Extremism…

If you are a Christian that:

“Love(s) the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength”…  (Mark 12:30)

…by the world’s standards, you would likely be labeled an extremist. Why? Well, for one, loving anything or anyone with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength would be considered extreme. You would have to be completely infatuated, completely immersed. Secondly, God tells us that loving Him equates to following His commands. If you actually follow and promote all of His commands, not just the ones you like or agree with or that are politically correct, once again you would certainly be considered extreme. Quite frankly, if you were verbal about your beliefs, you would likely be persecuted as well, and I’m speaking of ‘in’ the church at large.

Then we have the Muslim faith. The phrase ‘Muslim extremists’ has been getting a lot of air play, especially since 911. What makes them ‘extreme’, though? It seems to me that they are extreme because they follow their holy book more to the letter than those that aren’t labeled ‘extreme’. The extremists appear to be more zealous about following the commands in the Koran. Indeed, by following them they are more extreme.

I don’t see an easy fix for this. There will always be extremists in both religions. The primary difference that I see is that Jesus, the Prince of peace, promoted true peace, mercy, love, and forgiveness. Jesus told us to love one another, to put away our swords, to love our enemies and pray for those that persecute us. The Koran commands Muslims to kill the infidels. As near as I can tell, even a proclaiming Muslim that wasn’t extreme enough for the extreme Muslims, might also be targeted by the extreme Muslims. That, in itself, might prevent many Muslims from being vocal about being in disagreement with the extremists and the concept of killing the infidels. In voicing their disagreement, they would be undermining their own holy book.

Jesus is Lord.

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Was Jesus GOD?

  Here is what scripture says:   1Co 8:6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord...