An open letter to Mohammed "Can I call you Mohammed? You don’t mind?, thanks". I listened to the news today, In Mali, 23 dead, in Nairobi, 59, 62? And hundreds injured. Then of course, there’s Pakistan, as well, How many dead there? What puzzles me, is that the God you serve is possibly the same I do, according to the Bible and the Koran, anyway. You call Him Allah, I call him Jehovah, or Yahweh. He, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, so it must be that our interpretation of Him differs, you see Him in a different way to me, maybe. Now I’m not saying we are squeeky clean, just take Bush and Blair for example. Will we ever know the truth of that war? What I’d like to ask you, however, is what do these extremists hate so much, that they will kill men, women and children so indiscriminately, and in the name of Allah. It looks like I’m bundling you in with all the fanatics, it’s not what I want to do. How can I impress you with the absolute futility of war? Any war. From the suffering of the first world war, the second, Korea, Vietnam, Ireland, to name just a few. Those who died were fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, just like your family, my family. Is the overriding cause hatred, and if so, who hates that deeply, that they will continue to kill? In South Africa we were taught that a black skin was inferior to white, that black blood was cheaper than white. We were taught to hate out of a minority’s fear. And we eventually found out that it was all a lie. My daughter could be your daughter, my son, yours. You love the same, cry the same, bleed the same. The God that made me made you, and He said that it was good. So it’s really about choices, isn’t it? All those who have died in Syria, what justifies their deaths? (And that might not have anything to do with Islam, it’s deaths for political purpose, and who benefits?) Yes, we also have fanatics, we also have prejudices, some of us are as bigoted can be. As much as we try to educate and influence our people towards acceptance and tolerance, and with a heart that bleeds for the pain and devastation caused by those who say they do it in your God’s name, I ask you to stand together with me to fight hate with love, to fight intolerance and prejudice with humanity. There have been too many deaths now, too many bombs. We need to find another way to live together, while still accepting our differences. My God tells me I have absolute free will to serve Him or not, you have the same priviledge, so I do not want to convert you, what I cannot believe is that your God condones murder. Together let us see past the greed of the despot, the evil of the politician, the distortion of the soldier. Our God is a spirit being, He is all that is Good, complete goodness is our God, it’s that kingdom we should be fighting for.
Posted on: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 06:49:35 +0000
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