I just read this news article on the Toronto Star earlier today, and it makes me sick thinking about it. They keep saying that Islam is such a peaceful and beautiful religion, yet I simply cannot stomach that claim in light of the reality that Islam intimidates and oppresses religious minorities into defecting into their system? I’m just thankful that God is going to preserve His true children. May He have mercy on these defectors, that they may yet realize the error of their ways and return to the Truth.

LAHORE, PAKISTAN—Dog-eared and tattered, the blue book is an inch thick and sits on a dented metal table in the corner office of Jamia Naeemia, an Islamic school tucked in a scattering of cement-walled homes and roadside shops.

Many believe the book offers the promise of safety and perhaps even a better chance at prosperity.

The book is a registry used to document religious converts to Islam and officials at Jamia Naeemia say business is brisk nowadays.

At least 20 to 25 former Christians adopt Islam each week by pledging an oath and signing a green and white document in which they accept Islam as “the most beautiful religion” and promise to “remain in the religion of Islam for the rest of my life, acknowledging that blessings are only from God.”

Human rights advocates say it’s no surprise some of Pakistan’s 3 million Christians are adopting Islam. These are vexing and dangerous days for the country’s religious minorities.

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• The Star – Some Christians in Pakistan convert fear into safety

I am self-conscious about how my own prayers sound. Sometimes I mess up and stutter in prayer, and I start over because I feel bad. I want to know if it is something that just comes to you naturally, or… what? Like, I listen to the prayers that my pastor gives and mine just pale in comparison. Every night I usually have my husband lead us in grace before dinner, because I feel I’d sound dumb or say something dumb and have to start over.

First of all, there is the issue of how long a person has been a Christian, as compared to how long you have been one. The relevance here is the extent of their experience with the language of the faith. Obviously the Christian community has a unique language for expressing the faith, and the longer that a person is a Christian the more familiar, knowledgeable, and comfortable he or she becomes with that language. That lends to an appearance of eloquence that is difficult to imitate for someone who is perhaps not quite as familiar with the breadth of the language; e.g., it is not difficult to imagine how grandiose and eloquent the prayer of a career pastor must seem to someone who has been a Christian for only a month.

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