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Fourth in the Series. David To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.--Thomas Jefferson
-------- Original Message --------
For every
thousand residents of America today, eight are Muslims.
A few are radicals bent on terrorism, but every
indication is that most are not. Even if the Qur'an
teaches the violent spread of Islam, these enlightened
Muslims interpret it in a peaceful way. Our Constitution
guarantees them freedom of religion, just as it does us.
Whatever else we might say about Muslim Americans, they,
too, are our neighbors. That means, according to Jesus,
that they are beneficiaries of the second greatest
command, to love our neighbors just as we love
ourselves. We are obligated to practice the Golden Rule
-- to treat others the way we would like to be treated.
If you lived where Christians were outnumbered by
Muslims 125/1, what would you wish from them? Is that
too much to ask? Jesus thought not.
-- In America, we also have the freedom to share God's grace with our Muslim neighbor, first by living graciously, then by telling the story of God's saving grace through Jesus Christ -- whom Muslims already revere as a prophet but do not yet know as God incarnate. We must not think that a hopeless task: the teenage son of a founder of the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas eventually became a disciple of Jesus because a tourist he did not know and who did not recognize him, invited him to a home Bible study one day in Israel.
Meantime, we pray "Your
kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven," and we
cooperate with God by placing ourselves and our daily
lives at his disposal, to be transformed into living
samples of what he has in mind for humankind. We
certainly must not ever concede to despair. Instead,
as Christians, we can cling to certainties that
transcend politics, whether local, national or global.
God--and only God--is totally trustworthy. His
kingdom--and only his--will last forever. Whatever
happens today or tomorrow, or the year after that, and
whether we thrive or suffer, whether we live or die,
we are safe in his hands. For reactions from gracEmail readers to parts 1-3 of this four-part series, go to http://www.EdwardFudge.com/muslims.html
Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org |
- [RC] Fwd: (gracEmail list) behind Muslim hostility (4) David R. Block
