by Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
How should Christians deal with the Islamic onslaught?
It should come as no surprise that far too many people do not really think very much. They might emote a lot and they might basically run on feelings, but they do not exactly spend much time in careful study, reading, reflection and critical thinking.
Sadly this would be true of far too many Christians as well. While they have an authoritative and comprehensive guide on the big issues of life – the Bible – they either are not reading it or not taking it seriously. They too can simply let emotions be their guide, and so often they just carelessly follow along with whatever the world does and says.
And they can be just as beholden to the lamestream media as are non-Christians. I hear too many believers simply parroting what they seem to have gotten from the New York Times, The Guardian, or the Sydney Morning Herald. Careful reflection and critical assessment are replaced by swallowing the pap of the secular left.
This is certainly the case when it comes to things like Islam, Israel and the Middle East. Thus too many of them seem to be completely blind to some basic truths, such as:
-Israel is not the enemy.
-Israel is the freest and most democratic nation in the Middle East.
-Islam has had a 1400-year track record of conquest, colonisation, imperialism, bloodshed and violence.
-Islam has killed some 300 million people during this period.
-The officially declared aim of Islam is to see all infidels killed or brought into submission, with sharia law and a universal caliphate ruling over planet earth.
-Since 9/11 of just 25 years ago, there have been over 50,000 deadly Islamic terror attacks around the world.
Yet far too many Christians are completely clueless about these realities. And often, they might have good intentions but are completely wrong in their understanding of biblical Christianity. They will say that we must never criticise Islam, because we might turn off Muslims and not be able to readily share the gospel with them.
This is my take on such a claim. Because I am a Christian I do indeed pray for individual Muslims and seek to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. But that does NOT mean I must love Islam or in any way condone what is the world’s most murderous and satanic death cult.