I recieved a friend request from a guy who apparently was new to Facebook. I don't normally accept requests from people I don't know, however I decided I could always just remove him if he became problem.He seemed to be new to Facebook I figured what the heck, why not!
Once I accepted the request I went to his page and noticed he was Muslim, which perplexed me since it's pretty clear from my page I am a Christian. I decided I was not going to remove someone just because they don’t “believe” the way I do, and who knows maybe the Lord could use something I say to open this man’s eyes to the truth of who God really is and maybe lead him to Christ. Ya never know right? And to be honest a small part of me thought, “Well if I remove him from my friends list now that I know he is Muslim it could be said I was just being “racist” or “intolerant” of another’s faith.
So I sent him a message telling him I was curious as to why he wanted to be a “friend”. He sent a message back saying he needed a friend and was lonely. My first thought was, "yeah OK now that sounds like a “pick up line”...LOL. He also told me he was going to be visiting the US in three months, that he is from Turkey and speaks little English. In the next message he explained he would be visiting Chicago, Grand Rapids, Greenville, Belding and Lansing. To which I replied…I can understand wanting to visit Chicago, and even Grand Rapids or Lansing…but Greenville and Belding are not exactly tourist spots! He didn’t respond to that part of my message. (Does it make me a racist to wonder what this guy is up to?) Considering the current mood in the world and knowing how extremist Islamism’s goal is to kill anyone who will not accept their religion and how much they hate Americans, I don’t think it makes me a racist, simply cautious!
The next message I received he asked me if “I love Allah (God)”, telling me he very much loves “Allah (God)”. It took me a couple days to reply.
I did not want to be offensive or judgmental so after praying about it decided to reply with, “I love the Lord God more than anything and His son Jesus who is my Lord and savior, who died in place of the sins of the world so anyone who calls on Him can have an intimate and personal relationship with God :-)"
He proceeded to remove ME from his friends list! Which is fine, however considering all the talk in America right now that says if you are against the Mosque at Ground Zero, or you vocalize any concern about Muslims in this country who are extremists, you are labeled a “hater” and intolerant, and if you happen to be a Christian who is against the Ground Zero Mosque or concerned about terrorists living in America you’re not just labeled a hater or intolerant your almost in fact “demonized”.
As far as building that Mosque so close to Ground Zero… it has nothing to do with religious intolerance or infringement of freedom… If some whacked out Methodist, Catholic, Baptist or any other religious group attacked the towers it would be just as much of an outrage to let them build a temple, church or “community center” in that area!!
How is it that those who are Christians, followers of Christ, who believe Jesus is who He says He is, and know God is a God of love and does not tell us to kill those who refuse to accept him are called the haters?? Yes there are those who claim they are Christians yet they completely ignore what the Lord teaches about loving ALL people, and have used God as an excuse to be hateful to others, even murdering those who do not “believe” in God.
We are told to hate the sin, NOT THE SINNER! A good example is the Pastor who said he was going to burn the Koran…Dude...... really? Show me in the Word of God where it tells you to behave as those you disagree with??? An eye for an eye was Old Testament we are to live under Grace. Apparently you don’t know Jesus very well because He tells us to pray for our enemies and do good to those who spitefully use us! Not burn their religious books. (see scripture below).
Jesus himself said he came not to condemn the world but to save it! “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” John 3:18
“And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.” John 12:47
The martyrs in the Christian church died standing for their belief in Jesus Christ…not dying in the process of killing others in the name of God or to “earn” entrance into heaven. God DOES NOT tell us to kill others, and especially not because they refuse to accept Him. In fact we CANNOT “earn” heaven! It is a free gift!
We are saved through faith- “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” Ephesians 2:8-9
You cannot earn your way into heaven…especially by breaking the commandments and teachings of Jesus! “Love your neighbors as you love yourself!”
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:31
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do GOOD to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” Matthew 5:42-44.
Why anyone would want to embrace a “religion” that is so full of hate or one that requires you to kill another to gain entrance into “heaven” is beyond my understanding. And why anyone would reject a God who loves us so much that he gave his only son to die in our place, a God who tells us to do good to others, to love one another, a Savior who tells us to lovingly lead others to Him……NOT demand or coerce with threats of death to bow down to Him is even more so beyond my understanding!
Intolerance is always yelled the loudest by those who are the truly intolerant. Those who are truly the racists are those who call anyone who disagrees with them a racist.
I am not intolerant-I have yet to remove anyone from my friends list who disagrees with my views on anything whether it’s politics, religion or lifestyle and I am definitely not racist…have you seen the pictures of my beautiful Grandson? J
And it DOES NOT make me a racist because I disapprove of President Obama and his agenda for this country! I am sure he is a nice man who loves his family - however he is just another Politian who said what he had to say to get elected and is now doing the opposite of what he “promised”.
By the way, why is it so many seem to have forgotten - our President is half white? I would say focusing ONLY on the fact that his skin color is black- is the real racist attitude! I’m just sayin!
