Go Beyond

This week’s terrorist attacks in Brussels are yet one more chapter in the bloody narrative of what the world can expect from radical Islam. Tuesday’s violence came days after the arrest of Salah Abdeslam, Europe’s most wanted man, who was hiding in a Brussels suburb. Abdeslam played a key role in the terrorist attacks in Paris that claimed the lives of 130 people last November.

Yesterday, terrorists set off bombs at Brussels’ international airport. The explosion was so violent that it brought down the ceiling. An hour later, another bomb ripped through train cars packed with commuters at the Maelbeek metro station. In total, these two explosions claimed the lives of 31 and injured 260 others.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for these attacks, noting that Belgium is one of the nations “participating in the international coalition against the Islamic State.” Following the explosions, a widely circulated Twitter post by prominent ISIS backers warned, “what will be coming is worse.” No big surprise! Worse is the best that ISIS and other radical Islamic groups have to offer the world.

Ultimately, every act of violence by radical Muslims can be traced back to their own scriptures. The Qu’ran contains 109 verses written to incite Muslims to commit violence against non-Muslims. Islam, in practice, does not distinguish between those who physically oppose Islam and those who philosophically oppose Islam.

Ironically, on Tuesday morning I received an email from a friend in Bangladesh. His email contained a graphic photo of a slain Christian man lying in a pool of his own blood. He was killed by his Muslim neighbors. He had done nothing to physically harm anyone. He was killed because he was a follower of Christ.

As I have previously written, I applaud those in the Islamic world who protest acts of violence committed by fellow Muslims. However, my Muslim friends are going to have to do more than just protest. They must ultimately address the troubling exegesis of their own scriptures — those passages that sanction violence against non-Muslims.

The Twitter post is all too true, “what will be coming is worse.” When Islamic terrorists feel justified in creating hell on earth because of how they interpret their own holy writings, then no one is safe. What will be coming will indeed be worse. As for me, I will forever prefer Christ who never took the life of another and who never sanctioned the taking of innocent life. He offers the world a better narrative — one of love, life, and hope.