Mr. Medearus: I just finished reading “Tea With Hezbollah.” I loved the book. I worked at the American Embassy in Beirut from 1963-1965. We took taxis to Damascus, Jersalem, went to Egypt under Nasser – we walked everywhere. Fascinating time. I am very interested in the Middle East problem and your book was so insightful. I played the piano for a small Lutheran mission church while there. Drove to Palmyra in Syria in a VW bug – went to Tyre, Sidon,and Baalbek for festivals.

Carl -
this has got to be one of the more suprising posts i’ve ever seen on your blog or others like it.
Whether or not Muslims “like” Jesus or are affectionate towards Him as a historical/religious figure/etc. is in the end – as you should know – irrelevant. It is frankly unbelievable that you could sit in front of an audience as a Christian and say that whether or not Muslims worship the same God or Jesus is an “auxillary arugument” Then further that thinking by saying, “if they think they’re loving Him then let them”!?! Now this may [must] not be what you meant but you most definitely DID say 1: it doesn’t matter whether or not they are worshiping the same God/Jesus and 2: whether the Muslim man or woman is or isn’t worshiping the same God, it’s fine as long as they think they are.
I am unaware of any true believer who felt/thought they “owned Jesus” – i can only assume you mean the name itself. But by your train of thinking a Muslim could be worshiping a statue and calling it Jesus and that would be “ok” as long as they thought they were worshiping the same Jesus we do and, along with that, when we said, ‘but that statue isn’t Jesus at all!’ you would respond to us by saying, ‘Wesley, you don’t ‘won Jesus’ you know! Foolishness.
Please respond and give me some insight into where you meant to head with this line of thinking b/c the way it was articulated sounds flatly heretical.
W.

Carl -
this has got to be one of the more suprising posts i’ve ever seen on your blog or others like it.
Whether or not Muslims “like” Jesus or are affectionate towards Him as a historical/religious figure/etc. is in the end – as you should know – irrelevant. It is frankly unbelievable that you could sit in front of an audience as a Christian and say that whether or not Muslims worship the same God or Jesus is an “auxillary arugument” Then further that thinking by saying, “if they think they’re loving Him then let them”!?! Now this may [must] not be what you meant but you most definitely DID say 1: it doesn’t matter whether or not they are worshiping the same God/Jesus and 2: whether the Muslim man or woman is or isn’t worshiping the same God, it’s fine as long as they think they are.
I am unaware of any true believer who felt/thought they “owned Jesus” – i can only assume you mean the name itself. But by your train of thinking a Muslim could be worshiping a statue and calling it Jesus and that would be “ok” as long as they thought they were worshiping the same Jesus we do and, along with that, when we said, ‘but that statue isn’t Jesus at all!’ you would respond to us by saying, ‘Wesley, you don’t own Jesus’ you know! Foolishness. Only the most un-loving or men would allow someone to believe what is not true, especially when that lie would damn them eternally!
Please respond and give me some insight into where you meant to head with this line of thinking b/c the way it was articulated sounds flatly heretical.
W.

Wesley

Fair enough.When I get back from the Middle East I’ll try to address your question.

thanks for reading and caring…
carl

Wesley

First of all, you seem a little angry. Not sure why, but that came across.

Yes, it is very relevant that “Muslims like Jesus.” Just don’t read more into that what I’m saying. The fact that they “like” him is crucial. Is a great starting point. Doesn’t mean they believe in or follow him, but simply means they appreciate or honor him. Why would that not be relevant.

I didn’t say that’s the same as “saving faith” it’s just a little bit of simple or common faith.

And on the issue of whether they believe in the same god or not, you should read some of my previous blogs.

carl

Wesley

Excellent point. And of course I agree “that in the end” it doesn’t matter if we “like” Jesus or not. But he also says that some who even call him “Lord” and do works “in his name” will also – in the end – not be in.

I often find that we hold others to a standard we don’t hold ourselves. So i guess we have to be careful of that.

I only write about Allah and God so much because others bring it to me with such intensity. I’ve always found it interesting that it makes people so angry. As if ‘those Muslims’ are messing with ‘our God.’

i think how we think of that issue shows much of our approach and philosophy, so in that sense it’s huge. But the issue itself doesn’t seem very relevant in the real world of ministering Christ to Muslims. When I’m with them in the Middle East – we all say “Allah” to refer to god since we’re speaking Arabic. And so whether they’re thinking this or that about who that is – doesn’t matter to me as I know who I’m talking about and the REAL Allah will (in the end) stand up! (Sounds like Tony the Tiger)!

Hi Carl,
Just finished your book on “Muslims, Christians and Jesus”. Great book on sharing our faith, not only with Muslims but anyone. Treat them with respect and be humble. I learned a lot about interacting with others about Christ. I do have one concern in that you seemed to have left out how to deal with the one crucial issue that everyone must at some point face for eternal life. That is, in it’s most basic form the interaction of the thief on the cross and Jesus. The thief admitted and confessed sin, obviously had no hope of working his way out of the problem and turned to Jesus asking for His help as King. Jesus accepted this as a minimum. I am asking how do you determine when to point this out to a Muslim friend after you have followed all of your other great instruction on developing the relationship?

Dan
Great question. A real conviction of sin is illuminated by the Holy Spirit. Doesn’t mean we can’t point it out, but for it to “catch” in someone’s heart, the H.S. has to be involved. So I think we work on that whenever that time is right.

Unfortunately, too many of us spend too much time worrying about others’ sins and not our own. I tell people we should follow what Jesus says and get the logs out of our eyes first (repent) and then we can see the specks in the Muslims’ eyes.

I think some of the confusion here surrounds this notion of “largeness”. He is big, indeed. And we certainly don’t own him; I don’t think there is much debate there. But Jesus, in his own words, describes himself as “the gate”, the way. No one enters except through Him – and that being an authentic relationship. So, while God is big and we don’t own Him, let’s remember that the road is narrow which leads to life, and few will enter through it. The broad road… well, we know where that leads. Ultimately, as an ambassador for Christ, I am to be salt and light, and that means from time to time confronting people. If it’s the Gospel that offends those I engage, I’m fine with that; we need to expect that. Even more, we need to expect that the world will hate us because of it. However, if it’s me, my self-righteousness, my pride or arrogance, then I have missed the mark.

Ken – well said. How are ya broski? Long time!

I think the word “CAMEL” helps with this conversation.

“C” The virgin Mary was Chosen by God to bear a son, Jesus.

“A” Angels announced his coming.

“M” Jesus performed Miracles.

“EL” Jesus showed the way to Everlasting Life.

No credit to me for this – I was taught this by a Southern Baptist.

A lot of naysayers get upset about the idea of having some common ground. From my own perspective, the common ground is a starting point – not an ending point.

The starting point serves a few goals:

a) Corrects some impressions that Christians might have of Muslims.

b) Provides a place to start a conversation with a Muslim.

I lived in the muddle east for 4 years. Christian friends looked at me and said “You won’t be able to attend church – and they won’t let you talk about Jesus…” My friends were wrong on both points.