I rarely watch the news anymore, but it has been hard to ignore the widespread outrage at the proposed action of Terry Jones, the pastor of a 50 person church outside of Gainsville, Florida. If you have somehow managed to isolate yourself more than I do, let me summarize: Jones has proposed "International Burn a Koran Day" on September 11, 2010. Jones has generated a media blitz that fairly universally condemns his plan. Criticisms include cultural insensitivity; misrepresenting Christ; and endangering the lives of troops, missionaries, and expatriates. My google reader has been flooded with posts (e.g., 22 words, Kevin DeYoung) about this in the past few days.
I cannot say that I have much to add except to say that this action is no surprise to God. God is sovereign. Proverbs 16:4 (NIV) says "the Lord works out everything for His own ends, even the wicked for a day of disaster." This action, which is understandably condemnable, is a part of God's plan.
Christians, rather than adding our voices to the cacophony of criticism, perhaps we can use this foreordained event to show individuals the real Jesus, the holy son of God who humbled himself, coming down into human history as a man and lived a sinless life, dying on the cross to take away the sins of all who would dare to believe in Him.
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