A Day We'll Never Forget

Today marks the ninth anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in United States history. It's hard to believe it has been nine years.

I will never forget where I was on that day. It was early in my junior year of college and the first thing I saw that morning was the collapse of the World Trade Center. It was a time of fear, sorrow, and anger. Nine years later, sadly, we still haven't shaken those feelings.

A great deal of controversy has swirled this week about a Florida church that planned to burn a Quran today. The holy book of the Islamic faith, the burning of a Quran was meant to be a symbolic blast at the evil of Islam tied to the tragic events nine years ago. All I could think was that it was tragically misguided.

Those that sought to make a political and religious statement by destroying the World Trade Center committed a terrible act. But it does nothing to honor the memory of those that died or to honor our call as Christians to react with hate. Hate returned with hate only leads to more hate. And that certainly does not follow the Biblical model provided by Jesus.

Those that sought to destroy symbols of America on that day nine years ago may have been Muslims, but they no more represented the crux of the Islamic faith than members of the KKK represent the Christian view on racial harmony when they commit hate crimes and burn crosses on people's lawns. Hate has always existed, as have those that claimed to act in the name of God while butchering the innocent.

But that is not what Jesus modeled for us. I think the most powerful exhibition of that idea I've seen recently was in the end of the movie "Joshua," where the titular character talks about the message of the Gospel. Joshua, who is supposed to be Jesus returned to the flesh, says, "Remind them that I love them. That I died for them. Tell them that my love is real. That if they open their hearts to it, I will fill that emptiness and that they will be able to love one another. That's the message. Hasn't changed."

Sometimes I worry that, by in large, Christians have lost that message. The actions of that church in Florida only reinforce that opinion. Thankfully cooler heads prevailed there. But if we really want to make a change in this world, we need to reflect Jesus' love, not our human tendency toward hate.