While some continue to speculate that the film Innocence of Muslims is to be blamed for the attacks across the globe by Muslims, I think this is a great opportunity to demonstrate just how different Christians respond to similar films that mock and distort Jesus Christ.
The Last Temptation of Christ was a 1988 fictional film that was directed by martin Scorsese and starred William Dafoe as Jesus. When it was determined what the film contained in it, which by biblical standards was blasphemous, Christians spoke out against the film. They pointed out the vile misrepresentations of Jesus Christ imagining himself engaging in sexual activities and that he was somehow involved with Mary Magdalene, which he was not.
The film also contained such blasphemy as a “guardian angel” appearing to him while on the cross and telling him that he was neither the Son of God nor the Messiah. The lies perpetrated throughout the film are the result of wild imagination, but not derived from the Scriptures of either the Old or the New Testaments.
Christians openly denounced the film. Books were written and documentaries produced to debunk the film. However, no buildings were burned and people killed or threatened like we saw this past week. Christians took the opportunity of offense to speak the truth of the gospel of the grace of God.
Gary DeMar, from GodfatherPolitics, points out that what took place this past week was not the first time that Muslims have killed because of a film. DeMar writes:
In 2003, Christian evangelist Hridoy Roy was murdered by a gang of eight men who attacked him at his home. The assailants stabbed Roy repeatedly after tying him “crucifixion style” to his bed. Roy was known for showing the popular “Jesus Film,” a word-for-word account from the book of Luke used for evangelism purposes worldwide.
Where was the media outrage about the showing of this film? There was no attack on Muhammad. The film has been shown to millions of people all over the world. The content of the film depicts the religious heritage of more than a billion Christians worldwide. Was the film “insensitive”? President Obama claims to be a Christian. Would he have thought the film was “insensitive” to Islamic beliefs? How could he since Muslims say they honor the the New Testament Jesus.
What about the burning of Korans by our military, including an Afghan policemen? That resulted in two US. military officers being killed and Barack Obama apologizing like something wrong was done on the military’s behalf, but not by those who killed two of our soldiers.
However, contrast that with the burning of Bibles by US forces in Afghanistan back in 2009. According to CNN, the Bibles were provided by a church in the U.S. and were confiscated at the same air base where the Korans were burned.
In all instances that Muslims feel offended at something and consider it blasphemous, they result to violence and killing. When Christians are offended they speak out against such things and call people to repentance and faith in Christ. Such is the difference of the message we proclaim. The message of Islam is not peace, but something more sinister. It is the perpetuation of the teachings of a man who is known to be a pedophile, a thief, a false prophet, and the founder of one of the world’s biggest growing anti-Christ false religions.
Christianity teaches that men need a Savior from sin, Jesus Christ, and that salvation can only come by grace alone because of Christ alone. Islam does not provide salvation from sin. It simply compiles the weight of sin on the believer with only a hope that his good deeds will outweigh his bad deeds. The teachings utterly reject the Christ of the Bible as the Son of God and in doing so are not only anti-Christian doctrine, but they have shunned the only means of escaping God’s wrath against sinners.
If Muslims really believe they are a religion of peace, let them denounce what their brethren have done and what they continue to do. Were these Christians taking part in this, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ would openly say they were wrong and would call them to repentance. Such is the difference between the two.
