Let us Read not Burn

If you listen to the news lately you are hearing a lot of talk about Islam, Mosque building, Quran burning and pastors of small churches in Florida with funny mustache’s and a flair for the national spotlight. I guess we are paying more attention to these issues because of the upcoming anniversary of 9/11. However, I do feel somewhat compelled to give a point of view that I haven’t heard anyone else talk about.
I won’t comment on the New York Mosque building because it’s a New York issue and they have a right to build it where they want. I don’t think they will build it due to local pressures but I could be wrong.
I would like to make a few comments on the Quran proposed burning in Florida or anywhere for that matter.
First of all, burning the Quran doesn’t seem to follow the basics of what Christ taught us. If I remember correctly, the BIBLE tells us to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts and all of our souls and to love our neighbors as Christ loves us ( for those who haven’t read that book, Christ loved you enough to die for you.) Burning a book that is so sacred to a Muslim doesn’t appear to be a way to show our Muslim brothers and sisters about Christian love.
I would like to offer an alternative to a public Quran burning and suggest that we have a public Quran reading. Yes that is right, a public Quran reading. Once we have a better understanding of the Muslim faith, maybe then we can start an intellectual dialogue with our Muslim neighbors.
For example, when we read through the Quran we could learn some of the following facts that we should know about Islam.
We would learn that Muhammad was visited by the angel Gabriel however Muhammad was convinced the visiting Angel was an evil spirit until his wife told him the visitor was from God.
We would learn that Muhammad had somewhere between 10 and 40 followers while he was in his home city of Mecca and Islam didn’t gain in popularity until he moved to Yathrib and set up a more political theocracy. He then changed the name to Medina and became a militant Islamic leader.
We would learn that Allah informed Muhammad that his followers were to pray towards Jerusalem but when Muhammad was rejected by the Jews and the Christians, Allah then told him the proper place to pray towards would be Mecca.
We would learn that after Muhammad’s first wife passed on, he would then take on 11 wives and one of them would be 9 years old.
We would learn that American Muslims may be more relaxed on these rules but the Quran does call for the death of anyone that does not believe in or oppresses Islam. American Muslims are more peaceful and give rights to females; however, Islam is not so tolerant in other parts of the world. Even in America, men and women cannot worship in the same room.
We would learn that Islam teaches that Jesus was a sinless prophet of Allah but didn’t believe in the New Testament because the scriptures have been corrupted. I would like to know what evidence there is to support this point of view. Everything I have read strengthens the view that the New Testament is very reliable but that could be another entire blog post.
We would learn that Muhammad’s understanding of the Trinity consist of God (Allah) Jesus, and Mary. I guess Gabriel didn’t tell him about the Holy Spirit.
The Quran does not teach on atonement but Allah decides if your good deeds out way your evil deeds. The Quran does teach that the only sure path to paradise is by dieing for the advancement of Islam. Hadith 5:266 even states that Muhammad was unsure about his salvation.
These are just a few interesting fact I learned by reading some of the Quran. There are hundreds of these little known facts that we could learn by the public reading of the Quran.I do know burning the Quran is the absolute last thing we need to do. By reading and learning what we can about Islam, I think it will be easier to open a Christian dialogue with our neighbors . I would encourage you to learn about Islam but if we are going to make a statement for Christianity we must do it with the extreme emphasize on the love of God. God is not characterized by love but he personifies love. God’s love does not depend on the lovability of the object, he loves us despite the fact that we are fallen in sin.
Love our Neighbors as Christ loves us…

Strength in Opposition

Its times like this I wish I were a better writer. There is so much going on in the world I feel compelled to start blogging again and letting you know whats on my mind. I’m not sure where to begin and I’m not convinced I would be interesting but one thing I want to start by praying for a complete healing and or comfort for the very ill Christopher Hitchens.
If you are not familiar with Christopher Hitchens, Google his work and you would be very entertained and challenged by a lot of his writings. “Hitch” is a model of the conservative economic philosophy with a liberal social point of view.
Although, I usually enjoy his visits to cable new or to the Bill Maher Show, I am most interested in his work as an atheist apologist. Hitchens wrote, among others, a bestseller called “God is Not Great.” This book is promoted as some kind of Atheist manifesto but most critiques of the book pinpoints his problems with organized religion than an apology for atheism. (In fairness I have not read his book)
However, one of the reasons I admire Hitchens is his willingness to debate the great Christian thinkers of our time. He has debated Dinesh D’Souza, Alister McGrath and the most influential Christian thinker of our time, William Lane Craig (each of these debates are on YouTube if you would like to see them).
In my opinion, I don’t think Hitchens did a great job at defending his atheistic view points. In fact, his debate with Craig was like watching a high school student debate a PHD but that is not the point. Hitchens brought his high profile personality to the Christian community and in the effort to promote his version of atheism. As a odd result he STRENGTHEN Christian apologist more than most churches could. For this, we Christians should be forever grateful for the contribution to the Christian Community.
But isn’t this what the great provocative thinkers/writers have done throughout history?
Thank you Christopher Hitchens for challenging me politically and thank you for strengthening my faith. I am sure you have helped many more Christians than you will ever imagine.
If God doesn’t heal you,
When that time comes… Go rest High on that Mountain,
your work on earth is not done, but my prayer is that its just begun.