Congratulations to the members of Al Rashid Mosque for their mailout of a beautiful brochure on Islam to all of Edmonton and area. I especially appreciate their renouncing of Jihad as bombing and terrorism. (If I could afford it I would send a copy of this brochure to every member of the current terrorist government of Iran who have publicly threatened to kill the people of Israel.)
I also appreciate how in your brochure "honour killing" was denounced as an aberrant form of Islamic culture. Obviously, Christianity has had its own share of "aberrant form of culture" too such as "Bloody Mary" in England in 1558, and the fight over whether the country should be Catholic or Protestant.
Jesus said blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. (Matthew 5:9 ) We should let great heroes of the faith help us define the faith, and I consider the leaders of the Al Rashid Mosque (Canadian Islamic Centre) to be great heroes of Islam for being peacemakers. For great heroes of the Christian faith I would always consider Pope John Paul II, who helped defeat atheistic communism in Poland, and the preachers in England, John and Charles Wesley, who wrote the Christmas carol Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and whose Godly Christian preaching and teaching are credited with helping England achieve great peaceful democratic reforms and the overturn of slavery, without going through the bloodshed and hostility of the French Revolution or the US Civil War.
Islam and Christianity have their differences about who Jesus was and is, but I trust we can always debate these things in collegiality and friendship and in the spirit of "whatsoever is true." (Phillipians 4:8) Here is a great Bible verse Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." (God With Us)
In the meantime I am hoping that many Moslems and Christians can work together to support positive initiatives for the common good, such as the Child Benefit Payment and the Intelligent Design Petition.
Here are some links:
The Child Benefit Payment
God Bless and Happy New Year.