How Does God Feel About Radical Islamists?

Blog »  How Does God Feel About Radical Islamists?

Wednesday, September 11, 2013   Jeff Lampl

www.flickr.com/photos/85772001@N00/75771062

God’s Mercy Makes Jonah Angry  

"(When God saw that the Ninevites repented ). .. . He did not  punish them,   But this made Jonah very unhappy, and he became angry.  . . . . . So now I ask you, LORD, please kill me. It is better for me to die than to live." Jonah 3:10-4:3 (NCV)  

 "Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them."
Romans 12:14 (NLT)  

 "Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good."
Romans 12:21 (NLT)  

 "But now I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,"
Matthew 5:44 (TEV) 

“shouldn’t I show concern for the great city Nineveh, which has more than one hundred twenty thousand people who do not know right from wrong . . ?“
Jonah 4:11 (NCV)  

Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them; they don't know what they're doing."

 Luke 23:34

 

Ninevah was to Israel what the Taliban or Al Quaida is to us (and to Israel!).    Years ago Jerry Falwell , leader of what was then known as the Christian “Moral Majority” was interviewed on CNN and was asked what we should about radical Islam.   His answer was , “Blow them away in the Name of the Lord”  

What would constitute a godly response from America to the Syrian Government’s (or the Rebels’?) use of chemical weapons on civilians civil war, the growing control of Al Quaida in Iraq, or the Military’s ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt? 

What would Jesus have us do?  Is it possible that in practice our version of “Just War” turns out in the end to be, at least in some ways, not all that different to war waged against us by Muslim nations?    Does returning evil for evil accomplish God’s purposes,  even if we deem military action the “lesser of two evils” option?  Does violent force even work?   Or does simply and always bring about retaliation?   And what is God’s big picture of this anyway?  

God loved the Ninevites.  God loves those who are His enemies.   What if . . . . what if we were to risk American lives by invading Syria and Egypt and Palestine and Afghanistan with food, medicine, shelter, love and compassion thereby seeking  “to conquer evil by doing good” just like the Bible says?    

It was GK Chesterton who wrote, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and therefore left untried.”

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Bonus Read!   Promote Free Speech on Evolution!
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Bonus:  Why Does America Love Duck Dynasty??
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