Why Christians don't burn down Mecca

Here is the article that I have been working on for some time. It was inspired by the whole Muhammad-drawings-uproar, but the thoughts presented in it have been circulating in my head for several years. Comments are welcome. Torben

Why Christians don’t burn down Mecca

Danish flags have been on fire all over the world the past month. For the very first time in recent history Denmark, the little kingdom in Scandinavia, has been on everybody’s lips. People all over the Muslim world have been and are still protesting, demonstrating and burning Danish flags and boycotting Danish products. As a counteraction people in the West started campaigns encouraging customers to buy more Danish products. And all of this because of some drawings in a Danish newspaper which is normally read daily by approximately 153.000 readers[1]. Now this Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, is probably the most sought after newspaper on the Internet. The drawings were published in the newspaper to show how people imagine that the greatest prophet in Islam, Muhammad could have looked like. In classic Danish sense of humor style the drawings were closer to caricature than regular portrait drawings. My job is not to defend Jyllands-Posten, and why they decided to publish the drawings made by different Danes. You can check out their website www.jp.dk where they have an English section where everything about this case is filed.

Crime and punishment

I personally don’t think that it was the best idea in the world to publish the drawings. There is already a lot of tension in a lot of Western European nations between the different ethnic and religious groups, and I don’t think that this will improve the way problems are debated. But the punishment hardly fits the crime! Lies have been circulating on Arabic-speaking television (especially Al-Jazirah) and in Arabic newspapers about Denmark and this whole case. And sadly a lot of these lies have been started by Islamic imams[2], who live in Denmark, but who have been traveling all over the Arabic world spreading lies about their new home country. Just to make a few things clear let me say that: A. Jyllands-Posten is not a government controlled newspaper! It’s a privately owned commercial newspaper just like all other newspapers in Denmark. There have been no state owned newspapers in Denmark for centuries. When Jyllands-Posten print drawings or speak, they DO NOT speak on behalf of the Danish nation. B. Most of the drawings that have caused most uproar in the Muslim countries WERE NEVER published in Jyllands-Posten, but made up in an attempt to cause even more uproar than the original drawings would. C. There is nobody in Denmark who is making falsified copies of the Quran or burning Qurans or anything of that nature!

That being said it is also important to stress that 5.5 million Danes cannot be held responsible for what one Danish newspaper decides to publish. We have a completely free press in Denmark and a very strong tradition for protecting the freedom of the press. A boycott of Danish products seems like an overreaction, and the attacks on Danish embassies are pure madness, but we can only hope and pray that no Danes will get killed because of these drawings.

On the surface this whole uproar is about some drawings, but if we examine it a bit closer, we will see that it’s not about drawings, and it’s not even so much about the fight of Islam versus the Western world. It’s about differences between religions. It’s about grace.

Jesus as a homosexual

The cartoons, art pieces and movies where Jesus is being mocked and laughed at are numerous. When Jesus lived here on earth he was laughed at and labeled “friend of sinners”[3], and the Pharisees and the other religious people of those days didn’t mean that as a compliment. When he was judged for a crime he didn’t commit, he was laughed at, spitted at, beaten and finally crucified. And since his death the laughing has continued. My feelings are hurt, my heart gets sad and I weep inside when I see the way Jesus is being treated. An American photographer makes a piece of art where a crucifix is hanging in a container with the artist’s own urine[4]. A Danish film director makes a movie where Jesus is portrayed as a promiscuous man who is also involved in homosexual relationships[5]. I become sad and I clench my fists, but I don’t start to hate these people. When Jesus was hanging on the cross he was praying for the people who crucified him saying that they didn’t know what they were doing[6]. I feel the same way, or try to feel the same way, about the American photographer, the Danish film director and the countless others who are mocking Jesus with their so-called art. It causes uproar in Christian circles when people step on our toes and mock the man we claim to follow. Some Christians shrug their shoulders and pretend it never happened, though. But the majority of us get angry, hurt and some people end up hating. Some people write letters to newspapers communicating messages of hatred. Others again choose more extreme weapons when the fight for Christianity and Christian values is being fought.

Blowing up abortion clinics

We have all heard the stories of how Christians have done un-Christ-like things while claiming to do all these atrocities in Christ’s name. The classic example is of course the Crusades where Christians marched all over Europe and in the Arabic world on a quest to bring Christ to all pagans whether they wanted him or not. Much has been said about these Crusades, but I think it’s important for our generation of believers to admit that they were terrible and to seek reconciliation with anybody we know whose country and family were touched by these many cruel acts[7]. There are also more recent examples of Christians responding in wrong ways to their Muslim neighbors. Christians revenging other Christians being killed by Muslims in Indonesia or by Muslims in the former Yugoslavia are two examples that come to my mind.

Of course we also see other examples of Christians taking revenge and judgment into their own hands even though it’s clearly stated in the Bible that God is the one who is judging men today and will one day make final judgment on all people of all times[8]. We hear about Christians committing violent crimes against abortion clinics and abortion doctors. We hear about Christians flashing their hatred against homosexuals in America and other places. In his bestselling book “What’s So Amazing About Grace” Philip Yancey recalls an experience he had at a march for gay rights he attended with one of his homosexual friends in Washington, D.C. where he saw people protesting against the homosexuals yelling things like “AIDS, AIDS...it’s comin’ your way” where as the homosexuals sang “Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so”. Things turned upside down. The “sinners” singing about God’s love. The “righteous”singing about death and judgment.[9]

Abortion is as much murder of innocent children today as it was, when it was illegal in most countries. Now the tide has turned and in most civilized, Western nations abortion is a part of everyday life and not something to be discussed. American Christians are still fighting a hard fight against abortions, and sadly some of these Christians go to extreme methods and threaten abortion doctors and women who are going to have an abortion. It’s all wrong. It’s not what Christ would have us do. But Christianity without a true understanding of grace and complete forgiveness will end up like a hollow religion, where it’s also possible to hate people and say that it’s done in Christ’s name. Ironically the apostle John says directly in his first letter that it’s not possible to hate fellow human beings whom we have seen and still claim to love God we haven’t seen[10].

The uniqueness of Christianity

The British author C.S. Lewis was at conference for comparative religions where experts from around the world were debating the differences between the religions. Lewis walked in and heard the experts were discussing what Christianity’s unique contribution to the world religions was and said: “Oh, that’s easy. It’s grace”[11]. Exactly. You can only find grace in Christianity. Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism or Secularism don’t have any doctrines of grace. In all religions you get what you deserve. An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. You steal a piece of bread you lose your arm as it is stated in the extreme Muslim Sharia-law. But not in Christianity. In Christianity you do not get what you deserve. If I got what I deserved, I would have God’s judgment on me now and for all eternity. Grace is about getting what I don’t deserve. Grace means that we can’t do anything to make God love us more or less. At this very moment he loves me as much as an eternal God can love a finite being. So when Christians are not displaying grace, and when it’s not grace that Christians are known for, we as God’s people are miscommunicating God’s message to all people.

Reconciling the irreconcilable

Thankfully there are Christians who do understand God’s message of reconciliation between two irreconcilable parts, a holy God and sinful man, and spread the message of grace and reconciliation. A few years ago I visited the former Yugoslavia for a month, and I was glad to see many Christians being involved in reconciliation ministry. I met a Christian Norwegian freelance journalist who had been doing reports from war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan and who had spend a few years in ex-Yugoslavia, who told me that the more he studied the civil war that took place in ex-Yugoslavia in the late 80’s and early 90’s the less he understood it. Reports about how good neighbors all of a sudden decided to shoot each other are numerous, and mass graves still being found today more than a decade after the war officially ended paint a sad picture of a nation that fell apart due to nationalism and hatred. My Christian friends in Serbia-Montenegro were involved in projects where they brought Christians from Serbia-Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina together and taught them about grace and reconciliation and urged them to forgive and forget the crimes committed between the different regions and countries in the civil war. They started with the evangelical Christians and hoped that the message would spread to the Muslims and the Orthodox Church. Another example of reconciliation work takes place through the Messianic Christian organization Musalaha[12] that works to bring Israelis and Palestinians together and experience understanding and reconciliation. One of the projects they are involved in is organizing trips where they bring young Christians with Israeli and Palestinian background out in the middle of the desert and sit them down around a bonfire to talk. For some of the young people it’s the very first time they have an actual conversation with a believer from another background. In Israeli schools the kids are taught that all problems in the Middle East are due to the Palestinians, and vice versa in the Palestinian schools. Again the organization starts with the Christians and hope that the message of reconciliation will spread. In Denmark Christians run free Danish classes and show people from all nations and all religions that there are people in Denmark who go against the mistrust and suspicion they meet in society at large. Small drops of grace. Small drops of reconciliation. Small signs of God’s heart for all people. But does that really make any difference against the hatred we see from Muslims these days and saw in 9/11 and in many other cases?

Love your neighbor

I am by no means a scholar of Islam, and I don’t have the needed knowledge to dissect Islam and look at the good things and the problems of the religion, but I know one thing: Jesus called me to love my neighbor even if he is a Muslim fundamentalist! According to Jesus we’re called to love all people. Even our enemies. Muslims are enemies of Christ’s cross. They don’t recognize him as the son of God. They don’t worship him, and they are eternally lost if they don’t turn to the true God of the Bible. But they are no more lost than the mail man who lives with his girlfriend, your grandmother who is nice lady, but doesn’t believe in Jesus, the person who goes to church every Sunday, but doesn’t know Jesus or Anton Delavey who wrote the Satan bible. According to the Bible we have all fallen short of God’s commands, and our only hope is to believe in Jesus and through him attain eternal life with God[13]. Many Christians of 2006 seem to operate with a worldview where Muslims in general and Muslim fundamentalists (which for many Christians seem to be most of the Muslims!) especially are in a special category of lost people. But they are not. Muslims need Christ, so does your nominal Christian-neighbor and your street corner-prostitute.

Will it get worse?

I think we have only seen the top of the iceberg with this Muhammad-drawing-uproar. There will be more clashes between Islam and post-Christian Europe and America for that matter. It could possibly get worse next time. What will Europeans do next time? What will Muslims do? I don’t know and I don’t really want to think about it either. Thinking about it and fearing it doesn’t produce any positive results, only headaches and wrong conclusions. Fear is never the answer. Millions of people in the Western world live in fear for the next terror attack. I’m sure my country’s capital, Copenhagen, has moved closer to the top of the hit-list for the next terror attack, but fear won’t help anything. If a bomb explodes in a Metro, people die whether they are afraid or not. A terrorist doesn’t board a bus and ask people who are afraid to exit, because he’s going to blow up a bomb. Fear doesn’t protect you, and God doesn’t want any of his children to live in fear. He says that his perfect love drives out all fear[14]. We have a Father in heaven that cares for us and who is protecting us and loving us. He knows our needs, and we can lean on him no matter what happens. Jesus said that we would have trouble in this world, but he reminded us that he has overcome the world and we have received his victory[15]. The irony of the whole situation with the Muhammad-drawings is that maybe some of the Islamic countries are digging their own political grave. The people living in all the Muslim nations have seen the freedom of the press in action in free countries, and it must be difficult to avoid comparing with their own situation where freedom of press is as likely as a snowstorm in the Sahara desert. Maybe this will lead to political uproar in these oppressed nations where the people will demand more freedom to speak and act they way they want? Only time will tell.

We have rights

All this being said I want to make clear that I am not saying that we should just let Muslims or other people step all over us, just roll over and let them walk all over us again. I’m not talking about not caring. I’m not talking about not taking personal and political stands against the grotesque things that Muslims have done against Danish embassies in this case or in similar or worse cases. I’m not talking about not trying to talk to Muslims and show them that violence, hatred and terror can never be the right answer no matter what the problem may be. My point is just that whatever we do; we must do it in love. Paul advocates in 1^st Corinthians chapter 13 for a unique understanding of love where we as Christians are to do absolutely nothing if we don’t do it in love. He says that even if we give up our bodies and lives for a righteous course but don’t do it in love, we are nothing.[16] So we are to speak the truth in love. We are to tell the Muslims and other people who don’t believe in our democratic rights, that we are not going to move an inch. We stand on our rights to speak and believe what we want. We believe in respect for personal rights. We believe in respect for other people to believe what they want. And we’re not going to tolerate hatred and terror in our countries. But we are to do all of this in love. In the Western world there are countless politicians and media people who are succeeding in closing down any real debate about the obvious problems with refugees and immigrants in Western European nations. They either claim that anybody who addresses a problem is a racist, or the other side claims that all problems can be solved if we just kick out anybody with a different skin color and religion from our countries. I want to fight against political correctness and fight for real debates, but again: I am to do it in love.

The Muslims seem to enjoy burning the Danish flag also because it symbolizes Christianity with its white cross on a (blood) red background. They feel they’re burning the very symbol of Christianity. Would Jesus want us all to travel to Mecca and Medina and burn all the Islamic holy places? Would he want us to make another Crusade? Would he want us to live in fear and hatred? He would want us to use this whole case to show, once again, that he is different. That he is the only answer, also in this present conflict. He would want us to show our love in practical ways in our everyday lives with Muslims wherever we meet them. Jesus died for all Muslims. Also those who burn down embassies and fly planes into buildings.

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[1] According to www.jp.dk the newspaper has approximately 153.000 readers during the week, and approximately 200.000 on the weekends.

[2] An imam is a leader of a Muslim community (often the leader of the local mosque)

[3] Matthew 9,10-11and Matthew 11,19

[4] ”Piss Christ”, Andres Serrano, American photographer, 1989

[5] ”The Love Affairs of Jesus Christ”, Jens Jørgen Thorsen, 1973

[6] Luke 23,34

[7] For more insight on the subject of reconciliation regarding the Crusades see ”Living As People Of Hope”, Jeff Fountain, Initial Media, 2004

[8] Dt. 1,19 and Rom. 2,16

[9] Philip Yancey: ”What’s So Amazing About Grace”, Zondervan Publishing House, 1997, pg. 165-166

[10] 1 John 4, 19-21

[11] Philip Yancey: ”What’s So Amazing About Grace”, Zondervan Publishing House, 1997, pg. 45

[12] www.musalaha.org

[13] Rom. 3,23-24

[14] 1 John 4,18

[15] John 16, 33

[16] 1 Cor. 13, 3