E-mails don't reflect Love for Neighbor

I keep getting e-mails about immigration and illegal immigrants, sometimes racism, most of the time they are about the war or somehow related to it. Every time I get one I shake my head and wonder what is wrong with it. The most recent e-mail was about a U.S. stamp being released this holiday season to celebrate a Muslim holiday. I am a Christians, not Muslim, but I don't see a problem with a stamp celebrating their holiday. Here is a description I got off the Internet of what this holiday is:

Eid al-Adha or Feast of Sacrifice is the most important feast of the Muslim calendar. It concludes the Pilgrimage to Mecca. Eid al-Adha lasts for three days and commemorates Ibraham's (Abraham) willingness to obey God by sacrificing his son. Muslims believe the son to be Ishmael rather than Isaac as told in the Old Testament. Ishmael is considered the forefather of the Arabs. According to the Koran, Ibrahim was about to sacrifice his son when a voice from heaven stopped him and allowed him to sacrifice a ram instead.

The feast re-enacts Ibrahim's obedience by sacrificing a cow or ram. The family eats about a third of the meal and donates the rest to the poor.

Again, I don't believe what they believe, but what's wrong with a stamp celebrating it? This is a diverse country, and the majority of the Muslims who live here are very good and kind people. In fact, I just met one this week. In the same way that most Christians do not want to be grouped with the radical Christians who bomb abortion clinics and kill people to "solve a problem," I hope that we do not intend to group all Muslims with the horrible people who murdered so many 5 years ago.

9/11 was a horrible disaster that radical Muslims orchestrated. I empathize with the families of those who were lost, but this stamp does not have anything to do with 9/11.

We have got to stop spending so much energy on hating people! For Christ's sake, we're Christians, aren't we? Jesus taught us to love people. Don't assume that because someone is Muslim they are out to kill people. Let's love the people around us whether they are white or black, Christian or Muslim, Caucasian or Hispanic. (Don't get me started on how we treat Hispanics!)



MAIN POINT: Love people and think about your love for people before you allow something to be passed around that contradicts what you believe as a Christian!!