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You know you don't need religion to be a murderous despot. Examples Stalin, Mao, Polpot, Castro. These guys would likely be murderous nut-jobs no matter where they were from. Hardcore Islam is convenient and gives a covering of legitimacy to their insanity. It is used as an excuse to do their murderous deeds. However, because a religion is being used as an excuse to murder, it is very dangerous. It is quite easy to say fascism is BAD, communism is BAD, those who propagate them are our enemies! But things get tricky and dicey when a leading world religion is being used a shroud to cover really a fascist dictator. At any rate I am sorry for this pastor. I pray for him and his family, and I shall say that Iranian regime is a despot and brutal even to it's own.

suthdj wrote:
yes I know he is Iranian and if he valued his life should have practised in private. My view on religion is different. I believe people should come to you, never knowing you are a christian because they see you are a better person and want to know how to be more like you.

Not how biblical Christianity works. The pastor is doing precisely what the word of God tells him to do. There are things that we should value above our lives.

suthdj wrote:BTW isn't God the same God for Muslim, Jews, Christians?

HIGHLY debatable. Having studied Islam at least in a minor way I can tell you that they do not view God in the same way that Christians do.

suthdj wrote: I just did the search on that and the religious community is at odds there also, So it is a mute point. I lost hope in religion(not god) a long time ago I see it as a tool for control and money making, not 100% but enough to discourage me away from it.

Can't help you there. Certainly there are some that abuse Christianity for their own gain. Believers need to stick together and that is what church is. Find a local church and contribute to that community. Do good there.

suthdj wrote: As a side note here is a joke I remembered my pastor telling when I was a kid.
3 religious leaders(insert your religions of choice) were standing and talking about how much of the church money goes to god.
The first guy says "I draw a circle on the ground then throw the money in the sky that which falls in the circle god gets."
The second guy says "I draw a circle on the ground then throw the money in the sky that which falls outside the circle god gets."
The third guy says "I throw the money in the sky that which god grabs god gets."

I heard that one on Short Circuit when I was a kid too.

Cobra Medic wrote: You said a mouthful brother. This has a lot of parallels with the forced conversions during the inquisitions. They also murdered people who left the faith. The Spanish Inquisition is most infamous but the inquisitions were not limited to Spain, spanned centuries, and were sanctioned by The Church.

Interestingly, the inquisitions happened when Christianity was 1000-1500 years old, the same as Islam now.

You might have a point there IF this was not SOP for hard core Islam from it's beginning. So while the inquisitions were a rather dark period of ecclesiastical history they at least have ended oh about 500-600 years ago, people got wise, actually read the bible and stopped all that nonsense. Islam has done this from the start to the modern day and is not only sanctioned by the Islam religious authorities, but is also sanctioned by their scriptures and thus will likely continue to be a part of hard core Islam.

Religion aside. We need to be real about our enemies. They hate us, and if they could they would murder every single one of us and anyone who looked at all like they agreed with us in the least. The Iranian gov't is no friend to the west, they are willing to kill one of their own citizens just for having the same belief system as the majority of Americans. They are brutal to their own people stoning people for minor offenses. I don't know why our gov't does not understand these guys do not understand mercy/conciliatory remarks. They understand just one thing power, and strength. You show anything less and it is a sign of weakness and they will try to take you as far as you will let them. The mealy mouthed words coming out of DC at this time will do nothing to quell their lust for death and destruction of all that is dear to us.

suthdj wrote:It is sad that they feel the need for a death penalty. However when you travel outside the US you are subject to the laws and court decisions of the host country and justice is not always the first concern. If christianity is illegal in Iran then he should not have been practicing it. I am not a biblical expert by any means but I believe the bible says something about obeying the laws of man.

First of all he is Iranian, so where should he practice his religion? That is his country, it is his home. It is not as if he immigrated there. Second the bible says to obey the laws of man so long as they do not interfere with the laws of God. God's laws forbid worship of any other God including the Islamic God and insist upon worship of Him and Him alone, so he can't obey the laws of the land. Better to lose your life than to lose your soul. May heaven bring this pastor and his family comfort and peace.