Tentpegs

This is a very interesting question that came in last week. It is also a timely one as we find ourselves surrounded by more and more people with no faith or with faiths that are very strange to us.

I was at lunch on Tuesday with a Muslim, an Atheist Buddhist, and a Christian. Our discussion turned to religion, and at one point the Muslim said that one of the things she likes about Islam is that it acknowledges the good from all religions, and sees all religions as serving the same God. She mentioned that Islam is a religion of peace, and sees Christians and Jews as equals. I was absolutely shocked at the statement, and asked her how she interpreted the passages from the Qur’an which authorize killing Christians and Jews. She took great offense at the question, and asked me exactly what passage I was referring to. I realized that anything I was going to say at that point would not make a difference to her, and said I needed to go look that up. She very contemptuously said “Go ahead and do that. I’ve read the Qur’an backwards and forwards and I’ve never seen anything like that.”….. Now, here is the question. Given her defensiveness and agression once I posed a simple question, I do think this is the chink where the gospel may enter most readily. However, I have no interest whatsoever in winning an argument, but an enormous interest in winning a soul. How do I present this in a way that is most likely to bear fruit?

Don’t you just love this? At first — I promise this is true — I thought he was telling me a joke. I mean, look at the setup! A Muslim, an atheist Buddhist, and a Christian meet for lunch…

My next reaction was “I want to eat lunch at that table!” I love, love, love chances to engage people who have absolutely nothing in common with me religiously. I am not always comfortable being around other Christians in a Christian culture bubble. You know what I mean: only make friends with other believers, listen only to Christian music, read the latest Christian books (including Christian fiction, of course), and go to Christian events and seminars… There is great value in each of those things, but when that is all you do, you never get the chance to eat lunch at a table like this one and you never get to fulfill your mission — to go into all the world.

How cool is it that the world came to this guy? I was reminded of the table where C.S. Lewis and Tolkien sat every day with bishops and secular scholars. If we only had MP3s of all of those discussions!

Now, to the question (and we might need to do some follow blogs on this): The writer included a section I clipped for space reasons. He quoted some of the Suras of the Koran that advocate killing non-Muslims, enslaving their children, or allowing them to live if they pay high taxes (a fee for not being Muslim) and willingly forgo most of their civil and religious rights. I have seen those passages many times and the questioner quoted them in context. There is nothing wrong with showing them to the young woman who had “read the Koran forward and backwards” without seeing them.

But watch out — you are giving them permission to go to the Bible and pull out lots of passages where God orders the Israelites to enter a village and kill every single human being and animal in it, the passage that tells of the sacrifice of Jepthah’s daughter, God telling Abraham to kill Isaac, David singing about breaking the teeth of his enemy’s children… you get the idea.

So how do you reach a Muslim, Atheist Buddhist, or Mormon? (he sent a second email telling me that a Mormon is also at this table. I’ve GOT to get over there!) The first thing you do is remember the Greatest Commandment and its corollary: love God and love each other. Do not let anyone at that table out-love or out-serve you.

It used to be that people reveled in debates. One side pushed its view and lined up its facts and the other side did the same. We are told such things were popular because people “back then” believed there was something known as truth and they respected that truth. I believe that is a misreading of history.

I absolutely believe that there is Truth. That truth is true regardless of what age we live in, what our culture is, or even whether it is convenient to us at the time! Yet, we have never been a people who balanced all things and then moved toward truth merely because it was truth. In the old days, after the debates, everyone went back to the way they were before. Most of them didn’t change churches, much less their hearts. Here’s a quick question to prove my point: Alexander Campbell debated John Purcell on the Roman Catholic religion. Almost every observer of the debate says that Campbell mopped the floor with Purcell… but there is still a Roman Catholic church!

So, if debates won’t do it I would assume that arguments around a table wouldn’t fix that, either. I wouldn’t be afraid to show the Muslim the passages about killing non-Muslims but I would also talk to them about how dark the world was before Jesus came and how he brought us light, love, salvation, equality, grace, and the chance to have a personal relationship with the Father. That might be effective… but nothing, absolutely nothing, will trump your kindness towards her.

We are converted because someone won our hearts as well as our heads (or in spite of our heads). Jesus said “Follow me” and that is my advice: live in such a way as to be SO loving, SO kind, SO unflappable that you stand in stark contrast to anything else the Muslim, Mormon, or Buddhist have seen before. Ask them what you can do for them. Ask them if you can include their concerns in your prayers. Invite them into your home and show them grace and hospitality. That changes the dynamic much faster than arguments (which, I must stress, the questioner wanted to avoid).

Yesterday at worship, two women came up to me within twenty minutes of each other and told me that they are very close to being baptized. Both had tears in their eyes. One is in a homosexual relationship with another woman who also comes. They know our stance on such things and we have been candid when we discuss these things, but we have also promised to love them and serve them regardless of whether or not they change. One of them shook and cried as she said the love she had experienced at our church over the last eight months was unlike anything else she had ever experienced. She wants to walk with Jesus. The second woman was a high ranking officer in the Salvation Army for many years before a family crisis drove her to seek deeper answers to her faith. A friend (notice: a friend, not a fact) brought her to us. She has worshiped with us for the last three months and is so impressed by our love and mutual sacrifice for each other and the poor that she wants to be baptized this week.

Neither of these were won by argument. Neither were won overnight. Neither understands everything that makes our religious tribe different from other tribes doctrinally… but they know they have never seen such love as they have found here.

One more story: in Bible class yesterday, a lady asked to say something. She is an older woman with several great-grandchildren. She and her husband started coming to us a couple of years ago after a lifetime in other Churches of Christ. She went on at length to praise this congregation and its love and the way it lives out its mission. She and her husband have had family members turn away from them because they come here but, to them, it is worth it.

Start with love and stay there. Answer their questions factually, but with love and humility. And take as long with them as you would want God to take with you. Be patient and let no one out do you in love.