The Dove World Outreach Center church in Gainesville, Florida, is planning to burn a copy of the Koran on September 11 in it's bizarre and sick attempt to defend biblical truth. On the church's Web site under the "About Us" tab you read, "That truth is not only love, healing and prosperity....etc."
This one little phrase has three problems for DWOC: 1) they certainly have failed on love, 2) this will heal nothing, 3) prospertiy- Ah, ha! They are "health and wealth" prosperity gospel types. These are misguided folks who teach that if you just have enough faith, God will make you rich. Funny, Paul seems to have died broke. Likewise the apostle John. Jesus only had the garment the soldiers gambled over as He was being crucified. They must not have had enough faith.
Paul wrote that we are to be "ambassadors for Christ." That doesn't include burning the Koran. As a Christian I certainly do not agree at all with the teachings of Islam, but Christ has sent us as ambassadors to the world, going in the love God. Because we believe there is genuine danger ahead of the worse type for anyone who do not trust in Christ's death for salvation we work to persuade people.
It's as if you saw a group of people standing on a bridge while below you saw someone bulldozing out the supports. You would try everything to try to show them the danger, warn them, talk them off the ledge, so to speak--out of concern and love for them. You would point to the path of safety and out of love try to persuade them to take it.
Dove World Outreach Center has gone over to the other side, I am afraid. In the New Testament book of Acts we see the apostles urging Gentile converts to Christianity not to do certain practices which--as Gentiles they were free to do--simply because "in every city [of the Roman Empire] Moses is read even to this day" and it might give offense to the Jews--whom they hoped to convince that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. Fat chance of that if they were doing in-your-face things that would offend the convictions of the Jews. One of the offensive practices included not eating animals that had been slaughtered by strangulation, or drinking the blood of the same. Both were practices common in the Greco-Roman world. But the apostles urged Gentile Christians not do these things because it would be so offensive to Jews, thus it would seal off any chance of their considering the claims of Christ.
Paul, in Romans 12, said "as far as it is up to you be at peace with all men." That is the Christian way. Sadly, unbiblical, hated filled groups like DWOC have arisen in each generation. They are to be repudiated in the strongest terms by Christians of all camps and by all people of good will.
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