It’s been plastered all over the news. The story of Pastor Terry Jones and his church, Dove World Outreach Center, in Gainesville, Florida has stirred up much dissenention when they decided to hold a Quran burning at their church on the anniversary of the September 11th attacks.
I’ve been hearing comments from self-professing Christians that are all over the place concerning this issue. There are right ways and wrong ways to respond to this issue. Had we lived in a world where all pastors practice discernment, this plan would have been axed by the Holy Spirit at the word go. But since Jones has already made a mess of this whole thing, the Christian world must know how to correctly respond. Here are a few things I want you to consider.
As Christians, we can’t be afraid to call a false god a false god. In a world where moral and spiritual relativism is the norm, this sounds like a very insensitive idea. You can not be a Christian and believe there is more than one way to heaven. Any religion that does not teach that Jesus is the way to the Father is hopeless. This includes Islam, Buddhism, Daoism, Hinduism, Judaism, Atheism, Agnosticism, etc. Our ultimate goals should be to reunite people of the world to the Savior. Only He can deliver them from their sin. Peace is not the ultimate goal for a Christian. Honoring Jesus is.
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law…And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:34-35,38)
Don’t go out of your way to be offensive. Jesus is offensive enough. Sit back and think of the Apostles in the New Testament. Why were they persecuted so much? Did they go out picking fights with other religions? No. They suffered persecution for performing miracles and preaching Jesus. (Acts 5:17, 9:29)
“You will be hated by all for my name’s sake” (Matthew 10:22). Jesus alone becomes offensive to legalists and false gods. We don’t have to do ridiculous things to bring out unnecessary persecutions. The gospel alone will bring that. We are called to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. What Pastor Jones is doing is just plain idiocy.
Burning Qurans won’t bring anyone closer to Jesus. Common sense. Take a young muslim boy. Ask him to recite something out of his Quran. He does. Now burn his Quran and ask him to recite something out of it again. He still does. Without a change of heart, a person can be stripped of all his religious material, thrown in prison, beaten within an inch of his life, and still hold fast to his beliefs. Just ask the Apostles.
In Acts 19:17-19, we find Ephesians who came to the Apostles AFTER CONVERSION TO JESUS, carrying with them their magic books to have them burned in the eyes of everyone. This symbolic act represented what had already happened in their heart. Had the apostles began burning their books before the conversion took place, they would have been in for the fight of their lives.
What do you think? What are some other lessons that Christians can learn from this incident?
RELATED POSTS:
