Dr. Terry Jones and followers-

You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:43-46

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. 1 Corinthians 13:6

In both those verses, and many more where God tells us love our enemies, the word used is agape– which is the Greek word that describes the indescribable love that God has for us. He tells us over and over to love our enemies as He loved us, because, lest you forget, even believers were once enemies of God.  In His infinite compassion and grace, He forgave us and let us join His family.

As a follower of Christ, I am ashamed to be associated with the media circus surrounding your plans on September 11^th.  I believe that the Church as a whole needs to learn how to engage the Muslim community so that there can be an open dialogue, instead of spouting hate at each other. But, you have taken it to a whole new level.  I pray that your plans outrage the international Body of Christ and that spurs believers to get serious about learning the facts about Islam and getting to know their Muslim neighbors. God has blessed me with the opportunity to get to know Muslim friends.  The biggest lesson they have taught me is that no Muslim is the same, just as no Christian is the same. You cannot make blanket statements about Islam. None of the Muslims I have befriended hate America or love violence. I bet you would have known that if you had ever had a respectful conversation with a Muslim, but clearly, you haven’t.

For Muslims, the level of reverence for the Qu’ran rivals our reverence for Christ. Indeed, John 1 says that Jesus is God’s word in the flesh. Muslims believe that the Qu’ran is the spoken word of God.  I can imagine how insulted and hurt you would feel if Muslims burned “Jesus” because they feel like Christians “are a danger”.  Please try and put yourself in the Muslim communities’ shoes. 

If you really want to do “outreach” to people in the community, go back and look at the example of Christ. Certainly, He spoke the Truth and sometimes the Truth hurts, but He ALWAYS did it out of love.  Nowhere in your website or your actions do I read that you’re doing this out of Love.  That’s the difference. You can’t spout hate and expect people to flock to Jesus.  I encourage you to stop this right now. Stop and think. Pray and love. Engage in discussion with Muslims (and I mean actual discussion- not you lecturing or thinking that you know everything about them because you don’t).  They won’t listen to you until you listen to them. That’s how you outreach.  

Jesus never acted out of disrespect. Please consider your actions.

Finally, Reason 8 on your list of Reasons to Burn the Qu’ran says that a Muslim cannot change his religion. My question to you is- why the heck would he want to with “Christians” like you? You’re just giving the rest of us a bad name. Please stop.

Speak the truth in love.

-Beth Wise