The Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, plans to mark the anniversary of al Qaeda’s September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington by burning copies of the Muslim holy book. The church insists the event is "neither an act of love nor of hate," but a warning against what it calls the threats posed by Islam.
At the gym this morning I watched as CNN interviewed the pastor of the church in Florida about the upcoming burning demonstration. I was going to blow this off as another misguided attempt by Christians to get their point across but by the end of it I was in tears on the treadmill.
The first question posed to him was doesn’t the Bible ask you to turn the other cheek? Isn’t this act of hate doing the opposite of what Christ asked for? He said it was not an act of hate. They welcome Muslims to America. They don’t oppose the Mosque. In fact, they believe moderate Muslims should agree with them. Plus, Jesus got angry too. He overturned tables and called Peter the devil.
And that’s when I knew I had to say something. Jesus was righteously angry at HIS PEOPLE. People that called themselves followers but weren’t acting a thing like that. The only thing Christ ever offered to unbelievers was love, hope, salvation, healing and a second chance.
And why would moderate Muslims go along side this? They admitted it would be offensive and that he was offended when the flag or Bible was burned. I’m sorry, I don’t care what you stand for, moderate or radical, if you burn the Bible, I can’t support you. Why would they do the same?
If that weren’t enough, he said he was aware of the warning from military and US officials that this could cause imminent danger to troops in Afghanistan. His response? Yes, but we’re set on what we’re doing, but we’re praying about it.
So here’s my thing. I pray too. I pray to the same God he does and He wouldn’t tell us different things. Maybe I’m wrong, call me out, but let’s at least get on our knees and pray. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb here and saying this shouldn’t happen. If you hear the same thing, email them and let them know, as a Christian, you oppose this demonstration.
I heard about this as well this morning and I definitely agree its a BAD idea! My first thought was "What in the world are they thinking?".
I'm stunned that ANY pastor would support burning of ANY book. This is, despite any assurances otherwise, purely an action born of hatred. My, some of today's spiritual leaders seem to have a very short memory, don't they?
But I'm prepared to summarily dismiss this nutbag since he's from Florida. Can't the rest of us go ahead and vote Florida off the island? 😉
Amen. This is deplorable.
I saw this on the Today show this morning. I was horrified.
I read an article about this this morning and was horrifed. No matter what your belief system, burning a Holy book is wrong whether you feel justified or not. The fact that this Church would knowingly put American soldiers at risk is especially upsetting.
Hopefully this Pastor will listen when God tells him that what he is planning is completely wrong.
it si so worng to burn a holy book based on thier own justification what this guy is diong is so wrong
i wonder if this dude thinks Jesus would attend the burning if he were here. he probably does. people like this scare the crap out of me…..i place them right up there with the terrorists.
I follow this story every morning and it makes me so sad. What are we teaching our children? I do know people who agree with this and that makes me sad too.