Where have we been, as evangelicals? Apparently asleep at the theological wheel. And while we were sleeping Muslims and Christians found some common ground.
Now pick yourself up off the floor and get the doctrinal sleep out of your eyes. Apparently Christians and Muslims share the same views on the ten commandments. You will remember that Jesus answered a question about which commandment is the greatest with, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (ESV). No problem here for Christians. Right?
But here is where it gets sticky. Back in October, a group of Muslim scholars and clerics issued a call to Christians. It read in part:
Thus in obedience to the Holy Qur’an, we as Muslims invite Christians to come
together with us on the basis of what is common to us, which is also what is most
essential to our faith and practice: the Two Commandments of love.
It was as Tim Challies describes:
a call to base all future interfaith dialogue between Christians and Muslims to be built upon what these Muslim clerics believe is the common ground between the faiths. “The basis for this peace and understanding already exists,” they say. “It is part of the very foundational principles of both faiths: love of the One God, and love of the neighbour. These principles are found over and over again in the sacred texts of Islam and Christianity. The Unity of God, the necessity of love for Him, and the necessity of love of the neighbour is thus the common ground between Islam and Christianity.
You can see the entire call for coming together in our “common faith” here.
Well how did Christians respond? Challies again:
Four scholars at Yale Divinity School’s Center for Faith and Culture chose to respond to this with a full-page advertisements in the New York Times(that was published on November 18). They titled this response “Loving God and Neighbor Together: A Christian Response to A Common Word Between Us and You.” It was endorsed by over 100 Christian theologians, pastors and scholars, among whom were Rick Warren, Brian McLaren, Leith Anderson, Timothy George, Richard Mouw, Robert Schuller and John Stott. It has long been an observation that efforts of this kind create strange bedfellows. This is no exception.
The letter was one of penitence and delight—penitence for wrongs committed by Christians against Muslims, and delight for the efforts of the Islamic scholars to find this common ground between the faiths. Some might even see a tone of pandering. “As members of the worldwide Christian community, we were deeply encouraged and challenged by the recent historic open letter signed by 138 leading Muslim scholars, clerics, and intellectuals from around the world.” These Christian leaders agree with the common ground between these two faiths.
You can add Bill Hybels, David Neff of Christianity Today, Duane Litfin of Wheaton and Tony Jones of the Emergent Village to the list of signatories.
Here is more from the “Christian” response:
What is so extraordinary about A Common Word Between Us and You is not that its signatories recognize the critical character of the present moment in relations between Muslims and Christians. It is rather a deep insight and courage with which they have identified the common ground between the Muslim and Christian religious communities. What is common between us lies not in something marginal nor in something merely important to each. It lies, rather, in something absolutely central to both: love of God and love of neighbor. Surprisingly for many Christians, your letter considers the dual command of love to be the foundational principle not just of the Christian faith, but of Islam as well. That so much common ground exists—common ground in some of the fundamentals of faith—gives hope that undeniable differences and even the very real external pressures that bear down upon us can not overshadow the common ground upon which we stand together. That this common ground consists in love of God and of neighbor gives hope that deep cooperation between us can be a hallmark of the relations between our two communities.
Can you believe this stuff? Obviously some of the signatories theological ships pulled up anchor long ago, or never had a doctrinal anchor down in the first place. But others, so-called evangelicals, dared to sign on to something so offensive as this “common ground” document! God, please help us!
By the way, I am beginning to wonder if the term evangelical is worth retaining anyway. TeamPyro had a post December 4 about evangelicalism and it is worth your time. It is called Fire.
Just when you think the response could get no more offensive to our one true great God, these Christian “leaders” write:
…we must engage in interfaith dialogue as those who seek each other’s good, for the one God unceasingly seeks our good. Indeed, together with you we believe that we need to move beyond “a polite ecumenical dialogue between selected religious leaders” and work diligently together to reshape relations between our communities and our nations so that they genuinely reflect our common love for God and for one another. (my emphasis)
Folks, there is no common love for God between Christianity and Islam. What in this world could these folks be thinking? No, our role in encounters with Muslims, or any other faith, is to evangelize them. We cannot say to them that we both love God! If someone believes that, he or she has not read the Bible!
I should stop writing before I bang the keys through the keyboard. But, I must say that my anger is, I believe, righteous in this case. So-called Christians have jettisoned the Word of God and sold their souls in the process. If ever we must be contending for the faith once delivered it is now! I am afraid this particular “delivery” of the faith by these signatories known as A Christian Response to ‘A Common Word Between Us and You’ is DOOR (Dead Orthodoxy On Response) and these “theologians” and “pastors” should be shown one.
You can see Tim Challies’ post here.
Now you know what I think. What do you think? Was this response by these signatories a good one? What does the Bible tell us about how to relate to folk who worship other gods?
December 6, 2007 at 7:19 am
It is hard to even begin to find words…
“Common love for God”? When the Scriptures speak with no uncertainty that anyone who does not love Christ does not love God, how can there be a “common love for God” between us and Muslims?
This is nothing but serving the fear (literally) of man and seeking his empty praise.
I wonder if with Stott we are not seeing the ulimtate result of his sliding down the slope from his precarious perch of having denied eternal punishment?
December 6, 2007 at 9:40 am
I was really surprised that John Stott signed this statement. From what I know, he is a strong believer in the unique salvation that we have in Christ alone. It could be that he misunderstood what he was signing. At least, that is my hope.
If you don’t read the beginning and end of this document, you could get the idea that these Muslim scholars simply want Muslims and Christians to coexist together without fighting and without fear of terrorism. This kind of peace is certainly a good desire. It is good to call each religion to higher standard, a standard that both Islam and Christianity has to love one’s neighbor.
But if you read carefully, it really seems to be saying that Muslims and Christians not only have the same two great commandments, but that they actually serve the same God. This, of course, is heresy and an abomination to our TRIUNE God.
I am certainly interested in having dialogue with Muslims. I am interested in being a friend to Muslims and living peacefully with them. But the goal of this dialogue and of these friendships is to show through my love for them the incomparable love of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only God who ever died to pay for the sins of his creatures and rose again in power.
December 6, 2007 at 11:37 am
Wow. One of the biggest, most subversive problems I see with Islam is that it does share so many *surface*-level similarities: Middle Eastern roots that trace back to Abraham, a belief in monotheism, a belief in absolute truth, a rejection of materialism, etc…but when we dig below the surface we find that Islam is what Christianity would have become without the revelation of divine grace: a legalistic, violent faith that is, when practiced with Q’uranic orthodoxy, intolerant of the very existence of infidels, or those who do not practice Islam. I am not an expert in the Mohammedan faith, certainly, but it is apparent that in practice, orthodox Islam looks very, very different than orthodox Christianity. I am shocked that so many professing Christians have succumbed to the postmodern ether in their confessions.
December 6, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Are we not infected by the Rodney King syndrome–”can’t we all just get along?”
Sadly, I think we are. Compromising essentials and such basic and critical doctrines (as has happened here), is, well depressing were it not for our faith in the only true God and His promise to make disciples of all the nations through us. Our task and marching orders actually would prevent us from any such endeavor as this.
Liberals who left the faith long ago, I am not surprised to see their names there. But professing evangelicals? Man O Man!
December 6, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Wes, to your last question, I would say that it is a good approach to befriend first and share Christ second. Otherwise, nothing separates us from those Jehovah’s witnesses who care more about speaking than listening. Every time I see those people walking around neighborhoods, I find myself half-wishing I had a rotten tomato within reach. However, I think the devout Christian can’t help but share Christ in the warp and woof of their lives. So, I think there is a balance to be struck in any sincere friendship with unbelievers: faith always comes up at some point, or at least we are presented golden opportunities for discussing it in a way that flows with the conversation at hand. We shouldn’t beat them up with our Bibles and then cease to be friends if they decline the gift of Christ’s salvation, but neither should we be ashamed of who we are. I guess the core of my point is that if we really care about someone, we’ll share the gospel sooner rather than later. This is something that I realize, looking back, I am not very consistent about in terms of loving unbelievers.
December 6, 2007 at 1:46 pm
I think I’ll leave annihilation alone.
I agree with Matt. Sometimes, however, I think we may need to settle into the long haul of really loving someone, or else they will never be able to believe the love of Christ.
I’ll take Jerram Barrs as a wonderful example. He and his wife have invited over a gay couple to their home for years now. Of course, Jerram is very adamant in his view that homosexuality is a perversion of true biblical spirituality. These guys are aware that Jerram is a Seminary professor, so Jerram has decided to let them bring up the topic whenever they like, not to force it on them. So far, the only thing they have asked is: “Why do care for us so much even though he really disagree with our lifestyle?” Jerram’s answer: “Because Jesus loved me when he disagreed with my lifestyle.”
December 6, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Yes, of course. I disagree with annihilationism. I meant that I will not ask Stott about annihilationism in my email. I already sent the email, and it was short and to the point, so I hope I’ll get some sort of response, although it may take awhile.
Using the story of Jesus at the well, are you suggesting that we should address someone’s sin issue the first time we meet with them? Also, I think a major reason Jesus did this was to prove that he was not an ordinary person, that he knew her even though she had never told him a thing.