Read Their Lips! It's the Religion, Stupid!

Kopp Disclosure

(John 3:19-21)

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"You can't fix what you won't face!"

William Taylor

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    What will it take for America's President and Secretary of State along with PC OCD mainline denominations, churches, courts, colleges, public education, news journalists, politicians, professors, pastors, media, and other intellectual ostriches to see it's not workplace violence, unemployment, climate change, family disputes, politics, NRA, deodorants that don't keep 'em dry all day long, poor potty training, or some other ridiculous rationalization of uncomfortable reality?

    It's religion.

    It's really, really, really bad religion.

    Maybe the Islamofascistnutballs are as extremely anti-Islamic as those posers/phonies/pretenders/frauds who have claimed kinship to Jesus while members of the KKK, Nazis, John Birch, and the like are anti-Christ.

    Maybe.

    Maybe, just as you can't blame Jesus for some Christians, you can't blame...

    Maybe.

    I'm not an expert.

    But, at minimum, we need to be intellectually honest enough with appropriate intentional interrogatives.

    If it's a religious issue, a la Hoffer's true believer, you can have as many rap sessions as...by "leaders" who say nothing but say it eloquently...but it won't ameliorate the...

    William Taylor, a street preacher in Rockford, Illinois, is right.

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    One of my homiletics professors told us about the guy who complained, "You keep preaching the same sermons over and over and over and..."

    He responded, "And I will keep preaching the same sermons over and over and over until you get it."

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An Open Letter to Muslims

Dear Followers of Mohammed,

I am writing to you as a follower of Jesus; meaning I believe He is Lord and Savior and try to behave accordingly.

Christians regard Jesus as the perfect personification of God and the Bible as providing the perfect prescriptions for following Him.

Assuming you are trying to follow your leader Mohammed according to your sacred literature, I have increasing concerns about how you participate in civilization.

Surely, “Muslims” are like “Christians” in diversity of beliefs and behaviors; acknowledging any connection between some beliefs and behaviors and their founders by their books are often just coincidental.

I differentiate between posers and authentics.

Posers follow their leaders by their books when it’s convenient to their egocentric wants, feelings, needs, and opinions; as in, “I know that’s what Jesus/Mohammed says, but I think…”

Authentics follow their leaders by their books; surrendering the egocentric to the theocentric; as in, “God said it.  I believe it.  That settles it.”

While my guess is some of what I am writing may appeal to posers who are moderately committed to their leaders – “Yeah, that’s right!  I am a moderate!  I’m moderately committed to Jesus/Mohammed as long as it doesn’t, you know, conflict with my wants, feelings, needs, and opinions!” – I am hoping this will attract attention from Muslims who are trying to follow Mohammed by the book.

I have two concerns about how authentic Muslims participate in civilization.

First, from everything that I’ve read about Mohammed and observed in Muslims who follow him by the book, it’s noticeably barbaric from most civilized points of view.

I mean, let’s face it.  Cutting off heads for apostasy, cutting off other body parts for lesser infidelities, and degrading women in so many ways just doesn’t seem very, uh, civilized from most, uh, civilized points of view.

When someone makes fun of Mohammed in a silly cartoon or sophomoric video, you go apoplectic.  You make our snake-handling Pentecostals look like Emily Post devotees.  Are you that emotionally fragile that you can’t handle people who don’t esteem Mohammed like you do?  Yeah, I know you’ve got this convert-to-us-or-be-killed-by-us thing going.  But think about us!  We are a constant source of comic material for Saturday Night Live, Bill Maher, Kathy Griffin, and so many others who don’t have to worry about Christians declaring death warrants against them.

And what’s up with the masks when you do your beheading thing?  You look like America’s old KKK on steroids!  It comes off rather cowardly.  If you have the courage of your convictions, man up, name it, and claim it!

Your leaders of your leader are quick to convince their followers that there are dozens of virgins awaiting those who get knocked off for your cause.  While that sounds like something very appealing to Cub Scouts in heat, it comes off as rather juvenile to the rest of us.  Really, is that what your heaven is mostly about?  Sex with virgins?  Whoa.

Second, if what I just wrote is really, really, really wrong about Muslims who follow Mohammed by the book, why don’t you condemn their barbarity and tell everyone that they’re not following Mohammed by the book?  

There’s no such thing as a silent majority.  Everybody knows silence about bad behaviors emanating from bad beliefs accommodates and enables them.  If they’re wrong about Mohammed by the book, then you owe it to, uh, Mohammed to tell them about it and convince us that we’re wrong about thinking Islam is barbaric from civilized points of view.

Christians who believe in Jesus by the book have always been quick to criticize the bad behaviors of people posing as Christians.

Don’t even bring up the Crusades!

Jesus and people who really are authentically believing in Jesus by the book would never have approved of the barbaric behaviors emanating from the bad beliefs of the Crusaders.  They were about as authentically devoted to Jesus by the book as we are hoping you will tell us are those barbarians masquerading as Muslims who go around chopping off body parts, degrading women, and declaring death warrants against anyone who disagrees with their version of Islam.

You can’t blame Jesus for “Christians” who need more than just “some” Jesus in their lives as we are hoping you will tell us about those barbarians who claim to be following Mohammed so closely.

I guess it does come down to our leaders.

Would Mohammed do the things that those murderously marauding “Muslims” are doing in the name of Allah?

If not, you have to speak up!

If so, admit it and let the chips fall where they will!

Would Jesus do the things that those murderously marauding Crusaders did in the name of God?

Absolutely not!

That means anybody who is truly following Jesus by the book will not!

Though what I’ve read and seen from the barbaric “Muslims” and what I haven’t heard or seen from the other ones doesn’t add up to anything positive or redemptive for the place of Islam in a civilized world, I confess not being an expert; which is why I’m waiting for the rest of the Muslims to provide a verdict on the obviously barbaric ones.

I’m just somebody who loves Jesus who is trying to follow Him by the book; and the Jesus of the book is compassionate, merciful, forgiving, and, in short, urging His followers to love everybody like He loves everybody which includes praying and laboring for the best for everybody without regard to who, what, where, when, or why with no need or expectation for response, regard, or reward.

That means Christians who follow Jesus by the book are willing to co-exist with people who don’t want to follow Jesus by the book.

That seems so different from Islam.  

Islamists, the loud barbaric adherents and the silent accommodating and enabling ones, don’t seem to share such a commitment to co-existence.

Christianity, following Jesus by the book, can co-exist with everybody else.

Islam, from what I have read and seen, following Mohammed by the book, cannot co-exist with anybody else unless everybody else converts to it.

That doesn’t seem to leave many options for the rest of the civilized world.

I guess, when all is said and considered, either everybody else will have to go if they don’t convert to Islam or everybody else will have to team up and you’ll have to…

I hope and pray I’m wrong.

Please speak up and encourage us that we’re wrong about you.

For unlike what we’ve increasingly read about and increasingly seen from you, we would like to co-exist.

We’re not asking you to become like us.

We’re just asking you to be more conciliatory and recognize the planet has enough space for all of us.

Before everything but heaven breaks out, please show the world that Mohammed by the book isn’t as barbaric as we’re reluctantly concluding by the behaviors of so many of those who claim to follow him.

If you cannot get your house in order, we will not let you invade ours much longer.

Sincerely,

A Follower of Jesus

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Blessings and Love!

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