Let’s meet hate with love and leave the judgement to Christ.

At a Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, on Tuesday night, a terrorist suicide bomber, with links to Al- Qaeda, murdered 22 young people, including children, out enjoying a peaceful night’s entertainment. 59 people were also hospitalised. As I pen this paper Britain is on critical alert, with further imminent attacks expected. The attacker, Salman Ramadan Abedi, was only 22 years old. Sadly our news is dominated by ISIL and other terrorist extremist groups committing the most heinous of crimes against humanity. Such acts have left many people in fear of travel or being part of large gatherings seen as White, Western and “Christian.” So what should our attitude be? Christ has sent us out into the world as his ambassadors, to be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves; Mt 10:16.

It does say many times in the Islamic holy book, the Qur’an, that it’s OK to kill Christians (e.g. “Fight and slay the pagans {Christians} wherever ye find them and seize them, confine them, and lie in wait for them in every place of ambush;” Surah 9:5). The word “Islam” means “submit,” and  Muslim is “one who submits or surrenders to the will of god,” (Allah is not the Christian God). We must never be too scared to read literature on other faiths or the occult. Read wisely, literature can inform us of how to pray, what to avoid, and how to equip ourselves in the very real spiritual battle that we are in.  However, Jesus also calls us to be as innocent as doves. We must not build up a hatred towards Muslims, but rather, pray for their salvation. Only some are radical extremists. Jesus came into the world to live and die for all people, and this includes 1.7 billion Muslims in our world today. Today a growing number of Muslims are choosing to follow Jesus Christ, so let’s meet hate with love and leave the judgement to Christ.

Julie