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A CLARIFICATION ON "D"
#1 · February 15, 2009, 10:50 am
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>
Dear Friends:
Because I didn't not really express our thoughts and feelings very clearly concerning "D", a young man I baptized two years ago, I want to visit that topic once more with some significant clarification. As you recall, he was a Muslim from a Muslim country, and came to our city from another location to be baptized as a testimony of his faith in Christ. In review, . . .
+ We received a report last Wednesday night that "D", for whom I asked you to pray last week, actually renounced Christianity. We have very mixed feelings about that. We are relieved that he is still alive and has an opportunity to prove his faith in the future in spite of being monitored by his home country's security forces and prohibited from leaving the country for at least five years. On the other hand, his recantation, even if it was against Christianity as a religion and not against his personal faith in Christ (and there is a distinct difference), sends a very difficult negative message that can have major repercussions. Please pray for him, that God will give him boldness to declare his faith in Christ in the future.
I need to clarify my position on "D"'s decision because it caused quite a number of people to think I advocated compromise and the "easy way out". Nothing is further from the truth. My reason for being glad that "D" renounced Christianity was gratitude that he had not lost his life so soon in his faith. We were not advocating renunciation of his faith in Christ in any way.
However, doing so provides significant ammunition for people critical of Christian hypocrisy and inconsistency. What better opportunity for a Muslim to say something like, "As a Muslim, I am willing to die for Allah, but here's a so-called Christian not willing to die for Christ."
This episode has been another reminder of just how little we westerners understand of the culture and religions of the Middle East, especially Islamic countries and the religion of Islam. Our views on things like life, death, suffering, religious convictions, etc., are not nearly so costly in our thinking. Compromise is unthinkable to a devout Muslim, but it is a general way of life for most Christians. I woke up early this morning thinking about that in terms of the subject for tomorrow's "Shoulder to Shoulder" letter I will send soon.
Muslims will die without a blink of the eye for their faith, and see it as achieving the highest honor of their lives to die as a martyr. Jehovah's Witnesses will walk door-to-door all day long with bags full of literature, willing to take ridicule and rejection simply to win one convert. Mormons will deny themselves various foods and live disciplined lifestyles for their faith. The Amish will live primitive lifestyles primarily void of any modern conveniences in order to abide by their beliefs.
Evangelical Christians, on the other hand, will be satisfied to live generally comfortable lives that demand little, provide a sense of false security, and open the door wide for us to engage in self-satisfying, self-indulging, self-comforting conduct. If we followers of Christ were half as devout and committed to Him as other religions are to their ideologies, there would have been millions more already brought into that saving relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It is an indictment that validates the need the western church has for true revival, the subject about which I am currently writing in my weekly "Shoulder To Shoulder" letter.
So, having said all that, we are filled with sadness that "D" responded in fear and renounced Christianity, while at the same time we are relieved that he's still alive. We have no way of knowing whether he simply went through the motions of renouncing Christianity as a religion, or if he truly rejected his personal commitment to Christ. A confusing mix of feelings and thoughts, but with no doubt that followers of Christ are to expect persecution and even death, they should be prepared for it, and they should look at it as an open invitation to witness and an immediate doorway into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Hopefully, this helps you understand "D"'s situation, and also clarifies what I was trying to say last week.
In Christ,
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