Assessing 'Chrislam'

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Christians sharing the Gospel in Muslim-dominated countries take incredible risks. And converts from Islam to Christianity are routinely banished, imprisoned or murdered.

So, how do Christian missionaries teach Muslims about Jesus when Islam denies His deity and death on the cross? And how do new converts from Islam to Christianity worship Jesus without inviting severe persecution?

One attempt is "Chrislam," the bringing together of Christianity and Islam. Proponents of Chrislam say that because the Qur'an mentions Jesus and affirms certain biblical teachings about Him, Christianity and Islam share at least some common ground.

They further argue that if Christians avoid the offensive term "Son of God" when referring to Jesus and, instead, emphasize His role as prophet rather than divine Savior, Muslims are more open to the Gospel. Once they come to faith in Christ, Muslims may continue to worship at a mosque, pray Muslim prayers and even partake in a pilgrimage to Mecca.

The motives behind Chrislam seem sincere. Believers want to be, like the apostle Paul, "all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22). But the problem with Chrislam is that it strips away, or at least masks, the essentials of the Gospel, according to Joshua Lingel, Jeff Morton and Bill Nikides, editors of "Chrislam: How Missionaries are Promoting an Islamized Gospel."   Continue at Baptist Press

The Largest Persecution of Christians in History – Happening Now!

“Few people realize that we are today living through the largest persecution of Christians in history, WORSE even than the famous attacks under ancient Roman emperors like Diocletian and Nero. 

Estimates of the numbers of Christians under assault range from 100-200 million. According to one estimate, a Christian is martyred every five minutes. And most of this persecution is taking place at the hands of Muslims. Of the top fifty countries persecuting Christians, forty-two have either a Muslim majority or have sizeable Muslim populations.”

Lets pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

See this link.

2013 Annual Report on the State of International Religious Freedom Identifies World’s Worst Violators

Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent federal advisory body created by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) to monitor religious freedom abuses abroad, today released its 2013 Annual Report.  The Report highlights the status of religious freedom globally and identifies those governments that are the most egregious violators.  

 

“The state of international religious freedom is increasingly dire due to the presence of forces that fuel instability.  These forces include the rise of violent religious extremism coupled with the actions and inactions of governments.   Extremists target religious minorities and dissenters from majority religious communities for violence, including physical assaults and even murder.  Authoritarian governments also repress religious freedom through intricate webs of discriminatory rules, arbitrary requirements and draconian edicts,” said Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, USCIRF’s Chair.

 

The 2013 Annual Report recommends that the Secretary of State re-designate the following eight nations as “countries of particular concern” or CPCs: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan.  USCIRF finds that seven other countries meet the CPC threshold and should be so designated:  Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam.

 

“The Annual Report ultimately is about people and how their governments treat them. Violations affect members of diverse religious communities around the world, be they Rohinghya Muslims in Burma, Coptic Christians in Egypt, Buddhists, Uighur Muslims and Falun Gong in China, Baha’is in Iran, Ahmadis and Christians in Pakistan, or Muslims in Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan and in non-Muslim nations like Russia.  We recommend that the White House adopt a whole-of-government strategy to guide U.S. religious freedom promotion and that Secretary of State Kerry promptly designate CPCs, before currently designated actions expire later this year,” said Lantos Swett.    Continue at USCIRF

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The Mocking of Muhammad and Condemning of Christ

Jesus’s uniqueness and beauty is on display if his followers respond with grace when he is reviled.

When adherents of Islam counter the mocking of their central figure with outrage and violence, they provide “another vivid depiction of the difference between Muhammad and Christ, and what it means to follow each,” says John Piper. 

Piper concedes that not all Muslims approve the violence, but notes that a profound lesson still stands: “The work of Muhammad is based on being honored and the work of Christ is based on being insulted. This produces two very different reactions to mockery.”

A Deep Difference Between Jesus and Muhammad

Jesus is unique. And Christians believe there is a divine beauty in the mocking that he willingly subjects himself to by becoming man — because it’s a mocking and reviling and bruising and dying that is for us and for our salvation. Piper continues in his 2006 article, “Being Mocked: The Essence of Christ’s Work, Not Muhammad’s”:

If Christ had not been insulted, there would be no salvation. This was his saving work: to be insulted and die to rescue sinners from the wrath of God. Already in the Psalms the path of mockery was promised: “All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads” (Psalm 22:7). “He was despised and rejected by men . . . as one from whom men hide their faces . . . and we esteemed him not” (Isaiah 53:3).

When it actually happened it was worse than expected. “They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head. . . . And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ And they spit on him” (Matthew 27:28–30). His response to all this was patient endurance. This was the work he came to do. “Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).  Continue at David Mathis

Meeting Muslims and Islam: On Love and Discernment

Eboo Patel is the author of  Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice and the Promise of America and founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core.  He recently penned an opinion piece for CNN entitled “How Evangelicals Can Learn to Love Muslims.”  Caught my eye.  Patel marvels at the evangelical political embrace of conservative Roman Catholics, a group that just 60 years ago would have faced the same kind of suspicion and scrutiny that Mormon presidential candidates deal with.  In the piece, Patel describes Islam as “the new Catholicism.”  To make his point, Patel quotes no less an “evangelical” authority than Norman Vincent Peale:

“Our freedom, our religious freedom, is at stake if we elect a member of the Roman Catholic order as president of the United States,” Norman Vincent Peale told a conference of evangelical leaders in September 1960.

Materials handed out at the Peale conference claimed ‘Universal Roman Catholicism’ was both a religion and a political force whose doctrines were ultimately incompatible with the American ideals of freedom, equality and democracy.

Then Patel makes his analogy:

Replace “Roman Catholic” with “Muslim” and “Church hierarchy” with “caliphate” in those pronouncements and today we are witnessing a similar energy directed against a different faith community using largely the same categories.

In today’s parlance, Kennedy was part of a stealth jihad meant to replace the U.S. Constitution with sharia law and practicing taqqiyya to mask this dawa offensive.  Continue at Thabiti Anyabwile

See also: Christ & Islam

Christian Ministry in the Shadow of the Mosque [with video]

Evidence of the vast changes that mark the American landscape come with a new report, The American Mosque 2011. The report was produced by a coalition of research centers and organizations under the direction of Ihsan Bagby of the University of Kentucky. The big finding is the explosive growth in the number of mosques in recent years. The report indicates that there were 2,106 mosques in America in 2011, up from 1,209 in the year 2000.

Other major findings:

• Most mosques are in urban areas, but some are in suburban settings.
• Over 75% of all American mosques were established since 1980.
• Islam in America is ethnically diverse, including large numbers of South Asians, Arabs, and Africans, as well as African-Americans.
• The largest number of mosques are found in California, New York, and Texas, but other states have surprising numbers — such as Alabama (31), Kentucky (27), and Mississippi (16).

Given the higher Muslim birthrate and continuing patterns of immigration, it is likely that the number of Muslims in America will continue to rise, along with the numbers of mosques. Continue at Al Mohler

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Loving Muslim Neighbors

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Rick Warren responded yesterday to the Orange County Register story with a helpful clarification.

“Who is my neighbor?”, the rich young ruler asked Jesus. The query was an attempt to deflect responsibility. Of course, I have a responsibility for my family, kinsmen, and fellow Jews, but surely not for the outcasts, the morally unclean, or the Gentile. No loophole, Jesus replied. Your neighbor is the one right under your nose, whomever God created in his image. Like the rich young ruler, we all have ways of defining “neighbor” as someone who is like us. It’s group narcissism: not really loving my neighbor, but loving myself and what I see of myself in others.

Who Is My Neighbor?

We recognize our responsibilities to our own families, church, and perhaps various voluntary associations. There are school ties: fraternity/sorority mates, secret societies, and alumni associations, where belonging gives advantages in climbing the corporate ladder or getting your kids into Harvard. In a less mobile era, churches reflected the demographics of their neighborhood, as it was often divided between the farm and the town, or along racial and socio-economic lines (different sides of the tracks). Even in many cases where blacks and whites worshipped together, the former sat in the loft—never in the main gallery—and certainly did not drink from a common cup in Communion. (Paul says something about this in 1 Corinthians.) In our mobile society today, churches are more divided than ever into ever-smaller niche demographics defined by the marketplace.

In all of these cases, we choose our neighbors. They are people who are like us. We share similar playlists on our iPod, shop at the same stores, drive similar cars, and even dress alike. When we move to a new city or suburb, we find a neighborhood, church, and school that most closely fits our own self-chosen identity. (Of course, some people have more freedom to choose than others.)  Continue at Michael Horton

Contemporary Tolerance Is Intrinsically Intolerant

The notion of tolerance is changing, and with the new definitions the shape of tolerance itself has changed. Although a few things can be said in favor of the newer definition, the sad reality is that this new, contemporary tolerance is intrinsically intolerant. It is blind to its own shortcomings because it erroneously thinks it holds the moral high ground; it cannot be questioned because it has become part of the West's plausibility structure. Worse, this new tolerance is socially dangerous and is certainly intellectually debilitating. Even the good that it wishes to achieve is better accomplished in other ways.

Let's begin with dictionaries. In the Oxford English Dictionary, the first meaning of the verb "to tolerate" is "To respect (others' beliefs, practices, etc.) without necessarily agreeing or sympathizing. 3. to put up with; to bear; as, he tolerates his brother-in-law. 4. in medicine, to have tolerance for (a specified drug, etc.)." Even the computer-based dictionary Encarta includes in its list "ACCEPT EXISTENCE OF DIFFERENT VIEWS to recognize other people's right to have different beliefs or practices without an attempt to suppress them." So far so good: all these definitions are on the same page. When we turn to Encarta's treatment of the corresponding noun "tolerance," however, a subtle change appears: "1. ACCEPTANCE OF DIFFERENT VIEWS the accepting of the differing views of other people, e.g., in religious or political matters, and fairness toward the people who hold these different views."  Continue at Don Carson

The Kingdom of the Cross Under the Sword of the Crescent

Newsweek‘s current cover-story is “The Global War on Christians in the Muslim World,” by Ayann Hirsi Ali, who fled her native Somalia and served in the Dutch Parliament before taking a position at the American Enterprise Institute. As the article points out, widespread anti-Christian violence is exploding even in countries with Muslim minorities. How do we respond wisely as Christians to this growing threat?

1. Prayer

First, the crisis calls for concerted prayer on behalf of our brothers and sisters under the cross. More Christians have been martyred in the last several decades than in all of the centuries combined—including the early Roman persecutions. We are directed by Christ to pray first and foremost for the coming of his kingdom, come what may. But we also are called to pray for the “daily bread” and protection from temptation that become especially critical needs under persecution. Corporate and private prayers for all the saints, especially those under the cross, should be high on our list.

2. Faithful Witness

Second, instead of watering down the faith, Christians in the West should stand with fellow saints who are witnessing to Christ even to the point of death. It’s striking that when Paul, writing from prison, asks for prayers on his behalf, he does not even mention better conditions. The gospel is his overriding passion. The “prisoner of Christ” asks for prayer “that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak” (Eph 6:19-20).  Continue at Michael Horton

Persecuting Pakistani Christians

I keep thinking about all the American Christians who canceled church on Christmas Day. Terry wrote about the Iraqi Christians who’ve done the same. Except in their case, it’s under threat of death.

I’m elated that Christmas is finally here after a lengthy Advent but I am so sad that Christians in Egypt, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, among other locations, aren’t able to worship freely. Or take the horrible news out of Nigeria yesterday. What Christians there wouldn’t do to have the freedom to worship in peace.

In any case, some holiday seasons see quite a few stories aiming to undermine some aspect of Christianity. We didn’t see much of that. Neither did we see much War on Christmas-type stuff (hurray!), particularly considering that there was ample opportunity. 

Certainly the plight of global Christians this Christmas has not been covered well. But I did want to highlight a package from CNN that I personally found quite interesting.

The feature piece is actually a photo essay by Gary S. Chapman, titled “The persecution of Pakistan’s Christian minority.” Brett Roegiers explained the background to the piece:

In August 2009, an angry mob of extremist Muslims torched Christian homes in Gojra, Pakistan. At least seven people were shot to death or burned alive. A few days after the attacks, American photographer Gary S. Chapman visited the area with his wife, Vivian, to document the aftermath. “I want people to see my images and feel both discomfort and compassion at the same time,” he said recently. “I want them to try and see themselves in the situation I am witnessing.” The violence in Gojra was incited by rumors of the desecration of pages of the Quran at a Christian wedding, police said. An investigation determined the allegations were baseless.

His project began in 2005 when he photographed relief efforts after a massive earthquake killed 86,000. He learned about mistreatment of Christians then and there, including rape, lack of employment and education and beatings for drinking from Muslim water fountains:  Keep Reading >>>

Tim Keller and the Exclusivity of Christ

Earlier this week Justin Taylor posted a 2008 interview of Pastor Tim Keller by Martin Bashir at Columbia University. The interview was spring-boarded by his then-newly released book, The Reason for God. During the interview, which was designed to ask the hardest questions about Christianity, Bashir asked Keller about the eternal destiny of those who don’t believe in Jesus Christ. You can watch part of his answer in this video, with the relevant portion being from about 13:20 to about 15:10. I’ve also transcribed that portion below:

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Bashir:  So where does that leave the millions of Muslims, Sikhs and Jews?  Are they sadly and completely deluded? 

Keller: People who never heard about Jesus, or never really got a hearing about Jesus… 

Bashir: I’m not talking about them, because some of those people have heard (about Jesus). I’m talking about the millions of Muslims, Sikhs and Jews who have heard about Jesus. Where does your thesis leave them? 

Keller: Where they are right now, it means that if there’s never any change, they don’t get Jesus. If he is who he says he is, then, long term, they don’t have God. If on the other hand…all I can always say about this is God gives me, even as a minister with the Scripture, a lot of information on a need-to-know basis. And a need-to-know basis means, “Here’s all I can tell you: unless you get Jesus Christ who created you to start with, unless you are reunited with him sometime, there is no eternal future of thriving.” It just makes sense. Again, I’m trying to go back to this idea that, that, if he is who he says he is, you’ve got to have him. If right now a person doesn’t have him, he or she needs to get him. If they die and they’ve never, if they die and they don’t have Jesus Christ, I don’t know.    Keep Reading...

John MacArthur's 'Grace To You' Now Broadcast to Muslim World

Renowned preacher and author John MacArthur opened the four-day “Truth Matters” conference Thursday evening by announcing that his evangelistic television program began satellite TV broadcasting to the entire Muslim world for the first time that afternoon. 

The TV program, “Grace To You,” also a global media ministry based in Panorama City, Calif., is a series of Bible studies led by MacArthur that were launched as audio-taped sermons more than 42 years ago.

MacArthur is the main speaker at the conference held at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, Calif. The event, which ends Sunday, is webcast live for free at truthmattersconference.org.

“There I am, preaching with Arabic subtitles on satellite television in 72 countries in North Africa, Europe and the Middle East,” MacArthur told the more than 3,500 at the conference and those watching on the Internet. “So, we are really grateful that the Lord opened up that opportunity for us. We just send the word out and let the Lord do what He will with it.”

He also announced that in a few months, the MacArthur Study Bible will be released in the Arabic language.

“I can tell you that it appears to be accurate,” he said, greeted with laughter.

Christian Post

Mistaken Monotheism

Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God? This is perhaps the most significant question that has emerged during the increased interest in Islam in the decade following 9/11. Theologian Miroslav Volf tackled this thorny question in his new book, Allah: A Christian Response. Volf’s answer to the question is a qualified yes. That is to say, while Muslims and Christians have different understanding of aspects of God’s nature and character, so do Christians and Jews and, for that matter, so do different kinds of Christians. If we say that Muslims and Christians do not worship the same God, Volf argues, we have to concede that Jews and Christians (and Arminians and Calvinists for that matter) do not worship the same God. While Volf’s argument has a certain appeal, when we dig a little deeper, we find that it is built on a rather shaky foundation.

What Is Monotheism?

Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are commonly known as the “three great monotheistic religions.” But this label may assume too much. The word monotheism was not coined until the 17th century when Cambridge don Henry More used it to describe any view that held to one person (or principle) as God. The word was co-opted in the 18th and 19th centuries by OT critical scholars who were engaged in revising OT composition history. In the spirit of that age, they saw the history of religion on an evolutionary scale. As human religion developed, it progressed from pantheism to polytheism and finally to the “ethical monotheism” we see reflected in “Deutero-Isaiah,” his friend “Trito-Isaiah,” and other later prophets. This evolutionary process was a movement from the belief that all things are spiritual and divine, to the belief that only a few things are divine, and finally only one thing is divine. Keep Reading...

Islam, Christianity, and the Wrath of God – Part 2

In part 1, we learned that some would have us dialogue with Muslims on the basis of sharing a common love for God.  This proposal is problematic because the God of the Bible is not the god of Islam.  There is also the challenge posed by Islam’s historic and continued commitment to Jihad.  But it may just be that Jihad does, in fact, provide us with an inroad to engage Muslims, not because we have a common God or share the same love for God, but because we agree that God is right to be angry.  We both agree with the doctrine of divine wrath.

Islam and the Wrath of God

Because Islam is a theocracy, Muslim nation states are understood to be expressions of God’s will.  Sharia law and Jihad are expressions of God’s will.  When the ghazi (warrior) fights in Jihad, the wrath of God is given expression in religious battle.  That such war is religiously significant is seen in that the ghazi who dies in battle immediately merits entrance into the Garden of Paradise, the Islamic “heaven,” which is filled with all manner of sensual delights and pleasures.  Salvation is thus obtained through the supreme good work of martyrdom in Jihad, because, to be angry for God is the epitome of piety and to vent the wrath of Allah is Islam’s supreme virtue. Keep Reading...

Islam, Christianity, and the Wrath of God – Part 1

All We Need Is Love

In September 2006 the Pope received An Open Letter to the Pope from 38 Islamic scholars from around the world. In September 2007, 138 Muslim scholars complied a document entitled A Common Word Between Us and You. This document attempted to identify a point of agreement common to both Islam and Christianity, that being the summons to love God and to love neighbor. In November 2007, a favorable and welcoming response was drafted by Christian scholars at Yale Divinity School’s Center for Faith and Culture. Some of the signatories are unknown to me. I sadly recognize some others who don’t surprise me and there are others who I recognize upon whose motives for signing I want to put the best construction. I’ve found the contribution of Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe of The World Evangelical Alliance entitled We Too Want To Live In Love, Peace, Freedom And Justice (March 2008) to be a more biblically cogent response.

This present dialog brings me to ask some questions. We know that God is love (1 John 4:8). Is our God the God of Mohammed? We know in this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10). Can “love” be defined apart from the cross of Christ? Is “love” something we have in common with Islam? Keep Reading...