The Incomprehensible Message of God

As Terry Jones, pastor of a small fundamentalist Gainesville, Fla. Christian church stands ready to burn some 150 Korans, he does so believing that God has ordained it as a righteous act. He had indicated in public yesterday that after being asked not to put the American military in harm's way by the commanding general in Afghanistan through inciting Muslims there and around the world, he would pray on it and determine if God had changed his mind. Apparently Pastor Jones has a heard a voice in his head he claims is God and who insists that he carry out this act despite the threat to American men and women in uniform in the Middle East.

Pastor Young asserts his actions are to "take a stand" against Islam. He publicly asserts, "Instead of us backing down, maybe it's time to stand up. Maybe it's time to send a message to radical Islam that we will not tolerate their behavior." But how does God or the voice in Pastor Jones head contend that doing what will surely incite more radical Muslim violence actually prevent it? If the Christian God is truly the omniscient being they claim he is then surely he knows that burning the Islamic holy book will only incite more radical Muslims to side with Islamic jihadist like al-qaeda and the Taliban. So either Pastor Jones is lying about the voice in his head being God are else the Almighty is really not that almighty.

And does the god in Pastor Jones' head really think we have tolerated radical jihadist behavior? Was the invasion of two Muslim countries an insufficient response to the 9/11 attacks, not to mention the tens of thousands of human lives killed and many more maimed and broken while spending billions from our treasury to level the ancient cities in those countries? Does the god in Pastor Jones' head think that if the shoe were on the other foot and Muslims forces invaded the U.S. and annihilated many of our people and our homes then burned the Bible in a public display that we would submissively fall in line and never pursue revenge?

All Pastor Jones' action really reflects is that any yokel with a Bible in his hand and an Elmer Gantry mindset can demonstrate what an American version of the Taliban looks like. These are the people that are easily motivated by the coded messages of Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin who claim they want to "restore honor in America" when really what they want is a theocracy like the one in Iran where a woman, unlike a man, will be stoned for sexual infidelity.

The religious laws are already in place in the Old Testament books of Numbers, Leviticus and Deuteronomy. In these scriptures it too is legal to stone unfaithful women and kill disobedient children. The only thing preventing a reversion to the laws of the Old Testament by people like Jones and Beck are the laws of our Constitution. But they are working on that angle too. Pastor Jones and his mentor Glenn Beck are slowly trying to convince a poorly informed public that our Constitution is not being read the way they think it should. It doesn't take a genius to see where they are heading with this