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According to the media, Terry Jones is a
Christian pastor with a dwindling congregation of about 15 at last report.
Jones conducted a public burning of the Koran
in 2011. In response to the media coverage, protesters in northern Afghanistan attacked a UN Aid Mission, killing 12 people, including 7 UN workers.
Jones has been denied entry into Canada,
the U.K., and Germany for his hate-speech.
According to the German Evangelical Alliance,
Jones was released from the leadership of the
Cologne Christian Church in '08 due to his
indefensible theological statements and
his craving for attention.
Islam, titled Innocence of Muslims. The film
led to protests in Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia,
and Libya. Jones screened it at church on
9.11.2012, a day he named, "International
Judge Mohammad Day"
In 2012, Jones hanged an effigy of Obama in front of his church. Effigies of Obama and Bill Clinton were burned in 2013. For the the 2012 elections, he declared
himself an independent presidential
candidate. He is a listed candidate
for the 2016 U.S. election.
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Do this and this, and you'll be saved and go to heaven.
If you refuse the gospel, you won't. You'll be rejected at the gate.
Those are the rules.
So, what if you hear the gospel from folks like Terry Jones? How does that affect your salvation equation? Only the most unlearned can listen to this fellow. Does his talking about the Bible and Christianity count? Most will reject what he offers, and wisely so.
There are so many who have been driven away by religious rules and rule purveyors. There's truth, and then there's arrogance and foolish error that spills out of narrow minds. The two are unrelated.
The media flail over Jones is inappropriate, of course. Talking with his few followers about Jesus and burning the Koran doesn't make him a legitimate spokesperson either for Christianity or its author.
Had Jones encountered the author, he'd perhaps have a different message.
The 'good news' is farther from this sort of nonsense than can be described in words, and it's not about rules.
- Although he's perhaps running for president, Jones hasn't been in the news lately. In January, he was working at Fry Guys in a mall food court in Florida. Here's hoping he gets his thinking straight.