Stream of Consciousness:
So I got to thinking about that verse in John where Jesus says, "Apart from me you can do nothing." It's John 15:5 if you want to check out what else is happening in this passage.
From there I thought, "Hmm. Lot's of people who don't love Jesus do lots of good things. How is this possible?"
Conclusion: God uses the good work of others, Christians or not, to build the Kingdom of God. If God is God, and God can do anything, certainly God can use people who don't love God to do the work of God, right?
So then I wondered, "Hmm. I wonder if there's an example of people who don't call themselves Christians doing God's work in the world?"
Thanks to Google, I found a host of links, the first of which kind of pissed me off. "Religion of Peace" as the site is called seeks to paint Muslims in the worst light possible, stating that really, it's a religion of hate and destruction.
I'm not a fan of groups that hate on various religions. In particular, I'm not a fan of sites like this one that bash Muslims who, according to the site, offer no disaster relief response to the victims of Hurricane Irene. "Muslims believe Allah causes disasters, so Muslims don't provide aid for those in need, especially infidels" says the site.
To this, I facepalm, and direct you to the ICNA, a Muslim organization designed to alleviate the damages caused from any & all human suffering or natural disasters. Feel free to give to the ICNA relief program if you'd like, or contact your local church to give there:
God is going to continue to do God's work by whatever means necessary, and no artificial religious boundary that we construct is going to stop God from working. Because after all, apart from Christ, we can do nothing, and God loves those in any tragic life situation more than any of us ever could.
As a pastor and preacher, my prayer is for all to come to know Jesus, but please Christians, let's not get there by making villains out of Muslims!
Shalom to you all!
No comments:
Post a Comment