Mohammad & Christ being Mocked. What's the difference?

... millions of Muslims in all parts of the world have protested against the publication of cartoons depicting Mohammed. The protests have been highly emotionally-charged in many countries, with embassies burned to the ground, and people killed. The fervency of the Muslim backlash has surprised many Christians, who have asked questions of their own faith and how they should respond when Christ is mocked and reviled so frequently in Western culture. John Piper, an American pastor and author, has written the following article which gives a fresh perspective on the situation:

By John Piper / February 8, 2006

What we saw this past week in the Islamic demonstrations over the Danish cartoons of Muhammad was another vivid depiction of the difference between Muhammad and Christ, and what it means to follow each. Not all Muslims approve the violence. But a deep lesson remains: The work of Muhammad is based on being honored and the work of Christ is based on being insulted. This produces two very different reactions to mockery.

If Christ had not been insulted, there would be no salvation. This was his saving work: to be insulted and die to rescue sinners from the wrath of God. Already in the Psalms the path of mockery was promised: “All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads” (Psalm 22:7). “He was despised and rejected by men . . . as one from whom men hide their faces . . . and we esteemed him not” (Isaiah 53:3).

When it actually happened it was worse than expected “They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head. . . . And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ And they spit on him” (Matthew 27:28-30). His response to all this was patient endurance. This was the work he came to do. "Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).

This was not true of Muhammad. And Muslims do not believe it is true of Jesus. Most Muslims have been taught that Jesus was not crucified. One Sunni Muslim writes, “Muslims believe that Allah saved the Messiah from the ignominy of crucifixion." (1)

Another adds, “We honor [Jesus] more than you [Christians] do. . . . We refuse to believe that God would permit him to suffer death on the cross. (2) An essential Muslim impulse is to avoid the “ignominy” of the cross.

That’s the most basic difference between Christ and Muhammad and between a Muslim and a follower of Christ. For Christ, enduring the mockery of the cross was the essence of his mission. And for a true follower of Christ enduring suffering patiently for the glory of Christ is the essence of obedience. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account” (Matthew 5:11). During his life on earth Jesus was called a bastard (John 8:41), a drunkard (Matthew 11:19), a blasphemer (Matthew 26:65), a devil (Matthew 10:25); and he promised his followers the same: “If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they malign those of his household” (Matthew 10:25).

The caricature and mockery of Christ has continued to this day. Martin Scorsese portrayed Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ as wracked with doubt and beset with sexual lust. Andres Serrano was funded by the National Endowment for the Arts to portray Jesus on a cross sunk in a bottle of urine. The Da Vinci Code portrays Jesus as a mere mortal who married and fathered children.

How should his followers respond? On the one hand, we are grieved and angered. On the other hand, we identify with Christ, and embrace his suffering, and rejoice in our afflictions, and say with the apostle Paul that vengeance belongs to the Lord, let us love our enemies and win them with the gospel. If Christ did his work by being insulted, we must do ours likewise.

When Muhammad was portrayed in twelve cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, the uproar across the Muslim world was intense and sometimes violent. Flags were burned, embassies were torched, and at least one Christian church was stoned. The cartoonists went into hiding in fear for their lives, like Salman Rushdie before them. What does this mean?

It means that a religion with no insulted Savior will not endure insults to win the scoffers. It means that this religion is destined to bear the impossible load of upholding the honor of one who did not die and rise again to make that possible. It means that Jesus Christ is still the only hope of peace with God and peace with man. And it means that his followers must be willing to “share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Philippians 3:10).

Footnotes:

(1) Badru D. Kateregga and David W. Shenk, Islam and Christianity: A Muslim and a Christian in Dialogue (Nairobi: Usima Press, 1980), p. 141.

(2) Quoted from The Muslim World in J. Dudley Woodberry, editor, Muslims and Christians on the Emmaus Road (Monrovia, CA: MARC, 1989), p. 164.

Article found in "Back to Jerusalem"

Islam Does Not Mean Peace

Muslims are not real studious and tend to reject scholarship in favour of their own version of things. In other words, they invent stuff when it suits them. Take the definition of the word Islam. In the USA, I have heard Muslims actually say the word "Islam" means peace, trying to put a kinder gentler wrapping paper on their horrible religion.

As you can see from the authorities below, the lexicon definition of "Islam" is submit. After which one will experience peace. Notice the cause and effect in this quote: First you submit in Islam... then second, after submitting, you will experience peace: "And a Muslim ... is 'one who submits' or surrenders to the will of God, thereby attaining peace of mind and soul." (The Joy of Sects, Peter Occhigrosso, 1996, p394-397)

Problem is if you blindly swallow the mythical and fictitious claims of Islam as true, and never rock the boat, you will experience peace. But for the intelligent who reject Islam because they are not prepared to ignore the universal testimony of every history book in the world, Islam means war, persecution and death.

* Contrary to Muslim rhetoric that claims Islam means peace, the truth is that the word Islam does not mean peace, but "Submission" as this authority verifies: "The term Islam in the lexicon of the Arabs means 'Submission' to God." (Islam, Beliefs And Observances, Caesar E. Farah, p2-7, 26-35)

* Islam still bears the stigma in the West of a religion of violent fanatics, bent on conversion at all costs. Yet the Arabic word Islam means "submission" or "surrender," as in surrender to God; it also derives from salam, the Arabic word for "peace." Both meanings are present in the actual experience of Islam. And a Muslim (the spelling preferred to Moslem) is "one who submits" or surrenders to the will of God, thereby attaining peace of mind and soul. (The Joy of Sects, Peter Occhigrosso, 1996, p394-397)

* Muhammad called his new religion "Islam," a word which means submission, that is, submission to the will of Allah, the Lord. One who accepts Islam and makes such submission is a Muslim. Such a person is termed a mu'min (believer), and one who does not accept Islam is a kafir (unbeliever). To live in submission to Allah and in obedience to the teaching of the Prophet a Muslim, a Muslim must follow a rule formulated for him as a good Muslim. Such a rule is provided in the Shariah which is in the first instance on the Qur'an, in the second instance on the Hadith, the Traditions, in the third instance on Ijma’, the consensus of the community, and in the fourth instance on qiyas, the application of analogical reasoning to the other three sources for the deduction of new rules. Obviously, the Prophet's intention was that the community should be a single community and the Shari’a its common rule of life. (Islam: Muhammad and His Religion, Arthur Jeffery, 1958, p xi-xiv)

We have been hearing that Islam is a religion of peace, and in fact that Islam means peace. Both of these assertions are in error. Islam means submission. Check with any good Muslim dictionary and "submission" will be the definition of Islam. Redefining the word Islam is an attempt to deceive people about the real nature of Islam.

The argument is made based upon the idea that the Arabic word salaam means peace. The word "Islam" shares a common root with salaam, therefore Islam means peace also. It is true that Islam and salaam share a common root, but according to the dictionaries, they do not mean the same thing.

According to A Basic Dictionary of Islamic Words by M Zakiuddin Sharfi, Islam means, "Submission or resignation to the will of Allah, completely. He does not define salaam, but does note that one of the ninety-nine attributes of Allah is as-Salam, meaning "The Peaceful One’

A common greeting is Arabic is "as-Salam-u’Alaikum." This means "Peace be upon you." It is easy to see that it is not Islam, but Salam.

Do not be deceived by claims that Islam means peace. It means submission. Islam has always been a religion of violence.

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How Should a Christian Respond to Terrorism?

How should Christians respond to terrorism? The question we must always ask is: "What does the Bible say?"

The terrible tragedy that occurred in New York City and Washington D.C. on September 11, 2001 released a torrent of emotions--anger, hatred, rage, despair, compassion, and more. We saw people at their worst and at their best.

How should Christians respond to terrorism? The question we must always ask is: "What does the Bible say?"

#1 The Bible says that God has established government and government is endued with God's authority to protect its citizens and punish those who terrorize them.

The Bible is quite clear about why legitimate governments are established and the extent of their authority. From the apostle Paul we learn:

"The authorities that exist have been established by God" (Romans 13:1).

"There is no authority except that which God has established" (Romans 13:1).

"Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities" (Romans 13:1).

Perhaps most appropriate to the case of the terrorist attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are the following:

"Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves" (Romans 13:2).

"Rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong" (Romans 13:3).

"He (the ruler) does not bear the sword for nothing" (Romans 13:4)

"He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer" (Romans 13:4).

CONCLUSION: We submit to legitimate authorities because they are duty bound to act against those who disobey the law and harm others. We also submit for the sake of our conscience. The terrorist attacks on September 11th were both unlawful and unconscionable. The United States government has both the right and the duty to God to pursue and punish those who committed these terrible acts and those who harbor them.

#2 The Bible says that we are not to take punishment into our own hands but to defer vengeance to God through legitimately established governments.

Again the apostle Paul:

"Do not repay anyone evil for evil" (Romans 12:17)

"Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath" (Romans 12:19).

The Bible teaches that vengeance belongs to God because only He knows perfectly the hearts of men and only He can temper vengeance and justice.

"It is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord." (Romans 12:19).

"It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip" (Deuteronomy 32:35).

"It is mine to avenge; I will repay" (Hebrews 10:30)

"The Lord is a jealous and avenging God . . . . The Lord is slow to anger and great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished" (Nahum 1:2-3).

God's vengeance is ultimate vengeance when He shall judge all mankind. But as seen above, He vests legitimate governments with the responsibility of being His present agents of vengeance, not individual citizens.

CONCLUSION: While it is the right and the responsibility of our government to respond nationally and militarily to these terrorist attacks, it is not our individual right to respond. It is equally unlawful and unconscionable that US citizens would retaliate out of anger against those with Arabic or Middle Eastern surnames or faces. God and those legitimately established governments have the responsibility for vengeance and retaliation, not citizens of the state.

#3 The Bible says that the way to overcome evil is not through personal retaliation or hatred but through personal good and compassion.

One more time the apostle Paul:

"Do not be overcome by evil" (Romans 12:21)

"Overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:21)

"He who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law" (Romans 13:8)

Add to this the words of Jesus:

"Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also" (Matthew 5:39)

And read what the psalmist David said:

"Do not fret because of evil men" (Psalm 37:1)

"Trust in the Lord and do good" (Psalm 37:3)

"Do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes" (Psalm 37:7)

"Refrain from anger and turn from wrath" (Psalm 37:8)

"Do not fret-it leads only to evil" (Psalm 37:8)

David, Paul and Jesus understood God's command to Moses:

"Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord" (Leviticus 19:18).

Undoubtedly during these days of anger and rage we will hear people quote God's Word inappropriately. Many appeal to the so-called "imprecatory psalms" (Psalms 35, 59, 69, 109, etc.) to justify retaliation. But these psalms were not motivated by personal revenge. Behind these cries for justice was the recognition of a divine moral governance in the world and a call for God to exercise judgment as well as grace.

While the psalmists were aware of the constant battle between good and evil, they had no concept of the future judgment where God will punish those who take the lives of innocent people and reward those who live godly lives. The only justice they could conceive was the "here and now" justice. We can see far beyond that.

SO HOW SHOULD A CHRISTIAN RESPOND?

#1 Let's show the world in these desperate days what the love of God is like.

The discipline of love in the face of adversity is what distinguishes the Christian from other people (John 13:35). This is a time for us not only to show Christ's love to our brothers and sisters in Christ, but also to others who need to feel the warmth of that love in the cold aftermath of loss.

#2 Let's be much in prayer for the safety of those who are demonstrating love to others by their brave actions.

Our military forces, police, firemen, rescue workers, doctors, nurses and volunteers of all kinds are living out Jesus' words, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). Those who risk their lives for others are set in stark contrast to the cowardly terrorists who used the lives of others as a shield for their despicable acts. Let's pray for these men and women and thank God for them.

#3 Let's speak up for understanding, tolerance, justice and forgiveness.

While you and I cannot tolerate the methods of these terrorists, their actions arose from the frustration of their feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. Who better to try to understand that hopelessness than those of us who have found hope in Christ. We need to be vocal in our insistence that there should be zero tolerance for any backlash of hatred against Muslims, Arabs, or people of Middle Eastern descent living in America. That will demonstrate the love of Christ. "But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins" (Matthew 6:15).

#4 Let's be a voice for calm in an atmosphere of hatred and retaliation.

James said it so well: "My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. For man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires" (James 1:19-20). This is both a time for patriotism and a time for patience. Let's be patriotic Americans who bring God's Word to bear on the national debate about how to respond to terrorism.

#5 Let's be men and women of prayer, both for those who victimized and those who were their victims.

Pray for the friends and families of those who have lost lives due to terrorism. Pray for those who heroically continue to fight terrorism. Pray for our President and his aides as they formulate an appropriate response. Pray for Christians everywhere who have the opportunity to minister hope and comfort to bereaved families. "Pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" (James 5:16).

And while we pray for the families of the victims of terror, let's pray as well for the families of terrorists. God's grace and love extends to them too (John 3:16). Pray that God will break through their hatred and that the Holy Spirit will soften their hearts and draw them to Himself in salvation. "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:44)

The Christian response is always to look for the fingerprints of God in every situation. The New York City and Washington D.C. disasters were devastating--as well as the on-going war on terror--but let's seek opportunities to bring hope and forgiveness, help and grace, in the midst of that devastation. Let's seize every opportunity to speak of God's love and man's need. Let's do the work of an evangelist, a comforter, a friend. Let's respond as Christians should; let's respond with God's love and care. God bless you as you do.

Article taken from: http://www.backtothebible.org