what is it?

Five years later and there still is a fundamental misunderstanding of the terrorism that is taking place. Why do they do it? They tell us. Overwhelmingly, those advocating and committing the murder are self-identified Muslims who are set on killing Christians, Jews, other Muslims, and anyone else who doesn’t place themselves under the rule of their view of Islam. Simply, but not simplistically, they are killing people who don’t agree with them.

What can the world do about this form of terrorism? Three choices. You would have to imprison or kill every person who supports this way of thinking,you would have to convert to their view of Islam and follow the Sharia, Muslim law, according to their interpretation. or they have to change their minds. The first option is impossible both realistically and morally. I refuse the second option because to deny Jesus as God would put me in jeopardy of eternal life without God according to the worldview I trust. So, I would argue the third choice is the only realistic way things will change.

Logically, the ball is in the court of those who follow this killing ideology. No one can make you change your thinking for you. As a professor of psychology told me years ago, the question is this:

“What can you do to stop you from feeling this way?”

I would modify this statement to:

“What can you do to stop you from thinking this way?”

Notice where the responsibility lies? On the person with the killing ideology. Who is this? The vast majority of those doing the bombing, etc. are young men age15-30. How can they stop thinking that they have to kill people who don’t agree with them?

From what we know about human development, this has everything to do with the teaching a young person receives from birth to about 13. Your values and morality are established by then, with rare changes later. So, the only way to make progress in this whole situation is for the teaching of children who are susceptible to this killing ideology to fundamentally change. I will write more on this when I return.

I am going on a 3 day prayer retreat with 25 other pastors and church leaders from LA out of many different denominations. This event is a first of its kind for us. We hope to discover what God has in mind by pulling this off in the first place. I will be back Thursday. Talk to you then.