Rights, Rights, Rights
As Americans, we are seriously bent on ‘our rights.’ Having rights has made America into a great nation of freedom, undoubtedly and I am very thankful for my constitutional rights. In America, does this Pastor have the right to burn the Koran – Absolutely. As a Christian he, however, certainly does NOT. Our requirements are different. Furthermore, I hear many Christians (everywhere) talking about ’security’ and some even equating America w/ the tenants of the Bible and how we have Government given rights. To this I have to ask the question – who is sovereign over America, who protects it, who decides if we prosper or not? Is it not God? We are supposed to give up so many of our rights as followers of Christ. Our reaction to things like this should not be through the “I’m an American” lens, but through the “Im a disciple of Jesus” lens. He NEVER guarantees safety, lack of trouble, or even that we wouldn’t have to interact with people who violently disagree with our faith. We think that because radical Muslim countries burn the Bible daily we have the right to return the favor. We think it’s not FAIR that we don’t ‘overreact’ like many Muslim nations when they do so. We think it’s unfair that because they will overreact, our constitutional rights as American’s have been trampled on. Our rights went out the window when we were redeemed and now we are slaves to righteousness, are we not?

Fear -
Fear comes when we aren’t confident in the Lords promises or our true identity in Him, when we aren’t focused on him. Fear is what is happening in New York right now (sparked by what we believe our ‘rights’ to be). Fear is what is happening in Florida right now. The belief that we HAVE to strike back at radical muslims is only derivative of a lack of understanding of God’s sovereignty and a denial that His promises are true. Everyones in the world paint themselves as tolerant people, but how many of us get on an airplane and see an arabic looking person and the thought runs through our mind, ‘Oh crap, he’s a terrorist.” Let me give you another example. Where I live I’m fully allowed to enter the mosque and debate the tenants of Islam, PEACEFULLY and in a civilized manner. No one has tried to cut my face off at a mosque that has more than 300,000 members. I’ve even been able to talk regularly to the imam of the mosques in a Godly manner. Most of us don’t realize that the Koran ACTUALLY teaches that true believers are those who seek the truth and are willing to be peaceful in all things – Muslims IN THE KORAN are described as people who are supposed to subscribe to peace wholeheartedly. Furthermore, the Koran speaks very highly of followers of Jesus and that they are to NOT be persecuted – ignorance breeds fear, does it not? Yet, our churches get really uncomfortable when someone of another faith is among our congregation OR even someone who is different that then general makeup of the congregation. We are fearful of this Muslim Community Center – whose written agenda is to promote inter-faith conversation and cultural understanding. We are fearful that, “Oh no, what if it’s just a safe haven for Muslim extremists?!” We are fearful that to enter into a conversation about who God is and then who Jesus is with a Muslim, Buddhist, or atheist will wear our faith down – we in effect deny the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives AND our lives, to do his work with that person do we not? We refuse to even know what the Koran says because we are fearful and not confident that Jesus it who He said He is. Please please don’t hear a universalist statement here – God says that there is NO gospel but the gospel, but he also said to love those different than you – even those who make you fearful, persecute you, and are set against you. How does this NOT describe how we are to react to Muslim Extremists (who are defined by the Koran as NOT being Muslims actually)

Humanity -
It’s easy to strip the humanity from a group of people you have never met. Heck, it’s easy to strip humanity from those you even LOVE. Like I’ve mentioned on my blog, my neighbors are muslim, my friends are muslim, the guy whose giving me a ride to the airport on wednesday is a muslim who knows I’m a Christian and heaven forbid still likes me! We forget the message of Christ was not one of earthly power or where we are on the religious/spiritual food chain. These are people that GOD sovereignly choice to create and put on this earth and we are called to love them the best we can with how God enables us to do so. The Word is clear that ANYTHING we do outside of that is sin.

What he said –
This Pastor has stated, verbally, that he is standing up against the ‘radical sect of Islam’ stating that we will no longer bow our knees to them and no longer live in fear. How easy is it to insert “We will NO LONGER turn the other cheek! We will no longer bow one on knee!” Seriously, what does the Word say about this? In NO uncertain terms it says this: love them, pray for them, turn the other cheek, give them your tunic (Luke 6). If this pastor hears God’s voice, like Luke says, he is a SLAVE to these things – slave = no rights. As an America, I deeply defend his right to do such a thing, as a Christian I strongly state that the Word says he doesn’t.

Grace –
Like has mentioned before, we by now means can expect people to react Godly who are not redeemed – this includes Americans and Muslim nations. We cannot expect non-believers to react with grace because it ONLY comes from the Father. Whether the burning happens or not, grace MUST abound and we must ask God to give us the ability to show that grace.

My perspective on living in a largely Muslim community in a communist nation vastly impacts my opinion on these things obviously. These people are literally trying to get by in life yet we so often than not, in our hearts, tend to group them together (I speak of myself in these things).

The events that are happening in America right now truly truly tear my heart to pieces. I’ve watched hateful things be spewed all over the place, and more often than not come out of the mouths of Christians. We are allowed to understand what peoples believes are we should not be fearful of them as well.

Even if EVERY SINGLE muslim was an extremist, the Word of God is clear that we are to still not retaliate, still love them, still bless them.

We are not called to “critique” Islam in any way form or fashion. It is a false religion. Period. Nothing more needs to be said. Any attempt to make it anything else is giving it too much credibility.

Jesus stands apart and is lovely and will call unto Himself those that He desires a relationship with. It is time for us to recognize the amount of influence we have on God’s plan for salvation. We are called to live a life as a reflection of Jesus and when God calls us to share the GOOD news, we step up and do it courageously and faithfully. That process is much more about what He does in us through obedience than it is adding to His Kingdom. The rocks will cry out should we shrink back – evidence that God’s love will be proclaimed.

Looking for a fight to prove someone wrong or ourselves right is foolhardy and demonstrates a complete lack of both faith and understanding of Scripture. Islam will only expand and dominate if God the Father allows it.

Again, let’s worry about our little domains before we flinch about what happens elsewhere.

As one who shares your libertarian views, I pretty much agree with you on this. The “Florida 50″ are ridiculous, but I would not give the slightest ground to the government in regard to religious freedom. Today, the majority of politicians fall somewhere between “vaguely Christian” and “couldn’t care less”. Any intrusion into the sphere of religion would likely be pretty rational and inconsequential (like “don’t burn other people’s stuff”). But what if 20 years from now, DC is full of Hitchens, Harris, and Dawkins drones? And what if they put their crosshairs on Christianity? The less precedent they have to tread on this amendment, the better. Government should be kept at a far distance from this (and pretty much everything else, in my opinion).

As for me, as an American I respect this pastor’s right to burn the Qur’an. As a Christian, I question his judgment in choosing to do so. My heart breaks for the Muslims who are maybe on the fence, considering seeking Jesus, who will be turned off to the Gospel now whether he goes through with the burning or not. We can talk all day about on what we should be focusing in this debate about to burn or not to burn, but at the end of the day, we all lose.

The Great Commission as I understand it says to go and tell. It does NOT say go and tell, and then judge those who don’t believe and show them how wrong they are by insulting thier beliefs. We may not like the Muslim response to Christianity, but God is still sovereign. We do our part (go and tell), and leave the outcome to the Lord.

As I am writing this response, I’m hearing that the pastor has cancelled his plans to burn the Qur’an, and is instead going to New York to visit the Imam planning the mosque near Ground Zero. God is sovereign.

When Muslim extremists attack our cities and our allies, our media and our governments are always quick to point out that those acts don’t represent “true Islam”.

When a pastor threatens to burn Korans in Florida, why wouldn’t the same standard apply?

The reason Christianity hasn’t taken hold in Muslim lands is because threats of death and violence are more immediate and compelling to most people than any new message.

My personal view of Islam is that it is a religion that is largely enforced by fear and violence. We even have “honor killings” happening in American suburbs these days. I’m sure that is offensive to some people. I say that knowing I am offending someone. But I still believe it to be truth.

I acknowledge that there are various strains of Islamic faith, just as there are various strains of Christian faith. How is it, if “true Islam” represents peace as we are told, that violence and oppression are so widespread, if not the norm, in the Islamic world? Why does any critique, symbolic or otherwise, of Islam carry a threat of violent retribution?

I don’t know how we can ever expect change to come to those places without arousing debate and conscience about what is justifiable behavior in response to questioning Islam.

The pastors actions are provocative, no doubt. I see it as a poor choice, but I also feel like I understand where he is coming from. As an American, I think its a valuable exercise of free speech. He certainly has aroused debate, which I believe is his intention.

By refusing to critique Islam out of fear (which is more what I believe our leaders are doing), we are giving Islam permission to expand and dominate.

Our governments certainly won’t critique Islam. Our media won’t.

Who will?

That pastor in FL…that could be me were it not for Him jerking me by the collar in 1991 and throwing me into His agenda and not really giving me an option of saying, “no.”

It also doesn’t surprise me that Christianity is more hated than Islam – Christ is a divisive figure. Remember the whole sheep and goats discussion? That’s not popular and, as mentioned above, it’s much safer to piss off a Christian than it is a Muslim. Christians don’t pull people’s arms out of their sockets when they lose.

So, whatever happens in FL will happen. I don’t have influence over the situation and I have more than enough in my own living room to manage.