Well, here it is, folks—the Carnival of Carnivals, the One Carnival To Rule Them All™, the Blogging Carnival That Spawned The Plethora Of Other Blogging Carnivals Covering Every Imaginable Topic And A Few Unimaginable Ones. Fortunately, the One Car…

Sorry, but I’m a little late in learning about this story. Maybe that’s because it got NO attention from American main-stream media. There were no left-wing (or right-wing) pundits on cable news networks screaming about how “disrespectful” the car…

What we saw in the Islamic demonstrations over the Danish cartoons of Muhammad was another vivid depiction of the difference between Muhammad and Christ, and what it means to follow each. The work of Muhammad is based on being honored and the work of Christ is based on being insulted. This produces two very different reactions to mockery.

If Christ had not been insulted, there would be no salvation. This was his saving work: to be insulted and die to rescue sinners from the wrath of God. “He was despised and rejected by men . . . as one from whom men hide their faces . . . and we esteemed him not” (Isaiah 53:3).

That’s the most basic difference between Christ and Muhammad and between a Muslim and a follower of Christ. For Christ, enduring the mockery of the cross was the essence of his mission. And for a true follower of Christ enduring suffering patiently for the glory of Christ is the essence of obedience. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account” (Matthew 5:11). During his life on earth Jesus was called a bastard (John 8:41), a drunkard (Matthew 11:19), a blasphemer (Matthew 26:65), a devil (Matthew 10:25); and he promised his followers the same: “If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household” (Matthew 10:25).

How should his followers respond? On the one hand, we are grieved and angered. On the other hand, we identify with Christ, and embrace his suffering, and rejoice in our afflictions, and say with the apostle Paul that vengeance belongs to the Lord, let us love our enemies and win them with the gospel.

When Muhammad was portrayed in twelve cartoons the uproar across the Muslim world was intense and sometimes violent. What does this mean?

It means that a religion with no insulted Savior will not endure insults to win the scoffers. It means that this religion is destined to bear the impossible load of upholding the honor of one who did not die and rise again to make that possible. It means that Jesus Christ is still the only hope of peace with God and peace with man. And it means that his followers must be willing to “share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Philippians 3:10).

http://www.desiringgod.org/library/fresh_words/2006/020806.html

Finally, the Carnival of Liberal’s Wrongs seems to be well underway. Keep those submissions coming in. Anything regarding the wrongs of liberals or the bashing of a liberal ideology/person in general will be accepted. Come back every week on Thursday…