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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Time Magazine’s Bobby Ghosh Is Ignorant About Christianity

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  April 4th, 2011 at 04:55 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

“This all gives the lie to one of the center-left’s statements of faith as embraced by even George W. Bush: The Religion of Peace is not a religion of peace.”

I have no idea what religion Bobby Ghosh is. He is from India, so my assumption is, if anything, Hindu, but I have no idea really. It doesn’t matter other than some may be quick, because of his last name, to assume he is a muslim. He is not.

One thing we can be absolutely sure of is he is totally and completely ignorant about Christians.

In trying to explain to Chris Matthews why muslims might be incited to behead people because some pastor in Florida burned a Koran, Ghosh says, “The thing to keep in mind that`s very important here is that the Koran to Muslims, it is not — it is not the same as the Bible to Christians. The Bible is a book written by men. It is acknowledged by Christians that it is written by men. It`s the story of Jesus.”

That is a profoundly ignorant thing.

See Chapter 1, Paragraph 4 of the Westminster Confession of Faith:

The authority of the holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or Church, but wholly upon God (who is truth itself), the Author thereof; and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God.

Likewise, the First Vatican Council proclaimed the books of the Bible were sacred “because, having been written by inspiration of the Holy Ghost, that have God for their author, and as such have been handed down to the Church”

Further in a Barna survey, 55% of Christians believe the Bible to be the accurate word of God and evangelical or “born again” Christians are twice as likely to view the Bible that way.

If Bobby Ghosh thinks that Christians do not believe the Word of God is, in fact, the Word of God, he either does not understand Christians or he is influenced by the every shrinking numbers of center-left mainline Christians who increasingly do not accurately represent the faith.

But there is a more troubling side to Bobb Ghosh’s statement, and one far more damning to his world view.

Ghosh says, “the Koran, if you are a believer, if you`re a Muslim, the Koran is directly the word of God, not written by man. It is transcribed, is directly the word of God. That makes it sacred in a way that it`s hard to understand if you`re not Muslim.”

In other words, Ghosh thinks the savage murder of innocent people when the Koran is burned is a normal part of being a muslim. Now, assuming we take as the objective fact that most Christians believe exactly as Muslims believe regardless of Ghosh’s ignorance — that the Bible is the inerrant , God breathed very Word of God — we are left with a compelling glimpse into the world.

Time Magazine’s “World Editor” believes that it is a perfectly expected act for the “Religion of Peace” to lob off the heads of the infidel in revenge for a Koran burning and for Christians to sit idly by when their Bible is burned.

And this all gives the lie to one of the center-left’s statements of faith as embraced by even George W. Bush: The Religion of Peace is not a religion of peace. For that, you have to turn to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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COMMENTS

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  • Tbone

    Religion 101. Liberals are such ignorant people. I think it is what actually allows them to be liberals.

  • http://www.neoavatara.com/blog neoavatara

    Could be any religion…still makes him an incompetent boob.

    I am Indian, and Hindu…and I know better than this nonsense.

  • andystone

    as that used by the Saudis when they are asked why they don’t allow Christian churches, while Christian countries welcome radical mosques built with Saudi money: Islam is the one true religion, while Christianity is not.

    As Chamberlain discovered to Europe’s chagrin in 1939, sweet talking to a fanatic is extremely counter-productive beyond a certain point.

  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/bdpaasch Brian Paasch

    ….speaking as an expert authority, he is going to describe the step-by-step mechanics of brain surgery.

  • http://seekingliberty.wordpress.com fmaidment

    Two different denominations (evangelical non-denominational and Methodist). In both services we professed that the bible was the unquestioned Word of God.

    Allegorical? Yes. Historically innaccurate? Sometimes. But does that mean it’s not the Word of God? No. It’s still inspired by God and is His holy Word! We believe in it as we believe in Him. Ghosh clearly needs to spend a few more days at Sunday School.

  • runner12

    A part of me was irritated and another part wanted to laugh at the extreme ignorance of this man.

    FYI, Mr. Ghosh, Christians do believe that the Bible is the inerrant, inspired Word of God. We just don’t believe in killing people if they burn it. You see, our God does not need us to defend Him. He can handle it Himself.

  • spainishirish

    This version of the Religion of Peace apparently leaves to the discretion of the barbarians how many folks to kill per Koran torched on the other side of the world. I haven’t detected any correlation between numbers just yet. Then again here in the West, Time magazine’s Joe Klein has compared the Florida pastor’s Koran burning to suicide bombers. This is no joke.

    And you can bet this: even if Ghosh and Matthews realized Christians consider the Holy Bible to be the word of God they would defend burning bibles. Their double-standard is due to sheer cowardice and nothing more. Of course, anyone who believes in freedom of speech would have to defend both expressions, but left-wing hypocrites refuse to admit it. Maybe acknowledging this fact makes one a de facto suicide bomber or something. I’ve got to get off line and go burn a few Time magazines now.

  • taxpayer1234

    cast even one shadow on the glory of Jesus Christ and God the Father. That’s why Christians don’t get all uppity when they or their Bible are demeaned or desecrated.

    The pathetic weakling that needs humans to defend him isn’t a god at all.

  • oblio

    From The Niceno?Constantinopolitan Creed of 381 (with apologies, well not really, being Orthodox ;) , to those who subscribe to the fillioque)

    … And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spake by the prophets …

  • http://itsaboutliberty.com bigalsouth

    . . . Libs will be saying that C.S. Lewis only wrote a bunch of children’s books . . .

  • Kevin Groenhagen

    You can read the entire Old Testament and never read a thing about Jesus. How ignorant can Ghosh be?

  • Kevin Groenhagen

    You can read the entire Old Testament and never read a thing about Jesus. How ignorant can Ghosh be?

  • http://www.incredibleco.ning.com Incredible

    you just don’t know it by that point in the story! ;-)

    But I take your meaning -I’m just ribbing. :-)

  • skorrent1

    Is the fool’s comment about the Koran.

    Muhammed was, at best, barely literate. His oral recitation of what he claimed to have been told by Allah was repeated orally until long after his death, when a group of his followers got together and settled on what would be put in writing to constitute the Koran. To claim that this is a “transcription” of the words from Allah is just foolishness.

    Both the OT and the NT claim “inspiration” and include many direct quotes from both God-the-Father and God-the-Son. The Judao-Christian faith also incorporates a direct inscription by God, not once, but twice, in the Commandments.

  • Tbone

    You may want to review the prophesies contained in the Old Testament about the Messiah. In fact, the Old Testament is there to set the stage for Jesus and the salvation by Grace which he brought to atone for the original sin of Adam.

  • abeldred

    2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is God breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training… This is but one passage which debunks this idiot!

  • powertothepeople
  • Bill S
  • jackhammer

    but spend a lot of time on the subcontinent. The name seems Bengali, which virtually rules out him being Sikh, but leaves other religions in play. Most Indians in that region are Hindu, with the bengali muslims having settled in Bangladesh, but there are also some sizeable christian poopulations in that area, including such surprising finds as baptist majortity cities,a nd even a very seventh day adventist region.

    But with last name Ghosh, I’d put my money on his parents or grandparents being Hindu.

    But to the othe rpart….it is not just a liberal interpretation…your arguments are misleading about christianity. anyone who has realyl studied the differences in the theological interpretations of the Qu’ran vs. The Torah vs. The Bible will at least acknowledge that the jist of what he is saying has validity.

    The Bible and torah are seen theologically (not what surveys say christians might ‘believe’) across the broad spectrum of mainstream christian churches as “inspired by the Holy Spirit”, but written by man, and not hostile to interpretation….

    The Qu’ran, especially to Sunni Muslims, is not written by Mohammed, it is the word of God transmitted through him. Since Mohammed was illiterate and could neither read nor write, he could not have ‘written’ it. They are also very clear that the Qu’ran is not even to be translated, it is only valid in the original arabic. It does not allow for human error in the transcription, or room for interpretation. But from what I know of Muslim theology, It is primarily in the verbal arabic that it is the final revelation of God.

    Given the problems that Sunni Islam has with depictions of God and Mohammed, and even speaking out the name, not sure that they have such a “holy” placement of the actual physical book on paper though….at least in theology….so Ghosh might well be wrong there.

    Shia, Sufi and Alevi all allow a much broader spectrum of interpretation…even though we generally associate shia with the “harder” form of islam we see in Iran.

    So the Qu’ran is different to Islam. I know of few if any churches that read the Bible in Aramaic. Most churches I know have a sermon, where an itnerpretation of what the reading means in context is discussed. The history of Christian Theology has been one of contectualisation, interpretation, and “improved” translations….

    Saying we are at fault for these barborous acts because we have the freedom of speech and action in our country that would let a pastor in Florida burn a Qu’ran is like blaming a woman for getting raped who happened to venture out of her house, or for posessing a vagina. Could these thugs have been brought to a boil because of stories of burning thier holy book…yes….but if that hadn’t been the motivator, pictures of a beach in miami with scantily clad men and women, or any number of other “crimes of the west” could have been the motivator.

    The people that do such things are backwards and inhuman … PERIOD … there is no excuse for what they do, and no partial blame for those who are its victims.

  • jackhammer

    Is the orthodox translation “by”, because in my Catholic church we always had “through”….semantically it is an important distinction.

  • wilee

    We are all born ignorant, to stay that way you have to work very hard.
    However there is no cure for stupid.

  • merryj1

    Thanks! My first good chuckle of the day.

  • Diogenes314

    You generally don’t see that kind of idiocy and bile from Hindus.

  • merryj1

    …even though your point is valid. But to say “…the Bible is the story of Jesus” is just flat out not accurate.

  • radicalrighty

    if the fools get ahold of this quote, add a baker’s dozen more beheadings . . .

  • ssshannon1026

    Islam is an innately violent ideology. And muslims themeselves prove that on virtually a daily basis. The ease with which they can be provoke to violence by otherwise peaceful anti-Islamic protests, but the difficulty in getting any reaction at all from them when extreme violence is done in the name of their religion is all the evidence any rational person requires to understand the truth.

  • kpbenware

    ?Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn?t so.? ? Ronald Reagan

    ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
    The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.–Marcus Aurelius, 14th Roman Emperor

  • qurys

    We call it the Holy Scripture but to perhaps answer Ghosh’s statements, we never thought that God actually controlled the hand and the pen. But we believe it to be the Word of God. The fact that the burning of the Koran, while despicable on its face, inspired so much beyond despicable violence leads to only one conclusion. Freedom of religion…or any other freedom for that matter, that many of our soldiers are fighting to obtain for the folks in Afghanistan or Iraq or Libya or any other country, is not something that they easily understand. It is not part of their culture, and yet when we see them protesting in the streets, we immediately equate their protests to a desire for democracy and all this country holds dear. This is a country where you can burn the flag for heavens sake. It will take liberating some of these people from the beliefs of their religion to make them free, not liberating them from their current dictator.

  • jiminga

    are described as the word of God, it’s tough to figure out which God is the best one. I think I’ll go with the one that says killing is wrong and dismiss the one that’s so angry he wants us to murder wantonly.

  • http://www.evidence-inc.com/ evide3nce8

    It would seem that, very much like the elite liberals who support the recently relieved pedophilic activities of the socialite philanthropist, Jeffry Epstein, some just like the idea that Time Magazine cannot make a mistake, hire someone who is “ignorant,” pay them a huge salary, and allow them to make mistake after mistake, (READ: Hadditha/Murtha/Marines stories by this same “editor”). Like the socialite/pedophile the likes of Katie Curic and many others are circling the wagons to protect their wonderful friends. Ghosh is a clown, if the thinking is that he really understands Biblical followers don’t hold their foundations as The Word of God, in no uncertain terms. His approach to the response of those in Afghanistan who took lives is to justify it, based upon his own ignorance, and has no compunction to going onto Hardball to place that approach before those ignorant fellow-clowns among his followers — those who think Time is somehow a tome of intellect, and because Ghosh is their leader, he is infallible.

    Oh, I cannot wait in wonderment for the results of Judgment Day for Ghosh and his liberal, yet ignorant, followers — I must simply pass them off for what they are: Clowns of the first degree. I feel bad for those who cannot think with the organ given them for such purpose — the one located between their ears; . . . . and who can only seem to enter into thought processes through the organ given them for emotion — the one located between their nipples.

  • texasjohn

    …because then I end up writing to idiots before breakfast. :D

    I couldn’t help but write to Time and shed some light on the ignorance spouted by Mr. (Osh Kosh By) Ghosh. (I’m so sorry, I couldn’t help myself.) I’m pretty sure they won’t even read it because it flies in the face of the current Christian bad/Muslim good crap that the libtard media has bought into, but one can have a dream. As our God-breathed Scripture says:

    1 Corinthians 1:18 and 19: 18 “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. 19 For it is written ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate’ ” (NIV)

  • Tbone

    If it isn’t, then it is just a narrative about some Semitic tribes doing stuff.

  • dmccracken

    Prophesies pointing to God Plan of Salvation start all the way back in Genesis when God says to the serpent (Satan). The offspring of the woman who will bruise the serpent’s head is Jesus.

  • eschultz

    This just jumped out at me. No offense intended.

    “Further in a Barna survey, 55% of Christians believe the Bible to be the accurate word of God and evangelical or ?born again? Christians are twice as likely to view the Bible that way.”

    So, 110% of evangelicals believe the Bible to be the accurate word of God?

    (Sorry)

  • BA Cyclone

    sadly, on a friend’s Facebook page. I know, a real fountain of knowledge there.

    A friend-of-friend tried to float this very idea, that the word-of-God is the Koran while the Bible was just a bunch of letters of men. *foreheadslap*

    The cherry on top was this person fell back on the alleged scores of classes he took regarding Christianity as well as other religions. He apparently believed his “schooling” made him an unquestionable expert on the topic. It was naturally like arguing with a brick wall, but I was very proud and pleased to see my wife jump in and take a swing at him too! :D

    Anyway I’m glad to see the same discussion here and the real Truth known and shown by many here.

    texasjohn: perfect use of 1 Cor 18-19.

  • BA Cyclone

    sadly, on a friend’s Facebook page. I know, a real fountain of knowledge there.

    A friend-of-friend tried to float this very idea, that the word-of-God is the Koran while the Bible was just a bunch of letters of men. *foreheadslap*

    The cherry on top was this person fell back on the alleged scores of classes he took regarding Christianity as well as other religions. He apparently believed his “schooling” made him an unquestionable expert on the topic. It was naturally like arguing with a brick wall, but I was very proud and pleased to see my wife jump in and take a swing at him too! :D

    Anyway I’m glad to see the same discussion here and the real Truth known and shown by many here.

    texasjohn: perfect use of 1 Cor 18-19.

  • Davidus

    evangelicals or “born again” Christians are a part of the 55% of Christians that believe the Bible to be the accurate word of God. Not all of the Christians within that 55% are evangelical or ?born again? Christians.

  • Davidus

    but gave them orally. Shortly after Muhammad?s death, it became necessary to collect all the scattered pieces and chapters of his revelation into one book for use in the Muslin community. As long as the prophet was alive, he acted as God?s mouthpiece within the community and no urgent need was felt to gather all his divine revelations into one collection. However, with the death of their prophet, Muslins were convinced that God?s revelation to humankind was finalized. As 5:4 puts it, ?This day have I Perfected your religion For you, completed My favour upon you, And have chosen for you Islam as your religion.? So with the death of Muhammad, the demand for collecting and compiling this final revelation in written form became a pressing concern.
    The process of compiling the Qur?an is reported by Muslim historians. According to Islamic tradition different fragments of the Qur?an were revealed to Muhammad verbatim by the angel Gabriel over a period of twenty-three years (25:32; 17:106). After each such occasion the prophet would recite the words of revelation to those present (thus the word ?Qur?an,? which means reading or reciting). Many of the devout believers memorized these Qur?anic portions as they were revealed and used them for private meditation or public worship, especially the shorter Meccan suras. Tradition also relates that Muhammad?s scribes wrote the revelations on ?pieces of paper, stones, palm-leaves, shoulder-blades, ribs, and bits of leather.?
    About a year after Muhammad?s death, especially in the battle of Yamamah (A.D. 633), a great number of those who could recite the Qur?an by memory (hafiz) were killed. Some of the companions of Muhammad, mainly due to the promptings of Umar, who later became the second Caliph of Islam, ordered the collection of the Qur?an because of the fear that the knowledge of it might fade away. Zayd ibn Thabit, one of Muhammad?s most trusted secretaries, was appointed to this task. According to Zayd?s testimony, ?during the lifetime of the prophet the Qur?an had all been written down, but it was not yet united in one place nor arranged in successive order.? [as related by Jalalu?d Din a?s Suyuti] Zayd?s own account is preserved for us in Sahih of Al-Bukhari, [The Translation of the Meaning of Sahih Al-Bukhari, trans Muhammad Muhsin Khan (Al-Medina: Islamic University, 1983) Vol. 6, 477-78]
    . . . .
    Despite [Zayd?s own] account from the most trusted traditionalist in Islam, Al Bukhari (d. 870), popular Orthodox Muslim theory holds that the Qur?an was arranged in the same form that we have today under Muhammad?s and Gabriel?s direct supervision.
    Some time later during the reign of Uthman, the third Muslim Caliph, Muslims were faced with another crisis regarding the Qur?an. It was reported to Uthman that several Muslim communities were using different versions of the Qur?an and it was feared that this uncertainty as to which Qur?anic reading was the correct one might subsequently lead to great doctrinal confusion. According to the report of Bukhari this news reached Uthman from Hudhaifa, general of the Muslim army in the campaign of Armenia, who had noticed such debates among his own troops.
    Once again Zayd was called to head the new project of editing an official revised version of the Qur?an. After the production of the revised version, which followed the dialect of the Quraish, several copies of this new authoritative Qur?an were sent to each major center of the Islamic empire and all the other copies of the Qur?an were recalled and burned by the expressed order of the Caliph Uthman. [see Al-Bukhari, 478-79]
    All Qur?anic scholars agree that the Uthmanic version of the Qur?an has practically remained intact [since that time] to the present day.
    The above was taken from Answering Islam: the Crescent in the Light of the Cross by Norman L. Geisler and Abdul Saleeb.

  • edingerb

    “But to the othe rpart?.it is not just a liberal interpretation?your arguments are misleading about christianity. anyone who has realyl studied the differences in the theological interpretations of the Qu?ran vs. The Torah vs. The Bible will at least acknowledge that the jist of what he is saying has validity.

    The Holy Bible and torah are seen theologically (not what surveys say christians might ?believe?) across the broad spectrum of mainstream christian churches as ?inspired by the Holy Spirit?, but written by man, and not hostile to interpretation?.”

    MOST Christians that actually practice the faith – whether it be Catholic, Baptist, Church of God, Apostolic Faiths – believe that the bible is the true word of God.

    The fact that most Christians are advanced enough in their mental capacity to realize that God put the pen in someone’s hand does not make them believe it is any less Holy than the Qu?ran. The title itself – THE HOLY BIBLE – demonstrates this.

    Unfortunately, the left has succeeded in numbing this country to that fact. It has been trying to marginalize, with considerable success, the Christian faith. Try going into any Protestant church on a Sunday morning and repeat what you just wrote and I guarantee you that a majority of the congregation will be glad to not only set you straight about their perception of the HOLY Bible (as well as your mis-perception of them and the HOLY scripture,) but will also let you know that they will pray for your personal enlightenment. I don’t know too many that would be willing to “lob” (as written previously) off your head for your denigration of their most HOLY document.

    Your discourse above show you to be a studied person. However, it also reflects a lack of understanding of the Christian faith and how it is taught in most churches.

    You said:

    “…your arguments are misleading about christianity. anyone who has realyl studied the differences in the theological interpretations of the Qu?ran vs. The Torah vs. The Bible will at least acknowledge that the jist of what he is saying has validity.?

    “Theological interpretations” do not mean squat to a true Christian practicing the faith. Almost all pastors stand in the podium and profess, in too many ways to enumerate here, the Spiritual authorship of the HOLY Bible.

    It appears that you and I both sat through those Old and New Testament courses in college listening to those “intellectuals” tear apart the HOLY scriptures and attribute them to some delusional radicals and try to explain away all the miracles as coincidence or invention to make a moral lesson.

    The difference is, while I argued with them, you just took notes.

  • jackhammer

    for your justification, just like Erick. I will admit that I don’t have an overly high opinion of most pastor driven protestant churches, and am not really aware of what the people there believe their fatih to be. I do have a healthy mistrust of academia, but I don’t have an irrational belief that all scholarly investigation is inherently flawed and biased.

    I do think that centuries of theological and biblical historical investigation on the part of theologians and academics within the Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist and Anglican churches should be discounted. It adds context, in some cases it clears up bias that might appear in some translations (yes, King James might have had some agendas and exercised some editorial influence).

    The Qu’ran does include multiple demonstrably false statements, particularly in its incorrect depiction of the Tenets of Christianity. That is a fact….just as it is highly improbably that Moses lived exactly 120 years, and that Methuselah lived 969years. But the placement of the unquestionability of the verbal arabic of the Qu’ran in Sunni Islam is fundamentally different than the Bible. Islam is a much more rules based religion, not with an overriding “golden rule” but with a whole set of rules, and punishments. In these rule they also specifically lay out the importance of the Qu’ran. As far as I know nowhere in the Bible does it do so

    Islam also is clear on things like conversion from Islam. Something that isn’t punishable in this life in Christian tradition..

  • renny

    has manifested through history.

    The biggest actual difference in content.structure in the two texts is that most of the Bible has a sequential arrangement of events, a narrariuve, and the Koran is not historical or biographical but a series of various sayings or instructions or comments.

  • http://www.courageman.blogspot.com courageman

    But there IS a difference in understandings of inspiration. Christians believe the Bible was inspired by God; Muslims believe the Koran was written by God. Those aren’t the same thing at all and neither the Westminster Confession nor the First Vatican Council quotes cited say to the contrary. Rather, both venerable documents say that God was the Author *because* he inspired Paul, Moses, Luke, etc., and/or is Truth Itself.

    Someone once put the difference between Christian doctrine of inspiration (and not in the diluted sense we might today say “Famous Athlete X is an inspiration to me”) and the Muslim one as the difference a Writer’s use of a trusted secretary working under oversight (Christian) and a Writer’s use of a pen as a dumb tool (Muslim). I also actually heard a Muslim apologist say that the Koran had to be written by God because Muhammad was illiterate.

    That said, I think the point actually cuts against whatever point Ghosh may have wanted to make. It does indicate a greater fanaticism and imperviousness to outsiders within Islam. It also implies a theology of God that is far more (completely?) arbitrary, has no place for human freedom or cooperation in Providence, makes development of doctrine absurd and impossible, makes God more like an inscrutable all-powerful … ahem … terrorist.

    And it IS a fact that, in most of Christendom, you can burn a Bible and the worst thing that’ll happen to you (never mind “to third parties thousands of miles away”) is that you might get a Republican lawmaker to complain about your NEA grant. And you might even get it increased. Christians can look at a Bible burning as not a direct insult to God in a way that a Muslim cannot a Koran-burning.

    The closest analogy in Christianity to the Muslim view of the Koran (and I realize you’re a Presbyterian, Mr. Erickson, but you DID quote Vatican I) is the Catholic teaching on the Real Presence. And Catholics DO treat the Eucharist with far more reverence than a copy of the Bible (or the Summa or Vatican I), which we DO see as a book, than we do the Blessed Sacrament.

    Really, the guy is making an uncontroversial point that is neither refuted by (1) Islam being false (or evil) / Christianity being true; or (2) Christians believing the Bible to be the Word of God (in the sense that we do).

  • oblio

    depending on the translation to English from the original Greek, is NOT the same as ‘inspired’ by or through.

    Please don’t deign to tell us what Orthodox (and orthodox) Christians believe.

  • oblio

    over the Holy Eucharist being willfully desecrated.

  • http://www.courageman.blogspot.com courageman

    The Creed does say “spoken through the prophets.” That isn’t the typical Muslim doctrine of inspiration though, which is the only point Ghosh was making. I am Catholic, not Orthodox, but the issues over which we separated had nothing to do with the doctrine of inspiration/theopneustos, which was agreed on by 4th/5th century.

    And yes, Christians don’t commit violence when the Eucharist gets desecrated by the likes of PZ Myers. I pointed that out myself, as proving that there is still no equivalence between the two religions in terms of worldly behavior. But Christians’ *understanding* of the Eucharist (a sacred object in itself) is still closer to the Muslim understanding of the Koran than the Christian understanding of the Bible is.

  • ljoslen

    Thank you for this simple but very true statement.

  • ljoslen

    It is well know that when entering Saudi Arabia, if the Holy Bible is found in your luggage it will be thrown in the trash and later burned. Many people have lost presious dogeared bibles this way. Now people buy the “gift bibles” found in chain stores and such knowing this may happen. When it does, there is no rioting or killing, Just some tears and diappointment because Christians know this does not truely distroy the Word and Christ is peace and love.