A Florida pastor by the name of Terry Jones plans on hosting a Koran burning event at his church to commemorate the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the USA – 9/11 (this coming Saturday). He is doing this to target Islam extremists. Protestors are rallying in various countries around the world and their are growing security concerns in the US. The move has been criticised by many people, including President Obama.Violent attacks of retaliation on innocent people could occur.
So what do you think? Is this an appropriate response by a Christian leader to Islam extremists? What would Jesus do? What happened to "love your enemies?" It sure doesn't help the cause of Christ and the reputation of His followers in our global village.
What would you say to Terry Jones if you had a chance?
P.S. Latest reports indicate that the event has been cancelled … though we can't be sure (see report here).
“What would you say to Terry Jones if you had a chance?”
I can’t even imagine what I would say to plans like that! Maybe “Please reconsider” for a start!
Quote “We are burning the book,” Jones told CNN. “We are not killing someone. We are not murdering people.” unquote
How would Terry Jones react if there was a planned bible burning?
I really dont think it is very christian to do this. WWJD humble himself not make a big display, not to bring up the past. We are taught to forgive your enemies and I think Terry is giving all christians a bad name.
If I knew Terry Jones, I’d definitely ask him to carefully reconsider it, and tell him the possible negative consequences of such an action.
I surely hope & pray that after his reconsideration, as the latest reports show, that the event has been cancelled.
Terry Jones does need to reconsider this malicious and ill thought act. It is a destabilising move and the religious and political ramifications are too great to even contemplate. As members of western society, we encourage and advocate religious and racial tolerance. This only promotes the opposite and fuels the apparent ‘hatred’ for Muslims in western civilisations.
I’m afraid I couldn’t be so kind to Ps Jones (not sure if reading this post just before midnight has something to do with it).
I could say a lot to him but I would limit myself to one sentence. “Go read your Bible again and rediscover the gospel because you lost the plot”
These nut jobs give all of us a bad name, let alone throwing fuel in the fire and poking Muslim extremists in the eye.
What a rare commodity discernment has become!
There is an old saying- I can’t remember who said it- that when they start burning books, they will be burning people next. Hitler did a lot of book burning and we all know what came after that.
Need I say more?! (of course, it would be impolite to raise the issue of what happens to bibles and christians in many ardent Muslim states – however, if one wanted to investigate this issue beyond the daily newspaper reports, one only needs to read Amnesty International reports- it is no accident that most of our current asylum seekers come from fundamentalist Muslim countries where it is not safe to be christian and don’t even mention the word conversion !)
No, I don’t think christians should start burning the Koran- might be a better idea if they read and studied it so they could have more intelligent and helpful conversations with Muslims they meet who are often genuine spiritual searchers and longing to meet a God who knows their name and really cares for them. Imagine if the whole of Australian Christendom fasted from dawn to dusk for a whole month (as Muslims do in Ramadan) in the hope that God would speak with them and that it would please God- I think this speaks volumes about their ardent desire to know and please God.
“How beautiful are the feet of those that bring Good News “- especially to those who are losing hope of ever finding Good News, let alone meeting Jesus – there is not much Good News for many living in fundamentalist Muslim states- meeting Jesus for them is often like finding a spring of living water when you have lived in a waterless desert forever.
PS – yet another good reason for not burning Korans- apart from the gross disrespect involved to a significant proportion of the worlds’ people- is that Jesus is mentioned quite frequently in it- I believe 90+ times – he is regarded as one of Islam’s revered prophets- Isa- although not regarded as God.
If anyone was wanting to do further reading on this topic, a good starting point would be with a book published this year by Australian Anglican Bishop, John Wilson-
‘ Christianity Alongside Islam’
– published by AcornPress 2010
We do not know much about Terry Jones due to his small church. However, a little spice of radicalism in our faith doesn´t hurt. We need to consider also the fact that Islam has won the most from globalism and democracy. They can burn US flags in Iran, Palestine or Indonesia, Americans can´t demonstrate against islam even in their own country. It´s OK when oneone stands up against spreading the Islam in the US, where Islam doesn´t play the game according the local rules of “tolerance” anyway. However, when Jones needs to write a book at the end of his life about why he never reached to Muslims with the message of the gospel, then this is probably the reason.
PS. I do not really think that Jesus in Quran has anything to do with Jesus in the Bible. They are quite different figures. And even if we see some similarities, nothing is worse than some white half truth.
Burn the US Flag, burn the Koran, burn the Bible, burn this, burn that……..my goodness, aren’t we behaving like kids?
I can understand the frustration of the Pastor.. The whole idea of a mosque being constructed so close to ground zero is a sensitive thing to many Americans – but that is beside the point. I would ask him, what would Jesus do? Would he burn korans? I haven’t read any accounts of Jesus doing such a thing. Jesus hammered the religious Pharisees and scribes, and left them speechless many times – Mat. 23 gives a mindblowing account.. so He definately wasn’t just some ‘softy’ that didn’t defend Himself, but did he burn their property? No. Did he need to? No. Jesus used the truth as His weapon, and its what we can use too. Only problem is, will we do this today? Do we stand up for the truth as Jesus did? Even if it means we could potentially be persecuted or even killed?? Well thats what we are commanded to do! Islam is growing faster and even overtaking Christianity. Why? We in the body of Christ need to do something about it – but in a loving and truthful way of course – not by burning their things – that’s exactly what they do to us! This is another big blow to the public view of Christianity – it gives even more reasons for our non believing friends to reject the truth and persecute us. All the more reason we need to start getting serious and getting the truth out to the world – the real truth of Christianity – that God loves the whole world and that Jesus died for the sin of all men – including muslims if only they will believe – and they can only believe if we share the gospel with them – show them love, show them how they are being lied to by being an example – not by burning their book..
This ‘koran burning’ is exactly the kind of behaviour that the Devil wants, something like this could cause christianity to be regulated so that we can never speak the truth to anyone. Which of us will speak out then? Then will come the real persecution. We have it easy now people… the bible talks about coming persecution and I’m not seeing much of it in the western world yet but something like this could well set it off. I’m not saying it will but it could.
The guy is a bit of a bone head. In all the world he has 50 sheep to look after and he makes the President of the free world or similar condescend to make a phone call to him before he changed his mind. Has he no respect for the challenge it is to keep him and other Westerners safe? Didn’t look like it, though now he may have seen the light.
I think you are missing the point. What he(Jones ) has done is highlight the difference between our liberal Judeo/Christian attitudes and Islam. Do we kidnap innocents like Daniel Pearl and video their execution (murder)?. Our society is built on Judeo/Christian principals and those principals are being attacked like no time in history, but do we kill those who burn the Bible? Waken up and defend that which gave you the freedom to express your opinion before you loose it.