A Ransomed Mind

This is a response to John Pavlovitz's article, "Church, Here's Why People Are Leaving You. Part 1" Open his post in another window and read it side by side with my post below for the full back-and-forth.

John,

What Exodus are you talking about? You complain about "being on the other side of the Exodus" but . . .

The church is not experiencing an Exodus. Weekly church attendance has changed about 2-3% for American churches in the last decade. I would hardly call that an Exodus.

If you want to talk about the Church globally. That's a whole different story. We're adding around 86,000 new followers of Jesus a day. Overall, things are going pretty good.

See actual research numbers here.

We are not afraid. We are not panicking. We are working to try and be more relevant.

We actually have a really good handle on why some people are leaving the church. Like cold hard facts - not just a two part blog post to go on.

Here's a book and bible study about it. And here are some research stats from 7 years ago.

Maybe some Christians think that people are leaving the church for the reasons you list, but those of us who are informed (which is a lot of us) - we don't.

Are we really the problem John? If we are, which is possible, then I don't think these 5 reasons are why.

At the heart of this struggle to save Meriam Ibrahim there are two faiths; Christianity and Islam. One of these is a faith that Meriam choose to have and follow. The other one is a faith that her supposed brother says she is obligated to choose.

Same God or Different God?

People like to claim that the God of Christianity and Judaism is the same deity as Allah from Islam. A cursory glance at their respective teachings on how God wants us to treat those who disagree with us clearly illustrates that these two faiths are worshipping two very different deities.

It is not one God pulling on three strings as this picture tries to depict. Not at all.

CNN recently interviewed a man named Al-Samani al-Hadi. He claims to be Meriam's brother, even though she and her husband Daniel Wani deny ever seeing the man before the trial.

Al-Samani believes it is his sacred duty to Allah to kill his sister if she refuses to renounce her Christian faith. He claims that Daniel Wani gave her "potions" to convert her and that if she would just turn back to Islam he would love her like a sister. If she refuses, however, to renounce her faith in Christ it is his duty as a Muslim to kill her.

See the interview with this man claiming to be Meriam's sister at CNN World

Two Very Different Ways to Treat Your Enemy

For Muslims like Al-Samani the teaching on this matter is clear; Allah wants his followers to show mercy only to those who faithfully observe Islam. Anyone who worships another god or follows another religion is an infidel and deserves no such mercy. If your family member or a member of your community converts to another faith it is your duty and obligation to "slay them." In the interview Al-Samani articulates this clearly saying,

"... if she repents and returns to our Islamic faith and to the embraces of our family, then we are her family and she is ours . . . but if she refuses she should be executed."

This is diametrically opposed to Jesus' teachings about who our neighbor is, how we should treat them, and how we should treat our enemies.

The simple answer is love.

We are to show love to our enemies and pray for them. We are to love our neighbor as ourself. This is the summation of all the Old Testament and God's core desire for humanity. Christians and Jews are supposed to treat their neighbors, enemies, and people of other religions with compassion and love.

Jesus taught in Matthew 25 that in the day of judgment we will be evaluated on how we have loved "the least of these." This is directly opposed to what Al-Samani and Muslims like him claim is our responsibility.

"If she dies we will have enforced God's word. A responsibility we will be judged on [in the] judgment day."

Jesus teaches us to love one another as He has loved us, even being willing to sacrifice our lives for our fellow man. Yet the Koran and Islam teach that mankind is commanded by Allah in some cases to take the life of men who reject the will of Allah and that they are only obligated to show mercy and love to those who worship the same deity that they do.

As to the question of why Al-Samani would not show mercy to the woman he claims is his sister, he says,

"Why would I indulge my humanity, my emotions, and incur the wrath of my Lord?"

It's that time of year again. The horrific time when we hear news stories of parents who leave their kids in hot cars. Sometimes they end in horrible tragedy and sometimes the kid is discovered before it's too late. In one case the parent is charged with murder and in another no charges are filed.

Just today, I saw two such stories.

In one case, a mother in Augusta, Georgia was arrested after leaving her two-week old baby in the car for almost an hour to take a test. The child survived and the mother has been charged with "cruelty to children in the second degree."

In another more tragic case, a man was charged with murder today in Smyrna, Georgia after leaving his 22 month old son in his car all day yesterday while at work. His son died from hyperthermia and the father is now facing criminal charges.

It's easy to think that we would never make the same fatal mistake, but it happens every year to responsible loving parents. I STRONGLY encourage you to read this article in the Washington Post before you comment on one of these stories. It turns out the statistics are that this could happen to anyone and it does every year.

Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime?

The government, together with the Israeli settlers who live around the farm, is "trying to push us to violence or push us to leave," she says. Amal insists that her family will not move from the land, nor will they abandon their commitment to peaceful resistance.

"Nobody can force us to hate," she says. "We refuse to be enemies."

That phrase, which is painted on a stone at the entrance to the farm, was first used by her father, Bishara Nassar. Long before the concept became widely known among Palestinians, he taught his children a theory of non-violence that was rooted in his own Christian beliefs.

Very interesting article.

I have been struggling with the proper ethical stance that Christians should have concerning violence and battle lately. What is the Christ-like stance on violence, resistance, war, enemies, etc? It's clear to me that far too many Christians are eager to make enemies, go to war, and commit violent acts - including killing people - but is the answer complete non-violence?

Jesus did not defeat Satan on the cross by shooting him, beating him up physically, or amassing a physical army. When Jesus was captured in the garden he told the disciples not to fight with their swords and even healed the ear of the man who had come to arrest him.

Not a single one of Jesus' disciples picked up a sword to fight Rome or to defend themselves. They never resisted arrest or advocated violence against authorities. Instead they allowed themselves to be arrested, handed over to authorities, and killed - just like Jesus.

Finally, throughout the centuries Christians have been martyred for their faith and refused to take up arms against their oppressors, choosing to lay down their lives instead.