Stand to Reason Blog

Challenge Response: It's Just Your Interpretation that Jesus Is the Only Way

Here's my response to the challenge that it's just our interpretaion that Jesus is the only way.

  

The Morality of Cloning (Video)

What should Christians think about the morality of cloning?

Challenge Response: Your Creation Story Is Just Another Myth

I answer this week's challenge in the video below.

 

Challenge Response: Biblical Law Is Absurd and Outdated

Here's my response to this week's challenge about the claim that Leviticus' prohibition of homosexual behavior is outdated and irrelevant.

 

Challenge Response: Religion Needs the Devil

Here's my response to this week's challenge.

 

Chrislam

Can a new follower of Jesus Christ remain a Muslim and still be a genuine believer? That’s what many in the insider movement are saying. It’s a troubling new trend in Muslim missions. If you’re not familiar with this approach, I encourage you to read the recent Solid Ground article I co-wrote with Greg Koukl called, “Muslim Followers of Christ? – A Look Inside the ‘Insider Movement.’”

A number of my friends and colleagues have contributed to a book addressing this movement. Each has written on a topic they are uniquely qualified to address. The book is called, Chrislam: How Missionaries are Promoting an Islamized Gospel.

It’s an important work because it’s the only single volume (that I know of) that tackles the wide range of subtopics that arise from this particular missions approach. For example, there are articles dealing with the role of persecution among converts from Islam, missiology, the proper role and boundaries of contextualization, the concerns with Muslim-friendly Bible translations, testimony from former insiders, and much more.

You can buy it from the publisher or from Amazon.

 

See my other posts on this subject:

The Chasm between Muslims and Christians

Insider Movement Documentary

Muslim Followers of Christ?

Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God? (Video)

The Chasm between Muslims and Christians

I cited Samuel Zwemer, the famous 20^th century missionary to Muslims, in the recent Solid Ground article that Greg and I co-wrote about the Insider Movement. But I wanted to include the full quote here because he explains one of the main reasons why the Insider Movement can’t work: the chasm between Muslims and Christians is unbridgeable. Islam is an anti-Christian religion. Zwemer writes the following in his article, “The Chasm” in The Moslem World, published in 1919.

The yawning chasm between the devout Moslem and the devout Christian, between the orthodox Moslem and the orthodox Christian is a problem that faces every colporteur and Bible woman, every teacher and preacher. It is real and deep. The chasm cannot be bridged by rickety planks of compromise. Syncretism would be equivalent to surrender; for Islam thrives only by its denial of the authority of the Scriptures, the Deity of our Lord, the blessedness of the Holy Trinity, the cruciality and significance of the Cross, (nay, its very historicity) and the pre-eminence of Jesus Christ as King and Saviour. And this denial is accompanied by the assertion of the authority of another book, the Koran, the eclipse of Christ’s glory by another prophet, even Mohammed, and the substitution of another path to holiness and forgiveness than the way of the Cross. These denials and assertions are imbedded in the Koran and are the orthodox belief of ninety per cent of the people. On every one of these points the true Moslem stands arrayed in armor against the missionary and the Truth, of which he is the custodian and the preacher.

What Are the Core Beliefs in Islam? (Video)

Different Muslims tell me different things about Islamic beliefs. How do I know which one of them is right?

Challenge Response: God Would Have Addressed Current Issues

(Read this week's challenge here.)

 

Truth and Compassion on Homosexuality?

A lot of people are skeptical about my talk titled, “Homosexuality: Truth and Compassion.” Many homosexuals scoff at the title. Many Christians are suspicious that compassion means compromise. But truth and compassion is about Christians balancing their convictions with a love towards homosexual men and women. It doesn’t mean compromise, although it might not be easy to practice either.

What does it look like? Let me give you one example (of the many I’ve heard across the country). I was privileged to meet a couple who lives this principle out in their lives. Their daughter is a lesbian. She’s 31 years old and lives in a recovery home for homosexuals who struggle with substance abuse. Although she disagrees with her parents’ stance on homosexuality, she knows they love her and care for her.

Routinely, their daughter comes to visit and stays the weekend at their home. She enjoys time with her family. And she doesn’t come alone. She often brings several homosexual men and women over from the recovery home to spend the night. Why? They all crave and enjoy the selfless love these parents give them. They come over and feel like part of the family. They even call the couple “mom” and “dad.”

During one Thanksgiving holiday, this couple not only invited their family over for the day, but also invited several of the homosexual men and women from the recovery home. Together they found common cause to give thanks for what they have. More importantly, this couple fostered a vital relationship between two communities of people who are too often at odds with each other.

Frankly, it was refreshing to hear how this couple is living a healthy balance between truth and compassion. They are uncompromising on their moral stance and relentless in their love for their daughter and this community.

This couple is also seeing the benefits of their efforts. Many of the homosexual men, recognizing the value of the love shown them, are opening up. One confessed, “I haven’t had any male influence in my life in years since my dad left when I was five.” Another man, when asked to come to church with the family, commented that he’d like to go, but thought he couldn’t because he was homosexual and HIV+. The couple told him it didn’t matter. Now he comes to church with them. In fact, many of the homosexual men and women often come to church with them.

These opportunities have been possible because this couple refused to react to homosexuality in stereotypical ways. Instead, they decided to treat these men and women with love and respect – the same way they treat any other people. They saw people who were hurting, welcomed them in, and showered them with love and attention. It is a priceless gift that is expressed by the commendable character of an effective Christian ambassador.