Gary:
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RELIGION IN THE NEWS
Now, Religion in the News, a report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media. This week’s item is from The Christian Post, January 4, 2007, with a headline: Insensitive Christianity? The following are excerpts: Christian missionaries travel across the world to preach Jesus Christ as the way, the truth and the life. Indigenous people of foreign lands, however, question the bold Christian approach, with some calling it insensitive. People ask, Are you really going all the way across the world to ask people to change from their Buddhist way and become Christian? Steve Bailey, Associate Professor at Alliance Theological Seminary in Metro New York, recalled, during a seminar last week at Urbana 2006: Missionaries are typically told to proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth, but many times that Christian mandate impedes on the other people group’s culture and religion. Bason Fakuri of International Fellowship of Evangelical students is an Arab Christian from Jordan. When Christians preach that Jesus died on the cross, or about the Triune God to the Muslim world, he said, That’s being insensitive. Fakuri gave four points of advice on being sensitive and tolerant at the same time. 1): Love people; 2), respect the other; 3), learn about the culture and history that one will minister to, and 4), be teachable, don’t be Mr. And Mrs. Know Everything. Being tolerant and sensitive doesn’t mean to compromise the truth, Fakuri clarified. Bailey left students with words from St. Francis of Assisi: Preach the gospel at all time, and if necessary, use words.
Tom:
Dave, I like a lot of what was read here. We certainly are to love people, to respect the others, to learn about culture and history that one is going to minister to, and then be teachable, don’t be Mr. and Mrs. Know Everything. But I would think that this young man, from the International Fellowship of Evangelical students, would be a little bit more concerned, thoughtful about what he says. He says that when Christians preached that Jesus died on the cross, where about the Triune God to the Muslim world, he says that’s being insensitive. Wait a minute, that’s not being insensitive, that’s a matter of declaring the gospel. I mean, now else are they going to be saved unless they understand THE truth?
Dave:
Exactly, but at the same time he contradicts himself: “Being tolerant and sensitive doesn’t mean to compromise the truth.” Now, what does he mean by, truth? Well, Thy Word is truth, the gospel is the truth, and what is the gospel? How that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, was buried and rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. Now he says, But that’s going to offend Arabs and Muslims if you say that Christ died on the cross, you’re talking about the triune God. Well, how are you going to not compromise, and yet not say the truth about the gospel?
Tom:
And in particular, with regard to Islam, things that need to be corrected, or else—I mean, they claim to believe in Jesus—Esau, correct? But he is not the Jesus of the Bible, he is not the biblical Christ.
Dave:
Well Tom, to get to the heart of it here, Surah 4, declares very plainly that Jesus did not die on the cross.
Dave:
You are quoting the Qur’an.
Dave:
Right, in the Qur’an. So now he says, Well, if you say Jesus died on the cross you are being insensitive and you will offend them. Well, Paul said: The cross is an offense, but how can they be saved unless we give them the gospel? This is the gospel: How that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scripture. The fact is that the Qur’an lies, the Qur’an lies in many ways, there are many things in there. The Qur’an,— of course he’s talking about the Trinity. Well, 16 times the Qur’an says God is not a father and he has no son, and the Qur’an says if you believe in the Trinity you go straight to hell. So now we’re going to have to compromise the gospel in order to get people saved? They can’t get saved without the gospel! The gospel, Romans 1:16,—is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. Obviously, who believes the gospel! So, the man is contradicting himself. He is confused: We don’t want to offend anybody. Well then what do we do? I guess Paul must have offended people if the threw him in prison, they beat him and stoned him. They didn’t like it, the Romans didn’t like it that he was saying there was only one true God, and your idols, those are not God’s. Now Tom, when they talk about culture, then I could agree with them. We don’t go to change the culture, we don’t go to make people live like Westerners, or eat or act like Westerners. On the other hand, there is usually a very close relationship between culture and their religion, it is so tied in, and this is true in Islam. Islam does not follow what Jesus said: Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s. There is no allowance for religion to be separate from the government, but Islam is everything and it is your culture, it dictates everything. So, we cannot avoid offending their culture because it is their religion.
Tom:
Dave, the last statement by this professor Steve Bailey, who addressed this meeting at Urbana 2006, he says, He leaves them with the words of St. Francis of Assisi, preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words. I grew up, 30 years, of listening to the sayings of Francis of Assisi and I can tell you I never heard the gospel. The Scripture says—this is Romans 10:17, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” So we need to preach and teach the Word, and certainly our lives need to reflect our living out the Word of the gospel, but we need to preach and teach the Word.
Dave:
And you cannot get the point across, you cannot communicate the truth just by living it this life because there are plenty of Buddhists, or people of all ideas, even atheists who live good lives. Didn’t the Surah use words?
Tom:
Yeah.
Dave:
Well, then you can do it.
