"The World's Only Hope this Christmas" published by The Huffington Post

Pleased to share that my most recent work, entitled, "The World's Only Hope this Christmas" was published today by The Huffington Post. After a bleak 2016, Jesus Christ offers resounding hope for 2017 and beyond. As I put it in the article:

"In the spirit of tolerance, here is an idea for you to tolerate over the holidays: there is indeed hope for humanity, and there are answers to these questions, and both can be found through belief in Jesus Christ alone. For those who consider themselves 'spiritual, but not religious', the next logical question is: so who is Jesus Christ? This question is about far more than whether or not you 'go to church', and the answer cuts to the philosophical core of modern society."

At a time with so much uncertainty, the hope of Christ provides total hope.

Click here to read the article, which has also been reproduced in full below.
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The World's Only Hope this Christmas
The Huffington Post - December 22, 2016
By: Robert D. Onley
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/robert-d-onley/the-worlds-only-hope-this-christmas_b_13780136.html

News headlines throughout 2016 were unrelentingly mortifying, bleak and despairing. Just this week - a Russian ambassador assassinated live on camera in Turkey, shoppers run down at a Christmas market in Berlin, a shooting at a mosque in Switzerland, and the endless bombing of Syria. It is easy to conclude from these headlines that evil has triumphed emphatically over the forces of love, peace and hope, and it is no surprise that one of the trending hashtags to close out the year is simply "#f_ck2016" (you fill in the missing vowel).

Beyond the wishfully dismissive hashtag, the real problem is that no one actually thinks that 2017 will be any better. And why would it be? As families unite this week to celebrate Christmas hoping to bury the headlines under glad tidings of comfort and joy, many others are simply wondering aloud: Where does our hope come from? How will humanity ever find peace? And why are humans dead-set on killing each other no matter what? Is anyone realistically looking to Donald Trump for hope, peace, or greater global stability?

Amid the search for answers, it is no secret that "being religious" has gone out of style. But somehow, "being spiritual" is considered socially acceptable, so long as you do not push your particular interpretations on others. In Western society, the result is a mish-mash of relativist spiritual theories, and a deference to the Goddess of Blind Tolerance, whose belief system offers zero hard answers to the complex questions above.

In the spirit of tolerance, here is an idea for you to tolerate over the holidays: there is indeed hope for humanity, and there are answers to these questions, and both can be found through belief in Jesus Christ alone. For those who consider themselves 'spiritual, but not religious', the next logical question is: so who is Jesus Christ? This question is about far more than whether or not you 'go to church', and the answer cuts to the philosophical core of modern society.

Over 2000 years ago in a manger in Bethlehem, a baby boy, Jesus of Nazareth, was born. Jesus' existence is a historical fact, one that is as well documented as that of the life of Julius Caesar. The Islamic and Hindu traditions respect and revere Jesus, the former even regarding him as a prophet. Today, it is not a question of whether Jesus existed, but rather: do you believe what Jesus said?

What Jesus said about himself and about life is simple, as found in the Gospel of John, chapter 14:6:

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me."

Jesus' absolutist statement offends most people today, in an era of limitless knowledge that is somehow dominated by fake news. We have been left chasing an unquenchable thirst for truth, while ignoring the one who said, "I am the truth."

When Jesus declared who He is, He offered a stark choice for all humanity, and this is particularly relevant during the Christmas season when Christians celebrate the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ. The fateful choice is whether or not Jesus was in fact who He claimed to be: the saviour of all mankind through His death on the cross for our sins, and His resurrection from the dead three days later.

It matters greatly what we think about the historical person of Jesus Christ. Author C.S. Lewis put it this way:

"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice."

But if in fact Jesus is the Son of God, as He claims to be, then you, the reader, must seriously ask yourself what it means for your life. His claims do not leave room for merely "respecting" Him as a teacher. To over a billion Christians around the world - approximately one in every seventh person - Jesus means many things: He is hope, joy, love, peace, tender-heartedness, kindness, humility, and courage. These values and virtues are sorely missing from so much of the world today.

In fact the opposite of these virtues appear to be on the march. The forces of darkness are strong, vicious, and advancing with murderous intent; the prospect of greater global conflict practically feels inevitable, and of course, we all must work to avoid that. But at this point in human history, there is no room for fence-sitting on issues of the heart and soul. Indeed, Jesus made this clear in Matthew 10:34-39 when He said:

"Don't imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword. [...] If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it."

While we celebrate the joy of the Christmas season, represented by the birth of the Christ child, the verse above cannot simply be dismissed. We face a tremendously uncertain future and the persistent reminder of the existence of evil, manifest by the demonic spiritual force known as the Islamic State.

The headlines of 2017 are practically bound to be worse. Deep at its collective core, humanity is being forced to make a decision about the overarching and fundamental worldview that every human embraces. We either live in a universe that is ruled by God, whose plan and hope for humanity is found in the salvation Gospel of Jesus Christ; or, we live in a world that is ruled by the strongmen of the day, by selfish ambition and materialist pursuits, and is governed by failing international institutions - a world without hope. For where could hope ever come from if the majority of humanity rejects the one man - Jesus Christ - whose message was pure hope? Such a hopeless world is one that is destined for the destruction that we continue to witness.

But we are not without options. For Jesus said at John 14:27:

"I am leaving you with a gift--peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid."

The Christmas story is God's bold, annual reminder, one which many of us celebrate but fail to commit to, that God did and does have a plan for salvation and hope for every human. We are so easily distracted by the wonders of this life that we ignore at our peril, and to our despair, the deep spiritual hunger inside every human soul.

It has been said that there is a God-shaped void inside every human heart. We long to know truth, to know hope, and to understand our purpose in this brief life. Jesus said at John 10:10:

"The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life."

Jesus knows that every human longs for complete satisfaction of the heart and soul, and for genuine hope. God offers that through the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. Mercifully, God made this free gift available to all. As Romans 10:9 says:

"If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

May you find Jesus Christ and His free gift of hope, love and peace this Christmas season.

"Embracing 'Radical' Christianity Can Defeat Islamic State" published by The Huffington Post

My latest article, "Embracing 'Radical' Christianity Can Defeat Islamic State", was published by The Huffington Post. My central argument is this:

"The world body should be willing to try anything, even a solution which employs core spiritual ideas from a faith which finds itself peculiarly (and some say prophetically) targeted for annihilation by the Islamic State."

This is the essential issue of our era. Thanks for reading and sharing. - R.O.
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"Embracing 'Radical' Christianity Can Defeat Islamic State"
The Huffington Post - January 25, 2016
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/robert-d-onley/love-your-enemies_b_9066214.html

As this article is being written, men and women are choosing to leave the modern comforts of Western civilization to join an apocalyptic death cult in the most war-torn region on Earth.

Their decision -- to exit the stability, prosperity and security afforded by the wealthiest nations to instead become a soldier in the genocidal army of the Islamic State -- betrays the unsettling truth of our present era: that secular, materialist, hyper-connected modern life offers no meaningful, coherent counter-narrative against the preachers of hate, destruction and messianic end-of-the-world fantasies.

Because if there were a counter-narrative that worked, it would have been employed by now.

Unfortunately, perhaps to the chagrin of the prevailing progressive, mainstream Western opinion, the only counter-ideology capable of ultimately defeating the evil of the Islamic State is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ and in a radically genuine application of Jesus' teachings.

One need only witness the American presidential primaries, the rising nationalist parties across Europe and the general xenophobia surrounding refugees to realize that fear of the "other" is on the march globally, lockstep with the unchecked evil espoused by the Islamic State.

Compounding the West's failure to grapple with this problem of evil, persecution and violence directed at all communities continues unabated. Random stabbing and ramming attacks continue across Israel; Sunni-Shia sectarian bombings in Syria, Iraq, Indonesia, Burkina Faso and Yemen; and Western-born ISIS terrorists are beheading journalists and aid workers alike.

Philosophically and practically, an ideology which both promotes total hatred of others and cherishes death -- such as that of the Islamic State -- can only be comprehensively countered by one which promotes total unconditional love, even of enemies, and which values life.

To defeat an ideology which trumpets as its maxim death itself, it is imperative to foremost promote individual-level reconciliation, that is, to make a personal decision to irrefutably change, as is capable inside every human heart and soul. This type of internal, personal healing is only truly offered through the salvation gospel message of Jesus Christ.

This is not a call for new a Crusade, or the deployment of Bible-thumping Marines, or merely wishful Evangelical thinking. Rather it is a call for the considered application of the words of Jesus Christ, who imparted on humanity this eternal, relevant order: "This is my command: Love each other." (John 15:17 NLT)

"The world body should be willing to try anything, even a solution which employs core spiritual ideas from a faith which finds itself peculiarly (and some say prophetically) targeted for annihilation by the Islamic State."

Love each other: on what other foundational, elemental basis can lasting peace find footing in the world today? Consider that despite nearly 70 years of attempts to "negotiate" a peace treaty in Israel and Palestine through traditional, secular, political diplomatic channels, the international community is absolutely no closer to finding peace there in 2016 than it was in May 1948 at the outbreak of war over Israel's independence.

Similarly, in Iraq and Syria, attempts to engage in any manner of shared intellectual dialogue with extremist Islamist fighters are utterly fruitless, driven as they are by visions of an end of the world battle in the Middle East.

In turn, endless killing has become the West's only effective policy tool.

Jesus says in the Gospel of Luke 6:27-28, "But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you."

This verse, objectively radical given its relevance today, is particularly applicable in the context of terrorist violence, where strangers are willing to viciously stab, shoot and murder total strangers. One need only think back to the Paris attacks and ask: how can such hatred be justified? How has humanity sunk to such an extremely dim view of existence?

At John 15:12-13, Jesus counters this depravity once again, saying, "This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends."

Jesus implores us that the highest love is found in saving lives, rather than ending them. And if indeed there is a God above us all, Jesus reminds humanity in this verse that He, God, first loved us.

Consider the potential impact if the above verses were to be recognized, promoted and encouraged by the United Nations. For the sake of argument, imagine these messages were stripped of their biblical origin and promoted purely on the basis of their conceptual ideals.

If there were a better alternative -- politically, diplomatically, philosophically or intellectually -- would it not have been comprehensively tested, attempted and enforced by now? In the pursuit of global peace, the world body should be willing to try anything, even a solution which employs core spiritual ideas from a faith which finds itself peculiarly (and some say prophetically) targeted for annihilation by the Islamic State.

Generations of young men have grown up being taught nothing but extremist hatred and enmity, and now desperately need the redeeming messages of love, salvation and hope found in Christianity.

These equally radical messages are the most powerful forces on Earth, and must be shared widely if the West wants to win the fight against an enemy so hell bent on its defeat.