Leadingchurch.com

There are some weeks when the sermon illustrations jump up and slap you in the face. This was one of those weeks.

I’ve been leading my congregation through the book of Acts for a couple of years now, and the text this week is Paul being assaulted in the temple and arrested by the Roman guard.

An Angry, Reactive, Embattled Religious Group

Mobs assaults at US embassies in the Muslim world, the killing of a US ambassador and foreign service staff, assaults, flag burnings and shootings fill the news today. In time analysts will tease out the motivations but the presenting offense is a movie created to insult Islam. The mobs are reported to be demanding the arrest of the film maker. This of course will not happen, and should not, not matter what you feel about the film.

One reaction of course begets another and US citizens that see images of their flag being burned or their diplomatic buildings being ransacked or looted similarly demand that their leaders mirror their emotions, and the cycle continues. Anger is met with anger, evil is met with evil, violence is met with violence. Continue reading →