Many thanks to Tania Groth for translating this article from Fria Tider:
The church committee voted yes to Islam: “Great for more people to meet the love of Allah”
During the church meeting in November, the Swedish Democrats’ (SD) critical motion to vote on the Islamic call for prayer was voted down, according to the Christian newspaper Dagen (The Day). Among the arguments of the other participants was the opportunity for more people to meet the “love of Allah”.
The church committee is the highest decision-making body of the Swedish Church.
Prior to the November meeting, the Swedish Democrats, who had 24 mandates, had suggested that the Church of Sweden should take a critical stance towards the Islamic call to prayer.
However, the motion was voted down by a large majority. 206 voted against [the Sweden Democrats] and 26 for [the call to prayer].
Among those who argued against the motion there were Artemis Lumarker from the Open Church, a nomination group within the Swedish Church.
“Imagine how amazing that more people can meet the love of Allah and God, and what we get out of the meeting with each other,” he said, according to Dagen, and also claimed that SD is trying to “dehumanize” other people.
The open church is working towards the “vision of an open church where all people are welcome”, they write on their website.
A number of people engaged in the discussion during the meeting.
On the one hand there was Aron Emilsson of the Swedish Democrats, who said that the Church of Sweden was renouncing its own faith by supporting the Islamic call to prayer. To do this should not be the task of the church, was his opinion.
His party colleague Camilla Berard Granström argued that Islam has spread more quickly with the help of the Swedish Church.
On the other hand, the Social Democrat Isak Öhrlund explained to Dagen, the church should be “a progressive and open force” in society, and therefore one should not be critical of a call to prayer.
In the End Times, we are told the fence-sitters will be flushed from The Church.
They have just jumped in Sweden.
The Church is stronger without them.
Is Sweden a Christian country? Have they actually accepted Jesus Christ as their Saviour?
Ecumenism will be the death of the Christian church; or at least that’s what its advocates are hoping will happen.
muslims are going to hell and they need to be told, not placated and pandered to.
“Countries” are not Christian, only individuals are. Each person’s faith is based on his or her individual decision. Only then do individuals group together to form faith communities for the sake of worship.
We have no idea how Muslims are judged under the light of eternity and it is not our place to say what or when that judgment will be.
The Church should not be “a progressive and open force”. The Church must faithfully preserve, practise and preach the authentic Christian faith, no matter what the world thinks, says or does about it.
A Christian community that puts anything above Jesus Christ and Christian faith has forfeited the right to call itself ‘a church’ or ‘Christian’. The sadly absurd community which insists on calling itself ‘the Swedish Church’ is an obscene caricature of the true Christian Church. It might look amusing, but it causes enormous spiritual harm.
True.
Now we see what the Lord meant by “Do not take the Lord’s Name in vain”.
If Christians cared about the eternal well-being of Muslims they would stand fast in proclaiming the good news of Christ crucified for the sins of the world; when pressed, they would be bold in repeating the words of John 3:18-19: “Whoever believes in [Jesus] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”
That the “church” of Sweden has abandoned Jesus, their only savior from the curse of sin — of which all are guilty — demonstrates that it is among the many churches of Satan cloaked in Christian garb to deceive both the weak and the prideful.
The “church” of Sweden is not the only church in that country; their are numerous, albeit smaller, church bodies there where the pure gospel is preached and God is honored in name and reputation and the Son of God is worshipped and glorified.
If all are guilty of the curse of sin, then God must have made us this way: how [would] he judge us?
[R]eading about human psychology might make [one] more tolerant and understanding.
When one reads Judaeo-Christian scripture (especially Christ’s parables or Genesis, two things are obvious: (1) we are born to be with others, and we often treat those others badly. (2) Thus, both good and evil are inherent in the human condition.
Forgiveness of ourselves and of others is crucial to being fully human.
Tolerant of what? Understanding what?
The word ‘tolerance’ is often used today as a battering ram by the anti-Christian elites of the West in their war on Christianity. They ruthlessly pressurize Christians into tolerating Islam, occultism, satanism, drug addiction, sexual promiscuity and perversions, aggressively militant atheism and lots of other things. At the same time, anti-Christian ideologists and activists refuse to tolerate Christian faith, Christian morality, Christian family and Christian culture. Christians are being insulted, they are not allowed to live according to their faith and traditions, even to wear crosses in public. Even Christmas crèches are progressively prohibited in many European countries! The word ‘Christmas’ itself is found unpalatable – it is being replaced with the innocuous ‘Winter holidays’. Even Christmas postcards now bear the words ‘Season’s greetings’ instead of ‘Christmas greetings’.
So, the word ‘tolerance’ in the modern newspeak really means ‘hatred of Christianity’.
As for studying psychology, it can, of course, be very useful, if undertaken seriously and conscientiously. Though, to some people it does more harm than good.
However, ancient Fathers of the Church knew much more about human soul, with all its dark corners, than the most brilliant of psychologists. Just leaf through a copy of Philocalia. And studying their works will give you not that cold indifferent ‘tolerance’, which is now being sold under label of the greatest virtue known to man, but ardent Christian love and humility.
Sadly, the modern world is afraid of love – it is too disturbing. And humility frightens us even more – we are too weak to be humble.
I disagree. If Christians cared about those outside their fold, they’d memorize The Beatitudes and act accordingly. Christ warned us to be slow to judgment – it’s literally a real killer, murderous to civil dialogue.
However, you can “care” someone into hell if you don’t warn them (not pound it into their heads or threaten them, of course) of where their ungodly beliefs and actions are taking them. Surely, God is the final judge, but “by their fruits you shall know them” and if you care so much about others, you will let them know whose side they are obviously on and where that’s going to take them. It’s very clear in the Bible that those who do not trust in Jesus Christ as their savior are not going to be on the right side of things when it comes to judgment time.
As Bruce Bawer has said of Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of Uppsala, (the progressive who chose “God is greater” as her motto):
“when Islam does eventually take over Sweden, her remarkable history of appeasement will not save either her or her Church from a brutal reckoning.”
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11433/sweden-church-jackelen
Meanwhile things don’t seem much different in the UK.
The Bishop of Bradford, the Rt Rev Nick Baines, said some parishes in his diocese were 95% Muslim but that this should not be seen as “a problem”.
“This is a fantastic opportunity,” he told the CoE’s General Synod,“It is a challenge, yes, but it’s an opportunity to rethink what it means to be a Christian community. We often ask Muslims to learn what it is to be a Muslim as a minority culture.
“Maybe we could benefit from learning some of the same lessons in some of our cities.”
If taken literally, (violent jihad, groom/rape/force into prostitution-gangs, polygamy, child marriage, rapid demographic growth, to name but a few of the wonders of enrichment), it would simply be extraordinary but I’m pretty sure that’s not what he meant at all.
He should really go to Pakistan for that lesson, although walking through parts of his own diocese, could be an education in itself.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8631059/Christians-should-learn-how-to-be-a-minority-from-Muslims-bishop-says.html
Lars Petersson must be turning over in his grave.
I don’t understand the issue. Does it simply involve an emotional response by the Church of Sweden: “We don’t like the Islamic call to prayer”.
What would the consequences be of such a resolution? Are the churches allowing the Islamic call to prayer sound from their parapets? Does any Muslim care if the Church of Sweden votes down the call to prayer? I don’t understand the pros and cons. I don’t mind displaying a negative reaction to Islam, but what would the meaning of the resolution be?
The church pearl clutchers may mean to praise Islam, but simply voting down the resolution, as described here, doesn’t do that.
In point of fact, I think the church of Sweden, and any other church, should maintain a strict separation from Islam. No interfaith, no bridge between beliefs, no finding common ground. Islam is different and has no common points with any variant of Christianity. If Muslims are really good citizens, they’ll be good citizens without gratuitous praise from Christians. If they need praise to integrate with society, they won’t integrate and shouldn’t be there in the first place.
No, the church has voted in approval of the call to prayer. The Sweden Democrats are opposed to it. Nobody else is.
“If Muslims are really good citizens, they’ll be good citizens without gratuitous praise from Christians.”
I like this.
Too many single, college educated young women are running things here in the West.
They truly believe that, as child psychology tells them, if we provide positive reinforcement when muslims act good, the muslims will respond positively and act good more often.
Unfortunately, this has become a highly touted doctrine in Western Christianity.
This article is misleading. The church of Sweden is Lutheran. It is not a generic Christian church. This apostasy is taking place in Lutheran churches in countries around the globe.
Martin Luther must be turning over in his grave.
The ‘Church of England’ is in the same state of putrefaction.