I’m against book burning. I can’t see a time when I would support that. I was against it when that crazy church in North Carolina burned non-KJV Bibles, religious books and Satan’s music (which they defined as “country , rap , rock , pop, heavy metal, western, soft and easy, southern gospel , contemporary Christian , jazz, soul, oldies but goldies, etc.”) I was against it when the U.S. military burned the Bibles in Afghanistan. And I’m against the publicity stunt being planned for Florida.
(In the same way, I was against the Contending For The Faith lectureship this year which focused on ridiculing books written by brothers in Christ. I was against an article I was referred to recently which attacked a book written by three friends of mine, attacking the book by pulling one passage out, applying a Bible verse out of context, and claiming that these authors were teaching false doctrine.)
I’ll admit, though, that the actions of these churches bother me more than the actions of the U.S. Army. To some degree, we should expect churches to act in a Christian way; there is no reason to have such expectations of the military. To outsiders, these churches represent Christianity, even though they are no more representative of Christianity than the lunatic fringe is representative of Islam.
I’ve heard some Christians want to talk about this church’s constitutional right to burn books. If we are willing to treat them merely as pagans, then certainly such a discussion is appropriate. But if we approach it in a Christian way, that argument holds no water. We, as Christians, are called to lay down our rights, to be all things to all men, in order to spread the good news of the Kingdom.
Some would point to Elijah’s showdown with the prophets in 1 Kings 18. I don’t see a comparison. Elijah was dealing with false worship that had been introduced into Israel. At no time did God’s prophets go to other nations to destroy their idols nor desecrate their temples. The comparison would be to false teachings being brought into the church, the Israel of God today.
Others look to the book burning in Acts 19. These books of witchcraft belonged to the church members. They were part of their old life which they were putting away. This burning was an act of repentance, a part of a change of life. They did not go buy books belonging to other religions in order to burn them.
What will be accomplished by burning the Koran? Nothing. Nothing positive, anyway. This won’t keep people from reading the Koran. It won’t bring Moslems to repentance nor cause Christians to grow in faith. It will increase hostilities without serving a positive purpose.
I wish we lived in a world where such happenings didn’t get attention. I wish crazy people could do their crazy things without affecting everyone else. But the fact is, the body of Christ will suffer because of this.
“As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”” (Romans 2:24) I pray that verse will not be true about me.
All I can say is “Amen” and do you have the Reverend’s email to send this to him?
I’m pretty sure our Australian hate crime laws would prevent such an act or make it illegal anyway. We might have fewer freedoms than the USA but perhaps it makes for (or represents) a kinder society?
I must say Amen as well! We have a lot of rights, and I don’t wish for the Constitution to be changed, but as believers, we don’t and shouldn’t take advantage of all of those rights, or take any to the extreme. Where’s our good sense? Where’s the love? How is this listening to the Holy Spirit who dwells in us? I absolutely do not believe that the Spirit is telling anyone to act with hatred, no matter the rights we’ve claimed for ourselves.
Thanks, Tim, for using your gifts to push us to think and pray.
Thank you, Tim, for having my back and for being a wise source of counsel in a dark and difficult time.
Excellent thoughts Tim. The attention this guy has gotten is crazy. I also think your point on not helping ministering to Muslims is spot on. To me this shows not the heart of someone who hurts for individuals who are in need of the light of the gospel of Christ, but of someone who wants publicity. Sadly, the world has given it to him.
My thoughts on this subject can be found at http://www.studyyourbibleonline.com
At no time did God’s prophets go… 2Kings 10 note verse 30
Thanks William. If you’ll note, however, Jehu went to Samaria, that is, northern Israel. Someone may find an exception to what I said, but this example isn’t it.
Still, I appreciate the attempt. We need to approach these issues with the Bible in hand.
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
Great post! Burning the Qur’an, non-KJV Bibles, or any other venerated book belonging to religious communities will not help one iota people to know Jesus Christ. So besides the entire disrespect of such actions, they seem pointless from a missional viewpoint as well.
Grace and peace,
Rex
great thoughts, tim
it’s one more example of the church using worldly methods to wage a spiritual battle. they might as well burn Huck Finn and Darwin’s Origin of Species
Book burning is easier than reading the book and discussing the differences. Fear is probably one of the basic factors in book burning, and maybe hate. The media attention on this certainly isn’t helpful. When a town in Israel burned New Testaments that were distributed there by a church group a couple of years ago, the media was relatively silent about it. Some slight mention, then it was dropped. Would have been good if the media handled this case in the same way.