The Doctor's Casebook series by dr. peter rowe PhD.,D.R. Phil,. M.Th.,B.Min

Just a short article for you this time, but it is nice and controversial. Here is something I am impatient to share with you and I sincerely hope you will feel strongly enough to write in with your views.

There has been certain paranoia in the ‘western’ churches including those in the UK about the threat of Islam to our religion, culture and safety. I have heard the expression ‘they are taking over’ so often it is becoming cliché.

Whereas, we all abhor the World Trade Centre incident and the Madrid and London train bombings and the dreadful carnage in Bali, we cannot blame an entire race or religion for this, any more than we can blame all Germans for the Holocaust. It would do us well to remember the atrocious acts in history committed by Christians, all in the name of God. The scars left by the Crusades – a cruel smear upon the history of Christian public relations – could be named as one of the root causes of today’s Christian/Muslim conflict. Of course, we could rightly argue that the conflict goes back to Isaac and Ishmael; but the church of Jesus Christ should know better!

During the reformation Christians, both Catholics and Protestants gleefully tortured and burned one another at the stake – invoking an obscure passage in 1 Corinthians – so that their eternal souls could be saved by fire. Throughout history, self righteous, legalistic Christians have painted a canvas of intolerance, hypocrisy and violence, whether through the ‘exquisite tortures’ (Foxe) of the inquisitions or in our own lifetimes through the sectarian violence in Ireland between Catholic and Protestant Christians.

In order to get to my point, I have to take this back to a frustrating year of Bible study; still in process. I have, like all of you, a passion for the lost and a heartfelt sadness and, yes, a sense of indignation (sorry God!) that most humans who have ever lived will end up in hell: I have some confusion about this. I am not a universalist, but would dearly love them to be right. I have a sense of injustice about ‘doctrines’ which allow a person who, born in the ‘right’ country, is full of bitterness and hatred and has only a tacit relationship with God, to enter heaven simply because of a belief in Jesus that has turned cold, whereas a Jew, passionately crying his heart out to the same God, Yahweh (simply the Hebrew of Jesus), at the Wailing Wall, yet lacking a revelation of the name of Jesus, is condemned to hell. Is it possible, biblically, that we may be missing something? Regrettably, I only have questions: maybe you could provide an answer?

So many, it seems, are condemned to eternal damnation because of an accident of birth, that is, to be born, say, Iran or Iraq where there is little chance of hearing the salvation message of Jesus Christ, rather than being born in say UK, where the gospel may be freely heard. To me it all seems unfair (though I have heard all the arguments pro and con)! Incidentally, I am being human about unfairness and not attributing it to God who is perfectly just and loving.

If we could join with God in his magnificent statement in John ‘For God so loved the world’ then how can you and sing and rejoice in church… how can we testify – how great is our salvation – when those who happened to be born Muslim are going to go to Hell? Is our faith in Christ all about us? Do we really care that most of our fellow human beings since creation are destined to separation from God at death? Yes, I am sure we do… if we have the Spirit of Christ!

Before we are critical or fearful of immigrants from Muslim countries it would bode us well to remember that this might just be God’s way of bringing them to the truth about Christ! We all pray for the salvation of the nations, but when God brings the nations to us we tend complain about a Muslim takeover and bemoan the demise of our Christian heritage. Can I suggest that the movement of the nations upon the earth today is far from being as sinister as the reasons suggested by many of our leaders and eschatologists, but rather because ‘God so loves the world!’

The ‘invasion’ of Islamic immigrants into our nations is one of the best opportunities we will ever have of reaching the otherwise unreachable. Let us view this as a Godsend for the gospel. Let us be mature and let Muslims adapt Jesus into their own culture and mode of attire. We must learn from our past mistake of packaging Jesus in a western culture. The beauty of it all is that Christianity is not an ethnic culture at all, it can be accommodated perfectly and wonderfully to all cultures. If we can make a few adjustments and reach Muslims in the UK then they in turn, after hearing the gospel and receiving Jesus, will be in a position to transmit the good news to family and friends in their mother countries.

We need to remember what a mighty God we serve. He is still in control, moving great peoples from here to there – the times are in his hands – and whereas a few cultural compromises may be needed to fully embrace our Muslim neighbours, we have to remember that we serve a God of grace who loves all people equally. It is not easy for most of us to welcome and accept Muslims as fellow or potentially fellow Britons – I guess we have all hardened our hearts towards them to some extent – maybe we should remember the story of Jonah!

A Muslim invasion; I think not. The mission field brought to our doorstep: yes, yes, yes!

Hoping this has challenged your thinking. Let me know.

Dr. Peter Rowe