Not only is an extremist church in Florida threatening to burn copies of the Koran, our tax dollars are being used to burn Bibles in Afghanistan.
My thoughts are that neither will accomplish the goals of the match holders.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
Grabbing Attention or Taking a Stand?
Do churches need to burn Korans in order to demonstrate their opposition to Islam?
I'm not sure I understand how having a bonfire fed by a religious book accomplishes anything good or is in any way Christ-like. Jesus didn't burn the books containing the religious traditions He found so offensive. Nor did He advocate His followers to set books on fire.
There is an occasion in Acts 19 where books were burned. But the story has no resemblance to what the Gainesville, FL church plans. The Ephesians who burned their books had been converted from pagan sorcery to life in Christ. It wasn't a protest. It was for them a rejection of their own past. It was a declaration of their new-found freedom. My hunch is the folks who will be pitching Korans into a fire were never Muslims.
The ramifications of their planned book burning are far reaching. General Patraeus warns that going ahead with the burning will only serve to ignite a greater hatred for and inspire an increased effort on the part of Taliban against US servicemen serving in Afghanistan.
I truly doubt that we can fight spiritual warfare - which is what the Gainesville church claims it is doing - with book burnings. There are better ways of evangelizing the world than by alienating those who need to hear the Gospel by extremist acts.
Or could it be that this is mostly a publicity stunt? If so, it's way over the top. Have they burned any other religions' books? If not, they should be consistent and do so. Why just pick on one?
A better way to observe Sept. 11 - the date of the planned burning - might be to remember those who died and honor those who gave their lives in efforts to save lives.
I'm not sure I understand how having a bonfire fed by a religious book accomplishes anything good or is in any way Christ-like. Jesus didn't burn the books containing the religious traditions He found so offensive. Nor did He advocate His followers to set books on fire.
There is an occasion in Acts 19 where books were burned. But the story has no resemblance to what the Gainesville, FL church plans. The Ephesians who burned their books had been converted from pagan sorcery to life in Christ. It wasn't a protest. It was for them a rejection of their own past. It was a declaration of their new-found freedom. My hunch is the folks who will be pitching Korans into a fire were never Muslims.
The ramifications of their planned book burning are far reaching. General Patraeus warns that going ahead with the burning will only serve to ignite a greater hatred for and inspire an increased effort on the part of Taliban against US servicemen serving in Afghanistan.
I truly doubt that we can fight spiritual warfare - which is what the Gainesville church claims it is doing - with book burnings. There are better ways of evangelizing the world than by alienating those who need to hear the Gospel by extremist acts.
Or could it be that this is mostly a publicity stunt? If so, it's way over the top. Have they burned any other religions' books? If not, they should be consistent and do so. Why just pick on one?
A better way to observe Sept. 11 - the date of the planned burning - might be to remember those who died and honor those who gave their lives in efforts to save lives.
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