Reality is that jihad is a word for two fused things, violent and spiritual jihad

It has been noted that Allah said in the Qur'an that justice and a good character do not really matter if the Muslim has a wish to go to Heaven.

In this view, you can do all the harm you want as long as you make sure you have 101 good deeds for 100 bad ones.  Such a teaching only leads to warring and condoning wanton war.

Here is the verse.  "Then those whose balance of good deeds is heavier, they are successful.  But those whose balance is light, will be those who have lost their souls and in Hell will they abide."  Qur'an 23:102-103.

This opposes the core Christian teaching that certain sins show you will be damned if you die right now no matter how much good you do.  It denies that good works that please God are done with his grace and help after Jesus has atoned for your sins.  Allah limits mercy to those who tip the scales with good works.  This contradicts the Bible notion of a God who gives mercy on sincere request.   Deathbed conversion is useless before Allah.

In Islam, jihad is both the lesser and the greater jihad. Lesser jihad is war and greater is the struggle to submit to Allah. Despite attempts to make out that the greater is the one that matters the fact remains that there is one jihad with two sides. Submitting to Allah to fight is the way to reconcile them. The concept of a greater jihad and a lesser comes from a legend from the twelfth century so it is no good. The prophet Muhammad was jubilant after coming from battle and announced the greater jihad. Obviously then there is no way a religion of peace can make war so important even if it is a lesser jihad. A lesser jihad is not an unimportant or optional jihad!

Winning the battle not the war is not enough. Another battle may turn things around totally - and you may be on the losing side! Jihad is not about battles but about war. Be warned!

Even more fascinating is the fact that the legend comes from Ibrahim bin Abi Ablah who was found to have been forging in relation to the prophet.  The standard and valid Islamic view is that of Ibn Taymiyyawho wrote centuries ago, "This hadith has no source and nobody whomsoever in the field of Islamic knowledge has narrated it.  Jihad against the disbelievers is the most noble of actions and moreover it is the most important action for the sake of mankind."

Qur'an 3:145 states, "It is not for anybody to die except by permission of Allah.  There is a decree that must come to pass and will."  Thus the Muslim is not really a killer on the battlefield but is an instrument of Allah.

Qur'an 5:51 says that the Muslim who makes patrons of Jews or Christians becomes a Jew or Christian.  The text says that they are backers of each other therefore to help them is to become one of them.  With that attitude a bloody jihad has to happen!

Pope Benedict XVI was slammed for giving a quotation insulting Muhammad that called his message dangerous and violent. Giving the quote did not mean he was saying it himself.  But he was accused of showing what he really thought about Muhammad.  What if he had been guilty? What did the protesters want? Did they want him to praise Muhammad for the violence and cruelty?  Why was his judging such a terrible thing? Why was telling the truth so bad? Too often people don’t want to hear the truth. That attitude is a weapon in itself. It is like loading a gun and handing it to someone. Why is it so bad to admit what you know, that somebody is bad? Why do you want others to as good as praise it? A lot of people want to be validated in their evil which is why they overreact when they feel judged.  It is frightening when people themselves judge Muhammad and know he was monstrous but only attack somebody for saying out loud what he was.  This is about silencing people.

Liar Pope Francis said in 2013 "Faced with disconcerting episodes of violent fundamentalism, our respect for true followers of Islam should lead us to avoid hateful generalisations, for authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence".  Who qualified Francis who is not an Imam to say that?

In 2017 he raved, "Christian terrorism does not exist.  Jewish terrorism does not exist.  And Muslim terrorism does not exist."

This is complete opposition to the New Testament doctrine that religion needs to be a relationship with the true God to be good.  It denies the take that Christianity is not a religion but is Christ.  Or the close idea that the only religion is Jesus.

Talk about lesser and greater jihad is not important when Qur'an 22:39 has Allah permitting to fight and promises his aid when it is a fair war.  A God whose permission is invoked for war and who tells you to fight for you should win is a dangerous concept.  If people were just hoping God would understand the war and protect them, that is different from people thinking he has granted clear permission.  "Allah did not tell the Muslims to fight Lepanto".  Not the point.  A permit to war is a permit to war even if it does not list what specific wars are permitted.  The promise of protection fuels war.