Pastor Terry Jones won’t repent, but I think he’s resigned or retired

As I said in my previous post on Terry Jones, through his bold act of disgrace (to Islam) and defiance (to the Church), put himself into a position where there were only three rational options left: repent, resign or retire. No one who has so misrepresented our Lord on the world stage should be allowed to continue in pastoral ministry. He incited hatred of Muslims and when threatened he started carrying a .40-calibre pistol, making him armed and dangerous. It was this outrageous act which convinced me to present this case for Jones to repent, resign or retire.

Terry Jones put himself in harm’s way through his foolishness. A pastor who is carrying a gun and is prepared to use it is not following in the way of Jesus. He may have been protected by the 1st and 2nd Amendments, but he isolated himself from the Christian church and even among his 50 followers, at least 15 left him, maybe more now. We watched a man self-destruct. Since he clearly will not repent, it is best that he has now effectively resigned or retired.

Technorati Tags: Pastor Terry Jones,Burn a Koran Day,Qur'an burning,Gainesville Florida,Islam,church,Geoff Tunnicliffe,World Evangelical Alliance,persecuted church

Qur’an Controversy in Florida: Why Pastor Terry Jones must resign, retire or repent

Why people are losing interest in the church – Case 2
Perhaps more Christians should be concerned about what’s going on in some churches today. The more I look, the more I understand why it’s getting harder to tell people about Jesus. We have churches making a mockery of what Jesus taught us. What are these churches thinking? I never read the author Anne Rice until she posted this on Facebook: “Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being ‘Christian’ or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group.” I think I’m beginning to understand her point. In each part of this series, I want to look at what one local church is doing and then ask what Jesus might say to them. Your feedback and guest posts are most welcome.

This is an extreme case of a church gone wrong, and I’m troubled that we even know about it. Why has the media chosen to give this man and his church so much attention, worldwide attention? It boggles my mind that such a dangerous story would be trumpeted so loudly. Would it not have been better to ignore him? Why give this man a global audience?

Let’s be clear on understanding what Pastor Jones has planned to do this Saturday, on the anniversary of 9/11. The burning of the Qur’an is an act of hatred. Creating a bonfire to burn Qur’ans which have been sent to Pastor Jones from people all over the U.S. will fuel hatred toward Muslim in those who participate in such an event. Since I do not believe that freedom of speech needs to include acts designed to incite hatred, I personally believe that this event should be stopped.

Christians have tried to convince Pastor Jones not to do this and so have Christian leaders. Now, religious leaders are urging him not to do it, joining opposition from the U.S. Armed Forces, State Department and White House. If God were trying to speak to you today, do you suppose it could be any more clear than it should be now to Pastor Jones and the 50 members of his church?

Pastor Terry Jones: no one can see how you could possibly think you are doing what Jesus would have you do. How could this act of hatred which will incite violence against American and Canadian soldiers as well as Christians worldwide—how could you think, even for a moment, that burning Qur’ans has anything to do with the mission Christ has given to his church? Sir, you have put yourself in a position where there are only three rational options left: repent, resign or retire. Repent—change your mind now because you are wrong. Or resign because you have clearly disqualified yourself to lead a church—no one who has so misrepresented our Lord on the world stage should be allowed to continue in pastoral ministry. Or retire before you do any more harm. Repent, resign or retire and be sure to do so before Saturday. This is your only way out now.

Terry Jones says he has received more than 100 death threats and as a result he “has started wearing a .40-calibre pistol strapped to his hip” (The Canadian Press). What does he plan to do with that gun? What’s his intention? This is not the Christian way. At the arrest of Jesus, one of his followers pulled out a sword and cut off the ear of someone in the arresting party. Jesus said, “Put your sword back in its place for all who draw the sword will die by the sword” (Matthew 26:52). In other words, Jesus was telling Peter that this was not the way that a true follower of Jesus should respond.

Technorati Tags: Qur'an burning,Terry Jones,Gainesville Florida,Dove World Outreach,9/11,hate crime,fear mongering

Blessing for your Blackberry, iPhone, netbook, etc.

Rev. Lisa Vaughn is inviting Blackberry addicts, iPhone worshippers and users of mobile phones and other technological gadgets to bring them in this weekend for a special blessing. “It’s not just about please don’t let my cellphone drop calls today,” says the pastor of the Anglican parish of St. Timothy, on the road to Peggy’s Cove, somewhat near Halifax, Nova Scotia. “It’s about, you know, help me to be the best Christian, the best person I can be in my conversations, in my communication.”

Vaughn is holding offering this decidedly contemporary blessing service this Sunday on the Labour Day weekend. "I think they traditionally used to call it Plough Monday, where people used to bring their farming equipment and tools to the church to be blessed," said Vaughan of St. Timothy’s Anglican Church in Hatchet Lake. "Most of us live with our cellphones and laptops and BlackBerrys and all that kind of stuff. I mean, those are just daily tools for us."

A youthful woman with short hair and a past career in journalism, she says her motto is don’t be boring. “The gospel message is as relevant as it gets,” Rev. Vaughn says. “How do we package it is the question. This message of Christ is the most important thing but the packaging needs to change.”

Vaughn recently read about a church in London, England, that expanded its blessings to modern workday devices. It struck a chord with her, not least because she’s quite the wired person herself. "We have three laptops and three tabletop computers in our house," she said. "I’m about to buy some kind of smartphone. I just haven’t decided what it’s going to be!" Vaughan also uses Facebook to connect with friends and her congregation, and she plans to open a Twitter account for St. Timothy’s.

She acknowledged the Internet has its share of problems and presents a side of the world that might seem incompatible with the church. "But I think it’s a wonderful tool," she said. "I think God is blessing it in all kinds of ways and we shouldn’t be afraid of it as Christians. We need to embrace it. That’s where a lot of our folks are — they’re emailing, they’re texting. And if that’s where they are, that’s where we should be."

The blessing itself will include the hope that we’re patient and kind in our communications with each other during the often hectic workday, Vaughn said. "And, as well, that it’s productive, that it’s life-giving, that it’s supportive to the community as a whole."

While the services are meant to be a fun way to celebrate Labour Day, there’s a serious spiritual point to be made, she said. "It’s also a reminder for people that God is present, not just one hour per week on a Sunday morning or evening. We make decisions every day about our work and our words, and in that we’re not alone."

This is a great idea! Think about the amount of time we spend on our Blackberrys, iPhones, netbooks and other gadgets. And how often do we misuse these devices, killing time on foolish things or look at things that we wouldn’t want everyone to know that we were viewing.  Prayer should intersect with our daily lives. So I say “Kudos to Rev. Lisa Vaughn.” Since you might not be able to make it to her Halifax-area church on Sunday, get your device now, hold it close to the screen, hit this link to a video of the blessing and bow your head (and after the commercial, you will be blessed). God bless you and your device.

*This blog posting is a re-edit of content from the excellent articles written by Oliver Moore for The Globe and Mail and John McPhee for The Chronicle Herald. Please see their articles for original copy.
This marks the second time in just two weeks that I’ve posted an article related to Terence Bay, Nova Scotia! I pray for God’s blessing on Don Symes and hope that he is recovering well in Terence Bay from that horrible ordeal in Libya.
Here’s how you can find out more about The Anglican Parish of St. Timothy, Hatchet Lake and St. Paul, Terence Bay.

Technorati Tags: Blackberry,iPhone,netbook,evangelism,prayer,Labour Day,Rev. Lisa Vaughn,Anglican Church,computers,technology,Internet,Plough Monday

Are we sure that Islam is “a religion of peace”?

The return of a Canadian from a Libyan jail last weekend raises this question in my mind

Have you noticed one missing fact from all the debate and discussion going on about the building of a mosque at Ground Zero in New York City? No one seems to mention the fact that it is to very difficult to build a Christian church in most Islamic countries and probably impossible to ever build a church near the site of some national tragedy or any site of national significance. I’m not arguing for “fair play,” just perspective. We believe in religious pluralism and multiculturalism, so, of course, mosques can be built in the U.S. and Canada. Historically, Christians have argued not for the freedom to practice Christianity, but for the freedom of all religions. This, in fact, lies behind the multiculturalism we see in the U.S. and Canada. But don’t we go wrong when we start to believe that all religions or cultures are equal though they are different? Are we really so sure that some are not better than others? And, yes, I mean morally better. President Bush told us that “Islam is a religion of peace,” but can this really be substantiated? I’d like to ask Don Symes about this common way of thinking about our world. Symes just returned home to Nova Scotia this weekend after spending 56 days in a Libyan jail accused of a crime he did not commit.
(And so far as this author, Ken Symes, knows, Don Symes is not a relative.)

When I heard Don Symes’s description in the CBC News interview (click here to see it) of what he endured over those eight weeks, well he never said it, but it sounds to me like he was tortured under conditions most of us cannot really fathom. Hungry and sick, he lost 24 lbs; he was crammed into confined spaces with large numbers of prisoners, many of whom smoked excessively and he witnessed repeated acts of cruelty and assault toward other prisoners. Don Symes says he feared for his life constantly and I believe him. In the video, Don describes the horrible experience of being transported in the “smokehouse,” the vehicle used to transport prisoners from the El Jadida jail to the court once every week.

Sunni Islam is the state religion of Libya and shapes law and order in the country. No form of Christian witness to Libyan citizens is permitted, indeed given the work of the secret police, it is considered dangerous. Even the churches of expatriates in the country are strictly monitored. Only about 2% of the indigenous population is Christian, definitely a persecuted minority—for example, even importing Arabic Bibles is illegal. (For more information on Libya, see the Operation World profile and click on the jail pic above.) We fail to realize how different some countries in the world are compared to our own. It is quite likely that when the Pakistani worker accused Symes and two other men of assaulting him, his word was taken over that of Don Symes and his co-accused since they were non-Muslim, even though their alibi was solid. According to sharia law, the testimony of a Muslim far outweighs anything said by a kafir.

What should surprise us is not what happened to Don Symes in Libya but that it is not happening more often to Canadians working abroad in Islamic countries. Perhaps it is. Curiously, the story of Symes’ return to Canada from the Libyan jail has not received much media coverage at all—nothing beyond the Halifax newspaper and two Nova Scotian TV stations. I think it is a story we need to hear. [The day after posting this I discovered that CBC News Network ran a more in depth interview, so I upgraded the above video.] Canadians arrested abroad may not be treated with the same standards of justice we adhere to and they cannot count on the Canadian Embassy to help them even when being tortured or held without just cause in a foreign prison.

I don’t know why it’s so hard for us to figure this out, but cultural relativism is wrong—not all cultures, and certainly not all religions, are equal. C.S. Lewis explained, “If no set of moral ideas were truer or better than any other, there would be no sense in preferring... Christian morality to Nazi morality.” I wouldn’t for a moment suggest that we give up on love, tolerance and respect for adherents of other world religions, but the idea that all religions and their resultant moralities are equally true and beneficial is misguided. To be clear, personally I respect Muslims and support their freedom to practice their religion. I do not advocate hatred or intolerance of Muslims. I believe that the campaign of resistance to the so-called Ground Zero mosque is fueled by misinformation, intolerance and, perhaps, hatred (see The great “Ground Zero mosque” hoax in The Washington Post). In a land which guarantees religious freedom, why can’t they build a mosque two blocks away from Ground Zero? At the same time, respect for Muslims does not mean that I have to agree with everything their religion teaches. Specifically, I do question if George Bush was misguided when he proclaimed that Islam is a "religion of peace."

Updated with clarifications: September 1, 2010 by Ken Symes

Technorati Tags: Don Symes,Libya,Tripoli,Libyan jail,KCA Deutag,Islam,sharia law,religion of peace,Ground Zero mosque