Keith Ellison (D-Min) is now officially the first Muslim United States congressman. True to his pledge, he placed his hand on the Quran and pledged his allegiance to the United States during his ceremonial swearing-in. It was noted that the copy of the Quaran he used came from Thomas Jefferson… implying that the former president either adhered to or ascribed to Muslim ideals in some way. But such is not the case by a long shot.
Ted Sampley of the U.S. Veteran Dispatch wrote an interesting article about why Thomas Jefferson had a Quran. Click here to read the whole article. In short Mr. Jefferson had a copy because he was opposed to the practices of Muslim Pirates in relation to how they were involved in the slave trade. According to Mr. Sampley, “At the time Jefferson owned the book, he needed to know everything possible about Muslims because he was about to advocate war against the Islamic “Barbary” states of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Tripoli.”
I submit these thoughts, and suggest you read Mr. Sampley’s article, for a reason. We need to be thinking Christians who do our homework and not allow our thoughts to be driven by others {Democrat or Republican}, but by the One True God (Not Allah of the Muslims). We need to keep our faith close to our hearts and not allow anyone or anything to dim our love for God. We need to be aware of the culture around us so as to be “wise as serpents and harmless as doves” in order to spread the Gospel to all people and The Next Generation. We need to know our own faith so well that we are not shaken or rattled when someone of another faith challenges us.
And last… we need to remember… “Whatever happens, conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ” (Philippians 1:27). Click here for the conversion of a Hamas leader’s son to Christianity. Then here for an interesting expose.
I couldn’t agree with you more that we need to do our homework as Christians. At times, it can seem overwhelming all the opposition we face as Christians. We need to know what others believe and why they believe what they do. But we also need to know what we believe and why we believe as we do!
Your last sentence is so true. God willing we are all moving in that direction together for God’s glory.
Ron