Posted on 10/31/2011 3:31:48 PM PDT by Iam1ru1-2
How would you feel if your pastor stood in the pulpit this past Sunday opened what you believed to be his Bible and then started to read passages completely unfamiliar to you. Then in the midst of the reading you hear him say Allah instead of God and you realize he is reading not from his Bible, but from the Quran.
How would you feel and what would you do?
If this didnt happen to you yesterday, count yourself fortunate because it did happen to a number people sitting in Christian churches across America.
Social activists involved with Faith Shared, a program of Interfaith Alliance and Human Rights First were trying to promote tolerance and respect of Islam and counter opposition to the Muslim faith. So starting with the National Cathedral in Washington DC, at least fifty other churches in 32 states joined in the effort to host readings from the Quran.
The effort is meant to counter what they refer to as anti-Muslim bigotry and negative stereotypes that have been growing in the
US. By getting prominent national and local churches to read from the Quran and teach their congregations about Islam, the Alliance believes it will help make Christians more knowledgeable and tolerant of Islam.
Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of Interfaith Alliance said:
The anti-Muslim rhetoric that has pervaded our national conversation recently has shocked and saddened me. Appreciation for pluralism and respect for religious freedom and other human rights are at the core of our democracy. We believe that demonstrating our commitment to those core American values will help counteract the intensified level of negative stereotypes and anti-Muslim bigotry in our recent public discourse.
Tad Stahnke of Human Rights First said:
With Faith Shared, congregations will send a clear message to the world that Americans respect religious differences and reject bigotry and the demonization of Islam or any other religion. This message about the fundamental importance of religious freedom around the world is especially timely as President Obama prepares to reaffirm the United States support for democracy in the Middle East starting with a speech later this week.
Dean Sam Lloyd of the National Cathedral said:
Few things are more important for the future of our world than to respect, to honor, and to commit ourselves to the well-being of every personto embrace a sense of humility before the vast mystery of God. As Americans and as people of faith, we must use our great traditions to come together for mutual enrichment and understanding.
Islam has no tolerance for other religions and if you think it does and want to argue the point, look at the Islamic nations in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq. They not only preach intolerance for other religions, especially Judaism and Christianity, but they preach the eradication of them. These Muslim nations have laws against the religious practices of other religions. In Egypt, the state police have been harassing Christians and arresting them and beating them.
Yep, thats tolerance, isnt it?
Jesus never taught tolerance for other religions, but he also didnt teach his followers to use violence against them. Instead, Jesus taught his followers to share their faith with those who believe in other religions and to pray for them.
I dont know about you, but if my pastor had read from the Quran this past Sunday, I would have gotten up in the middle of the service and left. I would also have serious doubts about returning to worship the God of the Bible and Jesus Christ at a church that reads from the Quran and teaches respect for a false religion.
I would make an appointment to meet with the pastor ask him to justify his actions and then I would read 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 to him, which says:
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,
I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.
I would also ask my pastor if he believed Jesus in John 14:6 when He said:
Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
And Matthew 7:15-16 when Jesus said:
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheeps clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits.
And Matthew 24:10-12 when Jesus said speaking of the last days:
And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.
In view of these passages of Scripture, I would ask my pastor to explain why he would dare use the pulpit on the Lords Day to teach or promote the religion of a false prophet. My further attendance at his church would depend upon his answers to these questions.
I advise any of you who may have sat in one of these churches to follow the same course of action with your pastor and then make your own judgment on whether or not you want to consider attending that church in the future.
If that happened in any church I was attending, I would walk out.
Purpose driven chrislam.
I would stand up and ask the preacher why he was reading satanic verses in GOD’s Church. I would then renounce my membership in front of the entire Congregation and walk out to find another Church... one that believes that:
“I am the LORD your GOD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods in MY presence”
LLS
I have walked out of churches for FAR LESS than that.
Wake up America, Sharia is just around the corner at this rate.
I’d be more concernede if the book of Mormon was read...
unless it was used as a warning againt anti-Christian beliefs...
This abomination exists in the realm of those misguided by the heretic Luther.
Only if it was done to make a teaching point. If it were done to make a doctrinal point, it’s a Matthew 18 issue.
ditto.
Luther was correct on some issues, he was incorrect in others. But he wasn’t a heretic.
I’d get up an walk out.
The pastor I had when I was growing up told us that if he was standing at the lectern, you would be hearing the Word of God. No explanatory sentences before or after the reading, no announcements. Just the Word of God and the citation, of course.
LOL, Daas.
Me too....after I made a verbal scene.
If that happened in any church I was attending, I would walk out.”””
I would not only walk out, I would stop in the main aisle & LOUDLY inform the ‘pastor’ what I thought of his behavior & that I would NEVER be back—nor would any of my family. NOr would anyone I could talk into doing the same. Since I can project a fairly loud voice, even some neighboring churches might hear my tirade. It WOULD be a tirade!!
For this to happen at the National Cathedral is more than disgusting, not to mention the other 49 churches.
Since the Islamists are burning Christians & their churches in Egypt, one would think this could never happen. I would start proceedings to get my ‘pastor’ DEFROCKED.....
Let know when a Mosque in IRAN lets the Roman Catholic Bishop be their ‘priest de jour’ & is reading from the Bible. Or one in Egypt. Or Somalia...or wherever.
Then I MIGHT think about apologizing to my local ‘pastor’.
But- on 2nd thought—I will not.
Uh.....no.
Found on the link...the “Christian” churches that have participated...
http://www.faithshared.org/participating.html
I wonder if the Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy and Tad Stahnke have had any luck getting an Imam to read from the Bible, in a Mosque, during and Islamic religious service? I mean in the spirit of Faith Shared, a program of Interfaith Alliance and Human Rights First.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.