The Global Conversation

Christians must come to grips with the reality that there is a palpable tension Christianity & Islam dating back to the Crusades. Not all Christians or Muslims are aware of the tension, but some are. Therefore, it behooves us as Christians to tread lightly as we engage Muslims. Treading lightly not in the sense of fear, but in the sense of respecting their beliefs & one of the tried and true ways of showing respect in almost any culture is to take the posture of a learner. Personally, I’m finding out how much I just don’t know about the Islamic faith. In reaching out to Muslims we need to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves (Matt. 10:16). Wise not only in delineating what they believe versus what Christians believe, more than that, Christians must understand how what they believe impacts their lives, worldview and perspective God.May the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob and the Father of our Lord Jesus bless our Christian interaction with Islamic peoples until He comes again!

This article highlighted the great challenges and tension between Christians & Muslims. Thoughtful, respectful dialogue is a great starting point, but by no means the end game. Sure it is reasonable to expect to convert Muslins as we converse with them, but we must go beyond dialogue. A professor on Islam said in class today that if we really want to convert Muslims then we need to engage them at every level. We need to hire them as employees, befriend them, live next door to them and allow them to see through our lifestyle and love that Christianity is superior to Islam & not through our rhetoric. Sure we need to coherently communicate the Gospel and not fudge on our doctrinal distinctives one bit. We will never argue Muslims into the Kingdom but we can love them into the Kingdom.