I just got home from Mass but I still don't believe the Pope should be kissing the Koran. Why isn't he evangelizing the Muslims, trying to save their souls? Wouldn't that be a better way of showing respect for them? If he tried to show a better way?
God reinforced the separation of the child of 'flesh', from the Child of 'Promise', when Hagar and Ishmael were sent off to wander. Another separation of darkness from light. Just like at the beginning of the first creation.
Romans 13:12
The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
Ephesians 5:8
For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
2 Corinthians 6:14
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
Ephesians 6:12
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
1 John 1:5
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
1 John 1:6
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
I give him the benefit of the doubt, though. It could be he didn't know it was the Koran... why would someone hand him a Koran, anyway? Wouldn't ya think they'd hand him a Bible?
OTOH. Even if he knew it was the Koran, maybe it was a sign of respect for Islam. Although we do not hold all the same beliefs, there is a lot of good in Islam (not the minority wacko interpretation of it) that all of us can recognize.
And despite what some others believe, we do worship the same God, although in varying degrees of perfection.
But the bottom line for me is that in the matter of faith and morals, I'm with the pope. Whether or not he kissed the Koran matters not a whit to my faith.
Sometimes I think JPII fears the world will fall into something akin to the crusades. Only in our modern world, the results would be catastrophic.
At the present time, the hatred of the Moslem countries against the West is becoming a hatred against Christianity itself. Although the statesmen have not yet taken it into account, there is still grave danger that the temporal power of Islam may return and, with it, the menace that it may shake off a West which has ceased to be Christian, and affirm itself as a great anti-Christian world power. Moslem writers say, "When the locust swarms darken countries, they bear on their wings these Arabic words: 'We are God's host, each of us has ninety-nine eggs, and if we had a hundred, we should lay waste the world, with all that is in it.'"
The problem is, how shall we prevent the hatching of the hundredth egg? It is our firm belief that the fears some entertain concerning the Moslems are not to be realized, but the Moslemism, instead, will eventually be converted to Christianity — and in a way that even some of our missionaries never suspect. It is our belief that this will happen not through the direct teachings of Christianity, but through a summoning of the Moslems to a veneration of the Mother of God. This is the line of argument:
This interesting and timely article by the late Most Reverend Fulton J. Sheen first appeared in the Mindszenty Report of August 1991. It presents the Bishop's observations on whether Islam and Christianity can find common ground to co-exist in the coming decades. As editor John Boland says they are "more significant now perhaps than when written 49 years ago."
You are correct Fritz..if we really love the Muslims we do not honor their false religion or pay it tribute..we bring them Christ.
On the matter of the current problems in the U.S. Church, it is understandable that some hoping for an orthodox revival might get frustrated with what may seem at times like less than confident signs in Rome that sufficient attention has been addressed to dealing with the vandals and pranksters who seem to be running (and ruining) things in America. One can probably question the kissing of the Koran without falling into pope "bashing." Personally, I don't think any Catholic or bishop should kiss the Koran or any other Muslim book. There are intelligent ways to debate the impact of Islam on human civilization, whether Mohammed was possessed, a charlatan, or merely another homicidal psycho from a non-Western culture. Or whether "kissing" is the appropriate way to show respect for non-Christian symbols.
Debating the personality cult of John Paul II or the effectiveness of his papacy is certainly a valid topic for discussion. But the Church is always more complicated than just the papacy or the bureaucratic manuevers in Rome. If one accepts the idea that John Paul II has been a positive hero of orthodoxy, we still have plenty of problems in the U.S. Church which seem immune to his vision of the Christian restoration of culture and civilization. Whether a differently-styled papacy would have addressed the problems of the U.S. Church, of its outrageous and absurd neo-modernism, minimalism, wreckovation, grotesque sodomy scandals, etc., that may certainly be something that will continue to fascinate the current pope's critics. Had I been Pope, God forbid, I would have publicly requested, say, Weakland's early retirement a lot sooner. Some of these debates can be useful at refocusing on what really constitutes genuine orthodoxy and genuine renewal of the Church - as the Catholic posts on FR often indicate. How to deal with the dilemmas facing Christians and others of the civilized minority in Islamic countries will remain a matter of concern for the Church for many years to come. Let's hope more Muslims choose to kiss the New Testament instead of bombs and jet fuel.