This is Not a Recruiting Video for the Muslim Faith

This is Not a Recruiting Video for the Muslim Faith

Israeli forces shot and killed a suicide bomber.  Palestinians protested, picked up the body of of the dead suicide bomber and started parading it through the streets as a martyr.  Unfortunately, they didn’t think to remove the suicide bomber’s bomb.  In truth, they probably didn’t even know that the dead man was a suicide bomber and assumed he was merely another innocent victim of Israeli violence.

You can guess what happened next.  But I doubt that you can guess how horrific the results were.  This is not a video for the squeamish or for children.

I’m not posting this video because it’s gory.  I’m posting it because of it’s potential spiritual significance.  In the same sense that some Muslims may view the deaths of 200 Christians as proof that “God favors Muslims,” this video may be hard to view without concluding that God does not favor Muslims (or at least not suicide bombers).  Both opinions may be false.  God may be simply withholding His judgment for the crimes we commit against each other–at least, for now.

Perhaps this video records only another random act of violence in a violent land.  Perhaps God played no direct part in actively causing or even actively allowing the event to take place.  But even if that were true, the video can’t be construed as evidence that the one and true God of the Bible favors Muslims.  There’s an enormous irony in this video (Muslims parading the body of a martyr are killed or maimed by that same body) that makes it hard to believe that the events recorded took place outside of God’s control.

The video includes pathos as at least one hysterical Palestinian repeatedly screams”Allahu Akbar”.  You can’t ignore his sense of shock and disbelief.  But more, you can almost feel his faith flowing, blood-like, from his body.

From a Muslim perspective, this video must be hard to bear, hard to understand, hard to view as evidence that their faith is valid.  This video would seem to be either: 1) a profound test of the Muslim faith; 2) evidence that the Muslim faith is false; or 3) at least evidence that God is not pleased by the tactic of suicide bombing.

This video records an event that’s violent, stupid and unnecessary.  It leaves you with a strong sense that spiritual warfare may be being waged . . . and not just by mankind.

video   00:01:52