Are You an Extremist?

Much has been said lately about extreme or radical Muslims. It is not my intent to discuss whether we should fight these people, allow them into our country, keep a registry of them, or close their mosques. Instead I would like to share a viewpoint that I have rarely heard and then apply that truth to Christianity. Regardless of the specifics of one's personal political stance, I believe anyone who thoughtfully considers this discussion will recognize truth.

I would like to start with what will seem to many to be a controversial statement: Not all Muslims are out to kill (or control) the rest of the world, in particular Jews and Christians. I recognize that there are many Muslims who do have that goal. I recognize that there are "sleeper" agents that don't currently seem to have that goal but who will reveal it in due time. I realize that, due to their Muslim identification, some who are now peaceful have the potential to become radicalized or to take the extremist side if it comes down to a choice. All of these recognitions are easily backed up by facts and historical records.

Many people, whether Christians, political conservatives, alarmists, or white supremacists, would take umbrage at my statement in the previous paragraph. They would say things like, "Read the Koran." "Look at all the instructions to kill the infidel." "There is no way to escape that this is their mission and that it is what the Koran teaches." I acknowledge those realities. I believe the mistake comes when people assume something of Islam that is not true of other religions.

Let me start with my experience in Mexico, which illustrates a truth borne out around the world. According to wikipedia, 96% of Mexicans identified as Catholic in 1970. This number was down to 83% in 2010, but that's still a pretty high percentage. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Mexico). When I, or other missionaries, talked with these people, we found that there were some who attended church weekly and who attempted to live moral lives based on the Bible. There were also many who would identify themselves as Catholic, but then readily admit that they attended church only a few times a year, if at all. Some had terrible habits or tragic lives filled with immorality or degradation - yet, without a doubt, they were born Catholic and would die Catholic.

These Mexican Catholics likely had a Bible in their home, although they were strongly discouraged from reading it. They had teaching in their Bible that instructed them on how to live. The Apocrypha notwithstanding, their Bible is very similar to the Christian Bible, so these people had instruction to love one another, to tell the truth, to keep their bodies separated to God, and so on. Did the fact that their Bible (or their church) told them to live a certain way guarantee that they would do so? Not in the least. Did the fact that they claimed Catholicism as their religion provide a reasonable expectation that they would live out that religion? Decidedly not. Was the country morally strong and were the churches filled on Sundays? No, and no.

Let's bring the discussion closer to home. According to a Gallup poll from 2012, 52% of Americans identify themselves as Christians. (An additional 23% are Catholic, and 2% are Mormon.) (http://www.gallup.com/poll/159548/identify-christian.aspx). If these percentages represented people who truly believed, understood, and lived out the religion they claim, our country would be a far different place. Like the Mexican Catholics, however, many American Christians do not read the Bible, do not know its teaching, and rarely attend church. We could look at the Bible and see its teaching about such major areas as salvation by grace alone, the exclusivity of the gospel, requirements for pastors, separation, godly lifestyle, abortion, and homosexuality. Not only do many average Christians ignore or reject the Bible's teaching, but even a lot of ministers and entire denominations reject the Bible's truth on these topics, allowing for church-sanctioned gross violation of the Bible's teaching.

Catholicism and Christianity easily illustrate that claiming a religion is not the same as living it. The adherents of these religions (usually) identify as they do because of how they were brought up. For hundreds of years everyone in their family and nearly everyone in their community claimed that religion, and the new generations claim it also. This is what is called "nominal" Christianity or Catholicism; the people are Christian in name, but not in practice. If this is true of the major world religions with which we are most familiar, why would Islam be any different? Most Muslims were born into a culture where Islam was the only religion. Everyone in their family and in their town claimed to be Muslim, and the new generations do the same. That does not mean that the average Muslim knows, believes, and lives out his faith any more than it would be true of a Christian or Catholic. Like a Christian, a Muslim may follow a few basic instructions while quietly ignoring or rejecting the parts that seem too violent, out-dated, or unappealing.

"But there are some who do follow it whole-heartedly," someone would protest. "Those are the dangerous ones." That is precisely my point. It is the radical, extreme, fundamental adherent of any faith who makes a difference. Those who are content to claim a religion without living it make little if any impact. Those who know and live their faith, however, dedicated to its teaching, can make a difference in the world. That's what makes radical Muslims so dangerous, and the same dedication would enable Christians to impact the world around them. To do so, Christians must know what the Bible teaches and must follow it to the extent that it shapes their purpose for life and drives every aspect of life, whether or not the truth is popular, comfortable, or easy. Only the extreme make much of a difference.

"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21 (NASB)

A note regarding Muslims: Without Christ they have no hope of salvation, but they do have that opportunity open to them. Over the past weeks, my heart has been touched with stories of Muslims who have come to Christ and of Christians in the Muslim world who have taken a (dangerous) stand for their faith. God is saving people out of that false religion. Our church has a missionary in Lebanon, and he has said that some view Lebanon (or the Middle East) as an oil field or as a terrorist training field, but it is, in fact, a mission field. While we may be concerned about the danger of attacks and may hate their false religion, we must love these lost people and pray for God to do His work in them. That is the best answer for America, for the rest of the world, for the Muslims themselves, and for the exaltation of Christ, our great Savior. "Not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9b). We must also pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are living in dangerous places. "Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves are also in the body" (Hebrews 13:3).