A church in Australia is under attack for its sign outside its building. Why? Because it reads, “Jesus Loves Osama.” In smaller print at the bottom of the sign is a biblical quotation: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” This is a good reminder to Christians that Jesus loves everyone. As a church spokesman explained, “We are saying that Jesus Christ loves everyone in the world, even this man. ... All we are doing is sharing the gospel.”Interestingly, the church is being attacked by political leaders. Prime Minister John Howard stated, “I understand the Christian motivation of the Baptist church. ... But I hope they will understand that a lot of Australians, including many Australian Christians, will think that the prayer priority of the church on this occasion could have been elsewhere.” Oh great, just what we need—a politician telling the church how to pray!
This church is probably one of the few actually being biblical on this issue. But once we start praying for someone and then forgiving and loving them, then it makes it pretty hard to justify killing them. That is probably what Howard is worried about. How dare these pesky little Baptists take the Bible seriously and undermine his work to kill Osama!
UPDATE [2-1-07]: Ethics Daily has a piece on this story. It includes a good quotation from Baptist leader Alan Soden. He stated:
It’s not about Osama and what he has done or may have done. We are all sinners and [God] loves us all no matter who we are or what we have done. Hopefully it might cause some people to think about Jesus’ teachings. The idea that we shouldAmen!
pray for someone and even love them when we disagree with them or may even be opposed to them and their actions is radical. But many of Jesus' ideas were radical.
With Obama trying to play "cut and run", his stock just went down in my book.
ReplyDeleteIT must be listening too much to my idiot congressman (John Murtha)
Kris: Please read more carefully. It is Osama, not Obama.
ReplyDeleteThis made me think of how the Amish community behaved towrds the family of the man that murdered the girls in the school house.
ReplyDeleteThis did not stay in our news very long and I think it was because of the way the Amish reacted.
There does not seem to be much of a place in this modern world for forgiving one's enemy or foe.
I wonder how that sign would have played in the US with a scripture quote underneath.
I think we might find a few things out about our religious convictions that we might not want to know about!
Thank you for you blog.
I am a Catholic and enjoy very much your ideas and thoughts.
Diane: Thanks for the comment and the kind words. Your point about the Amish is a very good one; they set a great example for the rest of us!
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