Why Did the Boston Marathon Bombers Kill Innocent People?
Last week, when it became clear that some radical Muslims were behind the bombing, the question came up as to why? What was the motive? It's the same motive that has caused so much of the violence of radical Muslims all over the world; it's basically men seeking eternity in Paradise.
I'm thankful that as a Christian, I can know that I am going to heaven. Not because I'm good; not by works---that is my works; but certainly by the work of Christ at the cross.
John the Apostle writes, "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life."
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But within Islam there is no guarantee of going to Paradise when you die. They have instead, a false hope of entering by dying in the process of committing Jihad. This will supposedly guarantee them eternity into Paradise where they will be wed to 70 virgins. The suitcase of 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta was misdirected to another airport and contained his wedding garb.
Stephen Massood of Pakistan is a former Muslim and head of Jesus to the Muslims. About Jihadists, he said, "They believe that, 'Well, if we are killed, we will go straight into Paradise.'"
The website, www.thereligionofpeace.com, maintains an ongoing register of how many Islamic attacks have been foisted on the world since 9/11. The Boston Marathon bombing would count as just one. As of 4/23/13, the number is 20,742.
Here is a recount of five prominent examples of those 20,742:
- Bali, Indonesia, October 12, 2002: Jihadi bombs in a nightclub kill 202 people and injure an additional 300.
- Madrid, Spain, March 11, 2004: At the train station, a series of bombs placed by Jihadists kill 201 people, and injure an additional 1,841.
- Beslan, Russia, September 3, 2004: Jihadists kill at least 350 people at a school---mostly children---and injure 600.
- London, England, July 7, 2005: A series of blasts in the subway (that is, "the tube") and in buses---killing 52 and injuring 750. The bombers turn out to be British-born Jihadists, so-called "home grown terrorists."
- Mumbai, India, November 26, 2008: Jihadists attack civilians and tourists, killing 178 and injuring 370. In addition, 5 Jews were singled out and tortured to death.
I spoke once with a Member of Parliament, David Liddington, about this. He said, "Most Muslims are people who absolutely loathe violence and terrorism. But, of course, only a relatively small number of very hard line radicals can cause an awful lot of trouble."
Robert Spencer of www.jihadwatch.org once told me, "In the Koran and in the teachings of Mohammed and in Islamic tradition of theology and law, there are mandates commanding Muslims to wage war against unbelievers." For example, see Surah 9:29.
I once asked him, "Why would they kill an innocent child?" (Something we saw just last week in the case of the eight-year-old boy killed at the Boston Marathon.) He said, "This is something that is actually mandated by Islam; the Koran says in Chapter IX Verse 123 to 'fight the unbelievers and let them find a harshness within you.'"
I don't mean to imply that every Muslim is a terrorist. But these days a preponderance of terrorists are Muslims. Presumably, seeking an entrance to Paradise---in all the wrong ways. Spencer estimates only about 10% of Muslims are radicalized, but out of 1.3 billion or so people, that's a lot of radicalized individuals who could cause us harm.
Between the time of the bombing and the revelation of who was behind it, we heard all sorts of speculation about who might be responsible. We heard "right wing" terrorists, bandied about it, as if there was some sort of moral equivalence. Really?
In his book, The God Delusion, the atheist Richard Dawkins talks about "the American Taliban." He doesn't come out and directly define them, but it became clear from the context that he was talking about those supposed Christians who do violence to abortionists. How many human beings does that represent?
Every time an abortionist has been murdered, and it's happened about four or five times I can think of, Christian leaders can't get to a microphone fast enough to denounce this despicable act. Rev. Paul Hill was a Presbyterian minister who murdered an abortionist, and he was put to death for it. At least he got due process, unlike the abortionist he killed. The AP (April 23, 2013, 4:43AM) says that the bombers were "motivated by religion." Again, moral equivalence.
Zuhdi Jasser, M.D. is a Muslim and an American. He is terribly opposed to violence, including that done in the name of Islam. He is outspoken against Jihadist violence.
Dr. Jasser said of such Jihadist attacks, "The root cause, I believe, as a Muslim, is the ideology of Islamism. The ideology of wanting to create Islamic states that are supremacist; that believe there should be an Islamic law and government. That no other legal system takes precedence. That government should be ruled by clerics or those that believe in Islamism."
He adds, "…until we start to build relationships with Muslims that are working against political Islam and the establishment of the Islamic state, I think we are going to continue chasing our tails domestically and globally for the next many generations to come."
Adam Savit of the National Security Policy said of our war on radical Islam:
"We consider it a traditional war with men on the battlefield. Unfortunately, it is an ideological war and everyone, including Americans in America are combatants on that battlefield."
Innocent victims learned that last week in Boston. Let us continue to pray for them and pray for opportunity to share with our Muslim neighbors the true Gospel, which grants them access to eternity in Paradise.
