Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center plans to burn thousands of copies of the Qur'an on September 11, 2010 as a protest and a warning to Islamist extremist. In an interview on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, Jones defended his planned Qur'an burning saying, "We have declared September the 11th 'International Burn a Quran Day' because we want to send a very clear message," Jones continued, "It is indeed a radical message but a very clear, radical message to Muslims, to Sharia law, that that is not welcome in America."
Even though the words Christ or Christian do not appear in the name of Jones' church, he does claim to be a Christian and sees this act of "protest" as important to the future of Christianity in America. Jones seems to be ignorant of the fact that Christianity is world religion and that PEACE was at the heart of Christ's message to the world.
On the Outreach Center's web site they state their purpose as:
"Our purpose and our goal here at Dove World Outreach Center is to get people to stand up. We, as the church, need to stand up for righteousness and for the truth of the Bible. That truth is not only love, healing and prosperity, but it is also about getting up. It is not about being entertained on Sunday morning, but about being equipped to do the work of the service: motivating, equipping to get up, organize, and show the world that there is a true and living church."...Any religion which would profess anything other than this truth is of the devil. This is why we also take a stand against Islam, which teaches that Jesus is not the Son of God, therefore taking away the saving power of Jesus Christ and leading people straight to Hell.
It is our vision to go around, to preach and to challenge, and to get the church involved and ready. We must go outside of the walls, and march for righteousness."
The Outreach Center's site is filled with hate speech and attacks on Islam and the Muslim faith. Jones also attacks Christians who call for peace and understanding between the 3 Faiths of Abraham. I question Jones' claim to be a Christian on many levels. In fact, on the pages I read, the words Islam and Muslim were used more the Jesus, Christ, or God combined.
Both conservative and liberal Christian leaders across the US and the world have condemned Jones and his planned "International Burn the Koran Day". Sadly, voices expressing true Christian values will not be heard over the sensational and hate filled words of Terry Jones.
Click on this link to visit Jones' site http://www.doveworld.org/
I pray God finds a way to silence this man and reverse the harm he has done, and continues to do, both in this country and around the world.
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