Tonight I had the unique opportunity to sit around the dinner table with a
Muslim family. We talked about religious persecution as their nine year
old boy told me how their Islamic school gets put on lock-down quite
frequently due to constant threats against the Muslims; their eight year
old girl expressed her fear of Donald Trump getting elected and
throwing them out of the country (as he's threatened). "I can't think
about it too long or I'll have nightmares" she said. Her older brother
kept asking "Why?"--"Why do they want us gone?" to which his Mom
graciously responded "they're just scared, baby." Again, he asked "Why?"
I foolishly wondered for a brief moment how he could possibly not understand "Why". Then I thought better and wondered how he possibly could. He's nine. He goes to school, does house chores, picks on his younger brother and watches Tom and Jerry on Saturday mornings. He's just a regular kid who has no involvement with the tension between Muslims and Christians, like many others across the country.
This isn't a post imploring everyone to change their perception of Muslims. I realize there are those who have committed unforgivably atrocious acts. I am simply asking you to remember that there have been Christians who have done the same.
This young boy exclaimed tonight that he only wished he could talk to Mr. Trump "face-to-face" so that he could show him that there's nothing to be afraid of.
David, of old, already tried convincing humanity of this truth when he relayed the concept of eternity in these words: "What can mere mortals do to me?"
Chris Kyle opened his home and his heart to one of his own and was murdered by the same.
You could potentially open your home and your heart to a Muslim-- the chances of them harming you are about the same as you being harmed by one of your own.
Let's not love U.S.-residing Muslims as our own. Let us love them as ourselves, as we are commanded. Let's not avert our gaze when we pass them in the grocery store (as this family has reportedly experienced often). Let us not reveal our insecurity by being hostile to the unfamiliar. Let us sit down to dinner together.
I foolishly wondered for a brief moment how he could possibly not understand "Why". Then I thought better and wondered how he possibly could. He's nine. He goes to school, does house chores, picks on his younger brother and watches Tom and Jerry on Saturday mornings. He's just a regular kid who has no involvement with the tension between Muslims and Christians, like many others across the country.
This isn't a post imploring everyone to change their perception of Muslims. I realize there are those who have committed unforgivably atrocious acts. I am simply asking you to remember that there have been Christians who have done the same.
This young boy exclaimed tonight that he only wished he could talk to Mr. Trump "face-to-face" so that he could show him that there's nothing to be afraid of.
David, of old, already tried convincing humanity of this truth when he relayed the concept of eternity in these words: "What can mere mortals do to me?"
Chris Kyle opened his home and his heart to one of his own and was murdered by the same.
You could potentially open your home and your heart to a Muslim-- the chances of them harming you are about the same as you being harmed by one of your own.
Let's not love U.S.-residing Muslims as our own. Let us love them as ourselves, as we are commanded. Let's not avert our gaze when we pass them in the grocery store (as this family has reportedly experienced often). Let us not reveal our insecurity by being hostile to the unfamiliar. Let us sit down to dinner together.
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