Muslims Should Earn It
9 Feb 2006
I still remember those Smith Barney commercials in which John Houseman said, “Smith Barney makes money the old fashioned way; they earn it.” It seems to me that everyone demands everything anymore regardless of whether they’ve earned it or not. And anyone refusing to offer others all that they demand is condemned for his or her refusal to do so, even if those making demands are unworthy of what they demand. Take for instance the Muslim world’s demand for respect.
According to As’ad AbuKhalil, a visiting political science professor at the University of California, Berkeley, the reason Muslims are up in arms today has more to do with a pattern of disrespect for Islam than it does with a few disrespectful cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed printed in a Danish newspaper. Here’s what I would like to ask the good professor; however, “What has Islam ever done to earn the world’s respect?”
The one thing the whole world associates with Islam today is terrorism. All over our world acts of violence are perpetrated daily by Muslims in the name of their religion. Furthermore, Muslims repeatedly warn us that their terrorist acts will continue unabated until the whole world bows in respect to them and in reverence to their god. This, after all, is how their revered prophet taught them to convert and conquer the world. That the world is to be won at the point of Islam’s sword is why Islam has always been called “the religion of the sword.”
Now some will protest that mainstream Islam is innocent of the atrocities being perpetrated throughout our world today by a few radical Islamists. Yet, the recent elections of terrorists and terrorist organizations in Muslim countries by landslide margins and the deadly silence of the Muslim street to the murder and mayhem repeatedly carried out in Allah’s name throughout our world makes such a protest preposterous and untenable. Though it is true that some wacko occasionally commits an atrocity in the name of Christianity, the Christian community is always the first in line to denounce the wacko. It is also the loudest in its denunciation, lest the wacko be seen by others as representative of the Christian faith. The Muslim community, on the other hand, never rushes to the front of the line to denounce in the loudest voice wackos perpetrating atrocities in the name of Islam. Instead, what little peep of protest the Muslim community musters is always accompanied by a qualifying “but”; for example, “We denounce all terrorism, but sympathize with terrorists and celebrate the deaths of their victims.”
While Muslims may have some hope of winning the world’s respect for their religion by ceasing to demand it and going out of their way to earn it, there is no hope of them ever winning my respect for their religion. Many Christians, having been duped into believing that we’re suppose to respect all other religions, will be appalled at my resolved refusal to respect Islam. Yet, there is nothing in the Bible that teaches us to respect other religions. Although the Bible teaches us to respect all people regardless of their religion, because they are created in the image of God and Christ died for them, it does not teach us to respect other religions. Indeed, how can we respect other religions when they are all false and refute the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is man’s only hope of salvation?
Far from respecting other religions, the Apostle Paul repudiated them. In Galatians 1:8-9, he boldly declared, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed [eternally damned]. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed [eternally damned].” According to Paul, anyone preaching another salvation other than that which may be obtained through faith in Christ alone should be anathematized.
The Apostle Paul understood what was at stake, namely, the immortal souls of men. Therefore, he denounced and repudiated in no uncertain terms all other religions. Paul insisted upon a pure Gospel preached without compromise to the ends of the earth. Convinced that Christ alone was the hope of the world, how could Paul do otherwise? The only explanation for a less resolved stanch by today’s church is its failure to be similarly convinced.
Like the Apostle Paul, I make no bones about my disrespect for and detestation of false religions; such as Islam, which, as the world’s largest and fastest growing false religion, is being masterfully used by the god of this world to lead untold millions to Christless graves and Christless eternities at the forfeiture of their immortal souls. My resolved disrespect for and detestation of the Muslim religion should not be misconstrued, however, as ill will toward the Muslim people of our world. My hope and prayer for all Muslims is that they may “escape from the snare of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:26).
Don Walton
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