- He doesn't know where Caner lived prior to high school.
- Caner's father was a devout Muslim.
- Caner's mother and grandmother are from Sweden.
- Caner's grandmother never spoke any English.
- Caner's parents' divorce was hotly contested.
- Caner's father disowned him once Caner came to Christ.
It is very true that we need to be careful in this. I myself have been extremely careful not to make my own background an apologetic or polemic argument; yet, like all who repent and trust in Christ alone for salvation, I am a forgiven sinner.
On the other hand, I would take issue with the idea that the concerns that are being raised are, in essence, only visible under a microscope. The evidence that we have seems to suggest that Dr. Caner's public image has been systematically built around an exaggeration of his Muslim past. There have been picayune objections to things like Dr. Caner's pronunciation of Arabic words, but there are also more serious things that have been alleged.
-TurretinFan
N.B. Thanks to bruineric for pointing out this comment to me.
9 comments:
Another helpful sighting of Truth.
Pro 26:2 Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, a curse that is causeless does not alight.
and
Pro 27:8 As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place.
"His place" is all Mr. Tackett can provide us in our quest for knowing it, "his place", that is the true biography of Dr. E Michael Caner.
When he offers us that advice:
"... "I do know this: Christ Forgives; and I am afraid many of us if held under the microscope of the Muslim world would come up short. Try to keep things in perspective." (minor edits)."
I am wondering now if there are any "devout" Muslims who are reading these threads and are commenting in this forum in response to them?
My question is this one: " Would a "devout" Muslim "marry" outside the Islamic faith and still be considered "devout" as we have here with Acar Caner and Monica Inez?
With your understanding of non-devout and devout Muslims, TF, how would you answer?
The most revealing Ergun Caner video yet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFlqwOBxEQ0
Only available at the link above. This may be the video that ends it all.
This seems genuine to me, but of course it could clearly be fakery.
I find it interesting because it continues the defensive themes we've heard and also in what Mr. Tackett does NOT confirm.
Starting with the latter, we see that Mr. Tackett quickly disavows any knowledge of when and how Mr. Caner got to Ohio. Not surprising, of course. But he just doesn't enter those waters and speak to things he doesn't know for certain.
Next, he confirms the core story of a devout Muslim father and a difficult family situation exacerbated by Mr. Caner becoming a Christian. Praise God for his saving grace and for sustaining Mr. Caner through his burdens of fatherly displeasure.
That is a beautiful testimony, as are all examples of God turning our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh.
But what we see is Mr. Tackett avoiding issues he clearly could have easily confirmed. He could confirm that Mr. Caner spoke poor English, that Mr. Caner wore robes to school, and that Mr. Caner was known at school to run to the bathroom for Muslim prayers. He might even be able to confirm that Mr. Caner was beaten by Youth Jihad when going to the Mosque/Islamic Center to tell of his conversion.
He might even be able to tell us more about Mr. Caner's behavior showing that HE was a devout Muslim. Note that Mr. Tackett has no problem confirming that Mr. Caner's father was devout, yet he doesn't pronounce the same for Mr. Caner.
Mr. Tackett avoids all these things. For all I know he might quickly confirm them all with direct questioning. But it is interesting to me personally that he avoids them.
Then, his reply is interesting to me because it shows some the same defensive elements we've seen elsewhere:
-Muslims' inquiries are bad because their motives are not Godly (which I infer from the term 'witch hunt', and which I tend to agree with)
-Christians are becoming involved because of non-Christians. He appears to believe some are spurred to action by Muslims -- no concession to the fact some Christians are concerned about verifying the truth, no matter the agenda of the originators.
-Implication that a theological battle is the source, per his "Axe to grind" sentences. I infer that to mean that this is the "mean Calvinists are out to get Doctor Caner" theme.
Then it takes an interesting turn about forgiveness, sin, and asking how any of us would stand up to such a microscope. Which I take as a tacit admission that Mr. Tackett thinks some of Mr. Caner's story to be embellished. I could be wrong here, and it is simply conjecture on my part.
My thoughts above are off-the-cuff and I apologize for any mistakes or unwise inferences.
I am interested in this story because I see some of my own sins and temptations in question here. I feel the pull to embellish (no matter whether Mr. Caner has done so or not). I make inappropriate jokes, and have sinned with my mouth more times than I can count.
I am not able to open the link????
It works fine for me. The video link is amusing, but silly and not really relevant to this post.
NatAmLLC:
Yes, devout Muslims are permitted to take non-Muslim wives.
-TurretinFan
I share BruinEric's concerns on the "Tackett comment." Mr. Tackett did not say the things that I would have said if I were commenting on a friend from high school who was being "attacked" for his statements. In that case I would be very concerned that my friend's statements be affirmed. I would give examples in support of as many of his claims as I could. And maybe he did.
However, if I (personally) were called upon to vote and my only choices were "Fake" and "True", I think "Fake" would be my choice. Why would he comment only one time? Once I got started on the project, I'd have commented at least multiple times in a number of blogs--but if I were faking, I might do that too. :) This is speculation at best but it might shake out something.
Can the IP address be accessed from the original post and compared to other IP's that have posted?
One thing I want to comment on now with regard to Ergun speaking another language or having some difficulty in the earliest days of his living in Ohio.
Here in my "Christian School community" we are teaching our youngest speaking children "Latin" and "German".
It is amazing to hear them speak those languages. Children, two, three, four and five years old speaking good Latin and German according to their linguistic teachers. Me, forget it. I can hardly speak English and that's the only language I know fluently! Over the years I have picked up short sentences from varied countries I have been too. Should I claim I can speak Japanese or Thai or Cebuano or French or Portuguese? But my speaking different languages comes nothing close to these children speaking Latin or German or French. They also have an amazing ability to learn difficult music compositions. Our choirs, three of them, routinely sing Bach on Sundays and at other preplanned programs in the public community we do outreach to. Our choirs are good and are also routinely invited to open sports events with the national anthem.
So it doesn't seem to be an issue for me anymore about Ergun having difficulty speaking English in a new country, America. What I have difficulty with is the autobiography and timeline that is prepared to put over a persona of being a devout Muslim and a youth jihadist and hell bent on jihad in America until the Lord changed his heart of stone to a heart of flesh.
BW:
In theory someone could do that, i.e. track the IP. In practice, I doubt anyone will. I don't think it is within my power.
-TurretinFan
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