I suppose you've all heard about Rev. Terry Jones' great plan to burn Korans on 9-11, but I'm not sure that many people think that that is the best idea that they have ever heard. Rev. Jones' stance is that Americans need to stand up to terrorists and not bow down to them, but his way of going about it is slightly unorthodox, even for a Pentecostal from Florida. He says that Islam is of the devil and must be defeated and completely removed from America.
Ok, couple of things; if he is on a crusade for America, we stand for religious tolerance (not tolerance for terrorists, granted) and the burning of holy books of another religion on one of their holy months, Ramadan, is not exactly tolerant to say the least. If he is on a crusade for God, I think he needs to read the Bible, his holy book, and maybe just think "What would Jesus do?" Well, I'll tell you what Jesus would do. Or, actually I guess, Matthew will.
Matthew 5: 44-45 "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."
I think I actually might somewhat understand his misconstrued thinking, which is that terrorists are bad and they are Islamic, therefore he should destroy the ideals for which they stand, ideals which are contained within the Koran. That on its own makes a little bitty bit of sense. A little bitty bit. However, he is only furthering hatred and agitating the differences in people's belief in God. Furthering hatred and causing agitation aren't usually the best ways to show God's love and help others to understand the true meaning of faith in Him. I don't know. Sometimes I think about things...
Anyway, tonight was a good night. I had a feeling it would be. I went to the first Bible study I have been to in a long time, and it was perty good. Beau Berman, the associate pastor at Redeemer (where I go to church), was leading it and it was at his house. We studied passages in Galations and I learned some good things. I thought about writing all about it, but I already had a little blurb about God and stuff, so I figured I would leave you guys alone. (And by "you guys," I mean the three or four of you who will read this.) At any rate, Bible study was good, and I plan on going back.
Well, this was a fairly God-centered post. I mentioned some of the feelings I had towards the Koran burnings, and also mentioned Bible study. I am sorry if I bored you, my dear three or four readers. I will do better tomorrow, I square.
By the way, I am not completely sure if ol' Reverend Terry Jones is Pentecostal, but I think he leans that way or something. I'm actually not really worried about it, to tell you the truth. Anyway, Peace Be with You, Sir.
Good stuff. Thanks, Tommy. I am glad you went to Bible Study. By the way, I have heard it said that Islam is not a religion, but also a political and military set of ideals. From the same source, I heard that those Muslims who believe peace on earth (when everyone is Muslim) will come later don't really involve themselves in jihad and such. However, there are those who believe it is their duty to bring it about through jihad, which is commanded in the Koran. I have not read the Koran, only excerpts, so maybe there's someone out there who can correct me if I am wrong. Regardless of whether you think Islam really is a set of religious, political, and military ideals, do you think that if there were such a belief system contrary to American government and military, it should be treated only as a religion and therefore tolerated?
ReplyDeleteShould it be tolerated? Hmm. To a certain extent, I suppose. Not in its practice, obviously, but there are a lot of people who disagree with the American military and government. I would consider the extremists that practice the doing away of Americans to be terrorists, which I said should not be tolerated, but I don't see much problem with the non-jihadists.
ReplyDeleteI don't know all about the koran burning stuff but what I do know is that I am awesome. It is 5 day until halp reach comes out, it will be legendary in more ways than one. Anywho there will be no trolls in the game just a few playing it. It is thursday because I am a day late and all but it has been AWFUL british weather. I SINCERELY EMPHASIZE awful. But anyways this was not funny at all but as the chinese say Hasta Luego
ReplyDeleteJP, you are dumb. Way to spice up the deep religious philosophical debate between us grown-ups. Not. You are full of nonsense and haven't the intellect of a third grader.
ReplyDeleteTommy, I totally and completely agree with you 100%. No offense, JP.
ReplyDeleteOh, and about your response to my post, I suppose I should have specified that I meant an opposing militaristic loyalty, not just that they disagree with the way we're running things here (like most Americans ;) ).
Ah. Well, either way, Koran burning, while it may be fun, is not the most Christian solution.
ReplyDeleteTommy, if your last post was in response to mine, I gotta say that you really didn't answer the question! I didn't ask you about Koran burning. But I do agree with you.
ReplyDelete