WHT Gairdner is one of the greatest missionaries in the history of the church's mission to Islam. A brilliant man who is an inspiration to me. I love this quote of his:
If the efforts to evangelize Islam had not resulted in a single conversion, they would have been worth while; for they represented Christianity as a religion that is not afraid , a religion with a message of love and goodwill evinced in deeds of love and goodwill.
--WHT Gairdner
5 comments:
My comment isn't about Gairdner, although he is an interesting guy. I ran across a site today that tells the story of Eulogius or Cordoba and his martyrology. I'd be interested to hear your take on these dozens and dozens of people who choose to offer themselves up as martyrs.
http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/oecordob.htm
Hi Roy,
Yes, the s-called Spanish Martyrs Movement. Fascinating material, isn't it? I have mixed feelings about it to be honest. On the one hand, I can appreciate people who are forcing Islam to be true to its own, cruel roots in the saying of the Prophet, whosoever changes his religion, slay him. It was, I suppose, a way of showing people how intolerant and violent and inhumane Islam really is at the end of the day. I also am guessing that this is related to the idea that martyrs are forgiven all of the temporal punishment of their sins, and thus get no time in Purgatory, but I'd need to read more on that to be sure. What do you think?
I'd like to believe that at the end of the story there was a great out-pouring of the Spirit and that many people accepted Christ. I shared the story with a friend and he made the comment that perhaps the story still isn't finished. Perhaps those martyrs go on to inspire others.
I hadn't considered the idea of forgiveness in regards to martyrdom. It begs the question, if a jihadi commits a suicide attack that kills a martyr, who gets all their sins forgiven!
Roy,
You point out how differently Christians and Muslims deploy the term martyr. It is indeed very different. Muslims toss the word around all over the place. Christians do not (and should not).
I don't know if any conversions resulted from the Spanish Martyrs Movement, if you find anything out do let me know.
BTW where did you hear about this blog?
I'm not completely sure how I stumbled on your blog. I would guess that a friend passed it on to me or perhaps by a link from other sites focusing on Christian/Islamic Issues. I've been reading for a year or so I think. I enjoy most of your articles and perspective. Keep it up!
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