From the Pastor
October 2010
Dear Saints in Christ,
In the days leading up to the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on America, Pastor Terry Jones of Dove World Outreach Center had a plan to burn copies of the Quran, the Muslim holy book. Thankfully, his mind was changed and he didn’t go through with it.
The Quran is NOT the Word of God. It is a book that is held sacred by those who have a belief in Allah as god. Those are the adherents to Islam, the Muslims. Allah is not a real god. He does not exist. There is only one true God—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—the Holy Trinity, who revealed Himself to us in the Bible, which IS the Word of God, who revealed Himself to us personally in His Incarnate Son, Jesus Christ. Why, then, should we care, what pastor or church wants to do regarding the Quran? Because of the message it sends!
Burning the Quran by a Christian congregation is not going to send a very good message about Jesus Christ. Burning the Quran does not tell the Muslim world that Jesus Christ and His Church loves them and wants them to know Christ as Lord and Savior and God. It sends the same message as terrorists, the Nazis, and others who burned books, including the Holy Bible. A Quran burning, or any other such action of hatred, is not a way to show the love of God who’s one and only Son gave up His life into death so that all people, Muslims included, would have forgiveness and eternal life.
We learn an important truth from this event. How Christians act and behave and speak in the world matters. How we act as individual believers and as a congregation, a District, and a Synod matters. It speaks volumes to the world about who we are in Christ. Our behavior and words speaks volumes to the world about what Christ is like and who He is. Pray that we as individuals, our congregation, our New England District, and our Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod will always give the good witness to Jesus Christ in how we speak and act in our world.
Pastor Coons
Lutheran Church of our Redeemer 