This is an excerpt from "Sharing Jesus with Muslims in America" by Abu Daoud. Abu Daoud is the pen name of another author and myself who co-wrote the book. Combined, we have thirty-five years of experience working with Muslims.
The thought of working among Muslims raises many different emotions among Westerners. The two most common things I encounter are fear and utter amazement. Speaking as someone who has done it for a long time, neither of these emotions accurately portrays the thrill of being challenged in faith and developing deep friendships with people from a different heritage. Although a list of emotions could be endless, I will highlight four major attitudes people have when considering working with Muslims in their own communities.
The first attitude is illustrated in the person of Moses. Moses became a great man of God, but he did not start that way. In Exodus 3-4, Moses argued with God about His plan for him to go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt. In those verses, he asked God five times for another assignment (Exodus 3:11,13 and 4:1,10,13). He went out of his way to convince God that He was making the wrong choice in His selection of Moses to be the liberator of the Hebrews! Initially, Moses feared Pharaoh and the Egyptian army. So, my question to you is: Do you fear Muslims? If you are like many Americans, fear feels like a natural response to Islam. The TV news is quick to highlight the dangers of living in Muslim-dominated countries. But not all Muslims are terrorists or extremists, regardless of what the mainstream media and academics say. Many terrorists today are indeed Muslims, but no country is free of violence and atrocities. For this point, I want to clarify that, for Christians, fear cannot be our driving force. The Bible states, “for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7). When Moses moved beyond his fear, he became a great man of faith.
The second attitude people might have about Muslims is indifference. The prophet Jonah fled Nineveh before God gave him a second chance to declare the Word of the Lord. Jonah was happy to tell his fellow Israelites what God had declared but was not interested in delivering the message to those of other nations. We read in Jonah 4 how he became upset when God forgave them instead of destroying them. In that chapter, Jonah is sitting outside the city, expecting and hoping for God to crush the city and everyone in it. Jonah did not care about the people.
Do you have the same attitude as Jonah by being indifferent to Muslims around you? Does their eternal destiny concern you enough to take action? Many Americans opt for this attitude and call it tolerance or toleration. It can be summed up by saying, "You leave me alone, and I'll leave you alone." However, Christians are not called to “tolerate” others or leave them alone; Christians are called to love others, which is true for a good neighbor and a supposed enemy.
The third attitude is intolerance. In Acts 10:9-48, we read that Peter was unwilling to go to a Gentile house until God spoke to him in a vision. Good Jews were taught not to enter a Gentile house because they believed that they would become unclean. There was also a custom for Jewish people returning to their homeland after travelling outside of it, to shake the dust off their feet in an effort to not bring "unclean" soil into the country. Jesus took that cultural action and shifted it. In Luke 10, He instructed His disciples to do the same, but not when they were re-entering their country, but when they left a village that rejected the Messiah.
Thankfully, Peter understood what God meant when he said, "What God has made clean, you must not call profane (Acts 10:15)." This leads me to the question: Are you intolerant of Muslims? Do you look at them as God does or as many Westerners do? We are just as sinful and lost as they are, yet God saves everyone who believes. Please do not think God has less work to do in saving you than He does in saving a Muslim.
The fourth attitude is based on ignorance. Ananias was a man used by God to do something great. In Acts 9, God told Ananias to visit Saul of Tarsus. Saul had a reputation for arresting and killing Christians. In modern language, he was a terrorist. But while Ananias was praying, he was told to go to Saul. At first, he asked God about the instructions. He did not know that Saul had recently met Jesus in a miraculous way, nor did he know that Saul would become the greatest missionary in the world.
Just like we are ignorant of how God will use us, we also do not know how He will use a Muslim who comes to faith. By withholding the gospel from a Muslim (or anyone else) because they look too dangerous or too far lost, we minimize the power of God to change a person's life, and we impose our own judgment on a person. God is at work. He is transforming you into a more accurate image of Himself and bringing all types of people into His Kingdom. Do not be ignorant of these facts. Instead, join God in His work.
The four attitudes believers should avoid when Evangelizing are fear, indifference, intolerance, and ignorance. Each of them are opposed to God’s ongoing activity in the world. Instead, trust Him and boldly share the gospel.
Comentários