Click on the following link and read the story, then answer the same questions I asked myself...
http://pressrepublican.com/0205_columns/x977551641/Shahbaz-Bhatti-a-modern-martyr
As a Christian, what should our attitude toward Muslim terrorists and other Muslims be like?
What is the proper balance of righteous anger and Christ-like love?
As we have gone theough this unit, I have done alot of thinking. I have constantly wondered about the Christian relationship with muslims. What are we called to do as Christians, to the people who have hurt us physically, mentally, and spiritually?
ReplyDeleteThe muslim people have hurt us physically through bombing and they have killed many Christian people around the world. Mentally, they have made us fear them. Spiritually, thay have pulled us down and taken away what we believe.
What does God say we should do about this? Matthew 5:44 says,"But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you," God is calling us to love and pray for these people.
I think that it is alright to be angrey at the muslims. They have hurt our country, and for some, loved ones and friends, but we are still called to love them. I don't think that we should love them so much that we become like them, but we need to show them what Christianity is about. A few weeks ago, my ppastor was disscusing Islam. he told us that out of all of the names for allah, not ioenof them means or relates to love. Our religion is completely based on love, and we need to show not just muslims, but everyone this incredible love we have been given.
-Grace Langella ,p.5
i think as Christians we shud leave them alone but if u have a friend that is muslim u should try to tell him about Christ. But i think we should respect them and their religion.
ReplyDeleteOur attitudes towards Muslims should not be that of hate. Rather, we should still try to lead them to Christ, no matter how much they hate us. However, we should still have some righteous anger towards the Muslims for killing so many Christians and spreading their evil beliefs that they brainwash eachother to believe it. I believe that many Muslims would actually like to learn about Jesus, or have just never heard of Him. Many children probably don't want to go on suicide missions and would rather live their lives to the fullest. The reason we should still be compassionate towards the Muslims is because we are blessed with a gracious Lord, and they are controlled by a god who hates.
ReplyDeleteThe Muslim religion needs to be respected by other religions or the non religious. We also hve to give them credit for spreading their religion so quickly over a short period of time even though they did it by force. We as Christians have to also spread the word of God to the Muslims who maybe didn't want to join the Islamic religion but were forced. Christians have to spread the word of God just as quckly as the Muslims, but not in the same way as the Muslims, but by peace. The proper balance is respect, but with that respect also comes opposal to the relion, because we're Christians.
ReplyDeletei think that we need to respect their religion no matter what. Although there is a point where I start to lose respect for them when they start to bomb and kill innocent people. We need to embrace them because not every one in life that you meet is going to be a christian. So we need to know what we believe so that we know what to do. Also we need to respect their choices because it is their life.
ReplyDeleteJesus’ life on earth is the perfect example of how Christians should live their lives. Christians should always strive to be like Jesus, because Jesus was, is, and always will be flawless. Human nature urges us to react negatively to the horrid Muslim terrors. When a terrorist harms something or someone we love, we want to hurt them back. When Jesus was about to die on the cross, he had mercy on those who were killing him: “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing”(Luke 23:34). Instead of fighting back or saving himself, Jesus prayed. If the Ultimate Example forgave those who killed him, Christians should follow his example. We should fight against the force of human nature and forgive the Muslims. Isaiah 58:7 says: “Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help”. Muslims may not need physical food, shelter, and clothes, but spiritually, they thirst for help. We can show love to Muslims by forgiving them for hurting us. We can show love to Muslims by praying for them, and by asking God to have mercy on them. We can show love to Muslims by begging God to reveal the Truth to them. Jesus gave his life for those who killed him and hated him. He loved those who were impossible to love. By laying his life down for those who shunned him, Jesus showed ultimate love, and Christians should do the same. However, Jesus is not some weakling. He is the strongest force ever. Jesus wants to love people and give chances, but he hates evil. Jesus cleared the Temple: “ ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a den of thieves’ ”(Luke 19:46). When God decides enough chances have been given, he will defeat evil. God is not against fighting against those who hate him. David asked God if he should fight the Philistines. God answered that David should indeed. God gave David victory over the Philistines. We should love the Muslims, but when God says the time is right, Christians are allowed to fight for Jesus and what is right.
ReplyDeleteRyan Wesley,
ReplyDeleteI think in a perfect world i would except thier religon. I would treat them the same and try to lead them to christ. But, being human i have very littel respect for thier religion. Although thier religion tells them to do these things, there has to be a point where common scence has to take over. what makes it worse is they seem like they act like they dont even care that theyre destroying the world.
we are told to love our enemies but when our enemies do something like assinating someone, terrorizing inocent people and attacking our own country it is very difficult to "love them".so what should our reaction be, to turn the other cheek? to act like it didnt happen, or make it seem like they had good intentions? As christians we are in a difficult place, stuck between in some ways disobeying God, or being terrorized by the muslims. In my opinion there is a point that we will need to fight back, not just sit here and take it. In revalation it prophesys that there will be a war between the muslims and the christians. This war is happening, so when it does i think fighting back will be the proper reaction to the muslims.
ReplyDeleteaudrey garrett
As Christians we are supposed except their religion, and also Muslims. I am not saying that we are supposed to become oppsessed with them and their religion, but we are not supposed to hate them. We should treat them the same as we would like to be treated. We should share Christianity with them and invite the to believe in the Lord, but we are not supposed to force them to believe in God because they truly wont believe it.
ReplyDeleteI think that the proper balance of love and Christ like love is to accept them and not hate them.
I think that man was a great guy because he tryed to share the love of God while so many others were persuading him to do otherwise. We as chritians need to love the Muslims just as Jesus would. Although we do not agree with their religion we need to try to be kind t them so they will see god through us and maybe become chritian. Muslims are veryu rooted in their faith so it will be hard to get them to understand our point of view but it will be worth it in the long run
ReplyDeleteAs a Christian, we should remember to hate the sin, but not the sinner. In this situation, we need to hate the muslim religion, but not the people. We should still have respect for them because they are people too, but we still need to know the differences between their religion and ours.
ReplyDeleteOver the coarse of this unit, I have been thinking about our relations with the Muslims. As Christians, i feel that we shouldn't be aggressive but we should use peaceful, god-like qualities to lead them towards Christianity. We should love them for who they are and not by their religion. We should give them a reason to convert. The way we are headed now, we are just making the Muslims hate us even more. Why would they convert to a religion that you hate!? I think we should respect their religion but continue to try to convert them to Christianity.
ReplyDelete-Naomy Grand'Pierre
Period 6
I think as Christians we should respect and honor muslims. But I think it is all right to be mad at them. Their actions are what we really are mad at though. For Christians I believe its all right to be friends or hang around with muslims. But we should always have that open door for them to come to Christianity and to know God as their savior in Christ Jesus.
ReplyDeleteAs Christians God calls us to love our enemies. In the Bible in Luke 6:27 God says to “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you" God puts this in the Bible a lot of times, so as Christians we should understand that God did this for a purpose to remind us that we should be loving towards the Muslims. We should shower them with kindness. As Christians we should be acting like them aound the places we go in our life and around all our friends and people we meet. If we be examples of Christ then we can show them the love of Christ and if they ask tell them about Jesus. Muslims are not just non-believers, they are people who strongly believe in the wrong religion and are being told the wrong things to do like kill people who are not their religion.
ReplyDeleteAs Christians we have to balance our feeling and actions towards Muslims. We should have more Christ-like-love towards them, but still we should have a little righteous anger towards them because it is frustrating and angering to see them believe in something that is not true. We should not be in their faces about this, but respect them and love them the way God loves us and never gives up on us. We should never give up on them and continuing praying for a way to love them because God loved us unconditionally.
Megan Fikse
Period 6
World Cultures
I think we should as Christians respect Muslims. We should try and spread the gospel to them. At the same time we should not believe what they do or allow them to tell us they are right. We need to accept and respect their choice. God loves them no matter what or who they believe in so why shouldn't we?
ReplyDeleteI feel the right balance is to defend your faith and beliefs but not to attack. If you do nothing your are not pleasing God. If you persecute Muslims for what they believe then you are no better than them attacking us. You need to be aggressive but not too aggressive when it comes to other religions. In the Bible it does not say to attack your enemies it says to love them so that is how we should deal with people of the Muslim faith
Cole Barber
Period 5
World Cultures
In this situation with Shahbaz Bhatti, it is completely fine to be angry because we must be bold and firm about our religion in Jesus Christ. For example, Jesus was furious when his people were disrespecting his temple and he had the right to be furious. Obviously, there is a difference between anger and punishment though. Christians can definitely be angry because of what the Muslims did to Shahbaz Bhatti, but this doesn’t mean we should go out and kill Muslims for their sin. It is God’s job to punish the Muslims in whatever way that he chooses. However, this also doesn’t mean that we should just sit back and be lazy Christians and just watch our world get taken over by Islam. It is our job, as Christians, to stand up for our religion by spreading the good news about Jesus Christ to everyone. As Christians, we should feel sorry for Muslims because there will be a large group of Muslims who will never accept Jesus Christ and will, unfortunately, go to hell. Jesus tells us to love our enemies because that is exactly what Jesus would do. When we spread the news of Jesus Christ around, we should do it through Christ- like love which does not mean to threaten or kill someone if they do not become a Christian, but it means to teach them about the good news through patience and love.
ReplyDeleteAs Christians God asks us to do certain things. One of these things he asks us to do is spread the word of God. We cannot do this through violence or otherwise we don't represent God we represent Satan and all the evil he stands for. Even though the Muslims may have killed this man we may have righteous anger because they have taken away a brother of Christ, but we must still love. We do not know for sure but there is a good chance that the man who died is with Jesus Christ up in Heaven. We must just try and think that what would Jesus do? Thinking that made me realize that we should be sad, but not for the man who has brutally killed, but for the misguided Muslims who know think that their way is right and will ultimately end up in Hell unless they somehow they realize they are wrong and Christians are right. We cannot force this on the Muslims, but we must expose them to this.
ReplyDeleteAs Christians we should love unconditionally, because in the Bible God said to love your enemies. In the Bible it repeats over and over to love your enemies and don't repay them with evil. If something is repeated this much we now it is right and we should follow it. Here are some verses on loving your enemies:
ReplyDeleteA new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another (John 13:34). In this verse God commands us to love them as much as he loved us. We should love them alot then.
But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you (Luke 6:27-28). They have mistreated us and cursed us, but we should bless them and love them. Although it is hard for us to love them because they have done wrong to us and it is our nature to hate them, we have to try to love them.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse (Romans 12:14).
We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it (1 Corinthians 4:12).
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:17-21). We should not repay them the same evils they have done to us because, God calls us to do differently.
Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing (1 Peter 3:9).
Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble (1 John 2:9-10).
In Romans 12 it mentions that by bleesing them and loving them it would be like throwing hot coals on there head. My mom used to say to us in lowerschool, "Kill them with kindness". I think that applies to everybody today. You cannot love too much. But in a chapel a few weeks ago Coach Johnson said to be careful where we put are trust. We should put our trust in high places, because our treasures will be there also. We don't have to trust our enemies, we are only called to love them. The balance that we have to find between hate and love should be little hate and a lot of love. Our human nature is to hate them, so there is always a little hate there. In Luke six, it says to pray for the ones who hurt you. We should shower them with prayers and love. In everything we do we should be a light to the people around us, so that means to be kind and love them.
Kristen Per. 5
I think that as christians, we should respect their religion and how they choose to follow it. If we were born and raised to follow Muslim traditions, we would think nothing of blowing up a bus or shooting innocent civilians. But people looking at it from the outside in just see it as bloody violence that needs to be stopped. I am not saying that we need to go over to the middle east and try to organize complete peace. I am also not saying that we need to bomb them back. We need to be wary of them, but try not to hate the people who only do these things because their religion says so. The more we hate them, the more they hate us, and it just keeps getting worse. I believe that if we stay out of their business, hopefully they will stay out of ours, and while it certainly won't be peace, it won't be complete war either.
ReplyDeletePeter K
Christians are called by Christ to love others and pray for our enemies. We should love them because Christ first loved us. Also, we should not fear them because we know that God is with us. If we are killed then we go to heaven and that should give us hope. So we should love Muslims no matter how angry/violent they are. Everyone loves Muslims :) Anyway i do think that it is necessary to be angry with them for being so angry. They are foolish enough to kill people cuz some crazy dude named Muhammad told you to in a book. That's just crazy stuff. But we need to be patient with them and love them even with their insane ideas. We need to pray for them daily and love them with whatever chance we have. This is how Christians need to respond to Muslims and terrorists!
ReplyDeleteI think as christians we should be mad at the muslim terrorists. they do for a different and unreal god. we should respect them for there willing to do dangerous stuff for their god but it still is not right. we should have righteous anger. but not that we want them to go in a hole and die (Audrey quote).
ReplyDeleteby,
Sage Blackwood
As christians we should treat others the way we want to be treated. Even though some Muslims may look a little threatning, we should stil treat them as if they were a regualr person. We should try to spread the Christian religion to them. Muslims are a bit insane just to be killing people but that could be a reason people could hate them because they are going around killing and bombing people. We should try to show the Muslims killing people is not the way to solve things.
ReplyDelete-Margaret Reed :)
I think Christians should always strive to be like Jesus and that should be one of our main goals of life. A while ago my pastor preached a sermon that really spoke to me. He said that we should imitate Jesus. He told us that though we are sinners that shouldn't stop us from trying to be like him. When you think about the situation with Muslims, our automatic reation is to hate them and dislike them for everything they do. I know everyone thinks WWJD is a cheesy line, but really what would he do? Would he preach to them and allow them to get away with everything? Or would he reveal his wrath against them and not forgive them. Personally, I think Jesus would love and forgive them. Even though this is a EXTREMLY hard thing to do, it's necessary and it's the right thing to do. As Christians, our number one priority should be to show others the gospel, and bring others to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Then we should leave the rest to Jesus because he is the only one able to prevent sins.
ReplyDelete-KELSEY bUTLER
WORLD CULTURES 6
I believe that we as Christians should have an attitude of forgiveness and love. But we should also remember that ANYONE who does wrong will be punished. It may not happen right away but later in time God will judge us all. All have sinned and fallen short of his glory.
ReplyDeleteIt's not our obligation to judge anybody especially the Muslim nation for their wrong doing,that's the Lord's job. In Matthrew 12:37 Lord "For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."
-Brooke Render
We obviously should not hate them for what they do. We may be angry with the Muslims, but it doesn't mean we should hate them. God says to love your neighbor as yourself. We shouldn't like what they do or accept it , but we should still like them and if the opportunity arises then we should tell them about Jesus. The right balance of anger and love to the Muslims would be to be angry with what they do and still love the person. Also God says love your enemies which means we should love them and pray for them and leave the rest up to Jesus for him to decide.
ReplyDelete-Rayna Mock
:)
ReplyDeleteAs christians we need to know that Muslims are following what they believe however we cannot sanction thier actions we should not hate them as people but hate thier actions. We need to not sit there and accept it. Sometimes we need to tak action and show strength. We should know that they don't think like we do. We need to be angery but not let our rage over take us and let it control us.
ReplyDeleteAs Christians, we should respect the effort Muslims give to spread their religion, but we should also understand the lies that they preach. Even though we are Christians, we should not be pushovers and let terrorists keep striking and killing innocent people. If necessary we should fight back for our religion. This doesn't mean we should become violent terrorists, but it does mean that we should defend our religion and innocent people by being offensive. The proper balance between righteous anger and Christ like love is found at the point where it seems Christians are all talk. If someone is going to intentionally keep attacking us over and over, we have to respond and righteously defeat them. In the Bible, God didn't tell the israelites to forgive everyone and move on, He told them to kill entire cities sometimes. We shouldn't be cold blooded killers but we should defend ourselves.
ReplyDeleteOver the course of the Middle East chapter I have discovered that even if Muslims may threaten Christians or harm us that doesn’t mean that we should hate them. We should pray especially for the people who do not know the Lord. Our attitude should be forgiving towards Muslims because we must realize that everyone makes mistakes, and we must try our best to help them come to the Lord. For example, the Bible says, “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…”(Matthew 5:44). This is proof that God wants Christians to help, not hurt, our enemies.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the proper balance between anger and love is that we should ALWAYS love our enemy. It doesn’t matter if they are Muslim or Christian; we always need to treat others how we would like to be treated.
~Megan Schwarzkopf~
Period 6
I believe that we should not feel hatred for muslims but love them as God loves us.Even though they cause harm and trouble that gives us even more reasons to care and pray for them. When Jesus was on trial and crucified he pray for the soldiers for they knew not what they were doing. We should have the same mind set and love as God loves
ReplyDeleteThe bible commands us to love our enemies. This can be difficult since they hate us so much and their actions are so wrong. But this is why it is even more important that we show Godly compassion for Muslim terrorists. Loving our enemies doesn't mean loving what they do, it means loving the person. Jesus loved everyone, even the worst sinners like tax collectors. We are commanded to be Christ-like and since Christ loved all people we must love them too.
ReplyDelete"But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you" Luke 6:27.
"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you" Matthew 5:44.
The right balance of righteous anger and Christ-like love is having righteous anger towards their bad actions but having compassion for them as they have been brainwashed into thinking a certain way. Also, the Christ-like love must outweigh the righteous anger so that the righteous anger doesn't start to control our actions. With this correct balance, we will be Christ-like people living to be like Christ, following his examples.
Quinn Larimer
3/30/11
prd 6
As Christians we should respect Muslims and their religion. Although we should do that, Christians also need to draw a line. Some Muslims go to the extreme and we need to control them. When a terrorist action occurs, Christians have a reason to be angry. Some Christians are too kind after an action like that and show love to the Muslims. This is wrong and people need to realize that Muslims performing these actions should be stopped.
ReplyDeleteMatt Olson
Per. 5
God tells us to love others even if they are your enemies. Our mindset towards Muslims should be to love and pray for them even if they do terrorize us. When Jesus was dying on the cross, He prayed for the people that were killing and beating Him. If you stop to think about that, if Jesus could still love and pray for the same people that were torturing and spitting on Him, then it should not be that bad at all to pray and love Muslims. We should try to spread the gospel because everyone should hear about Jesus. Our mind set should never be hatred towards Muslims, it should be Christ - like and loving. We should forgive the Muslim people just like God forgave us.
ReplyDeleteMARY KENDRICK
Muslims commit so many sins in their lives and are taught opposite lessons in their religion as us, Christians. But to God, no sin is unforgiveable and every sin is taught to be just as wrong as another. But it is hard to completely disregard everything Muslims have done in the past. They kill millions of innocent people. Plus, they are lead to hate Christians. How is it possible to just let it go and offer no hatred or anger toward Muslims and their wrong-doings? Is it wrong to feel these feelings toward them? In my opinion, the word "hate" is a very strong word and using it toward them is not right. Sure, we don't respect their religion and ways of life at all but we don't need to go and hate them. Hating is a sin. Plus, in the Bible it says to love your enemy as yourself.
ReplyDeleteAs Christians we are called to love our enemies just as much as our friends. When i heard this story it made me angry at first but i realized that everyone is sinful and that instead of being angry we should show kindness and love towards them. no matter what religionit is, i don't care how messed up their beliefs are we should still show love to them as we are called to as Gods people. instead of hating them for what they believe in we should show the love of jesus christ to them and pray for them. only God can change their hearts.
ReplyDeleteI am not in favor of any acts of terror, because it is wrong. Terrorist should not be able to inflict pain, or bring fear to people's lives. Nevertheless, God says to love your enemies as yourself. John 13:34 says a new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. Also, we should not judge Muslims, because everyone is created equally. For, example if you see a Muslim in the airport it does not mean they are plotting a theorist act. Galatians 3:28 says there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
ReplyDeleteThe proper balance of righteous anger and Christ like love is being fineries that the Muslims hurt so many people and caused them to lose their lives. On the other hand I also feel sympathetic for Muslims, because they believe what they are doing by killing people are the right things to do.
I think all we have to do is look at the u.s. army. you mentioned in class that the army is setting up schools in other countries that r pro american. it helps to stop the next generation from becoming terrorist in a loving way but we are also fighting the current threats. i think this is a pretty good balance between the two. -john k.
ReplyDeleteAs a Christian a Muslim terrorist needs to be brought to justice. Meaning civilly taken to court, given a punishment then punished. Jesus told all his followers to treat our neighbor as ourselves. Christians should be friendly towards Muslims but never compromise on biblical truth. They are people who have fallen no matter what they have done we need to show love. 21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. 22 In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Proverbs 25:21-22. Showing the Muslims that Christians are not how Mohamed says we are this is the balance.
ReplyDeleteWilliam Bell
7th
We should not hate Muslims and Muslim terroists or try to kill them. Our attitudes toward them should be positive and loving attitudes. Even though their belief is different from ours, we should try help them covert from Islam to Christianity, so we can spread Christianity all around the world. There is no such thing as righteous anger because Christ-like love should stop us from having anger, and remind us that we are not fighting against flesh, but that we are fighting against spirits.
ReplyDeleteI think when thinking about this topic we need to take into account that no sin is greater or worse than another. Just because people do bad things does not mean they cannot be forgiven and saved. No one deserves the grace of God, but since he sent his son all who are followers of Christ can receive eternal life. That being said I think it is important that we show the Muslims that we, as Christians truely believe that. God says love our enemies. Instead of fearing and hating them our hearts should break for them, because they are lost. It is our job as Believers to try our best to help them find their way. All this in mind they should still be held accountable for their actions. I personally think that they should receive a fair trial and be dealt with like any other criminal.
ReplyDeleteAs Christians we need to be aware of what is going on with all these people are going against our God and killing for their "god." We need to be acting on what they are doing and it should be motivation to help people in the Middle East and help them see and accept Christ into their hearts. Our attitude should be stunned that some people are doing this and killing like this n such a bad way. The bible says to love your neighbor as yourself so I think that Christians should do that and show them the true way to heaven.
ReplyDeleteI think as Christians we shuold be friendly and accept them for who they are. But we need to preach the gospel to them and teach them about Jesus Christ I think its absurdly wrong that they kill so many people for no reason at all or the wrong reasons its a terrible thing and needs to be stopped.
ReplyDeleteAs Christians we should love everyone, however we dont have to agree with everything they do. We shouldnt hate Muslims, nor should we agree and support what they do to us as well as other countries. The proper balance of anger and love is to be angry enough to fire us up to do something, but have enough love to understand we shouldnt do anything too terribly major.
ReplyDeleteLast post from Sydney
ReplyDelete