There is a lot of buzz about the fire breathing fundamentalist in Florida who is planning to burn copies of the Quran on the anniversary of 9/11. Heads of state have weighed in and said that such things endanger Americans abroad. These displays provide more ‘bulliten board’ material for the enemy.
As a Christian pastor (I’m not sure how much of a ‘peer’ I am to him…) I just want to weigh in with some reasons why I am not planning on joining him in burning the Muslim holy book and why I think it’s a bad (read immature, dumb, selfish, embarrassing, gospel-muting) idea.
1) IT MISSES THE MARK If the goal here is to say that 9/11 was wrong I think you can say it without insulting every Muslim in the world. There are Muslim people who love the Quran and hate what happened on 9/11. Sir Flame-a-lot from Florida misses this point and successfully alienates people who may have already been on his side.
2) IT MUTES THE GOSPEL What in the world are we supposed to be about as Christians? Above all we are to conduct ourselves in a manner that is worthy of the gospel (Phil. 1.27). Our message is Jesus and him crucified not Fundamentalism and Quarans burned. Nobody (outside of his band of burners) would think that this is about the gospel. If you have the opportunity to make waves in this world they should be gospel waves not whacko waves. This guy is hitting mute on the gospel to bop his head to his own soundtrack.
3) IT PROMOTES POPULAR STEREOTYPES Talk to any non-Christian (which I am not sure these guys do very often) and you will hear that we Christians are in intolerant lot. And this is true. But it is not true for the reasons they think. We are intolerant because the gospel is exclusive (Acts 4.12). However, and sadly, most unbelievers think we are intolerant because of various and sundry social and moral issues. This guy is pouring lighter fluid on the anti-Christian anti-Bible arguments in this country.
4) IT MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE THE WHACKO Memo to the book burner: Do you realize that you look like an idiot? Sane, middle of the road Americans who hate what happened on 9/11 are looking at you with the same scorn and ridicule. You have become the whacko. You are the nutjob. You are the dangerous fundamentalist that is running around with your tactless fundamentalist agenda strapped to your chest ready to hit the switch in the public square just to promote your cause. C’mon guys…you got to see this.
5) IT MAKES MISSIONS TOUGHER These guys should give thought to their publicity stunt. There are people serving in countries where they can be killed for the gospel. They can be killed for owning a bible. And they have been working for years, some people their whole lives just to reach a community, to earn trust. And then someone is gonna pick up this story on Yahoo! or CNN or something only to make things tough for them. This is a risk they should not incur even if they would disagree with what I said above.
6) IT MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND GRACE I don’t mean grace in the sense that you need to be tolerant and accepting. Instead I mean grace in the sense that we as Christians do not deserve to be heirs with Christ and blessed with every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1.3). We do not merit forgiveness, life, inheritance, hope, joy, peace, acceptance, adoption, and mercy! We don’t deserve Jesus. We are sinners! We are those who were formerly insurgents in the holy war against God and his Christ (Rom. 5.6-11). How dare we forget this and act like other people are stupid and we are smart. Everything we do must drip gospel. To show off like this immature, embarrassing, gospel-muting and grace avoiding.
One Christian, Burk Parsons, whom I respect asked this question about our topic:
What would the world think if the greatest civil protest against burning the Qur’an came from Christians not Muslims?
In light of the gospel, the church, and the glory of Christ, I’m trying to do my part Burk. Great question and exhortation.
Reverend Terry from Florida…shake yourself, wake up, wise up and call this thing off and preach the greatness of Christ who forgives dumb, selfish, sinful rebels like me and like you.