An Explanation of Islamic Rage | A Self-Repost

I wrote this in April of 2011. Seems apropos now.

The Koran was recently burned by a Florida pastor, Terry Jones. In response, UN aid workers were attacked and killed in Afghanistan. This has become a predictable outcome when some Muslims are aggrieved. A few years ago, Danish cartoons, some with pointed messages, some quite benign, and some created by Imams to create even greater outrage, caused widespread protest, rioting, and bloodshed.

Real or perceived slights to the Koran or to the prophet Mohammed are often met by violence, rage, rioting and murder. Many times, it is a Christian or a Christian community that is attacked. This is greatly due to the fact that in the Islamic world, it is (incorrectly) assumed that the West is Christian, and thus, if the crime of desecration occurred in the West, it was a Christian action.

For the Christian, there is an apologetic value in Islamic rage. By apologetic, I don’t mean that this is a chance to apologise for the foolish behaviour of the burners of the Koran. If you didn’t burn the Koran, you are not responsible and have nothing to apologise  for or feel ashamed of. This is not a case of guilt by association. By apologetic, I mean that Islamic rage is itself a strong argument against Islam. I do not advocate creating more rage-provoking incidents; this will happen easily enough. What I do wish to point out that this kind of response to criticism betrays a fundamental weakness in Islam. I believe that systems that are false and untrue will have faults that are un-healable.

I think I understand the rage. It is the rage of impotence. Allah does not act: for all the greatness attributed to Allah, he does nothing in the face of insult. Allah does not fend for himself, or protect himself, but depends upon his followers for vengeance. Every unanswered insult against Allah is a sign, a proof, of his non-existence. In the face of insults against Allah or Muhammad, what other response can there be except rage.

If someone takes a crucifix and places it in a jar of urine, it is awarded a spot in an art gallery (this has happened). Why don’t Christians riot, destroy, and kill? For one thing, we aren’t disappointed that God didn’t show up to take some vengeance, because this isn’t what He told us to expect. Look at Matthew 13:24-30, and you will notice that judgement is future.

A parallel to Islamic rage may be found in the defeat of the prophets of Ba’al (1 Kings 18). But before I continue, I wish to make it clear that I do not find a parallel between Elijah and Terry Jones.  I have little to say of him. While much has been said about Jones, and less, significantly, about the Islamic response.

A showdown between 450 prophets of Ba’al and Elijah resulted in the total defeat of queen Jezebel’s prophets. As you read the account, you will be struck by the pitiful hopelessness of their cause. Try as they might, their god did nothing. There was no voice, no action, no sign at all that any of their cries were heard. Ba’al, whom they expected to avenge himself, was silent. But God answered Elijah’s prayer. He then commanded him to slaughter the prophets of Ba’al. The text is clear: the prophets of Ba’all failed because Ba’al failed:  there is no Ba’al. He is false, a lie, a fiction. But he was the religion of the nation. So what’s a queen to do? When Jezebel heard of Elijah’s role in their massacre, she said, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow” (1 Kings 19:2). Then, as now, impotence and defeat gives birth to rage.

©The Wittenberg Door

The Rise of Islam Foretold in the Gospel of John

Actually, not just Islam.

John 16:2 (ESV)

They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.

I realise that in the immediate context Jesus is speaking of the Jews of His day; I also note that very few Jews today seek to kill Christians as a service to God.

A Good Question.

“Well I wonder who would lead us if none of us would vote” the late Larry Norman, “The Great American Novel.”

As a US ex-pat, I can vote absentee in the upcoming presidential election. But  I can only find reasons not to vote for either party, either candidate.

The rest of his lyrics, written sometime in the late 60’s or early 70’s, during the Vietnam “conflict” are below. Seems very contemporary:

I was born and raised an orphan in a land that once was free
In a land that poured its love out on the moon;
and I grew up in the shadows of your silos filled with grain,
but you never helped to fill my empty spoon.
 
And when I was ten you murdered law with courtroom politics,
And you learned to make a lie sound just like truth;
But I know you better now and I don’t fall for all your tricks,
And you’ve lost the one advantage of my youth.
 
You kill a black man at midnight just for talking to your daughter,
Then you make his wife your mistress and you leave her without water;
And the sheet you wear upon your face is the sheet your children sleep on,
At every meal you say a prayer; you don’t believe but still you keep on.
 
And your money says in God we trust,
But it’s against the law to pray in school;
You say we beat the Russians to the moon,
And I say you starved your children to do it.
 
You are far across the ocean but the war is not your own
And while you’re winning theirs, you’re gonna lose the one at home;
Do you really think the only way to bring about the peace
Is to sacrifice your children and kill all your enemies?
 
The politicians all make speeches while the news men all take note,
And they exaggerate the issues as they shove them down our throats;
Is it really up to them whether this country sinks or floats?
Well I wonder who would lead us if none of us would vote.
 
 
Well my phone is tapped and my lips are chapped from whispering through the fence,
You know every move I make, or is that just coincidence?
Well you try to make my way of life a little less like jail,
If I promise to make tapes and slides and send them through the mail.
 
And your money says in God we trust,
But it’s against the law to pray in school;
You say we beat the Russians to the moon,
And I say you starved your children to do it.
 
 
You say all men are equal, all men are brothers,
Then why are the rich more equal than others?
Don’t ask me for the answer, I’ve only got one:
That a man leaves his darkness when he follows the Son
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