Dianne's Interview on The Writing Road

I just learned that Beth Vogt has posted the interview she did with me on her blog, The Writing Road, this morning.

Hop over an take a look. Here's the link: http://thewritingroad.blogspot.com/2008/04/interview-with-author-dianne-butts.html

That's my newest bike--my 2000 Kawasaki Vulcan Nomad. That's also Pike's Peak in the background, but you can't see it because I'm in the way!

Hope you enjoy reading my story about how I became a writer.

10,000 Voices

This morning I'd like to welcome several new readers receiving this blog through the Feedblitz e-mail service! Thanks for jumping on board!
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Do you ever feel like you'd like to speak out...to a politician, someone in Hollywood, or another leader...but you think, Would anybody listen? I'm only one voice.

What if you had the voice of 10,000? Would that make a difference? Would that give you the courage to speak up?

Many years ago I heard a politician tell his audience that they hear from so few of their constituents that when they do, they assume that person's view represents a pretty good percentage of their constituency.

A few years ago my family was approached by the Neilson TV rating folks and asked to allow them to monitor what we watched for their rating system. The representative told me that in our rural area (where we lived then), what we watched on TV would represent to them about 10,000 households.

It really is as if you have 10,000 voices.

If each of us will speak up and express our convictions, our views, can you see how quickly our voices could make a difference?

What if a lot more of us conservative-minded people started speaking out? Multiply one voice, or two, or ten... You do the math.

The letter from Christians to Muslims - Part 5...Oh, and more.

Did you miss me again? Jeepers, when wireless was getting popular I could find a signal pretty much everywhere I traveled. Not now. Last year I could get a signal at the same place I stayed last week. But last week? Nada. Zip. Zero. No internet signal that I could connect to anywhere. (Well, there is that cyber cafe in Fraser, but the last I checked--which admittedly was a couple years ago--it was something like $20 for the first hour. Ouch. I'm not paying that.)

So...there I was all last week with no internet. I got a lot of other work done, but I didn't get to blog.

Then, as I'm leaving town, I stop at the McDonald's in Winter Park, Colorado, and I'm sitting there munching my sausage McMuffin with egg when I see it. A huge poster covering the window facing Main Street. It read "Wi-Fi." Now, I'd heard McD's was installing wireless to compete with Starbuck's, but I didn't expect it to be installed in a small town McDonald's already.

So I go to the counter and ask. No, it's not free. It's $2.95 for the first two hours. Now that's doable! Note to self: Next time I need internet service, check with McDonald's!

Also, I've heard that Starbuck's may soon offer FREE internet--for the first hour or two. Don't know if that's for sure or if it has happened yet, but if you need internet you might check. Don't you just love competition? That's what makes our country so great: the freedom to build businesses and compete for business. Competition keeps prices low, service high, and life good! It's a great system (as opposed to the socialism of other countries).

I have one more thought on the article in Citizen magazine:

According to the article in Citizen magazine, the Yale apology "has been widely publicized in the Islamic world."

Of course. No doubt.

But have you heard a word about this letter or the letter from the Muslims to Christians here in the States?

Except for finding this information in the Citizen magazine, I wouldn't know a thing about it.

Citizen magazine: http://www.citizenlink.org/citizenmag/ If you don't already get the magazine, I highly recommend you subscribe.

The letter from Christians to Muslims - Part 4

Continuing with information from the article "Common ground?" by Stephen Adams in the March 2008 issue of Citizen magazine, Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo, a Muslim expert and international director of a Christian ministry to Muslims, said "the Yale letter is part of 'an ongoing process where the world of Islam will seek to neutralize Christianity'" (pg. 20).

The title of the Muslim's letter to Christians, "A Common Word," comes from a verse in the Quran. According to Dr. Sookhdeo, who is an Anglican priest and a former Muslim, the verse "has always been understood as a call to deny the Trinity and the deity of Christ."

You can read Dr. Sookhdeo's complete analysis of the letter from the Muslims. Find his paper, "Response to Open Letter and Call From Muslim Religious Leaders to Christian Leaders, 13 October 2007" here:
http://www.barnabasfund.org/news/archives/article.php?ID_news_items=342

The Apology - The letter from Christians to Muslims - Part 3

The article "Common ground?" by Stephen Adams in the March 2008 issue of Citizen magazine quotes the Yale Divinity School's response to the Muslim's letter to Christians as saying, "Before we 'shake your hand' in responding to your letter, we ask forgiveness of the All-Merciful One and of the Muslim community around the world."

Dr. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Seminary (Southern Baptist), referring to the defeat of a Muslim invasion of Europe in 732 AD, preserving Christianity as the continent's chief religion, asks, "Are these people suggesting that they wish the military conflict with Islam had ended differently--that Islam had conquered Europe?"

A ministry leader in Muslim East Africa said that since the Yale apology, (which, according to the article, "has been widely publicized in the Islamic world"), "Stones have now been thrown into our churches, with them calling us 'Crusaders.'"

Dr. Mark Durie, an Australian expert on Islam, said, "By taking responsibility as Christians for an event as distant in time as the Crusades, they send the message to the global Muslim community that Christians in the world...could be held to account by Muslims for ancient grievances... Why legitimize this deadly and false libel by confessing guilt on behalf of the worldwide Christian community?"

The article states, "[Dr.] Mohler finds the Yale letter's apology for America's war on Islamic terror networks equally perplexing. 'For whom are we apologizing and for what are we apologizing?'" he asked.

More next time...

The letter from Christians to Muslims - Part 2

As I said last time, according to the story, "Common ground?" by Stephen Adams in the March 2008 issue of Citizen magazine (pgs. 18-23), the so-called Christian response to the letter from the Muslims was written at Yale Divinity School. It was signed by 300 individuals including:

• two leaders of the National Association of Evangelicals,
• activist author Brian McLaren,
• author of The Purpose-Driven Life and Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren, and
• editor in chief of Christianity Today, David Neff.

According to Citizen's article, author Brian McLaren wrote, "Are you not aware that the word 'Allah' is simply the Arabic word for God, just as in English we say God, and in Spanish people say Dios, and in Greek, theos?"

Dr. Albert Hohler, president of the Southern Baptist's Southern Seminary, said the names "God" and "Allah" are not interchangeable. "The Quran says Allah has no son, but the first thing we must say about the God of the Bible is that Jesus is His Son and is the means by which He has made Himself known to us."

The Yale Divinity School letter also apologized, on our (Christians) behalf, for past and present sins. I'll tell you about the danger that "apology" is putting Christian missionaries in next time.

If you wish to register your complaint to the National Association of Evangelicals, contact them at: P.O. Box 23269, Washington, DC 20026, (202)789-1011, president@nae.net