A Wrongheaded Bonfire

For those who don't know the whole story about this pastor in the Gainsville, FL area who is burning the Koran on 9/11, here is the story from the Miami-Dade Herald. 

I'm sure that there is a certain portion of level-headed Christians who are horrified by this display by a minister...but there may also be a portion who are not upset as they might otherwise be...because, after all, Islam is a false religion with a "holy book" that is filled with falsehood, right?  What's so bad about burning a bunch of false teachings, really?

Well, I may dislike the system of Islam, but...something makes me very uneasy when books are burned.  Especially scriptures of any sort. 
 

What is not as publicized about this guy, is that he is also burning the Talmud, an ancient Jewish text based on oral teachings passed down from just after Israel's exodus from Egypt.  Most Christians aren't even sure what the Talmud contains, let alone what to feel about its being burned.  Is it really on par with the Koran, for goodness sake? I mean, for someone hell-bent on burning books?  I am not a Talmudic expert or scholar of any sort, but I do know that it is filled with teachings that Jesus referenced and/or reiterated, and was only passed along orally until it was finally put into written form in 200 A.D.  In large part, it was meant to elucidate the Tanakh, (the Old Testament) and to help those followers of YHVH who, from the start, had questions about how to obey the words heard at Mt. Sinai. 

And what if this guy--or someone of his ilk--decided to start burning the texts of, say, some of the early church fathers?   Or any Amish texts?  Or maybe the something from the Adventists or Mormons or Jehovah Witnesses or Methodists or Pentecostals or Buddhists or Hindus or fill-in-the-blank?  What books justify being burned...and what can be spared from the fire due to their "truthfulness"? Remember...this judgment is made by whoever is lighting the match...what if it was someone who disagreed and disliked YOUR reading material?  
I guess one can pray to always be the keeper of the matches...or one can make sure that no one has them.  I guess I'm going to err on the side of the latter.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/05/1810373/uf-muslims-fear-koran-burning.html#ixzz0ywajz4i4

Sigh.