Have you every been in a church meeting and the question came up, “How can we better show Muslims the love of Christ?” The usual answers start something simple like, acknowledge their participation in school volunteering. Go to the local Muslim leaders and find a way we can work together. Burn the Koran at our September 11th picnic and broadcast it on the internet.
Yep, you read the last one right. The Dove World Outreach Center of Gainesville Florida decided that the best way to show the love of Jesus Christ to the world would be to burn Korans. They may have outreach in their name, but I don’t think this is outreach.I’m not sure what part of, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” (Mark 12:31) or “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things,” (Galatians 5:22-23) this church is operating under, but it seems they may have missed these passages in the bible. This also seems to be a growing problem in many churches across the United States.
In his book Reason For God Tim Keller says the way to judge groups is not by their standard for their members, but by the way they treat others,
“Which community has beliefs that lead it to treat persons in other communities with love and respect–to serve them and meet their needs? Which community’s beliefs lead it to demonize and attack those who violate their boundaries rather than treating them with kindness, humility, and winsomeness? We should criticize Christians when they are condemning and ungracious to unbelievers.”
When churches do stupid things like this they do nothing but drive people away from the cross of Christ. Acts like this are not what Christians are to do. People who do thing like this usually just want publicity for a book or money for themselves. Christ came a died on a cross to show his love for humanity. When churches do stupid stunts like this or carry signs that say “God hates fags,” they are turning their backs on the GREAT SACRIFICE Christ made to unite us with God.
This is not an issue of freedom of religion, it is a publicity stunt and nothing more. Besides that, it is just plain stupid.
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About Steve Crenshaw
i first recieve this on twitter then but thanks to God that it doesnt happen it would surely result to religion crises
Emily, I fully believe this will incite violence from Muslims, but that is what the guys wants. He wants to prove a point that does not need proving. There are only 50 people that go to this "church" and they are getting way more play than they deserve. Or maybe the media wants to play it up so they can get footage as well. Who knows.
My recent post Gainesville Florida Church To Burn Koran
Burning the Koran isn't a solution and it is outrageous to even think it. I strongly believe it will only create war among Christians and Muslims. There was a saying I heard before, "There is only ONE God with MANY clubs…called religions." Think about it, if the Muslims burn our Bible or the statue of Christ to make us convert, wouldn't we get angry at them?
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