Burn the Quran?

I am sure some of you have heard of the little church in Florida, the Dove World Outreach church in Gainesville, that has announced that they will be burning many copies of the Quran on September 11. There has been a lot of media concerning this event, most stating that this church should NOT follow through with their plans. It seems despite of these statements, the church is still planning to burn the Quran. As of tonight, he had canceled the burning but now is only suspending the burning.

Hearing the news, I immediately thought this just doesn't sound right. Why would a church burn a book, even if it is against what they believe? Why would they do such a thing on September 11th, can we really blame this religion for the actions that occurred? Have they not forgiven those who have hurt us? We all know that many people do terrible things in the name of their religion, but that doesn't mean that it was right or that is was even true to the religion. Even so, shouldn't our first response be to show love and forgiveness? I kept thinking more about it and then read Sharon Miller's blog that contained a great article by the dean of Duke Divinity, Richard Hays. Go check out the article, it's very short.

We should not support this for a number of reasons, but for us Christians, mostly because of exactly what Richard Hays says,

"The apostle Paul, struggling against opponents of his gospel in the city of Corinth, insisted that 'the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.' Rather than resorting to violence, he sought to 'demolish arguments' and 'captivate every thought' through open statement of the truth.

For him, to use coercive or deceptive means would be to succumb to the forces he was opposing. His message could be defended only by clear, peaceful proclamation of the word. As Angel Nuñez of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference observed, 'The greatest weapon a Christian has is godly love.'"

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/08/13/626362/wwjd-not-burn-the-quran.html#ixzz0z3X21dQt

Burning the Qurans = NOT what Jesus would do. He would show love and forgiveness, grace and mercy. What is our response? Have we forgiven those that have brought terror to our country? What about even the people that have brought terror into your own life? Have you shown them love and forgiveness? We might can immediately look and judge this little church in Florida, but let's not forget to judge ourselves first.

“I give you a new commandment – to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. Everyone will know by this that you are my disciples – if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35