Mosab Hassan Yousef is an extraordinary young man with an extraordinary story. He was born the son of one of the most influential leaders of the militant Hamas organization in the West Bank and grew up in a strict Islamic family.
Now, at 30 years old, he attends an evangelical Christian church, Barabbas Road in San Diego, Calif. He renounced his Muslim faith, left his family behind in Ramallah and is seeking asylum in the United States....
"Now, here's the reality: after I studied Christianity — which I had a big misunderstanding about, because I studied about Christianity from Islam, which is, there is nothing true about Christianity when you study it from Islam, and that was the only source.
When I studied the Bible carefully verse by verse, I made sure that that was the book of God, the word of God for sure, so I started to see things in a different way, which was difficult for me, to say Islam is wrong.
Islam is my father. I grew up for (one) father — 22 years for that father — and another father came to me and told me, 'I'm sorry, I'm your father.' And I was like, 'What are you talking about? Like, I have my own father, and it's Islam!' And the father of Christianity told me, 'No, I'm your father. I was in jail, and this (Islam) is not your father.'"
I note that Yousef, coming from Islam, believes he actually has a duty to God. I really appreciate that and I think that is one aspect of our relationship with God that our culture is forgetting or ignoring on the whole.
We see the same kind of thing with Chinese Christians who pray that God strengthen them when they suffer, as opposed to people like me, who pray to God that He keep us from suffering.
Posted by: Daron | August 14, 2008 at 02:07 PM
Keep you from suffering? That is what you pray for? What about the scriptures that encourage us to share in the suffering of Christ? I think you need to elaborate on your stance because it is misleading.
Posted by: Augustine | August 14, 2008 at 07:41 PM
Don't we have a duty to God?
Just because our salvation is not dependent on our works doesn't mean we don't have a duty to God.
My in=laws are helping me and my husband buy a house. They are not expecting any payback, and it is highly unlikely I could pay them back anyway. But what kind of person would I be if I didn't atleast help them out and try to be a comfort for them, after they have done so much for me? In my view if it is our duty to write thank you notes and do favors for people who do nice things for us here on Earth especailly if we can't pay them back in full, how much more of a duty do we have to the creator of the universe and forgiver of our sins?
Posted by: Wanda Zippler | August 15, 2008 at 05:30 AM
Posted by: Daron | August 15, 2008 at 05:59 AM
Daron, your first post made sense, it sounds like you were misunderstood or someone just wants to split hairs.
Posted by: Steve | August 15, 2008 at 07:37 AM
Let's look at the fact he converted under tremendous pressures and circumstances. Whatever a person prays for is between them and God. The fact he believes there will never be peace between Hamas and Israel seems more important to me than what the guy talks to God about.
Posted by: J. Diane Chambers | August 15, 2008 at 10:18 AM
I like stories like these - getting to hear the inside scoop in conversion - and about one saw from the other side of the fence (in Islam for example).
Posted by: SocietyVs | August 15, 2008 at 12:57 PM
Augustine--
I think you clearly missed Daron's point. He wasn't prescribing that we *should* pray like him, nor was he commending how he prayed to us.
Posted by: Rich | August 15, 2008 at 03:06 PM
One thing we should definitely pray for is the safety and protection of this young man's life as he publicly testifies to the truth and power of the Gospel.
Posted by: Karen A. | August 15, 2008 at 03:54 PM
David Hocking was getting a lot of questions concerning this. He has an interview posted on HFT. I don't recall who the interviewer was, but it is a real wake up call for Christians. I doubt many so called Christians would give up their lattes, let alone what people like this man has given up to follow Christ. My nieghbor is a 3rd generation Christian from Egypt. Although he is a naturalized citizen now, he has given me some very interesting insights into that culture.
I would suggest reading that interview before making any comments. Few of us have any real concept of what it is like to face beheading, just for professing to be a Christian, let alone actually evangelizing. He isn't safe here either. I think it's fair to say that he has a price on his head.
My neighber knows the author of
" Behind The Veil, Unmasking Islam", Pioneer Book Company, Caney, KS. He uses a pseudonym because of death threats. Get a copy of it if you can, it is an authoritative source on Islamic theology; he uses Islamic scholars
recognized as authorities to speak to theological issues. What we get today is Westernized drivel for the most part. It will help you realize the power of the truth to change lives.
Posted by: Tim | August 15, 2008 at 03:59 PM
Let me be the first to...
There is a new phenomena on the internet.
It is called ZEITGEIST.
You can view it on youtube or zeitgeistthemovie.com
It is becoming extremely popular so you str bloggers are gonna wanna take it on. Trust me. It will be your new big topic.
I've been telling you the religious stuff for years on this blog. But you might say I have little "impact" as a single individual.
It will be the popularity that spurs you to take it on...which demonstrates your lack of "reason".
There is a peculiar phemonena associated with this movie. Many youtubers feel compelled to rebutt the movie...but they only feel compelled to rebutt the religious part. Little smartypantses pop up everywhere like mushrooms and its as if they don't care about the country...just their religion.
ZEITGEIST on youtube...
zeitgeistthemovie.com...
It will fill your blogs for months
BAM!
Posted by: Tom | August 15, 2008 at 06:04 PM
Zeitgeist is somewhat old news now ...
http://www.preventingtruthdecay.org/zeitgeistpartone.shtml
http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/2007/12/zeitgeist-of-zeitgeist-movie.html
Well it was mostly old news when it was released, just repackaged.
Posted by: emmzee | August 16, 2008 at 05:20 AM
Why has it not appeared on STR then? What about 9/11? What about the federal reserve?
Posted by: Tom | August 16, 2008 at 09:47 PM
Note to STR staff:
Do you guys have a policy about someone posting these irrelevant advertisements on every single thread in the STR blog at the same time? Something along the lines of blocking an IP address, deleting the inappropriate posts, cautioning the offending party?
Tom with his Zeitgeist ad seems to be a spam artist among us.
Posted by: Sage S. | August 17, 2008 at 09:14 PM
Sage, yes--I responded to you on the earlier post, as well. I do remove spam comments--even if they're promoting something I agree with. Unfortunately, I was out of town last week, and I'm just going through the comments now.
If other readers comment on a spammish comment before I can remove it (as they have in this thread), I will generally leave the spam comment up to avoid confusion (unless it's offensive).
Posted by: Amy Hall | August 18, 2008 at 12:57 PM
Thanks for clarifying, Amy. I respect the integrity of these blog pages enough to 'speak up' when someone abuses them. In the future I will be content knowing such items will go away if we all ignore them.
Welcome back from vacation - we have obviously been diminished by your absence!
Posted by: Sage S. | August 20, 2008 at 08:52 PM
>>I respect the integrity of these blog pages enough to 'speak up' when someone abuses them.
Thank you! We do appreciate that.
Posted by: Amy Hall | August 21, 2008 at 10:09 AM