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Posted on 04/25/2008 6:24:19 AM PDT by NYer
A few days ago, Fox News ran a grim special titled “Jihad USA: Confronting the Threat of Homegrown Terror.” It was a warning of the continuing danger of Islamo-fascism.
The program probably deepened many Americans’ fear of and hostility toward Muslims. That is unfortunate, because most Muslims are not would-be jihadists. But we Christians especially need to guard our emotions so we can be a good witness to Muslims—a caution raised by Dr. Dudley Woodberry, professor of Islamic Studies at Fuller.
Woodberry, aware that throughout the world Muslims have been turning to Christ, was curious about the reasons why—especially in countries where the cost of converting is so high.
To find the answer, he created a detailed questionnaire. Over a 16-year period, some 750 Muslims from 30 countries filled it out—and the results are eye-opening. The number one reason Muslim converts listed for their decision to follow Christ was the lifestyle of the Christians among them.
As Woodberry, Russell Shubin, and G. Marks write in Christianity Today, Muslim converts noted that “there was no gap between the moral profession and the practice of Christians” they knew. An Egyptian convert contrasted the love shown by Christians “with the unloving treatment of Muslim students and faculty he encountered at a university in Medina.” Other converts were impressed that “Christians treat women as equals” and enjoy loving marriages. And poor Muslims observed that “the expatriate Christian workers they knew had adopted, contrary to their expectations, a simple lifestyle.” They wore locally made clothes and abstained from pork and alcohol, so as not to offend Muslim neighbors.
Second, converts identified “the power of God in answered prayers and healing.” For instance, in North Africa, a Muslim family asked Christian neighbors to pray for a sick daughter; and then the girl recovered. Some converts “noted deliverance from demonic power as another reason they were attracted to Jesus.”
Converts also mentioned unhappiness with Islam itself, especially the Koran’s emphasis on God’s punishment and the uncertainty of salvation. By contrast, Woodberry notes, the biblical teaching that God loved us so much that “He sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” is deeply attractive to Muslims.
Converts are also attracted to “the love expressed through the life and teachings of Christ.” Ironically, Muslims first learn about Christ through the Koran, but then read the Gospels to find out more about Him.
Finally—and this is the key—“When Christ’s love transforms committed Christians into a loving community, many Muslims [identified] a desire to join such a fellowship.”
Woodberry’s research shows that when the Church is being the Church—witnessing to the love of Christ and of His transforming power—Muslims are drawn both to us and to Him.
When is the last time you welcomed a Muslim family to the neighborhood, or invited a Muslim co-worker for a cup of coffee?
Even though we are in the midst of a worldwide war against Islamo-fascism, we must never forget Christ’s command to witness to our neighbors—to all of our neighbors—of His redeeming love.
In short, Christianity is hope...Islam is despair.
Christianity - Love Your Neighbor; Islam - Hate Your Neighbor.
Moreover, there are plenty of muslims who’s philosophy seems more in accord with Jews.
Islam was constructed from Judaism and Christianity, so that’s not surprising.
What is the word for someone who pretends to be something just to survive. There is a term for it. We discussed in Bible class and now I can’t remember. I just wonder how many of these muslims really believe that crap.
I am instructing a Muslim for baptism right now.
There is no explanation in human terms. It is the Holy Spirit working out the Will of the Father.
Ah, just as in the first two centuries of Christianity: Second, converts identified “the power of God in answered prayers and healing.” For instance, in North Africa, a Muslim family asked Christian neighbors to pray for a sick daughter; and then the girl recovered. Some converts “noted deliverance from demonic power as another reason they were attracted to Jesus.”
And scientific folks today refuse to believe. Shessh
The emptiness of Islam has been exposed for all to see. The violence they're showing now is simply Satan lashing out at yet another avenue of his wrath being taken from him.
It may be flourishing in Europe, where the simplistic, uneducated Europeans have allowed them into their countries. However, in Africa and the Middle East, people are turning in droves against the moon-god cult.
Also, China is believed to have as many as 100 MILLION Christians....this after only having a few thousand in 1949, when the Communists kicked the missionaries out. Even if Islam WAS on the march, they'll get stopped cold by a Christian China.....
It's my personal belief that, in my lifetime (I'm 45), there'll arise a Chinese Constantine who'll denounce Communism and exalt Jesus the Christ. Then, they might be the force for Christian evangelism in the world for the 21st Century. I don't see Islam standing up to that.
The emptiness of Islam has been exposed for all to see. The violence they're showing now is simply Satan lashing out at yet another avenue of his wrath being taken from him.
It may be flourishing in Europe, where the simplistic, uneducated Europeans have allowed them into their countries. However, in Africa and the Middle East, people are turning in droves against the moon-god cult.
Also, China is believed to have as many as 100 MILLION Christians....this after only having a few thousand in 1949, when the Communists kicked the missionaries out. Even if Islam WAS on the march, they'll get stopped cold by a Christian China.....
It's my personal belief that, in my lifetime (I'm 45), there'll arise a Chinese Constantine who'll denounce Communism and exalt Jesus the Christ. Then, they might be the force for Christian evangelism in the world for the 21st Century. I don't see Islam standing up to that.
This is a long, enlightening, read that is contrary to the above statement.
JESUS IS NOT IN ISLAM
As Allah confirms in the Quran.
By Ahmed Simon
Dear God, please let this happen.
Are you thinking of "taqiyya"?
I would use caution in saying that they “are drawn to the light”, as much as “repelled by the darkness”.
Becoming secular is not enough for many Muslims, for they would still be called Muslims. They become Christians so that they can say they are *not* Muslims. But this is a far cry from their being attracted to Christianity for its benefits, because the vast majority are ignorant of Christianity, and seek it out only because it is not Islam, yet not pagan.
I say this because other Christians still need to reach out to these new Christians, not to just pray silently beside them. They are people who were not raised as Christians, so have no real understanding of what Christianity is, or can be to them. It can be simple, but it can also be complex.
Think of it as learning a new language as an adult. While some will learn by immersion in the new tongue, the majority will learn much faster and better with tutors.
They will also need to learn the culture of Christianity, for they were raised with the social skills of a Muslim. So they must be taught not to lie, or to abuse women or children, to not grovel before those they see as superior or force those they see as inferior to grovel before them.
So much will be alien to them. The foods they eat, or can now eat and drink. The need to persuade, not coerce. To value the endless treasures and joys of life, not to obsess just about land. Yet not to be caught up in the sins of the flesh, of greed, vanity, lust and hate.
Even the hate of those that remain Muslim.
Muslims Leaving Islam in Droves
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1996654/posts
The untold story of the Middle East: Muslims converting to faith in Jesus Christ in record numbers
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1996186/posts
So they don’t like raping women, murder, violence, chopping heads, wailing in an ugly language, locking children in a schoolroom and torturing and killing them, blowing up buses full of Jewish children, randomly shooting priests and nuns, yelling and jumping up and down in the streets like blood thirsty savages on drugs.
So they like the religion of hope. Good. Convert. Abandon hate and despair for hope.
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