feeling. In this sense, I was the one being unreasonable by risking my life to stay.

MEQ: Why did you stay in Algeria?

Sifaoui: I didn't want to leave the country under pressure, because of the possibility of another terrorist attack. Nor do I believe that I was especially brave to stay. It is not a question of being brave or weak. The only thing that matters is the message and the values that you want to transmit. As a journalist, I felt that I had to stay. We never obtained press freedom in Algeria, but I wanted to struggle to get a small part of it. We made some progress, but then, Islamism took us backward. By staying, I wanted to show that I would not accept submission to Islamist censorship and its diktat.

MEQ: Are you still worried? After all, two bodyguards are supervising this interview.

Sifaoui: No, I am not worried. I have built sort of a shell around me. I keep calm, and I do not panic. Honestly, I prefer not to think about it; otherwise, I would worry too much.

MEQ: Are you proud today to have risked your life for your ideas?

Sifaoui: Yes, because I am lucky enough to be alive. It is a shame that those who died did not leave for safety. I stayed because I felt that I was able to accomplish this act of resistance. Each person resists in his or her own way; each does what he or she feels able to. Among the members of the World War II resistance, some hid other resisters; some hid Jewish families or helped them escape to Switzerland, and some failed only to denounce them. For me, at this time, my resistance to fundamentalism is based on a determination not to concede any ground to the Islamists but to keep on writing and to defy danger everyday.

MEQ: What was your reaction to Al-Qaeda deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri's appeal on September 20, 2007, "to wipe sons of France and Spain" out of the Maghreb?[2]

Sifaoui: I've been expressing the same warnings about Islamist terrorism for years. Zawahiri's statement doesn't surprise me. Since the GSPC [Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat] pledged its allegiance to Al-Qaeda in September 2006, Algerian terrorists and Al-Qaeda leaders expressed their objective very clearly: Intensify terrorist attacks against the Algerian regime and its institutions, as well as against lay and democratic people, targeting Western and especially French citizens.

MEQ: Do you believe that Zawahiri was referring to the descendants of former colonists in Algeria by using the expression "sons of?" Or was this the result of too literal a translation of the Arabic?

Sifaoui: No! This has nothing to do with any literal translation! Zawahiri is referring to all French and Spanish citizens by saying "sons of." Al-Qaeda's targets are all the French and Spanish citizens in the Maghreb.

MEQ: Less than twenty-four hours after the release of Zawahiri's message, a terrorist attack in Lakhdaria in northern Algeria, fifty miles southeast of Algiers, wounded two French citizens, one Italian, and six Algerians.[3] Is this attack a sign that the European presence in the Maghreb is in jeopardy?

Sifaoui: I would not be so pessimistic, but such a quick reaction indicates how organized and coordinated Al-Qaeda and the GSPC are. It also shows the Algerian regime's incapacity to deal with terrorism.
An Islamist and Fascist Nexus?

MEQ: Would you use the term Islamo-fascism to describe this threat?

Sifaoui: I certainly am one of the first Muslims to consider Islamism to be fascism. This is not a subjective decision but rather a serious, academic argument. Fascism and Islamism are comparable in many aspects: Fascism, without evoking all its particularities, bears similarities to trends also present in Islamism. I am, of course, making a reference to their will to exterminate the Jews. On this point, the Islamists may go even further in their doctrine than the Nazis did, considering that the end of the world could only occur when there are no Jews left on earth. In the three monotheist religions, apocalypse, end of the world, and doomsday exist and are liturgical events invested with a high degree of spirituality. Hence, the Islamists interpret the end of the world in a very special way. Whereas it is written nowhere in the Qur'an, exegetes describe the end of the world as the day when even the trees and rocks will be able to talk and tell the Muslims: "Come here, there is a Jew hiding behind me. Come and kill him." And this would go on, until there would not be any Jew left on earth. This ideology is pure fascism.

MEQ: Are there other similarities?

Sifaoui: The will to exterminate or do harm to homosexuals is another similarity between Nazism and Islamism. The Islamists, also, say that they are the best community in the world, a superior race thanks to their beliefs. They use political means to arrive at this erroneous exegesis. I do not fear to call it fascism. And there are many more similarities between fascism and Islamism.
Islamism vs. Moderate Islam

MEQ: Do you believe it is possible to criticize Islamism without being called a racist?

Sifaoui: Absolutely, I would say that one must criticize Islamism. When I am criticizing Nazism, I am not being anti-German.

MEQ: When did you feel for the first time that you had to criticize Islamism?

Sifaoui: I have always felt that it was a moral duty.

MEQ: Do you believe that moderate Islam exists?

Sifaoui: Of course, it does. If the majority of Muslims were not moderate, Islamists would have destroyed the Western world a long time ago. Despite its technological lead, its nuclear power, and all its armies, the Western world would never be able to face an Islamist world entirely convinced by the terrorist cause. One billion people supporting Al-Qaeda would reduce the rest of the world to ashes. Islam contains violent texts that need not be applicable today. Islam is a religion of moderation. I know because I studied theology for four years.

Perhaps 20 percent of Muslims on the planet must be totally reeducated. We have to fight them politically, ideologically, and also militarily. Western societies do not fight them well; whenever they try to do so, they end up strengthening them.

One proof that moderate Islam exists is the huge number of sympathy messages that I received from Muslim people when my investigative story on Al-Qaeda Salafist networks, J'ai infiltré une cellule islamiste, was broadcast on French television M6.
Iran

MEQ: Given the Islamists' vision of apocalypse, do you believe that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would fear reprisal should Iran attack Israel? Should Western analysts rely on Iran's rationality?

Sifaoui: Too many Western analysts look at any adversary through a Western lens. Western analysts believe that Al-Qaeda is as rational as the Basque separatist group ETA [Euskadi Ta Askatasuna] or the Irish Republican Army. My personal history, culture, and investigative journalism work allow me to understand what Westerners cannot see: Iran will attack Israel as soon as it can.

MEQ: Doesn't Iran take into account the eventuality of its own destruction?

Sifaoui: No, it does not. Martyrdom is exalted in Iran. Iranians view annihilation positively. The Islamists' main purpose is to create the conditions for the West to believe that chaos is possible. The argument that says that Iran will not attack Israel because of immediate and massive retaliation from Israel and the United States is absolutely wrong. The Islamists would welcome such retaliation in order to cement coalitions among Muslim peoples and to encourage riots in the Arab street. U.S. military action, or even its prospect, coincides with Islamists' interests. That is the reason why I was against the war in Iraq.

MEQ: Can you explain?

Sifaoui: Between October 2002 and January 2003, I spent four months infiltrating an Al-Qaeda terrorist cell in France. Two months before the launching of the Iraq war, when I was in the midst of the group, one of the Islamists said, "Now we are going to pray for George Bush to attack Iraq." I was surprised and acted as if I were stupid: "Really? Why do you want America to kill our brothers?" The most clever and elevated in Al-Qaeda's hierarchy, Amara Saïfi [the GSPC's emir in London] whispered to me, "All over the world, our brothers are now praying for George Bush to attack Iraq. War between the Muslim world and the Western world is bound to happen. Unfortunately, Muslims are too divided. Far too many of them do not pray regularly and neglect religion and jihad. In order to unify and mobilize all these people, we have to continue what we initiated on 9-11. We attacked America to make her retort everywhere in the Muslim world, in order to create a real war between Muslims and the West, and especially Israel."

MEQ: That's incredible.

Sifaoui: Another of the group added, "Once Iraq is at war, many of our brothers will go there to fight jihad. George Bush will have answered our prayers by suppressing our enemy Saddam Hussein and unifying the Muslims in jihad. Then as Westerners do not know how to fight attrition wars, we know that they will inevitably get stuck. We will wait until they leave in order to establish an Islamist state in Iraq. This war will be a pretext to launch terrorist attacks in Europe as well."

Unfortunately, you can see their theory is valid. They predicted exactly what is happening.

[1] Paris: Le Cherche-midi Editeur, 2003.
[2] Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Special Dispatch Series, no. 1721, Sept. 21, 2007; "Warden Message," Embassy of the United States of America, Algiers, Algeria, Sept. 24, 2007; Andrew Black, "Recasting Jihad in the Maghreb," Terrorism Monitor, Oct. 25, 2007.
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP172107
http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/analysts.php?authorid=341
http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2373742
[3] "Warden Message," Sept. 24, 2007.

Marcel de Corte - Para onde vai o Islã?

Marcel de Corte - Para onde vai o Islã?

Do Saite Orate Pro Nobis

Não é errado afirmar que o Islã ignora-se quase por completo. Esse grande corpo informe está despertando da longa letargia: pálpebras fechadas, mente entorpecida, membros dispersos e sacudidos aqui e acolá por sobressaltos involuntários. A história do Islã manifesta de uma ponta à outra a estranha alternância entre torpor e exaltação.

A causa disso, parece, é o nomadismo atávico desse imenso agregado: o Islã só se mexe e sacode quando encontra o condutor, o animador, o füher ou o êmulo de Maomé. Sem a guarda de um pastor e seus cães, o rebanho cai na anarquia e, pouco a pouco, na sonolência. O Islã é semelhante à limalha de ferro, cuja força coesiva depende da ação do ímã.

Traduzindo, o Islã se apresenta, para o historiador e o sociólogo, qual força magnética prestes a cair em inércia ao faltar-lhe o dínamo da oligarquia dirigente ou a oposição de resistência à sua passagem e expansão. As relações entre o Ocidente e o Islã, desde o séc. VII até hoje, são marcadas por fases de precipitação e de estagnação, ambas incompreensíveis. O comportamento do discípulo de Maomé, como já dissemos em várias ocasiões, não conhece aquela medida entre o excesso e a carência, de que a inteligência grega, enraizada na ordem natural, impregnara o Ocidente já há muito tempo – há exceções, claro. O Islã é instável e descomedido. Daí, é notável a civilização islâmica conhecer momentos de vívido esplendor – seja em Bagdá, seja na Espanha –, justo quando o dom que a Grécia legou ao mundo andava esquecido. Poucas culturas alcançaram ao mesmo tempo aquela efervescência vital e sutileza espiritual.

Essa união durou pouco: o Islã precipitou-se em um movimento pendular, que podemos observar com maior clareza nas pessoas de seus adeptos, sob a forma da brutalidade explosiva revezada com uma inesperada e requintada delicadeza, ou vice-versa. É como se o Islã sempre tivesse de oscilar entre as qualidades e os defeitos da barbárie, e as qualidades e defeitos da decadência.

Talvez encontremos a origem dessa instabilidade dentro da estrutura tipicamente religiosa da mentalidade islâmica e na violenta antítese estabelecida entre Deus e os homens.

Eu seria, sem Deus, mais vil que a besta impura, diz o Maomé de Victor Hugo. O Islã ignora o Cristo Deus encarnado, renovador da natureza humana, assumida em Sua pessoa. Maomé tem Cristo apenas por profeta. Ignora a noção de natureza renovada pelo Novo Adão. Não existe nada entre Deus e o homem. Victor Hugo exprimiu magistralmente, com outras palavras, a dualidade da alma religiosa islâmica, dividida entre o Céu e a Terra:

Filho, eu sou vil campo dos sublimes combates

Eu sou homem excelso, e homem de disparates,

O mal, dentro nos lábios, com o bem alterna,

Como é no deserto a areia e cisterna!

A islamismo não possui centro de gravidade. Não tem neste baixo mundo um ponto fixo. Não dispõe de critérios imutáveis, falta-lhe o meio termo, o Cristo entre o homem e Deus, falta-lhe a Igreja concebida como corpo místico, tal como Jesus Cristo a espalhou e comunicou. Oscila assim entre o fanatismo estrito, coagulando-se sob uma forma qualquer, e a pulverização entre crenças disparatadas, indo da mística até à superstição grosseira. A fé em Alá, dominante e exclusiva, mistura-se à uma multidão indefinida de seitas, série enumerada pela Enciclopédia Britânica em três colunas de texto bem espremido.

As conseqüências políticas dessa atitude religiosa sempre vacilante e desequilibrada são imensas.

Já é lugar comum dizer que no Islã a política é apenas um prolongamento da religião. O temporal e o espiritual não são dois domínios distintos. O primeiro não se subordina ao segundo. Apesar do atual processo de laicização das elites islâmicas – que vão se tornando incrédulas ou ritualistas e farisaicas -, elas consideram o Islã como o mundo em si, sem fronteiras ou determinações originadas da situação terrestre do homem e da conseqüente diversidade dos agrupamentos humanos. O Islã desconhece a natureza humana e suas implicações, logo desconhece também a idéia de pátria e, no interior desta, a idéia de diferenciação hierárquica entre homens de funções desiguais. Não existe “casta” ou “ordem”, no sentido Ancien Régime: no Islã, há igualdade absoluta entre os fiéis. O muçulmano sente-se em casa onde quer que haja Islã: seu passaporte é sua fé, viva ou aparente. O marroquino ou o tunisiano não é um estrangeiro no Egito.

Assim, o Islã apresenta-se como uma sociedade sem classes, internacional ou, mais exatamente, “anacional”, onde os membros congregam-se imbuídos de uma única concepção das relações entre Deus e o homem, à maneira da sociedade sonhada por Marx, cuja instauração fora intentada pelos seguidores deste na Rússia. Bastaria o arrefecimento religioso das elites dominantes – um processo ativo desde o séc. XIX – para o Islã, assestando o olhar para a possessão da terra e para as relações entre o homem e o mundo material, encontrar-se em posição idêntica a da Rússia. Não por acaso, um dos observadores mais sagazes do comunismo, o Sr. Jules Monnerot, apodou-o de “o novo Islã”. Nesse sentido, são bem acertadas as analogias entre as duas concepções de mundo.

Ademais, o Islã já exibiu no passado, que o empolga em sua presente exaltação, um espírito totalitário idêntico ao do marxismo. Tanto para ele como para o marxismo, a humanidade se divide em duas partes em tudo heterogêneas: os fiéis e os infiéis, os muçulmanos e os ocidentais. A filosofia materialista do marxismo é uma idéia que ainda não tem eco no Islã. Os comunistas muçulmanos são escassos. Mas essa pretensa impermeabilidade do espírito islâmico ao marxismo não vale mais que a imaginária discordância observada entre o espírito inglês ou escandinavo e a doutrina de Marx. Vemos na história recente a Grã-Bretanha e os países nórdicos, apesar de conservarem o verniz ideológico e elegerem uns poucos deputados comunistas, absorverem altas doses de marxismo edulcorado.

A realização da aliança entre a Rússia e o Islã, sob nossas vistas, não vai contra a natureza. Ela origina-se da correspondência de mentalidades e da sua possível identificação, dentro da atual confusão da história. Os americanos nunca interromperão essa afinidade com seu anticolonialismo pueril, se desconhecem o espírito muçulmano. Será fácil para a Rússia superá-los, ao apelar para a semelhança existente entre a atitude anti-européia do muçulmano e a atitude anticapitalista; será fácil, no momento oportuno, atiçar o primeiro, que já existe e se exaspera, contra o segundo, que ainda está informe, e daí arrastar os Estados Unidos para essa condenação que fulmina o Ocidente. Bem faria a diplomacia americana, sempre mais sensível aos elementos econômicos do problema que aos fatores psicológicos, se percebesse a astuciosa mudança de rumos.

A política estrangeira soviética não mudou desde os famosos episódios – já esquecidos das democracias, desmemoriadas! – entre Zinoviev e Enver Pasha, no Congresso de Bakou, a 1º de setembro de 1920. Ela oferece-nos os frutos de um esforço inabalável, bem diferente da diplomacia dos povos ditos livres, a quem os fatos obrigam a lastimáveis cabriolas. As duas “guerras santas”, a da Rússia contra o capitalismo e a do Islã contra o Ocidente, vão acabar por se tornar uma só, se a América não abrir os olhos.

Esse quadro é bastante provável, porquanto a moral islâmica abre um campo mais vasto às paixões do espírito e ao ressentimento que a moral cristã. Eis a razão por que o Islã se vai insinuando nas populações primitivas da África: estas adotam a ética islâmica, por menos exigente. Não há quem negue, por outro lado, o florescimento do marxismo por onde se relaxe a moral. Ainda é verdadeiro aquilo de Rivarol: “se aos homens desobrigamos, os estragamos”.

Os futuros historiadores, parece, considerarão a dissolução do Império Otomano, ratificada pelos tratados de 1918, e a estúpida destruição do Império Austro-Húngaro duas pesadas hipotecas a serem cobradas ao séc. XX. A antiga Turquia, saciada de conquistas – por sinal, bem modestas -, continha o avanço do Islã, do mesmo modo que a Áustria-Hungria esfriava a efervescência balcânica.

Além disso, esses dois sistemas constituíam um tampão contra o imperialismo russo. Hoje estamos pagando o preço dessa política cega, em que saíram ganhando o “idealismo” laico e as sórdidas preocupações econômicas. Tomara não nos seja o preço muito alto, já que, citando novamente Rivarol, a pior desgraça é o merecer suas desgraças!

Em todo caso, é certo dizer, os nacionalismos árabes não possuem raízes nas tradições islâmicas, e evoluirão fatalmente em direção ao internacionalismo e ao pan-islamismo. A Rússia, sempre atenta, lhe dedicará mais e mais cuidados na proporção direta dos erros habituais da diplomacia dita atlântica. O único trunfo nas mãos do Ocidente é a debilidade do sentido de Estado em terras islâmicas. Hoje em dia, contudo, constroem-se Estados artificiais por meio da força. O Estado Ocidental, por seu turno, degenerou em Estado Providência, que vampiriza sua energia e suas reações vitais de defesa.

In: “La libre Belgique”, 28 de dezembro de 1956

Postado por Luiz de Carvalho às 8:02 PM

31 de outubro - Hoje é dia da Reforma!

Hoje é dia da Reforma!
Leia também: post do Tempora

Errais, não conhecendo as Escrituras, nem o poder de Deus.
Jesus Cristo em Mt 22:29
Examinai as Escrituras, porque vós cuidais ter nelas
a vida eterna, e são elas que de mim testificam.
Jesus Cristo em Jo 5:39
O muro da cidade tinha doze fundamentos, e neles estavam
os nomes dos doze apóstolos do Cordeiro.
Apóstolo João em Ap 21:14

Quando pensamos nas inúmeras igrejas evangélicas que continuam se formando das mínimas dissidências através das últimas décadas; quando verificamos a falta de consistência bíblica e de preparo intelectual e/ou espiritual de muitos líderes dessas igrejas; quando lembramos as denominações e os pastores que aderem ao aborto e à causa gay... nada disso nos deixa propícios a comemorar o Dia da Reforma.

Porém, os primeiros líderes da igreja primitiva já tinham seus problemas, e eles não eram leves. Gente que mentia ao Espírito Santo, que pervertia a fé dos outros ao anunciar que a ressurreição já havia ocorrido, que se fingia de pregador fiel para tirar dinheiro do povo, que forçava a barra para que os procedimentos judaicos continuassem a ser praticados... e nenhum desses desvios era suficiente para apagar a grande alegria que os cristãos sentiam em ser discípulos de Cristo, depositários de Sua maravilhosa Palavra (que limpa a alma) e do penhor do Espírito (que nos permitirá estar com Deus naquele dia).

Olhamos para trás e a nossa volta, e somos capazes de reconhecer os inúmeros erros da igreja cristã. No entanto, também podemos atestar os imensos cuidados de Deus para que a fé continuasse viva e atuante em todos esses séculos. O princípio da Sola Scriptura, ao contrário do que católicos e ortodoxos afirmam, não é um espécie de idolatria ao Livro; é, ao contrário, mostra do infinito amor de Deus para conosco, não deixando que ficássemos vulneráveis às inconstâncias dos homens através dos tempos. O princípio da Sola Scriptura é a razão de ser da própria Bíblia: balizador de nossa fé, porto seguro para onde nos voltamos quando as falas sobre Deus ao redor nos parecem desconexas demais.

Li hoje no Orkut: "Não existe a noção de Sola Scriptura nos quinze primeiros séculos do cristianismo. O Cristianismo nunca foi uma religião do livro, pois a Palavra de Deus é Cristo encarnado, ressucitado e vivo entre nós. Tinta sobre papel, nesse caso, é secundário. E pode ser letra que mata."

O problema com essas afirmações é que elas não podem ser enunciadas sem que seja introduzido um grande princípio relativista na relação do cristão com a Bíblia. Elas contradizem as palavras e o comportamento do próprio Jesus. Vejamos.

No Novo Testamento, Cristo menciona aqueles que viriam a crer Nele não por um encontro direto com o Deus encarnado, como tinha acontecido com os discípulos, mas sim por Suas palavras. Ora, as palavras de Jesus não podem mais nos ser passadas boca-a-boca - suas testemunhas diretas não mais circulam entre nós - , mas sim pelo Livro (e, ainda indiretamente, por quem lesse o Livro e reproduzisse oralmente o que lá achasse escrito). Nesse sentido, quando as palavras de Jesus não estavam escritas, eram autoridade a partir da boca de Seus discípulos sinceros. Mas, como estão escritas, são autoridade a partir do Livro. Isso parece óbvio, mas não é. O registro detalhado da fé e sua organização em forma de um Livro espantosamente coerente é a prova de que Deus providenciou meios para que o conteúdo do que cremos não fosse facilmente alterado através dos séculos.

Além disso, há outro fator muito importante. Conforme lemos no Novo Testamento, quando Jesus começou a exercer Seu ministério, como é que Ele demonstrou que a religião judaica daquele tempo - que deveria testificar Dele como o Messias - havia se desviado grandemente de seus propósitos originais? Pelo Livro, ainda incompleto, da época: o que chamamos hoje Antigo Testamento. Como é que Ele corrigia os desacertos de seus contemporâneos acerca Daquele que havia de vir? Com a interpretação adequada do Livro.

Quando interpelado por autoridades judaicas, Jesus sempre respondia com palavras do Livro, deixando claro que o erro de seus questionadores era desconhecer as Escrituras. No encontro com a mulher samaritana, Jesus corrige sua cosmovisão dizendo-lhe algo que só o Livro pode atestar: a salvação que Ele representava vem dos judeus. E é com a autoridade desse Livro que Jesus vai à sinagoga, abre-o em Isaías e começa a ler sobre o Messias que viria, anunciando em seguida: "Sou eu este de quem o Livro fala." Se o próprio Jesus tratou o Livro como autoridade, por que deixaríamos de agir como Ele?

Há inúmeros exemplos em todo o Novo Testamento. Depois que Jesus ressuscita, os discípulos não O reconhecem de imediato. Ele então começa a narrar longamente os fatos do Livro - novamente, do Livro - para mostrar como era necessário que o Messias padecesse. Jesus conhecia o Livro e sabia que a reação correta de Seus discípulos a Sua presença depois de ressurreto dependia da correta interpretação das palavras ali registradas. Ele tinha o Livro em proeminência e não admitia que os líderes seus contemporâneos falseassem o que estava nas Escrituras, como demonstrou, por exemplo, no Sermão do Monte. Diante disso, não podemos agir diferente.

Os discípulos de Jesus compreenderam isto. Em Atos, os judeus de Beréia são louvados porque confirmaram as palavras pregadas pelos apóstolos da seguinte maneira: abriam o Livro e verificavam se estava correto o que ouviam. Não há dúvida de que seu louvor nos convida a fazer o mesmo, hoje, mais de dois mil anos depois da vinda do Senhor. Se fosse diferente, os judeus de Beréia não seriam elogiados, mas sim repreendidos, por submeterem as palavras dos próprios discípulos de Cristo ao Antigo Testamento - palavras que se verificaram verdadeiras e coerentes com os primeiros escritos, e que, por esse mesmo exame, foram acrescentadas ao Livro, ganhando o mesmo status que as anteriores. Se o AT era utilizado por Jesus para atestar a veracidade de Suas afirmações, não podemos fugir do fato de que o NT é repleto de recomendações para que os cristãos se ativessem aos conteúdos enunciados pelos apóstolos, colocando-os em evidente proeminência a qualquer outro ensino posterior. Assim, por que o procedimento seria outro, se hoje, no mundo ocidental, temos o privilégio de possuir em mãos o mesmo Livro, acrescido das palavras de Jesus e dos apóstolos comissionados diretamente por Ele para pregar Sua palavra? Por que Jesus exigiria de nós algo diverso do exame que Ele próprio realizou nas Escrituras, as quais conhecia e amava?

É verdade que o protestantismo causou muitas turbulências na cristandade. Guerras e ódios marcaram e ainda marcam a rivalidade que começou com Lutero, e a divisão entre os cristãos cobra imensos tributos. Além disso, católicos e ortodoxos, talvez beneficiados por sua maior antiguidade histórica, continuam a ser especialmente brilhantes na filosofia e na literatura. Porém, o exame da Bíblia para confirmar fatos verdadeiramente cristãos - ou seja, o tratamento das Escrituras como autoridade para os conteúdos da fé - é algo que Cristo praticou e que serviu de exemplo para seus discípulos. A preocupação com a pureza da fé e com a permanência naquilo que Jesus e os discípulos ensinaram é parte constitutiva desse Livro, que começa com a criação do mundo e termina com o fim, algo que marca sua inviolabilidade depois da vinda do Messias. Palavras de homens não podem contradizer o registro bíblico - nem as posteriores à Septuaginta, nem as posteriores aos escritos dos apóstolos - , sob o risco de ir além das palavras de Jesus e daqueles comissionados diretamente por Deus para a autoria inspirada do Livro. Não podemos contradizer esse princípio sem relativizar a Bíblia. E muitos cristãos só mantêm esse cuidado, hoje, por causa da Reforma. Por isso, principalmente por isso, posso louvar a Deus pela forma com que nos conduziu até aqui e agradecer a Ele, de coração, pelo dia 31 de outubro. Aleluia!

Salvação só pela fé

Salvação só pela fé
...

O que diz a Igreja Católica:

(...)

O Concílio de Trento, ao condenar a tese protestante de que basta ter fé para ser salvo, sem necessidade de fazer boas obras, determinou o seguinte:

"Se alguém disser que nada é mandado pelo Evangelho fora da fé, e que tudo o mais é indiferente, nem mandado, nem proibido, mas que é livre (de se fazer ou não); ou que os dez mandamentos nada têm a ver com os cristãos, seja anátema" (Concílio de Trento, Cânon 19 Denzinger 819).

http://www.montfort.org.br/index.php?secao=cartas&subsecao=apologetica&artigo=20040812164858&lang=bra

O que dizem as SAGRADAS ESCRITURAS:

30 Que diremos pois? Que os gentios, que não buscavam a justiça, alcançaram a justiça? Sim, mas a justiça que é pela fé.
31 Mas Israel, que buscava a lei da justiça, não chegou à lei da justiça.
32 Por quê? Porque não foi pela fé, mas como que pelas obras da lei; tropeçaram na pedra de tropeço;
33 Como está escrito: Eis que eu ponho em Sião uma pedra de tropeço, e uma rocha de escândalo; E todo aquele que crer nela não será confundido.

Romanos 9:30-33

1 TENDO sido, pois, justificados pela fé, temos paz com Deus, por nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo;
2 Pelo qual também temos entrada pela fé a esta graça, na qual estamos firmes, e nos gloriamos na esperança da glória de Deus.
3 E não somente isto, mas também nos gloriamos nas tribulações; sabendo que a tribulação produz a paciência,
4 E a paciência a experiência, e a experiência a esperança.
5 E a esperança não traz confusão, porquanto o amor de Deus está derramado em nossos corações pelo Espírito Santo que nos foi dado.
6 Porque Cristo, estando nós ainda fracos, morreu a seu tempo pelos ímpios.

Romanos 5:1-6

8 Porque pela graça sois salvos, por meio da fé; e isto não vem de vós, é dom de Deus.
9 Não vem das obras, para que ninguém se glorie;

Efésios 2:8-9