Them Moslems sure are nice people!
Posted on 01/17/2003 6:11:48 AM PST by chance33_98
Church's sign has Muslims outraged
Florida pastor says criticism of Islam is legal and fair
Associated Press Friday, January 17, 2003
Jacksonville --- The Council on American-Islamic Relations-Florida is calling on state religious leaders to repudiate a Jacksonville Baptist church's roadside sign the group claims is anti-Muslim.
The sign outside the First Conservative Baptist Church in Jacksonville's Mandarin area reads: ''Jesus Forbade Murder. Matthew 26:52. Muhammad Approved Murder. Surah 8:65.''
Altaf Ali, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Florida, said his organization attempted to talk with the Baptist church's officials about the sign, but were rebuffed with belligerent language.
''All Americans must band together to condemn hate speech designed to divide our nation along religious and ethnic lines,'' Ali said. ''Any attempt to marginalize or vilify one religious community is an attack on all people of faith.''
The church's pastor, the Rev. Gene Youngblood, who also leads the Conservative Theological Society and Conservative Christian Academy, said he has been using the marquee-type sign to express the church's opinion for 15 years and has no plans to remove the message.
''First and foremost, are we not entitled to freedom of speech?'' Youngblood said.
Youngblood, who said he is an expert on world religions, said he had been threatened and his property vandalized. He said he has filed 13 police reports since July.
Youngblood said his church would issue a formal statement later.
Iman Zaid Malik, spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida, said some Christian friends brought the offensive sign to his attention.
''Misinformation must be rejected by all people of conscience,'' Malik said. ''This shows that the vast majority of Americans reject hate and seek a society where good overcomes the evil.''
Malik said the Quran verse indicates that those who believe and are steadfast in battle will overcome much larger armies. It is not an endorsement of murder, he said.
The verse reads: ''O Prophet [Muhammad]! Inspire the believers to conquer all fear of death when fighting, [so that] if there be twenty of you who are patient in adversity, they might overcome two hundred; and if there be one hundred of you, they might overcome one-thousand of those bent on denying the truth, because they are people who cannot grasp it.''
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said the Quran also states, ''whoever murders a person . . . it will be as if he killed all mankind, and whoever saves a life, shall be regarded as if he saved all mankind.''
ON THE WEB: Council on American-Islamic Relations-Florida: www.cair-florida.org
First Conservative Baptist Church: www.conservative.edu/main.htm
Perhaps worth noting is that in the OT we have a history of things which occured, wheras in the koran we have a plan of things to be.
What like Satanism? Or the Aztec religion that demanded hearts to be cut out of hundreds of living victims daily lest the sun not rise? Condeming evil religious practices has never been frowned upon.
Rev Youngblood of the First Baptist Church is free to post whatever he wants on a sign outside his church. You got that right.
Does He then know us by the millions of discarded fetuses, and the thousands of children raped by our clergy?
Let's review:
Judaism = Old Testament is the holy book
Christianity = New Testament is the holy book
Islam = Koran is the holy book
Juadaism = does not recognize the New Testament or the Koran.
Christianity = recognizes the Old Testament but not the Koran.
Islam = recognizes both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
So Christians put as much faith in the Old Testament as Islam does in the New Testament. It's something that came earlier and recognized as holy, but is not central to the faith.
Do you finally understand?
Them Moslems sure are nice people!
An excellent point. Thanks for pointing that out.
Wha? You never heard of `prophecy' in the Old Testament?
And I have never questioned his 'right' to do so, I question his wisdom. By setting the standard so low, and devisive; he has eliminated any Muslum dialog. Christ did not insult those he wished to save, he lead by example; and encourages Christians to do likewise. This particular Rev has instead chosen to publically ridicule a religon. Not a very Christ-like action for a man of God.
Now, the Muslums may in turn purchase a bilboard and give you some insults to drive by on your way to work, for Rev Youngblood has cast the first stone. Or does the right to publically ridicule a religon only apply to Christians?
Indeed - but who is going to do the things in prophecy? God. He is not telling the jews to go on a killing spress across the world. He is telling them HE will do what needs to be done. Islam directs the believers to do it.
See how insidious P.C. is? Now merely posting the truth on the roadsign of one's private property is considered "hate speech."
The truth shall make you free. Seems there's a lot of people more interested in keeping people enslaved than in spreading the truth. One more time: Islam is evil and evil should not be tolerated. Does that mean all of Islam's adherents are evil? No, quite frankly I believe many are misguided and simply ignorant about what their own scriptures teach, in much the same way many nominal Christians and Jews are ignorant of what their scriptures teach.
It would be most unfortunate if the mullahs are able to keep people in ignorance, in the dark, and in chains simply because they are able to shout down opposing voices with threats of terror. (Kinda' proves what kind of religion it is by its utter lack of intolerance, doesn't it?) Their power is derived from keeping the truth about the evils of Islam a secret. There are some in this country who are not hoodwinked or intimidated by their lies and bluster.
In that spirit I say good for this church, good for this pastor, and good for his congregation in putting the truth out front for all to see. They deserve our support.
''Any attempt to marginalize or vilify one religious community is an attack on all people of faith.''
And yet once again, the unthinking man's strawman argument of "moral equivalence" rears its ugly head. No argument is too spurious to use when you're desperately trying to paint the purveyors of truth as bigots, all to maintain your shackles of power over the "faithful."
He sickens me.
They should.
Your bible must be different than mine. My bible contains BOTH the Old and the New Testament. The Old Testament is the foundation (Protestant - does that make a difference?)of Christianity, and the New Testament builds upon it. The God in the OT is the same God in the NT. The 10 Commandments still apply, as do other parables, stories and instructions. Judaism STOPS at the end of the OT, but Christians and Jews tend to agree on seveal points and interpretations found in the OT.
Christ was the fulfillment of prophecies in the OT, he came to fulfill them; not negate them. Does your faith dis-avow the OT? It's a story that never happened? Or was it written by 'man' instead of 'God'? Are you to disregard ALL of the Old Testament, or only certain sections? Do I need to remove some pages from my bible? I am using the King James Version, which is usually the most accepted version.
To answer your question "Do you finally understand?", my question is "What are you talking about?"
What are ya, some kind of racist? I noted that you haven't moved to any norhterneastern states yet;)
Christ died to save everyone, and yet at the same time called the religious leaders of his day a "brood of vipers," "hypocrites," "blind guides," and "white-washed sepluchres."
Why did He do this? Because it was the truth, and what did Jesus say about the truth?
"I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father but by me." John 14:6
Not by Mao, Marx, Mohammed or me. The truth hurts and heals, but most of all it frees us from lies and the self-deluded life. And as you can also see, the truth is not popular.
It got nailed to the tree but not even death could keep it buried. That's why it will win, despite what these "sons of satan" say about it.
I grew up in SoDak, and learned all about winter as I cared to know in my life. So, I moved to Houston. For Christmas, I went swimming and hot-tubbing while my friends back home were huddled around a space heater.
A brief moment of greed (ie. insanity) caused me to move back up north, to Washington. After 3 winters, I headed back down south where it's warm. My weekend will be in the 60's and into the 70-80's next week. How does that sound? Think I'll make a jaunt to the beach ....
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