"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Gospel of St. Matthew, 5:2-10
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Gospel of St. Matthew, 5:2-10
September 11, 2001 is another day which will live in infamy in the memory of Americans. It was on that fateful morning that airplanes, hijacked by Islamic extremists caused unspeakable carnage at the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. In doing so they violated the tenants of their faith, they dishonored their families through their acts of hate, and they cast an aspersion on the millions of peace loving people all over the world who adhere to Islam.
Recently, there have been a number of controversies about the Islamic Center that is planned in the general vicinity of the former World Trade Center. Let's be perfectly clear here: Islam did not attack America. Terrorists, blinded by the words of a madman, did. Islam, like the other great religions of mankind, is a faith of peace. Yes, its true that in the past, there have been those who have killed in the name of Allah. However, the history of Christianity is not without incredible acts of savagery done in the name of God, (the Crusades come to mind), and the acts of Jewish armies in the Old Testament cannot be easily reconciled with what we consider civilized behaviour today. The point is, no modern faith is without skeletons in its closet, and yet all still stand for for fundamental principles: Peace, Love of God, and that we, as the Children of God, should honor His commandments and not kill.
America is a nation founded on freedom. Our rule of law, our record of tolerance is held as a shining standard that most of the world looks to with envy. Yet, there have recently been some who would tarnish that standard. The leader of the cult-like Dove World Outreach Church, in Florida, with his message of hate and intolerance toward Islam, is an embarrassment to not only the Christian faith, but to America. Yet, he has a constitutional right to be both. Those who have protested against the Islamic Center proposed several blocks away from the World Trade Center site are another example of bigotry, intolerance and a tarnish on America's tradition of tolerance. Again, they have a constitutional right to their opinion, but so do also the adherents of Islam have a right to practice their faith.
On September 11, 2010, we should not be dealing with these devisive issues. We should be remembering those who died that day, the thousands of men and women from not only the United States, but from many other nations also, whose only crime was to be in the wrong place. We should remember that until those who wish to commit these acts of unspeakable evil, in the name of their faith (or for any other reason), are hunted down and brought to justice, that the battle against this evil is not over.
Let us all, of whatever nationality, of whatever faith, stand together on September 11 and remember in silent prayer those who died that fateful day. let us also pray for the souls of those who commited this act of violence and hate, remembering that God is their ultimate judge. Finally, let us pray for peace, a peace in which all persons, of whatever faith, can worship their God in whatever fashion they feel right, without worry of reprisal, ridicule or harm.
4 comments:
What I am struck by (as I believe you know), is how contrary to the basic word, the fundamental teachings, of Christ Mr. Jones' message is.
He preaches that Islam is evil - he attempts to say that this is SOLELY because they do not profess to accept Christ as a personal savior, and of course turning away from God is a sin, but he then goes on to say that ALL Muslims are either deluded (in a rare case) or secretly harboring a desire to violently convert the world and to install Sharia dominated nations throughout the world, which also, per his words, is evil. He also goes on to suggest that those who accept abortion as acceptible and those that accept homosexuality are barely better (but seemingly just "sinners" rather than "evil"), than Muslims.
In Galatians 3:11 - the passage reads -
"Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, 'The righteous will live by faith.'"
The point simply being that those who attempt to justify (meaning earn salvation) through adherence to the laws of the bible are in error, rather they should be working through acts of sanctification to evidence such faith, but only by not turning away from Christ's sacrifice are they justified. Mr. Jones appears to suggest that HIS mission and HIS message of intolerance of homosexuals and of Muslims is righteous, that it is through adherence to law, rather than acts of kindness and charity, that they can be and is found.
Further, there is another passage which escapes my correct recollection which suggests that no one is more or less "evil" in the eyes of God, that it is God's right alone to judge, and that our calling is to sit down at a table in with our "enemies" and seek a way to reconcile our differences. Our responsibility does not extend to burning their religious texts, our responsibilities do not extend to calling them out as "evil doers", not following the law - in fact so doing makes us nothing different from the Pharisee, professing the law, while not living the word.
In short, by attempting to say that Muslims are "evil" and by calling out those "other churches" which accept gays or which don't subscribe to his personal views on abortion (for the bible is silent on this matter), Mr. Jones IS passing judgment, IS proclaiming one set of people are MORE good and LESS evil - and is therefore, to my mind, being heretical, and directly opposed to the spoken and written word. He is not advancing Christianity, he is advancing self-righteousness through purporting to know the law.
Mr. Jones shows an unusually poor and shallow understanding of his calling as a pastor and as a christian (imho).
Thank you for commenting, Penigma!
You are correct: Mr. Jones has an appalling lack of understanding of the central message of Christianity. Unfortunately, this entire matter seems to have been a publicity stunt to thrust he and his tiny congregation of fellow bigots into the national spotlight. How they perceive being almost universally condemned for their hateful and bigoted actions is a good thing is beyond me, but unfortunately, sometimes you just can't cure stupid.
Let me state that what I'm about to post isn't a statement against Islam. That said Islam is not a religion of peace. The Quran is full of examples of the teachings by Mohammed that are violent. Apostasy according to Sunni's is punishable by death. The Quran is full of examples which call for flogging and death for crimes. I would agree that you can make the argument the there are similarities between some of the Old Testament and the Quran. Christianity though is NOT a religion of violence. There are occasions in which Christians including Catholics have abused the faith to commit acts of violence but they had to corrupt the Word. I don't claim to be an expert in the Bible but as I understand it Jesus' teachings counter-dict many of the teachings of the Old Testiment. I can't think of one example where Christ called for violence on anyone. Mohammad and the Quran do. I'm not saying violence hasn't been committed by "Christians" in the name of God but generally speaking those acts are not supported by the Bible they tend to be "laws" of the church which were created via interpretation.
Also, you need to correct you Crusade reference. While I agree that the Crusades were violence sanctioned by the Catholic Church they were in reaction to violence. The Catholic Church didn't call for the conquering of Islamic lands which is commonly the laymen understand of the Crusades. The Crusades were an attempt to liberate Christian lands which were conquered by Islamic countries. Prior to the Crusades Islamists launched Jihad's.
It's too easy to paint all people who protest against the Ground Zero Mosque as bigots and racists. I have many Muslim friends. I spent a good portion of my life in a predominately Muslim country. I can tell you the nearly all of them do not understand the insensitivity that the mosque builders are showing. Is Raheel Raza a bigot? She's a Muslim and co-founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress. She wrote an Op-Ed critical of the building of the mosque near Ground Zero. She's been threaten by the mosque builders for her opinion.
I think most rational people and that's a majority of those who are opposed to the building of a mosque near Ground Zero, myself included, agree with your general principle that Islam didn't attack us on 9-11. That it was in general a twisting of the Quran that spur those attacks. That said, it's incredibly insensitive to build a mosque at that location. It's painful to those who lost people there. I think a great example is the War of the Crosses. In case you don't know the War of the Crosses is a situation in which Polish Catholics are erecting crossing in front of Auschwitz at a location where 152 Polish Catholic resistance fighters were executed. You know that a Catholic priest Father Kolbe and a Camolite nun Edith Stein died at Auschwitz. Father Kolbe died of starvation when he volunteered his life in place of a fellow prisoners and Edith Stein died in a gas chamber because she was born a Jew. They are both now saints. When the Carmolite nuns moved onto the grounds of Auschwitz and put up the crosses Jews were hurt by the insensitivity and protested. While I would say they have a right I would say it was insensitive. The Catholic Church agrees with me. It was insensitive and the Church ordered the nuns to move off the grounds. Before you say Yeah but a million Jews died there you should know that Auschwitz is a series of camps. The part of the camp where the nuns set up in and where the crosses are is not one of the camps where a vast majority of the Jews were killed. Still, to set up in a area where a million died when the Catholic Church spent centuries fomenting hate against Jews and when Pope Pius XII said nothing about it yet he spoke up against the execution of the deformed and handicapped in public institutions and spoke out against the harsh treatment of Catholic priests. Both of which Hitler stopped. Lets not forget the Jewish Orphan controversy of Pope Pius XII. We can see why it might be a tad insensitive to erect crosses and a nunnery near anything called Auschwitz. I do not see this as any different from the case of a Ground Zero Mosque.
Lastly, why are they so secretive about where they get their funding? Why don't they promise not to take money from Iran and terrorist organizations? Maybe because one of the key contributors to the Ground Zero Mosque is Hisham Elzanaty. Hisham was a large contributor to Hamas. So maybe a some close inspection of WHO and WHERE the money comes from is called for, no?
So are there bigots and racists that are protesting against the mosque? I'm certain there are. However, a vast majority of those against the mosque are neither bigots nor racists they're concerned with WHY and WHO and WHERE and some have emotional reasons. So yeah of course they can but should they?
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