Muhammad interpreting Jesus, according to Richard Croft

From a recent article in St Francis Magazine by Richard Croft:

If Muhammad were accepted as the last universal prophet or even if a last universal prophet is expected, then it would mean that the revelation that came through Muhammad has the authority to correct/reject the previous Scriptures and correct/reject Muhammad's perception of Jewish and Christian ‘false’ doctrines.

 

For example, he rejects the Trinity but understandably, as he conceives it as three gods–God, Jesus and Mary. He rejects Jesus as the ‘Son of God’ but then he understands it to mean that God had sexual intercourse with Mary, and Jesus is their biological son; rather than Jesus being the only one born out from God, the Word. He clearly struggles to understand and rejects Christ’s incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection; hence he has not understood the significance of the cross in his own life...

 

So what do you think? Is this an accurate assessment of how Muhammad interpreted Jesus?

Pope Francis in Middle East: People mus be free to choose their own religion

Good news from the pope's recent visit to the Middle East:

During his first official visit to the Middle East, Pope Francis repeatedly told Muslim audiences that religious freedom is “a fundamental human right” and that governments must allow people to choose their own faith.

From HERE. Pray that freedom to convert from Islam to Christianity will triumph in the Middle East, and that people will disobey the Prophet of Islam who said that, 'whosoever changes his religion, slay him.'

William Kilpatrick on the human authorship of the Qur'an

I'm reading an interesting article by William Kilpatrick wherein he, among other things, presents an argument for the human authorship of the Qur'an. None of this is new to me but I thought the following point was argues nicely and in a concise manner:

The purely human origin of the Koran is further suggested by the very human defensiveness displayed by its author. He never tires of reminding his audience that the Koran is a genuine revelation, not a fake one. This obsessive concern with the Koran’s authenticity is exhibited on almost every page. Here is a small sampling:

This Koran could not have been devised by any but God. (10:37)

This is no invented tale, but a confirmation of previous scriptures…. (12:112)

This Book is beyond all doubt revealed by the Lord of the Universe… Do they say: “He has invented it himself”? (32:1-2)

When our clear revelations are recited to them they say… “this is nothing but an invented falsehood.” (34:43)

As I say, these assertions about the authenticity of the revelation appear over and over. Far more space is allotted to vouching for the genuine nature of the revelation than to telling what the revelation is. But what sort of author feels compelled to tell us ad nauseum that his word is not a human invention? It’s not likely that the Author of all Creation would be so insecure about what he had written. On the other hand, a man who had invented it all himself would have good reason to be defensive. Muhammad, however, also realized that the best defense is a good offense. Thus, as the Koran repeatedly reminds its readers, the surest path to hell is to doubt “Our revelations.”

Check it all out here. More articles by Kilpatrick can be found here.

Christians in UK offer safe-houses for converts from Islam

Here is some great news:

A CHRISTIAN campaign group is launching a national network of safe houses for Muslim converts who face ostracism or violent reprisals for leaving their religion.

It says it knows of up to 1,100 former Muslims at risk in Britain but the true number could be 3,000.

Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern, which is organising the network, said: “We are motivated by a deep sense of love and compassion for those that feel trapped in a situation from which they cannot escape.

“The penalty for them at best is to be cut off from their family; at worst they face death. This is happening not just in Sudan and Nigeria but in east London. The government has failed to deal with the rise in anti-Christian sentiment.”

News of the support network for converts comes in the wake of international outrage at Sudan for imposing a death sentence on Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, a pregnant Christian woman, for refusing to renounce her faith. Her estranged father was Muslim.

Michael Nazir-Ali, a former bishop of Rochester, said a “mistaken respect for culture” meant that British converts were not being protected.

From Nicholas Hellen at The Sunday Times and HT to David Virtue. God willing we will see similar moves in France and Italy and Germany, where they are much needed.

Discipleship and believers of a Muslim background: St Francis Magazine Vol 10:1

As a contributing editor for St Francis Magazine I am proud to share with everyone our first issue for 2014. The focus of this issue is discipleship for believers who have come from a Muslim background.

I believe this is one of the most strategic topics that the Church must address in relation to our mission to Islam. Let me explain: over the last few decades hundreds of thousands of Muslims and ex-Muslims have made a confession of faith in Jesus Christ. That is the good news. The bad news is that a good number of these people have a faith that peters out, gets tired, becomes silent and defeated, or even revert to Islam.

"Well," someone might say, "That means they never had a true faith at all." That might indeed be the case, but that is not our call to make. I am certain that in many cases the problem was the lack of a firm foundation of discipleship and training.

The April 2014 issue of St Francis Magazine takes up this important issue. Here is one sample (and more to come):

"Discipleship and Leadership among BMB's" by Daniel Edwards. Here is a sample:

As missions, we must begin to think seriously of how to shift our focus to include evangelism and discipleship, and then to progress from discipleship to leadership preparation.The time has come to identify and to build up future leaders for the church among BMBs.The emerging church is in great need for many Timothys to carry on the heavy responsibility of leadership. A friend of mine interviewed Mr. A. Khidri, the director of the Bible society in Algeria. One of the questions asked was: “What is the church’s greatest need in your homeland today?” Mr. Khidri responded to this vital question by saying: “Our greatest need is to develop servant leaders with Biblical qualifications and deep theological understanding.”

On the middle ages

Bernard of Clairveaux on the Unity of the Trinity and Love

From On Loving God, Ch. XII:

For what preserves the glorious and ineffable Unity of the blessed Trinity, except love? Charity, the law of the Lord, joins the Three Persons into the unity of the Godhead and unites the holy Trinity in the bond of peace. Do not suppose me to imply that charity exists as an accidental quality of Deity; for whatever could be conceived of as wanting in the divine Nature is not God. No, it is the very substance of the Godhead; and my assertion is neither novel nor extraordinary, since St. John says, 'God is love' (I John 4.8). One may therefore say with truth that love is at once God and the gift of God, essential love imparting the quality of love.

This quote caught my attention because it points to the relation between God's being love, and the Holy Trinity. This is an important topic in our witness to Muslims, of course.

Bat Ye'or on Jihad, Waqf and Israel

From 'Israel, Christianity, and Islam: The Challenge of the Future' in Midstream, February/March 2001, p 3. By Bat Ye'or.

A Cross at Ground Zero? Atheists say NO

I couldn't resist...sorry.

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Myths about the Middle Ages

I get tired of hearing from Muslims and (more recently atheists) about how bad and terrible the Middle Ages were. Here is a good summary of the myth we were taught, and which is wrong:

 One fable that most of us absorbed, usually in childhood thanks to school teachers, was the pretty fable of "the Renaissance".  It tells of how the Greeks and Romans founded western civilisation and invented things which were good, like science and reason and realistic art and nice buildings.  But then the Roman Empire collapsed and Europe fell into the "Dark Ages" when everyone was ignorant and stupid and superstitious and dirty and feudal.  But luckily along came the glorious Renaissance, where Leonardo invented flying machines and paintings became realistic and therefore good again and everyone became much cleaner and more rational.

Read more here at Armarium Magnum.

Church planting movements--a very brief introduction

Major problem for would-be missionaries: student debt

When we left for the mission field back in the day I had about $5000 of student loans to pay off, and my wife had none. I didn't mind the idea of just continuing to pay it off (I think the payment was $110 per month) but my wife felt it would better to use some of our savings to pay it off, so we did.

But I went to an inexpensive state university and lived frugally. What about students who go to private universities and maybe don't live so frugally? And what about the rising cost of higher education in the USA? They can accrue a very large amount of debt pretty easily. What then should missionary agencies do when one of these students approaches them and applies to be a missionary?

This timely article addresses some of the complexities involved and proposes a creative answer.

Check it out here.

Algerian Christian refused burial in public cemetery

A Christian family in Algeria has been refused permission to bury their son in the local public cemetery because he was not a Muslim.

“The leaders of the mosque demanded that I would have to follow Islamic burial rites if I was to bury my son in the cemetery,” said the father of 24-year-old Lahlou Naraoui, a University student.

Naraoui’s family, who live in Chemini in the Kabylie region of northern Algeria, said they could not follow the Muslim leaders’ demands and instead chose to bury their son on private land.

From World Watch Monitor. 

But really, in the end this is good. It means that Christians must form their own identity, including places of burial. And in terms of North Africa, this is most fitting, as the first Christians there achieved legal recognition as burial societies, and some of their first real estate was in grave yards.

In the end is my beginning, as TS Eliot said. Indeed.