When Faith Leads to Factions

This morning I woke to news that British intelligence found out Muslim terrorists planned to blow up several planes en route to the U.S. Officials from the U.K. say the losses would have been unimaginable. Airports in the U.K. and U.S. have confiscated anything threatening (including hair gel, beverages and cell phones) in order to eliminate the threat.

After that I caught up on the situation in Israel and Lebanon. Hezbollah's leader continues to berate the Jews and call on Muslims to destroy them. His influence has spurred great destruction in the past few weeks. With Hamas to the south, they are two extreme groups causing turmoil then capitalizing on its aftermath to villify their enemy -- Israel.

Then there was word that Baghdad is on the verge of a sectarian civil war. These aren't people of different religions, but Sunni and Shia Muslims. Without a strong military and police presence, U.S. soldiers are there on extended deployment.

Here is where many would condemn Islam as a dysfunctional or evil religion. However, when the mirror is turned around, the picture is not so pretty. Where Islam has seen violent extremes, Christianity has seen its share of subtle extremes. Jihadists and terrorists use bullets, rockets and bombs; we use gossip, slander and criticism.

Jesus said "The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy"(John 10.10). That is exactly what we see. Our enemy is not the Muslim, the Suni, the Jew, or the Baptist. There is a greater enemy out there who takes something inherently good -- our desire to know and please God Almighty -- and uses it to steal, kill and destroy.