If Christians Behaved Like Muslims
by Torrey H. Brinkley
The recent set of terrorist threats and activities in Scotland & England have brought to the front again a potential threat from radical Muslims, who seemingly have designs set on killing & maiming westerners, just some of those who do not share their religious and political ideals.
The enemies of Bible-believing Christians in the West are many & varied, and often the liberal media accuse Evangelicals of being fanatical, extremist, and even dangerous. But, in fact, if Christ-followers did behave like Islamic extremists:
1) We would require all Christians to stop all work, school and recreation to pray to our Lord five times a day, and demand time/place for such from our employers, educators and recreation directors.
2) We would demand our rights to worship, teach, display our religious symbols, and enforce our morality, no matter what schools, governments, or opinionated liberal voices cried.
3) We not only would ask our people to witness and worship our God, but we'd call for the destruction & overthrow of all who disagreed with our message.
4) We would not only put Bibles in hotel rooms, but we'd force everyone in our country to believe and adhere to such ideals, or be jailed and/or executed.
5) We would keep all our women at home to raise children & clean house, while not allowing them in the workplace, to teach schools, be politicians, appear in popular media, or travel alone on public transportation.
6) We would call for the assasination of anyone who made fun of the Lord Jesus, or offended our view of Christianity.
7) We would establish secretive training schools (and, if necessary, to train in violent measures) for the young, never allowing them to know of other lifestyles or ideologies.
8) If Christians behaved as Muslims, we'd not just argue biblically that homosexuality is a sin against God, and that abortion offends God by taking a precious life, and that lewd open sexuality is a vulgar misrepresentation of God's image in man. No, we'd stone them all in public, flog them in the town square, or dismember their bodies mercilessly.
9) We wouldn't go and preach freedom & democracy around the world, we'd take our biggest bombs and blow our opposition off the map!
However, we are directed to be a different kind of people:
"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
-- Ephesians 5:1 (Paul, who had stoned Christians to death, but who now writes, as a religious prisoner in jail)
"Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with insult, but with blessing. (You) must turn from evil and do good; (you) must seek peace & pursue it."
-- I Peter 3:8,9, 11 (Peter, who before the Cross, took his sword and cut off the high priest's servant's ear.)
"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds."
--2 Corinthians 10:3-4. (Paul & Timothy, after traveling by land & sea, to share the good news about Jesus throughout the known world, to all the major cultural, philosophical & commerical centers)
What did the early followers of Christ preach & teach? They noted that Jesus is unique in claiming, not to be just a prophet of God. He actually claimed to be God, yet allowed Himself to be sacrificed for humankind's wickedness. Therefore, we know how God acts in human encounters:
....He speaks the truth in love, challenges all unrighteousness, heals the sick, raises the dead, feeds the hungry, calls all to a divine committment, and brings a godly peace & calm thru humble obedience & selflessness.
