08-16-2004, 03:57 PM
Akhi Dan Gan,
Bar-Khela is a dear friend of mine and we go back many years. It does not matter to me what religious background he has. I know for a fact that he is very open-minded and I encourage that in people.
He is so open-minded that he sat next to Dean Dana and I in a Church of the East service in Los Angeles. There he was, a Muslim, celebrating in the Qurbana in Aramaic and he even went up for the offering, where he partook of the body and blood of Meshikha.
He said he was overwhelmed by the experience and I am glad he enjoyed the time we spent together. Whether or not he remains a Muslim or becomes a Christian at some point is up to him and his convictions. While I love my faith and wish that every man joins it, it must be of their own will and I push no one to that end.
If Bar-Khela took offense at something you posted about the recent attacks on the churches in Iraq, realize that he loves those churches as much as I do. I did not realize that the stories contained any false information about Islam.
The bottom line is that Islam has allowed our churches to have a peaceful existence in Iraq for many years. Whoever bombed those churches is no different from the American Christians who fire-bombed the parish I attend after 9/11. They no more represent Islam than the idiots who burned my parish represent Christianity.
A little more toleration on everyone's side will help matters greatly. Thank you.
Bar-Khela is a dear friend of mine and we go back many years. It does not matter to me what religious background he has. I know for a fact that he is very open-minded and I encourage that in people.
He is so open-minded that he sat next to Dean Dana and I in a Church of the East service in Los Angeles. There he was, a Muslim, celebrating in the Qurbana in Aramaic and he even went up for the offering, where he partook of the body and blood of Meshikha.
He said he was overwhelmed by the experience and I am glad he enjoyed the time we spent together. Whether or not he remains a Muslim or becomes a Christian at some point is up to him and his convictions. While I love my faith and wish that every man joins it, it must be of their own will and I push no one to that end.
If Bar-Khela took offense at something you posted about the recent attacks on the churches in Iraq, realize that he loves those churches as much as I do. I did not realize that the stories contained any false information about Islam.
The bottom line is that Islam has allowed our churches to have a peaceful existence in Iraq for many years. Whoever bombed those churches is no different from the American Christians who fire-bombed the parish I attend after 9/11. They no more represent Islam than the idiots who burned my parish represent Christianity.
A little more toleration on everyone's side will help matters greatly. Thank you.
+Shamasha Paul bar-Shimun de'Beth-Younan
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