Megachurch pastor's (Middle East) trip draws criticism

[brooklynite]

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - A trip to Syria that U.S. megachurch pastor Rick Warren says was inspired by a backyard chat with a Muslim neighbor has triggered criticism and questions that highlight the potential risks when preaching meets international politics.

But Warren's visit - which included a meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad - also reinforced his credentials as a rising force in a new generation of globe-trotting evangelists following famous predecessors including the Rev. Billy Graham.

...snip...

Warren has been criticized by some evangelicals for holding talks with a nation long accused of abetting terrorism that is also one of Israel's fiercest foes.

Conservative Christians have been among the toughest advocates in the United States for a hard-line against Islamic extremism. And Israel is strongly supported by a vast evangelical network, including some American churches that believe biblical prophecy calls for Jewish sovereignty over the entire Holy Land.

http://dwb.newsobserver.com/24hour/world/story/3422487p-12566326c.html

nb - Rick Warren is the author of The Purpose Driven Life"

[xchrom]

1. warren gets nada, zip, zero, zilch from me.

nothing.

he does this for his own aggrandizement.

[The Stranger]

2. Too bad becuase now there may be others to make up for you.

He went to talk to the Evil Enemy? He spoke to THE ENEMY?

Holy shit -- that sounds so . . . what's the word I'm loking for . . . CHRISTIAN?!

:woohoo:

[kitty1]

3. What do you think Jesus would think about Warren going...

out to break bread and mingle with God's other children.
What were those words in Scripture again; Jesus stated that he came not to judge the world but to save it.
If Rick wants to spread a little peace in the MEand make nice, what's the problem.
Is it better to cluster bomb each other instead.

[Palladin]

4. Far better than those nutcases

Hagee, Robertson, and Dobson with their heretic christian zionist beliefs.

[msongs]

5. it's all about his ego. and did I mention cash, $$, and money?

the messiah complext at work.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[The Stranger]

6. No, but this one seems like he is really sticking his neck out, and doing something

different. An Evangelical actually talking with the fucking Syrians deserves a little credit in anyone's book. Maybe he can de-escalate the hate-mongering, war-mongering, xenophobic, megalomaniac rest of the Evangelicals.

[IndianaGreen]

7. These Christians are confused about Israel

The Israel of the Bible is not the same Israel of today. The Biblical Israel was a nation and a people that was run under a Jewish version of sharia law, up until the time the people decided that they preferred to have a secular government under a king as all other nations.

Present day Israel, and modern Israelis, would find themselves out of place in the Israel of the Bible. Modern Israel is a thriving democracy with a vibrant free press, something that would have been alien to the ancient kings and judges of biblical Israel (they would have also crapped in their pants about Israel's progressive views on social mores).