Are we as individuals and Christians obligated to help the poor and dispossessed? Jesus said we are. But is our country obligated to admit Islamic refugees? Most here and across the country say no, and I have now joined their number.
I have spent some time researching the Muslim culture, in countries mostly Muslim, and in countries mostly Christian. They scare me. It goes against my natural inclination not to put people in categories. Labels are more often unjust than fair consideration would warrant, so I have been willing to think that Muslims are just people who worship a different God than me. However, in comparing the cultures, I find some alarming differences. We as Christians follow the example of Paul and Barnabas and Peter; we take the message of Christ's hope of salvation to whoever will listen, and try to convince them of The Way. We don't, however, think it proper to use violence or the threat of violence to bring them into the flock. Jesus never said that it's OK to just kill those who won't convert. Mohammad did. No, he didn't say it was OK. He said it was a duty.
What is going on in Europe right now is an event of biblical proportions. The Old Testament spends thousands of words on the destruction of the Temple and the Exile of the Israelites to Babylonia. That was 2500 years ago, and we still study that event. We are seeing MILLIONS of Muslims leave Africa and the Middle East to settle in non-Muslim nations. They live an entirely different kind of lifestyle than the people in those European nations; and they have a God-given obligation to see that Islam is the dominant religion there. Their religion allows them to have four wives. The children of those wives will be Muslims, and will be taught Mohammad's ideas of justice.
I don't want that happening there, and I sure don't want it happening here. If there is a way to refuse immigration to ALL Muslims, I think we should seek it. That makes me a bigot, and I hate that...but that is where I am today.
I have spent some time researching the Muslim culture, in countries mostly Muslim, and in countries mostly Christian. They scare me. It goes against my natural inclination not to put people in categories. Labels are more often unjust than fair consideration would warrant, so I have been willing to think that Muslims are just people who worship a different God than me. However, in comparing the cultures, I find some alarming differences. We as Christians follow the example of Paul and Barnabas and Peter; we take the message of Christ's hope of salvation to whoever will listen, and try to convince them of The Way. We don't, however, think it proper to use violence or the threat of violence to bring them into the flock. Jesus never said that it's OK to just kill those who won't convert. Mohammad did. No, he didn't say it was OK. He said it was a duty.
What is going on in Europe right now is an event of biblical proportions. The Old Testament spends thousands of words on the destruction of the Temple and the Exile of the Israelites to Babylonia. That was 2500 years ago, and we still study that event. We are seeing MILLIONS of Muslims leave Africa and the Middle East to settle in non-Muslim nations. They live an entirely different kind of lifestyle than the people in those European nations; and they have a God-given obligation to see that Islam is the dominant religion there. Their religion allows them to have four wives. The children of those wives will be Muslims, and will be taught Mohammad's ideas of justice.
I don't want that happening there, and I sure don't want it happening here. If there is a way to refuse immigration to ALL Muslims, I think we should seek it. That makes me a bigot, and I hate that...but that is where I am today.
