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The media in the East and West have recently been reporting the denunciation of evangelicals by the council of the Catholic and Orthodox bishops in Jordan. The bishops' denunciation was in support of the government's deportations of foreign missionaries, pastors, seminary students, and teachers. Some evangelical Jordanians have taken the position of not responding to the media and just waiting for things to settle down. Others believe increased Western awareness is important and helpful. However, a new analysis of the situation is essential to move forward. There are some lessons for Christians in the East and West. Though Christians are to expect tribulation and are called upon to pray and trust God for his protection, we can glean some wisdom to avoid unnecessary hardship.

1. The need to re-emphasize the love of God for the whole world. Many premillennial evangelicals would understandably appeal to the unconditional Abrahamic covenant when speaking about prophecies regarding Israel. However, many in the same group tend to de-emphasize the conditional Mosaic covenant, which calls on every generation of Israelites to obey its stipulations. While the Abrahamic covenant expresses the grace and faithfulness of God, the Mosaic covenant expresses the holiness and justice of God. In de-emphasizing the Mosaic covenant, some Christians extend support to present-day Israel unconditionally, and without regard to the quality of its obedience to God's standards. This communicates to the Arab person a view of God that is unholy and unjust.

Further, many premillennial evangelicals, in speaking of the end times, forget to emphasize God's heart for the whole world. God's goal by his grace is a world in which all nations would convene in Jerusalem for worship in joyful peace (Isaiah 2:2-4; 19:24-25). Instead, what the Arab countries today hear from the West is that God wants to impose Israel on them by force. This does not communicate the true spirit of Christ, who looks to embrace all the families of the earth in his love and grace. Unfortunately, much of the way evangelicals in the West speak about Israel provokes the strongest reaction by Arabs who see this as political Zionism. As a result, though evangelicals living in the Middle East avoid any political language, they are wrongly thought to support political Zionism.

2. The need to understand the heart of the average Muslim. Christians should emphasize the goodness in many well-meaning Muslims. Average Muslims often evaluate life from words of wisdom but without necessarily thinking in deep theological terms. They would speak with sincerity about subjects common among Christians, such as family values, wholesome relationships, conflict management, work ethic, and so on. As the apostle Paul did on Mars Hill (Acts 17), Christians should champion any values that are endorsed by the Bible, and use them as a bridge for building relationships of mutual trust and respect.

Instead, by constantly emphasizing differences with Muslims, Christians are perceived as coercing or forcing Muslims to convert, and this draws a severe rejection of Christianity. While holding dearly to the uniqueness of Christ and his death on the cross for man's sin, Christians should communicate wisely and patiently the incarnational love and forbearance of Christ. It is a tragedy when Muslims do not see this in Christians, or when Muslims see little that draws them to champion Christian causes.

3. The need to be patient with developing countries. Arabs who have been exposed to the West often want unrealistically fast democratic changes. They set standards of democracy that have been achieved in the West and often express dissatisfaction that the Arab world is far from reaching these standards. However, we should remember that the United States took time to treat all men as equals, or women as equal to men, or blacks equal to whites.

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April (Web-only) 2008, Vol. 52