{"id":4820,"date":"2016-01-15T14:06:56","date_gmt":"2016-01-15T19:06:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/?p=2909"},"modified":"2017-01-05T16:41:49","modified_gmt":"2017-01-05T16:41:49","slug":"what-do-muslims-think-of-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/2016\/01\/what-do-muslims-think-of-us.html","title":{"rendered":"What do Muslims think of us?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Istanbul\"<\/a>“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind…\u00a0Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus”\u00a0(Philippians 2:1-2, 5 ESV).<\/em><\/p>\n

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35 ESV).<\/em><\/p>\n

Yesterday, I spent an hour on a Facebook Messenger video call\u00a0with my great friend and former college roommate, who now lives in Istanbul, Turkey.\u00a0It was great catching up with him and hearing how God is blessing his gospel ministry among the Muslim majority people in Istanbul. When we talk, it’s as if we have not been separated by time and geography because of the deep love and brotherhood that we share in Christ for one another.<\/p>\n

Speaking of time and geography, he spoke of the\u00a0strategic time and place of living in Istanbul during one of the most massive human migrations\u00a0in modern times. He said his church has been inundated with Syrian refugees streaming into Turkey on their way to Greece and Europe. He said that it’s not just Syrians, but Iranians, Iraqis and other Middle Eastern peoples who are coming across Turkey’s\u00a0porous border seeking to find a safer and more peaceful\u00a0home for their families.<\/p>\n

One of the ministries that he and his church offer is an English club. Both the resident Turks and the migrating Middle Easterners want to learn English to improve their opportunities in the world economy. English is the language of the world’s marketplace.<\/p>\n

The English club that he leads offers a place to learn and practice conversational English with members of his church. It is not outwardly Christian, but\u00a0they do not “bait and switch” people into coming in for English learning and then, surprise them with a\u00a0high pressure gospel appeal. They really just teach English.<\/p>\n

Yet, according to the Arabic and Turkish speaking peoples who attend there to learn English, “There is something special, something loving and peaceful about the teachers who facilitate the club.”<\/p>\n

My friend reported that several have asked to learn how to become\u00a0Christians after attending the club.<\/p>\n

“Why?” I asked him. “If you’re not doing evangelism and explaining the gospel, why would they be asking about how to become a Christian?”<\/p>\n

He said, “They tell us it’s because of the way we treat one another. And\u00a0because of the way we treat them. One mother and her son attended together and she said that they\u00a0have never felt such peace and love as she and her son feel when they are with us. She wants to have what we have.”<\/p>\n

“But did you say something about the gospel or being Christian?” I asked.<\/p>\n

“No, I think it was the loving and peaceful presence of the Holy Spirit in our gathering that caused her to ask. Of course, we were more than ready to tell her about Jesus when she expressed her interest. We live for these gospel opportunities.”<\/p>\n

As my friend and I said our goodbyes, expressing the deep love and affection that we have had for one another for the last\u00a038 years, I was reminded of how that was the very love that was attracting the people in Istanbul to his English club.<\/p>\n

Many of us are quick to say what we think of Muslims. We are often motived by fear and distrust, so we express ourselves accordingly. But do we ever ask, “What do Muslims think of us?”<\/p>\n

For that matter, do we ever wonder what anyone thinks\u00a0of us? What do our neighbors, co-workers, fellow students, family members and others think of us?\u00a0I suppose the answer has a lot to do with what we think\u00a0of one another, with\u00a0what kind of attitude\u00a0we have towards\u00a0fellow believers.<\/p>\n

The apostle Paul challenged the Christians in Philippi to have the same mind as Christ, towards one another, to be like-minded, loving, and serving the same purpose together. Jesus described it even more simply by saying, “People will know you are my disciples, if you love one another.”<\/p>\n

My conversation with my\u00a0friend in Istanbul reminded me that the community of Christ-followers, living, loving and serving together in unity,\u00a0is the best and truest apologetic for those who would consider Christ. \u00a0Ultimately,\u00a0what Muslims and others, think of us, will affect what they think of Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind…\u00a0Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus”\u00a0(Philippians 2:1-2, 5 ESV).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2061,1,2062],"tags":[2371,2074,2026,2070,2052,2072,2372,2038,2227],"location":[],"class_list":["post-4820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-religion","category-uncategorized","category-weblogs","tag-attitude","tag-christian","tag-community","tag-god","tag-jesus","tag-love","tag-muslim","tag-relationships","tag-spirit"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4820"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4947,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4820\/revisions\/4947"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oyb\/2913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4820"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=4820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}