{"id":2964,"date":"2015-05-09T07:30:46","date_gmt":"2015-05-09T11:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/eidos\/?p=2964"},"modified":"2015-05-09T10:04:55","modified_gmt":"2015-05-09T14:04:55","slug":"applying-the-golden-rule-to-my-islamic-neighbor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/eidos\/2015\/05\/applying-the-golden-rule-to-my-islamic-neighbor\/","title":{"rendered":"Applying the Golden Rule to my Islamic Neighbor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Nobody should die for being offensive and the fact that people want to kill Americans for offending their religious beliefs is wrong. It is a greater wrong than drawing offensive cartoons.<\/p>\n

Obviously.<\/p>\n

\"We<\/a>
We will fight and win if we must fight.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If Jihadis come to Texas to kill Texans over cartoons, they are making a miscalculation greater than an earlier decision to be nailed by Charles Martel. Do not mess with Texas. Bless your hearts, you will find Texans ready to defend other Texans\u2019 right to be jerks. \u00a0Which brings us to an important question for the vast majority of Texans who are Christian:<\/p>\n

Why would any Christian want to draw cartoons that would offend our neighbors?<\/p>\n

We know the Islamic extremists are bad folk, so there is no need to draw them out by drawing cartoons. What is being gained? If we must die for your right to be rude, we will. It matters, but really I wish you would stop. Cultural conflicts must come, but I would rather not see a clash of civilizations center on juvenile and crude caricatures.<\/p>\n

Jesus said<\/a>:\u00a0Do to others as you would have them do to you.<\/p>\n

I belong to a church that is being murdered in the name of Islam all over the world. Our churches are being destroyed and our most sacred objects defaced. This is evil.<\/p>\n

Here in America we are in the majority and so have a chance to witness to the truth of the Gospel by treating our Islamic neighbor the way we wish ISIS or the House of Saud treated us. We can\u00a0refuse<\/em> to give offense unless it is unavoidable. We can refuse to deface sacred objects or mock beliefs our neighbors hold sacred.<\/p>\n

We must not be weak or unclear about our differences. There is one God, but Mohammed is not His prophet. The Koran is not the Word of God. I have come to these conclusions based on study, reflection, and experience. A\u00a0colleague<\/a> spends time defending these ideas and receives frightening responses from radical Muslims. Isn\u2019t it better if a fight must come to defend the right to informed, reasonable, dialectic than to defend the right to be rude?<\/p>\n

We pray for peace, but we are unafraid to fight. We are, after all, the religion of Saint Constantine as well as the religion of Saint Francis. Christians will not offend our neighbors if we can help it, but we will not be silent about what we think is truth. If expressing our reasoned views is \u201coffensive,\u201d then so be it. We ask nothing more in majority Islamic lands than a free market for ideas.<\/p>\n

Christians embrace the right of the\u00a0most offensive anti-theist\u00a0<\/em>on this site to say\u00a0anything\u00a0<\/em>they wish. We must, because our God bids us reason. We embrace the right of the most radical Muslim to preach their faith, but\u00a0we will fight to protect our right to say:\u00a0<\/em>Jesus is Lord.<\/p>\n

Jesus Christ is God and Jesus Christ is victor. If this offends you, then I cannot care. We are dying for the right to say it in lands where atheists and Muslims have the power to kill us. We will die for the right of reasonable men in lands where we are the vast majority to disagree with us. We are not fond of the rude who tweak any faith or lack of faith, but\u00a0we\u00a0must stand in solidarity with soul liberty.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Lord God made a perfect garden and then allowed his children to disobey and defy Him. He let them choose death. We will do the same. You may choose the wrong life and meet eternal damnation: we will not judge you in this life for your wrong religious choices. If you choose the wrong actions<\/em> in this age, then we will execute justice in the name of a sovereign God. We are Christians who worship the Prince of Peace, but also remember the Battle of Lalakaon<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nobody should die for being offensive and the fact that people want to kill Americans for offending their religious beliefs is wrong. It is a greater wrong than drawing offensive cartoons. Obviously. If Jihadis come to Texas to kill Texans over cartoons, they are making a miscalculation greater than an earlier decision to be nailed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1007,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spiritual-reflections"],"yoast_head":"\nApplying the Golden Rule to my Islamic Neighbor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nobody should die for being offensive and the fact that people want to kill Americans for offending their religious beliefs is wrong. 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