Adam and Jeremy Say: The Pope Himself Will Not Stop Us.

Despite Adam's somewhat blatant socialist slants we here at Adam and Jeremy are convinced that the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion are two of the cornerstones of this country (USA) that actually make it great (capitalism we have our doubts about (actually Adam has his doubts about.)) The point being we are greatly alarmed about what we are hearing come out of the latest meeting between the World Council of Churches and the Vatican in Europe. The two have grouped together to create a "conversion code;" or a set of guidelines to dictate what Christians can and cannot do in the pursuit of converting people of other faiths. The two groups have decided to create this code out of fear, it appears, fear that sharing ones faith in some countries (mainly Muslim and Hindu countries) is causing negative reactions and even violence (the 23 Korean Christians captured in Afghanistan are an example they are using.)
Obviously we must oppose anything the tries to limit our freedoms of speech and our freedom to practice our faith, and that on the surface was why we initially bristled at this story, but behind that there is a more spiritual cause for our concern. The Christian faith calls its followers to share their faith with others, but it also calls the believers to live without fear; placing their trust in Christ and Christ alone, and this code represents the antithesis of this teaching. Jesus Himself told his followers that people would persecute them, in fact ten of His eleven disciples were murdered for their relationship with Him, so there should be no surprise that people would be angry when a Christian share their faith with them, furthermore they should have full confidence that God is sovereign in the situation and whatever happens they have nothing to fear. It is preposterous to think that the Creator of the universe is in command of every aspect of your life but also think that men of a different faith are a threat to you.
Now don't get us wrong; we do feel that cultural sensitivity is important for Christian missionaries (and for that matter all of us regardless of faith). The Apostle Paul displayed this principal when he gave his message on Mars Hill; during which he spoke at length about the culture of the Greeks and then presented the gospel in the context of that culture. So don't feel like we are two American Christians that just want to run around the world tearing down mosques and screaming the gospel at people, because that is the opposite of what we are trying to say.
What it comes down to is this: people of different faiths will naturally be opposed to each other, and that is fine, but sometimes that opposition can become angry and even violent and that sucks but it happens. Christians however, cannot let the actions of some people deter them from helping to bring people across the globe to Salvation through Jesus Christ.

Adam Says: Mars Hill and a New Years Resolution

I wanted to say a big thanks to Tess for dropping this link To the Mars Hill Website.
For those of you who don't know Mars Hill is the community/church begun by Rob Bell who also wrote Velvet Elvis one of my favorite books on the Christian Faith. She pointed out a great series of sermons Rob did on "Peace Makers" that goes along really well with the discussion Jeremy and I have been having about the war in Iraq. Check out the audio series title Calling All Peace Makers and make up your own mind.

On a vastly different side note let me talk about my New Years resolution... "New Years Resolution? Its February!" You may say; and you are correct, but the Chinese New Year is actually on February 18th, which was really convenient for me because I didn't make my resolution until like January 14h.... at any rate my resolution was to take a picture once a day for a whole year.... not of anything in particular and really at any time during the day I want to take it... once again I admit to ripping of the 3191 girls... link to the right... but I thought it was a great idea so I am taking it and running like I stole it... so at any rate this may turn into an interesting photoblog/art experiment or it could turn into a bunch of really bad photos taken by my D50 and D70 either way it should be worth checking out once or twice... so I look forward to seeing some of your comments about my resolution in the coming days weeks months... well YEAR.