What Motivates the Bombers?

In the furore that has followed the London suicide bombings there have been affirmations from all our politicians and Muslim leaders that Islam is a religion of love and that the suicide bombers are aberrant misguided criminals and not true Muslims at all. However the suicide bombers would claim that they are the true Muslims dedicated to world domination for Islam.

Nasra Hassan in The Times 14th July documents in meticulous detail the fact that the suicide bombers, and the imams who teach them, believe that the first drop of the martyr’s blood will wash away his sins instantaneously. On the Day of Judgement he will face no reckoning and he can intercede for 70 of his nearest and dearest to enter Heaven. In addition he will have 72 beautiful virgins of Paradise. The bomber martyr becomes a hero in his circles which means that all those who applaud him are guilty by association.

The suicide bombers by their drastic actions send out a message to the world that Allah so hates the world of unbelieving infidels that he commissions suicide bombers to blow them to pieces. That is in stark contrast to the good news of John 3:16, ‘For God so loves the world (all the infidels) that he gave his only begotten Son that all who believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life.’

What is the origin of the Qur’an? Muslims insist that Mohammed was the channel by which the revelation in the Qur’an came. They claim that Allah is the source and author of the Qur’an and Mohammed the agent to whom it was given. Mohammed was raised in an area where heretical Christian groups lived. Possibly he learned about Judaism and Christianity from merchants on the trade routes from Arabia to Syria. Does this explain his limited grasp of the Old Testament and the New Testament? His knowledge of the Bible was rudimentary. For instance in spite of the fourfold witness of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Mohammed denied that Jesus died on the Cross.

Christians believe that the Bible came not through one channel but through about 34 authors who lived over a time span of 1,500 years. What came by them has been tested for errors and these books form the canon or contents of the Bible. The Old Testament forms a book of promise and the New Testament records and explains the fulfilment of the promises. This is important because central to it all is loving faithfulness. God is love. The Father loves the Son perfectly and the Holy Spirit loves the Father and the Son comprehensively. Those who are brought by faith into this triune family of love learn how to love from the Trinity. A monad cannot love because he is not relational and has nobody to love on his level. Moreover in a monad there is no room for diversity. Everyone must conform. In Islam as we have witnessed over many years those who leave Islam are subject to the death penalty. The list of martyrs all over the world is miles long.

The suicide bombers believe passionately in Islamic world domination. To justify themselves they must please Allah and for them there is no better way of pleasing him than by advancing his program and giving themselves up to achieve it. In this manner they believe they earn Allah’s approval. But for Christians it is inconceivable that a God of love would approve and reward criminal murderous acts.

Is it possible to convert the suicide bombers from the error of their ways? That surely is necessary as well as the essential expensive measures that are now being made to try and protect society. Let us remember that there was a misguided Jew by the name of Saul of Tarsus. He was bent on vindictive persecution of Christians. Suddenly on the Damascus road he was converted. He became the great apostle Paul of the New Testament. My response to all this is to pray that potential bombers will be converted to Christ. This will not only make the earth a safer place for us all to live in but it will save these young men from hell which is the certain destiny of unrepentant murderers (1 Corinthians 6:9).