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Islam

Christian tract for Muslims: comments?

A friend hands these around from a table in downtown Melbourne:

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Answering possible questions:

Who are you? We are members of a range of Christian churches in Melbourne. We know each other through common friends. We are all volunteers with a common message.

Why are you here? Our primary aim to tell people about Jesus Christ. We believe that he is the most important person who has ever lived.

So why do you have material about Islam if you are Christian? There are about ½ million Muslims in Australia. One in 26 people in Melbourne is a Muslim. We need to tell them about Jesus.

Why don’t you just stay with the Christian message and ignore Islam? You should ask the Muslims why they feel it necessary to attack Christianity in their pamphlets. The material produced by Muslims talks about Jesus and the Bible, but it gives the wrong information. For example,  in the their pamphlet ‘The Concept of God in Islam’, a full panel is given to contradicting Christian teaching about Jesus. We have a right to respond to their misinformation.

Why do you hate Muslims? We do not hate Muslims. We love Muslims, just as Jesus loved all people. He even told us to love our enemies, so as Christians we are forbidden to hate anyone.

Are you Islamophobic? An Islamophobe is some-one with an unreal or unjustified fear of Islam. If we were that fearful of them, we would not set up a table right beside them. We are very friendly towards them as individuals. But in Australia, thank God, we have freedom of speech and we are free to critique any ideology as long as we are respectful, which we are.

Why do you criticise Islam? We want people to be aware of the impact of Islam on a society such as ours. The groups which the Muslim table represents are from IISNA (The Islamic Information and Services Network of Australia) and IREA (the Islamic Research and Educational Academy). They are extremist groups which literally believe and publicly promote the teaching of the Qur’an calling for the beating of wives (see Qur’an 4:34) and the cutting off hands of thieves (see Qur’an 5:38). We don’t believe that these practices have any place in modern Australia, even if Islam requires it.

But Christianity isn’t any better. I disagree. In the last census, nearly two thirds of Australians called themselves Christian. There are 1800 churches in Melbourne.  We have a society that has been established on Judaeo-Christian principles, such as the Ten Commandments and the teaching of Jesus. Because of this, Australia is one of the most prosperous, peaceful and progressive nations in the world.  No Muslim nation can match it.

What about all the violence in the Bible? Two responses: Firstly, even if there is violence in the Bible, that does not justify other violence elsewhere. A murderer cannot claim that he should be set free because some-one else murdered more people than he did.  Islam must answer for its own violence, and not try to hide behind violence that is found in the Bible or anywhere else. Secondly, the violence in the Bible is found in the Old Testament, under the Jewish kings and rulers.  That rule ended nearly 3000 years ago. We are Christians and we follow Jesus who told his followers to put away their swords (see the pamphlet: “What Jesus taught us about Jihad”: Below). But Islamic violence is with us today – just watch SBS news any night and you will find Muslims killing in the name of Islam.

But Christians have killed just as many, perhaps more, people than Muslims. What about World Wars I and II, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Crusades? These were military campaigns carried out by governments for political reasons.  Jesus never told anyone to go and kill others in his name. He told people to love their enemies (Luke 6:27). He refused to use violence. Anyone who is violent against others for personal reasons or who uses violence to establish their religion is not following the teaching of Jesus. Muhammad, by contrast, used violence and he encouraged violence.

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JESUS ON JIHAD

Jesus showed this love for his enemies in a practical way: When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, one of Jesus’ followers drew his sword and cut off the ear of Malchus, a servant of the High Priest. Malchus was among those who had come to arrest Jesus. (The Gospel according to John 18:10). Then Jesus did something amazing. “He said: “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.” (The Gospel according to Luke 22:51) What an amazing action. Jesus used his miraculous power to heal a man who had come to seize Jesus and take him to his death.

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Jesus prayed for his enemies even as they were in the process of killing him:
Jesus was convicted of blasphemy because he claimed to be the Son of God (The Gospel according to John 19:7). The Roman governor Pontius Pilate ordered that Jesus be crucified. As he was hanging on the cross, Jesus prayed to his heavenly Father for those who had nailed him there: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (The Gospel according to Luke 23:34). What an amazing prayer. Could you pray like that for your enemies?
Jesus’ death was an illustration of forgiving enemies: Because of our disobedience to God’s laws, we could no longer be God’s friends. “You were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour.” (Colossians 1:21)

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But instead of taking the lives of his enemies, Jesus gave his own life for them. “And since, when we were his enemies, we were brought back to God by the death of his Son, what blessings he must have for us now that we are his friends and he is living within us!” (Romans 5:10). Jesus’ death has reconciled us to God.

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Jesus’ death was for the forgiveness of our sins: At the Last Supper, his final meal with his followers before he died, Jesus said: “This is my blood, sealing the New Covenant. It is poured out to forgive the sins of multitudes.” (The Gospel according to Matthew 26:28)

If we put our trust in Jesus, we can now live in peace with God. “So now, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith in his promises, we can have real peace with him because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. For because of our faith, he has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to actually becoming all that God has had in mind for us to be.” (Romans 5:1-2)
———————————————-If you want to learn more go to:
www.mylanguage.net.au

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