So recently in the world Isis and other Islamist extremists like Al Qaeda and Boko Harem have dominated the headlines, and they’ve done so by almost being your stereotypical mustache twirling villains. Honestly they couldn’t be any less subtle about being evil if they got someone with a stereo to follow them around and play the imperial march everywhere they went. On the one hand it’s refreshing when the enemy is so clear-cut and obvious. But on the other hand this means that some people have had a tendency to clump everyone with the same ideology together in one camp.
Now as silly as this may sound, some have been taking it seriously. Some have even been calling for war. Not war with a specific nation, or with extremism, but war with Islam itself. Ridiculous isn’t it? Islam is a religion that teaches charity, virtue, love faith and good works, but few alleged Muslims go bananas and suddenly the world religion is evil. I think you’ll agree with me when I say a good Christian should not want war with good Muslims, but rather want to live in harmony with them.
Now where am I going with this you may ask? Well as it happens one of those email directed me to a YouTube page, where more of this hateful talk was being spouted. I’m sorry to say I read the comments. Really you shouldn’t read YouTube comments since there’s rarely anything there worth reading, but I did anyway. One person I noted was speaking out against the hatred in the comments and the video. Another person responded very harshly, saying in essence that the original poster was being naïve and that his/her ideas were shortsighted. The responder said that one day he/she would have to choose a side.
The first commenter responded, and the response I feel illustrates quite clearly why I love being a Christian and an American.
“I have chosen a side. I side with the constitution of the United States which says that all men are created equal. It says that everyone ought to have the freedom to worship as they choose to worship even if they worship Allah. I also side with Jesus Christ, our Lord, who said to love our enemies forgive those who trespass against us and turn the other cheek.”
So profound was this response that when I went back to pick up this quote I found that the responder had removed their reply entirely. I know that Christ Lives, and that he loves each of us, even those of us who worship a different God, or the same God in a different way. I know he set up this land for us, so we would have the freedom to become better, perhaps even become like him.
In the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior, Amen.
This week has been productive somewhat. I gave blood on Tuesday, and Jessica and I received our Valentine's Day packages on that day too. On Wednesday when Jessica and I began to Skype, a thought popped up in my mind, saying "You should not be dating her." This is not the first time that this happened, so I gave it some thought. Today is Sunday, and Jessica and I are fasting to confirm this prompting today. Pondering the thought that I should not be dating Jessica was unbearable last night, and I expressed it to her. Also on Wednesday night, I prayed for a missionary opportunity, and the next day my work situation changed. I did my taxes on Saturday. The opportunity to give blood became exciting on Tuesday, when I found out that my blood type is O positive. I was told that I can do a special donation where I give double the red blood cells. They said that it was actually easier on the body because they only take the red blood cells, and put the plasma and ever...
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