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bjbj As we contemplate the situation in Syria or any violent conflict in the world today
it is important for us to consider the many individuals whose lives have been drastically
disrupted by the violence of war. Syria is a nation of about 22 million people. That
s just a bit more than the number of people living in the state of New York. Since the
civil war began in Syria over two years ago, more than 100,000 people have been killed
while another one and a half million people have fled the violence for safety in neighboring
countries. That is a lot of lives disrupted by this conflict. We must be careful, however,
not to view these hurting Syrians as just numbers or statistics on a page. These are
real people who would like to be living normal lives just like you and me. It is very easy
in this or other world tragedies to fall into the trap of thinking: Those people are so
far away from where I live. What is happening to them doesn t really matter to me. There
is, perhaps, an even greater trap of thinking: Well, they are Muslims and we in America aren
t supposed to like Muslims. If that is a thought you have ever entertained, let me encourage
you to ask yourself a question. What does God s Word say about it? The Bible doesn t
speak specifically to the current civil war in Syria. But it does tell us that the human
race, including saved and unsaved people, are descended from a single man, Adam, who
was originally made in the image of God. The Bible also tells us there will be unbelievers
in this world. So we shouldn t be surprised if one and a half of the world s seven billion
people follow the teachings of Islam, a false religion. In fact, we should expect it. Though
most of us in America have not known this personally, the Bible also tells Christians
to expect persecution from non-Christians. It tells us that sometimes Christians will
even be put to death... just for being Christians. So what should be our attitude be towards
the people of a nation who on the whole do not worship Jesus? Should we have compassion
for them as fellow human beings even if they aren t believers? I hope you would have compassion
for your next door neighbor who is not a Christian. Yes, it is true that there are Muslims in
this world who make it their business to harass and even kill non-Muslims simply because they
are non-Muslims. And we know that the people behind the terrorist attacks in our country
on September 11, 2001 were affiliated with Muslim groups. But that is not all Muslims....
no matter what some fear mongers would like to suggest. Jesus taught us to reach the whole
world with the gospel. And that includes Muslim people even though some of them violently
reject Jesus Christ and even though some of them violently reject Christians.... because
not all do. Though it seems to have quieted down for now, a few weeks ago there was a
lot of talk in the United States about bombing Syria. This was supposedly to punish the Assad
government for its use of chemical weapons against its own people. But the Christian
reads in 1 Corinthians 10:4 that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty
through God to the pulling down of strong holds. Do we believe that? It may sound simplistic
in a 21st century world where politics and military power are thought to rule. But we
either accept God s Word or we don t. And whether we do or not says a lot about our
faith and our attitude towards the Bible. I hope you ll think about this. And I hope
you will stand firmly but lovingly in your own community for what God calls us to in
his Word. I want to thank you for watching this episode of Theta. I hope you have a better
understanding and perhaps greater compassion for the majority of the people of Syria and
their current difficulties. If you have questions or comments, I hope you ll use our feedback
form to let us know. And if you have a recommendation about a national or a world news story you
would like to see explained here on Theta, please let us know. My name is Thomas and
I hope to talk to you again real soon. Good bye. [Content_Types].xml u$Nw @8Jb _rels/.rels
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