Muslim Perspectives: They think what?

When I volunteered to go to India on a mission trip three years ago, I joyfully went from village to village to share the good news of Jesus.  The remote villages that sometimes took us two hours of rough transportation to endure were filled with people from the Hindu faith.  Thankfully, I wasn’t asked to go to the Muslim villages.  Honestly, I probably would have refused.  I had a fear of Muslims rooted from perspectives portrayed by the media, heightened after 9-11.

Seven months after I returned from my trip, I encountered a Muslim lady from Pakistan.  Initially, I read a book about Islam trying to understand her perspectives.  But I quickly learned, you can’t put all Muslims “into a box.”    The perspectives I now possess come from a two year friendship with this lady.  I’ve learned many concepts about Islam.  But I’ve also learned some perspectives the Muslims may have about Christians.  Of course not all Muslims think this way (as to put them “into a box” again), but these are some perspectives my friend shared with me.

1)  Some Muslims don’t understand how we are not Christians when we are born.  In Islam, if you are born into an Islam family, you are Muslim.  You have no choice.  They even whisper the creed, “there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet,” into the newborn’s ear.  It was a natural bridge to share how I became a follower of Jesus. 

2)  Some Muslims think American equals Christian.   Therefore, all the media in the U.S. must be Christian, portraying what Christians act like.  No wonder they don’t want their children to come to school here.  They think we will corrupt them.  I had a fun conversation with my friend about dating.  I tried to correct her perspective that dating means premarital sex (what the t.v. portrays).  I shared what the Bible says about it and shared my dating story.  As believers, our lives should reflect the Bible’s definition of a Jesus follower, not the American “Christian”. 

     

3)  Some Muslims think we have an “easy” religion.  They see us attend church on Sundays and think that is our only “obligation.”  However, they must pray five times a day and fast (no food or drink during daylight hours) for a month to possibly receive salvation (they are never for certain because Allah could change his mind).  They also must give a percent of their net worth every year to the poor or an Islamic purpose.  If they are physically and financially able, they must make a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia at least once in their lives.  Of course the more the better, it tips the “good scales,” needed to please Allah.

Of course they don’t understand that we are not obliged to go to church, but go because we want to worship the God that saved us from our sin (This should be our attitude).  They also don’t understand that we have a friendship with God because of His love for us, not because we must “work” to please God and deserve heaven.  (Ephes. 2:8-9)
 

4)  When some Muslims hear about God’s gift of salvation, they don’t understand how someone else can pay for another’s sin.  In their honor/shame culture, they must please their family and take responsibility for their own actions.  How could Jesus pay for someone else’s sin?  And why would God allow a prophet to die such a shameful death?  It doesn’t make sense in their culture. 

Yet, they understand the need for a guarantor to sign for a loan.  The guarantor signs to pay off a loan if the loan cannot be paid.  That is exactly what Jesus did.  He promised to pay our debt if we couldn’t pay it.  Of course we couldn’t.  We can’t earn our way to heaven.  And the requirement for our sin debt:  death.  Jesus paid the price for us because of God’s character of unconditional love (opposite of Allah’s conditional love). 

As I learn more about my friend’s perspective of Christians, I pray my life reflects the truth of the Bible.  As her perspective changes about me, I pray her perspective changes about the truth of the Bible, and God our Savior.  Let’s simply spill hope to the Muslims around us. 

What perspective have you learned from talking to a Muslim?



Linked to Bible Love Notes

Approaching the Throne

This morning my nine-year-old, J, had to face the unthinkable (at least to a 4th grader).  Last Thursday as she waited outside for school to start, she got her library book out of her backpack to read (not sure she read much).  When the students scurried inside to start the day, she left her book behind.  She didn't say anything about it until last night when we were gathering school items for Monday morning (We had to find lost books for her two sisters, too).

So today, I walked into school with her to look for her book.  We checked the office.  She talked to the librarian.  We dug through lunch boxes, jackets, and folders in the lost and found.  No book.  Then the unfathomable.  She had to approach her teacher and admit she had lost her book.  I walked with her to the classroom, and waited outside the door.  Her teacher, Mrs. P., welcomed her to class.  "Did you forget a book for an assignment?  Come on in and finish it," she said.  J, looking down at the ground and shuffling her feet, took the dreaded step into her classroom.  "No," J said.  She then, very timidly with a downcast face, explained the situation to her teacher.

Now, Mrs. P.'s response.  Mrs. P. has the reputation of being very strict.  She made a girl stay in for recess for humming.  As J weeped last night, she anticipated she'd have to stay in for recess for two weeks!  To our surprise, Mrs. P. said, "Did you check the bookshelf?  Go look and see if it is there.  Accidents happen.  Don't make something small into something big."  I couldn't see J's face, but I'm sure she felt relief as she sauntered over to the bookshelf and found another copy of the book.  (We're still not sure if it was the one she lost).  I thanked Mrs. P. for her mercy, hugged J., and left.

J's experience of approaching her teacher reminded me that we must approach God.  Unlike J's careless mistake, easily overlooked by her teacher.  Our purposeful disobedience toward a perfect, and just God must result in punishment.  The punishment required: death (Romans 6:23 says, For the wages of sin is death...).

No wonder people are surprised when they hear that we can approach the throne of God with confidence.  The Bible says, in Hebrews 4:16, "Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

The throne of grace in this verse is the very throne of God in heaven mentioned 37 times in the book of Revelation (Biblestudytools.com).

The verses just before Hebrews 4:16 explain that Jesus is our high priest that makes it possible for us to stand before the throne of grace with confidence (may blog about high priests sometime...Love it!).  

What about you?

Will you approach the throne by yourSELF or with your SAVIOR?  Jesus wants to represent you as your high priest.

Will you approach the the throne with GOOD WORKS or GRACE?  God offers you grace, a gift through Jesus.  Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."  (emphasis mine)
 
Will you approach the throne as a COWARD or with CONFIDENCE? Without Jesus, you will coward before a judging God.

Choose a Savior, Grace, and Confidence today! 

Labor Day

Labor Day, the official last day of summer. (Pretend today is Labor Day.  It took me a several days to get all this down.)  Our family labored today.  My husband cleaned our van (even vacuumed the sand from our trip to the beach a month ago).  I attacked the overflowing, outdated condiment filled refrigerator.  My girls "worked" hard at swimming as much as they could in our neighborhood pool, the last day it was opened this year. 

"Labor" Day, it made me think about work.  It reminded me of some conversations with friends I've had over the past few weeks.  I have several friends from other religions.  A few weeks ago, my Hindu friend said, "All religions are the same.  Everyone tries to be a good person."  It was not the appropriate time to tell him what the Bible says about being a good person.  Last week, my Muslim friend had a similar response.  She believes her good works in life must outway her bad works to go to heaven.  When she asked if I do things to please God and commented that Christianity and Islam are the same, "We both try to do good things for God", I had the opportunity to share what the Bible says about good works.

Most people would agree, "good people should go to heaven".  Why wouldn't they?  We live in a society that feels people deserve a reward for being good citizens, showing kindness to their neighbors, and giving to the poor.  Isn't that enough to deserve heaven?
What does the Bible say about being a good person? 

Romans 3:10 says, "as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;

"Righteous" means, 'keeps God's commands, innocent, acceptable or "right" before God.'  According to the Bible, no person can consider themselves a "good person".

Isaiah 64:6 says,
6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment ;

In other words, anyone who thinks his or her righteous deeds (good works) will allow us access to a holy (perfect) God, needs to look closer at this verse.  Our sin makes us unclean.  There are many examples of "unclean" in the Bible.  The Bible says that lepers were "unclean".  Not only were lepers not allowed to enter the city, they were not allowed to worship.  Likewise, because we are "unclean", we are not allowed to stand before God.  God cannot allow sin into heaven.  If we try to present God our good deeds, he calls them "filthy", "unclean", "unfit".

TO BE CONTINUED...

Can't wait to hear about the good news?  Here's Hope