Should Christians Burn the Quran?

Five reasons why Christians should not burn the Quran

Royal Hamel, Faith

Friday,April 8, 2011 Guelph Mercury

On March 20, two Christian extremist pastors, Terry Jones and Wayne Sapp, burned a copy of the Quran in a Florida church. As news of the burning circulated around the world, it provoked an especially violent reaction in Afghanistan, where up to 22 people have been killed in various protests.

If you were to ask me why the two pastors felt compelled to destroy the Quran in this way, I would have to say, “I don’t know.” But if you were to ask, “Should they have burned the Quran?” I would have to say, “Absolutely not!”

I’m not interested in why the deed was done, nor can I deal with its horrendous consequences in this short article, but I consider it of great importance to reassure Muslims, and secular people as well, that the burning of the Quran was in fact an unbiblical, and yes, even an unchristian act of provocation. I do not hide from anyone that I seek to be a committed follower of Jesus, and on many issues my tendency would be to side with Christians when a dispute erupts with the Muslim community.

For instance, I abhor the blasphemy law in Pakistan which has too often been used by unscrupulous persons to persecute innocent Christians to the point of having them imprisoned for life, or even sentencing them to death.

That said, the burning of the Quran was an act performed outside the bounds of ordinary Christian love and decency and cannot be defended by any committed follower of Christ. In a press release issued this month, the World Evangelical Alliance roundly condemned the actions of these extremist pastors in Florida stating: “The WEA believes no book of any faith community should ever be burned or desecrated in any way … this action does not represent the true Christian faith or the world’s two billion Christians.”

Here are my top five reasons why Christians should consider this desecration of the Muslim holy book as an unbiblical act of attack and provocation:

First: Even if Christians in some parts of the world (Pakistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia to name a few) are unjustly persecuted by Muslims this gives no justification for Christians to retaliate. Jesus in his famous sermon on the mount calls his followers to love their enemies, and to pray for those who unjustly persecute them.

Second: Christians are called in the New Testament to always let their speech be filled with grace. This burning, by extremist pastors, of the Muslim holy book was a form of speech. And nobody in their right mind can accept that it was a gracious kind of ‘speech.’

Third: Christians are called by Jesus to: “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” We would not appreciate it if Muslims, or any others, were to burn copies of our scriptures. How then can we tolerate it when extremists among ourselves play the hypocrite, denying Jesus and his commands, even while they claim to be his followers?

Fourth: Jesus has called Christ followers to go into all the world taking the message of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, and the good news that sins can be forgiven. This is a message of love, peace and reconciliation with God—it is not a message that deliberately seeks to affront, blaspheme, or provoke.

Fifth: The second great commandment given by Jesus states: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” It shows no love to our Muslim neighbours to desecrate, deface, or in this case to burn an object that Muslims regard as holy and sacred. Christians to be sure have a different belief system regarding what is holy and what is profane, but the Christian disobeys Jesus when we act in a manner that is callous and disrespectful of the religious feelings of our fellow human beings.

Instead of burning the Quran, it would be far better if ungodly Christian extremism were to simply fizzle out and die quietly. Far better for all if the smoke in our neighbourhoods were to come from barbecues in the backyard—Muslims and Christians sharing a meal together.

contact author, watchman2003@sympatico.ca

http://www.guelphmercury.com/living/article/514324--five-reasons-why-christians-should-not-burn-the-quran

YES WE MUST BE OPEN TO THE CULTURE, BUT NO...we cannot baptize sin

Last night I was at a meeting here in Guelph in which we were talking about how Christians can more effectively communicate the good news of Jesus. In a DVD shown the speaker pointed out that a great many Christians today are without knowing it, longing for a better past, kind of a golden era when Christian values were generally more accepted. He added that some Christians see the present culture, and its values as so anti-God that believers are actually angry and hostile at the culture in general.

I think, in part, the speaker is on the money. If believers are angry, contemptuous and hostile toward a culture they are seeking to witness to and win to Christ there is a fundamental problem. Now don't get me wrong, God help us not to fall into the error of being soft on sin and so tolerant and compassionate that we end up being more tolerant than Christ. But on the other hand, it simply will not do to so live and so speak that people only hear condemnation and judgment from our words and lives. Someone much more holy than us mastered this kind of living and speaking. For Jesus was not soft on sin, but somehow he communicated love not condemnation. God help us to learn from him. For there is error on either side of the road. Those who want to speak only of love, compassion and tolerance are also very much in error...for they are prone to leave out the truth about sin and God's hatred of it, and the result is that they are apt to baptize sin and make it virtuous when God has spoken otherwise.

This topic is made more complex by the fact that in several places in scripture Christians are commanded to 'hate that which is evil, and to hold fast to that which is good". We also know that there is such a thing as righteous anger. Who can contemplate the vile actions of pimps for example who seduce young women, or rape them, and then blackmail them into a life of prostitution. Such vileness causes in me a well of righteous anger, and I do believe that God would approve.

We must guard our soul against a generalized anger and contempt toward our culture. Certainly one aspect of such guarding is to love and exercise compassion both for sinners and sinned against, to see all people as lost sheep in need of a shepherd. Jesus modelled such love to both Zacchaeus, the hated tax collector, and as well, to the Samaritan woman. Both of these people would have been considered the dregs of society...but Jesus made it a point to reach out to them with his wonderful good news. We too by his power can and must love the people in our culture without baptizing their sins. And we must find ways of communicating that love.

I am aware that there are some so rebellious against God and truth who will insist that all judging between "right' and "wrong" is in itself an act of hate. Such libertines would do away with all right and wrong if they could, and in the meantime they malign and slander truth for their own ends. I do not say that we will convince them of their error, but we must try, and even with these, seek to do so with a gracious spirit.