8 Signs Your Christianity Is Too Comfortable

I just ran into the writings of Brett McCracken form TGC and need to pick up his books.  Challenging stuff!
In many parts of the world today, it can be easy to live a comfortable life as a Christian. Certainly where I live—in Orange County, California—this is the case. But is that a good thing?

I’d like to suggest that the Christian faith is inherently uncomfortable. To be a disciple of Jesus is to deny oneself (Matt. 16:24), to take up a cross (Luke 14:27), to be subject to persecution (John 15:20; 2 Tim. 3:12), to give up the creature comforts of home (Luke 9:58), to forsake the priority of family (Luke 9:59–62; 14:26), to be willing to give up all material possessions (Matt. 19:21; Luke 14:33), to be crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20). And this is just the beginning.

C. S. Lewis once said, “I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”

But comfort-seeking is our default mode in a consumerist society, so we often find ourselves in “comfortable Christianity” without even knowing it. What are some indicators that our Christianity has become too cozy, more like a pleasant bottle of port than the uncomfortable, sharpening faith the New Testament envisions?

Here are eight signs that your Christianity might be too comfortable:

1. THERE’S ABSOLUTELY NO FRICTION BETWEEN YOUR CHRISTIANITY AND YOUR PARTISAN POLITICS.

If you’re all-in with one political party and never feel any tension whatsoever with your Christian faith, it probably means your faith is too comfortable. Whether you’re a lifelong Democrat or a diehard Republican, a robust Christian faith should create dissonance with politics at various points.

A faith that aligns perfectly with one political party is suspiciously convenient and lacks prophetic witness.


A faith that aligns perfectly with one political party is suspiciously convenient and lacks prophetic witness.

2. THERE ARE NO PARADOXES, TENSIONS, OR UNRESOLVED QUESTIONS.

If you never ponder or wrestle with the mind-boggling tenets of Christian theology (e.g., the Trinity, the incarnation, God’s sovereignty coexisting with human action, the Holy Spirit’s presence, to name just a few), your faith is probably too comfortable.

A healthy, uncomfortable faith constantly rocks you, prods you, and blows your mind. It’s a faith that leaves you restless to want to know more, not satisfied you’ve grasped all there is to grasp about God.

3. YOUR FRIENDS AND COWORKERS ARE SURPRISED TO LEARN YOU’RE A CHURCHGOING CHRISTIAN.

A sure sign your faith is too comfortable is if nothing in your life sets you apart as a Jesus follower, to the point that even those who know you well can’t tell you’re a Christian.

A comfortable Christian is one who easily blends in, looking and talking and acting just like his or her lost neighbors.

4. YOU NEVER THINK ABOUT OR EVEN REMEMBER THE SUNDAY SERMON ON MONDAY.

If Sunday sermons at your church are so forgettable (or you’re so disengaged) that you rarely recall them after you leave church, your Christianity is probably too comfortable.

Biblical preaching shouldn’t leave us apathetic or unchallenged. The Word of God is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12).

5. NO ONE AT YOUR CHURCH EVER ANNOYS YOU.

If you go to church with people who are always easy to talk to, always fun to be around, and always closely aligned with your opinions, tastes, and preferences, your Christianity is too comfortable.

One of the glorious things about the gospel is that it creates a new community out of disparate types of people who, in many cases, wouldn’t otherwise choose to spend time together.

6. YOU NEVER FEEL CHALLENGED, ONLY AFFIRMED.

If your Christian faith never confronts your idols and challenges your sinful habits—but only ever affirms you as you are—this is a sure sign of a too-comfortable faith.

Healthy faith doesn’t just celebrate you as you are, but relentlessly molds and refines you into the likeness of Christ.


Healthy faith doesn’t just celebrate you as you are but relentlessly molds and refines you into the likeness of Christ, which is a beautiful but necessarily uncomfortable process.

7. YOU’VE NEVER HAD TO HAVE A ‘TRUTH-IN-LOVE’ CONVERSATION WITH A FELLOW CHRISTIAN.

It’s always more comfortable to just “live and let live” when there’s an offense or sin that needs to be called out. It’s more comfortable to just shrug when we see others in our community making unhealthy decisions.

But this isn’t true Christian love.

Love isn’t opposed to truth, and if your faith doesn’t include the capacity to speak hard truths in love, it’s too comfortable.

8. NO ONE IN YOUR CHURCH COULD COMMENT ON ANY AREA OF GROWTH THEY’VE SEEN IN YOU.

To believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ is to believe in change. Though not always linear, the Christian life should be marked by growth, forward momentum, and change for the better.

If you’re a Christian who’s grown so little that no one in your church could identify any area of improvement, your faith is too comfortable.

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Why is it important that we avoid falling into comfortable Christianity? Because comfortable Christianity is far from the costly, inconvenient, idol-crushing, cross-shaped path for disciples of Jesus. Comfortable Christianity has little prophetic to say to a comfortable, consumerist world. Comfortable Christianity has little urgency in mission and little aptitude for growth.

Uncomfortable Christianity, however, leads to life and transformation. It leads us to rely on God and not on ourselves; to serve rather than be served; to live lives marked by sacrifice. It leads us to do hard things, to embrace hard truths, to do life with hard people for the sake and glory of the One who did the hardest thing. It may be uncomfortable, but it will be worth it. On the other side of discomfort is delight in Christ.

Editors’ note: This is an adapted excerpt from Brett McCracken’s new book, Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community, and is published in partnership with Crossway.


Brett McCracken is a senior editor at The Gospel Coalition and author of Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community, Gray Matters: Navigating the Space Between Legalism and Liberty, and Hipster Christianity: When Church and Cool Collide. Brett and his wife, Kira, live in Santa Ana, California. They belong to Southlands Church, where Brett serves as an elder. You can follow him on Twitter.

How to Explore Christianity Authentically

Some great thoughts on exploring Christianity by James Emory White . . .

Christianity is the world’s largest religious faith with ~2.3 billion adherents around the globe. The birth of Jesus was so monumental that it split our reckoning of history into two parts: Everything that has happened on our planet took place either “before Christ” or “after Christ.” As Philip Yancey has observed, “You can gauge the size of a ship that has passed out of sight by the huge wake it leaves behind.”

If you, or someone you know, is looking to authentically explore the Christian faith, I want to offer five suggestions to get you started on this journey.

 

1. Maintain an Open Mind

First, decide that you’re going to maintain an open mind. Sometimes we say we’re going to explore something when we know that we are not really open to what we might find. Having an open mind doesn’t mean blind acceptance of whatever you explore – you need to evaluate differing views, have some healthy skepticism and check out the facts.

What it does mean, however, is that you begin with an openness to what might be discovered. If you start off saying, “Yeah, I’ll check it out, but I know it isn’t true,” then you’re not exploring with an open mind. To explore authentically means that you keep a healthy balance between solid investigation and a willingness to accept what you find.

 

2. Determine What It Is You’re Looking For

Second, when exploring the Christian faith, determine what it is you’re looking for, and make sure you have fair expectations. Most people would say they are after spiritual truth. People want answers to life’s ultimate questions. They are looking for God and a relationship with God so they can order their lives accordingly. And that’s fair. But people don’t always stop there. Sometimes they tack on expectations that are not fair, such as, “I want whatever I find to solve all of my problems – instantly.” That isn’t going to happen. Nothing works that way.

Life is difficult, and the Christian faith never promises it will deliver a life free of such difficulty. The Bible teaches that when you give your life to Christ, your eternal destiny is altered, you experience a radical reorientation of your priorities, you find a new purpose in life, and you encounter the power and work of God in your life. But these experiences are far different from the instant removal of every problem, every struggle or every issue of pain.

Christians believe that the Bible says God can and does do miraculous, incredible things when you are in relationship with Him, but that’s not what you should look for, or what God always promises to deliver. Instead, God’s power and presence, which come from being in relationship with Him, give us the ability to go through the difficulties of life with strength and hope.

It’s also unfair to want whatever it is you find to complement your lifestyle rather than change it. Few religions, and Christianity in particular, allow for a mindset that sees spiritual faith as an accessory item that does little more than enhance one’s existing quality of life. Since your deepest needs and issues are spiritual in nature, you should expect your search to lead you to the deepest corners of your life, and you should expect what you find to change you from the inside out.

 

3. Check Out the Source Documents

Once you’ve determined that you’re going to search with an open mind and you’ve got a handle on what is fair to expect from your search, it’s time to begin the actual work of this process. Begin by checking out the source documents of the Christian faith. The Bible is a collection of 66 books written by more than 40 authors over a period of several hundred years. Christians call it God’s Word or God’s revelation to us. The word revelation comes from the Latin word revelatio, which means to “draw back the curtain.” In the Bible, God reveals Himself and truth about Himself that we could not otherwise know.

So start by reading the Bible, and here are two suggestions for you to keep in mind when you do: First, make sure you begin with a modern translation and, second, remember that it really is a library of books.

A bit on translation. The Bible was written in two languages: Hebrew and Greek. Hebrew was the language of the day when the Old Testament was written and Greek was the language of the writers of the New Testament. As a result, all our Bibles today are translations of those original languages. So get a good, modern translation that is easy for you to read and understand.

And then when reading the Bible remember it is a library of books, so you possess some freedom as to where to begin reading. I would suggest starting with one of the four biographies of the life of Jesus found in the books Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (named for the four men who wrote them). These books will lay a good foundation of the central message of the Bible: Jesus and His life and ministry. After that, move on to the book of James, which is a practical little book containing five chapters that will show you what patterning your life after Christ might look like. Then read the first book, Genesis, where you’ll find answers to some of the foundational questions of human existence in light of what you’ve learned about Christ.

 

4. Come to Terms with Jesu

My fourth suggestion involves the focus of your search. Focus on Jesus, for He is the heart of the Christian faith. When I say “focus on” Him, I mean that you need to come to terms with His identity.

Here we have a man who walked the earth and claimed to be equal to God. No other major religious figure ever made that claim – not Buddha, not Mohammed, not Confucius. Only Jesus Christ claimed to be God in human form. Was He or wasn’t He? This is the ultimate question someone who is exploring must answer when it comes to the Christian faith.

 

5. Find a Church That Lets You Explore

The final suggestion I have to offer is this: Find a church that will let you start exploring where you are. In other words, find a church that will let you come explore and that will help you through this exploration process. Why attend a Christian church to explore Christianity? So that you can talk firsthand with people who are Christians, listen to their stories, raise your questions, enter into a dialogue with them about their faith.

This exploration process is the most important one you’ll take for your life. In truth, there’s no such thing as a “spiritual life” – there’s just life, and your spirituality courses through its every vein.

Thus, finding the door to spiritual truth, opening it, and walking through it make up the most significant journey you can ever undertake.

For on the other side is not simply spiritual life…

… but life itself.

 

James Emery White

 

Sources

Adapted from James Emery White, A Search for the Spiritual (Baker).

Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew. 

About the Author

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and the ranked adjunctive professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, Meet Generation Z: Understanding and Reaching the New Post-Christian World, is available on Amazon. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church & Culture blog, visit ChurchAndCulture.org, where you can view past blogs in our archive and read the latest church and culture news from around the world. Follow Dr. White on twitter @JamesEmeryWhite.

DON’T SETTLE FOR THE GOSPEL OF SELF-FULFILLMENT

Another symptom of the influence of our culture on Christianity by Trevin Wax . . . 

Elizabeth Gilbert traveled the world to find happiness, and then documented her journey of self-discovery in Eat, Pray, Love. Since her epiphany, she has divorced her husband and fallen in love with a woman.

Glennon Doyle Melton, a popular blogger and speaker at women’s conferences, recently finalized her own divorce and announced that she has a new partner, “my person”—a soccer player named Abby Wambach.

Kate Shellnut has done excellent reporting on this. I also encourage you to read Jen Pollock Michel’s insightful article on “the gospel of self-fulfillment,” and Bethany Jenkins’s reflection on what it means to be truly revolutionary.

My purpose here is to go beneath the surface in order to examine some of the foundational issues at work here. How does one come to believe that Jesus must be okay with a woman divorcing her husband and taking up with another woman— despite Jesus’s words about the permanence of marriage and its creational, male-female design?

Expressive Individualism

The foundational issue, as Jen Pollock Michel points out, is the “gospel of self-fulfillment,” which is also described as “expressive individualism.” That’s a term given to us by Robert Bellah and explored by other philosophers such as Charles Taylor.

According to this way of thinking, the goal of life is to discover and express your unique sense of self, no matter what others may say or do to challenge your freedom of personality. The narrative arc of your life is finding your personal route to happiness by following your heart, expressing your true self, and then fighting whoever would oppose you—your society, your family, your past, or your church.

This is one of the dominant narratives of our time. It shows up in movies and music, and increasingly, on the platforms of popular preachers and teachers—both male and female.

Christian Counterfeit 

The religious form of expressive individualism imagines the believer wrestling against the bondage of their past, or the expectations of their parents, or the legalistic regulations of their church. God’s rescue frees us from all these chains, and sets us on a journey to discover our true essence, which we then offer up as a gift to God and the world. Our goal is to become all that God has created us to be. Anything that gets in the way of this journey must be an evil barrier, overcome only through personal faith and reliance on Jesus.

Now, there are certainly some elements of Christian truth here. Like any good counterfeit gospel, it mimics the truth at key points.

Yes, God wants to free us from the sin and shame of our past, to rescue us from paralyzing guilt, to overcome the barriers that keep us from pursuing radical obedience to his command as we come to know him and his Word with increasing fervor. And yes, God wants us to lean into becoming all that he has created to be—conformed to the image of his Son. And yes, God wants us to be happy, not just joyful or blessed or holy. (See Randy Alcorn’s exhaustive work on Happiness in case you need biblical evidence or voices from church history.)

But note how this gospel of freedom redefines Christian teaching at key points.

• Sin is failing to reach your potential.
• Shame is a subjective feeling you bring upon yourself and must set aside, not a state that results from objective sin against a holy God.
• Guilt is what happens when you fail to accept yourself, to love yourself, or to sense your own worthiness of happiness.
• The barriers that stand in your way of pursuing your dreams must all come down, no matter where they are.

This is not Christianity. It’s a Christianized form of expressive individualism that you can find in just about any self-help book—an inspirational, feel-good message that makes perfect sense in Western cultures, but leaves traditional societies, many of them Eastern, aghast at its sanction of selfishness.

Cheer or Jeer? 

Not surprisingly, people who are expressive individualists can do nothing but cheer someone’s life choices.

“I know my Jesus,” Melton says, in defense of her decisions. Whichever Jesus she knows, it’s hard to imagine him corresponding to the Jesus of Nazareth who took the hard line on divorce, to the point he stunned even his disciples. The idea that Jesus would bless the dissolution of marriage vows still shocks Christians in most parts of the world, but not in the United States, where Jesus is appealed to as the coach who is helping you find your way forward to becoming a better you.

Strikingly, a number of women who have shared the platform with Melton either cheer her on or have nothing to say. Even if some Melton’s friends think it is inappropriate to celebrate a divorce or this newfound relationship, they cannot and will not speak up, because to do so would strike at the underpinnings of expressive individualism, which unites their platform. They cannot utter a word of judgment because their own expressive individualism leaves them no grounds on which to make anymoral judgment regarding sexual expression. Once we abandon the historic teaching of the church, that God’s design for sexuality and marriage is intended for human flourishing, and that God’s “no” is always set against the backdrop of his glorious “yes,” we are left with nothing more than the gospel of self-fulfillment.

Look in the Mirror 

Now, before you readers who agree with me nod your heads too vigorously, let me hold up a mirror. It would be silly and irresponsible to speak about this expressive individualistic philosophy leading to sexual hedonism as if it were just a problem out there, with those people. And it would be the height of hypocrisy to think that this is an issue primarily for our LGBT friends and neighbors, but not for the rest of the church.

In fact, I would say that one of the primary reasons why so many in the LGBT community think that Christian opposition to same-sex relationships is motivated by fear, hate, or personal disdain is precisely because they see what we do not. They see just how expansive is our own dedication to expressive individualism, this idea that we are to cast off restraints, find ourselves, discover our path to happiness and be free.

When churches sanction expressive individualism everywhere else (money, marriage, sexuality, career path, and so on) but draw the line at same-sex relationships, it does indeed look like we are singling out homosexuality as “the sin above all sins.” You may be closer to the gospel of self-fulfillment than you think.

Our Challenge 

We have our work cut out for us in the days ahead. Christians who believe the gospel is more than just a word of self-fulfillment will need to be equipped to see the right and good longings at the heart of expressive individualism, the lies inherent in this philosophy, and then learn to tell a better story than that of the world.

We won’t succeed with shrill condemnations of people taking their philosophies to the logical end. We will need to take a good look at our own foundational worldviews and practices, recognize our complicity, and in repentance and faith, move forward with a gospel that says so much more than You are great.

The Message of Islam vs. The Gospel of Jesus

I am preaching through Genesis and often think a few messages on Islam would be helpful but the tasking seems daunting wiht my schedule! From TGC. 

Questions about relations between Muslims and Christians continue to receive widespread attention in the media and society at large. In particular, “Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God?” has become especially controversial among Christians in the United States. Responses have often been polarizing, with one side insisting the answer must be affirmative and the other vehemently denying this. But the question itself is highly ambiguous and conflates different issues in an unhelpful manner. Thus, rather than trying to answer directly whether Christians and Muslims worship the same God, it’s more helpful to consider similarities and differences in the beliefs of Muslims and Christians, noting areas of both agreement and disagreement.

There are some clear similarities between Christian and Muslim beliefs. For example, both Islam and Christianity are monotheistic religions that maintain the universe was created by God, that God has given humanity a special revelation, and that there will be a final judgment.

But there are fundamental differences as well—differences that take us to the heart of the Christian gospel and the New Testament teachings about Jesus Christ. What follows is a very concise introduction to some aspects of Islam and Christianity, focusing on several significant points at which the Christian gospel is different from what Islam traditionally has maintained. Highlighting differences shouldn’t be taken as minimizing important similarities between the religions. Since the basic differences concern the core of the gospel, though, appreciation of similarities must be framed with awareness of the differences.

Islamic Origins

Islam emerged in the seventh century in what is today Saudi Arabia. The traditional account maintains that God revealed his will to Muhammad (AD 570?–632) in a series of revelations dictated by the angel Gabriel over roughly 20 years. These revelations, codified and put into writing after Muhammad’s death, compose the Qur’an, accepted by Muslims as the Word of God. The Qur’an is said to be God’s definitive revelation, the culmination of earlier revelations to numerous prophets, including Jews and Christians (called “People of the Book” in the Qur’an). Muhammad is said to be the last and greatest of the prophets.

Initially persecuted in Mecca, Muhammad moved to Medina and established a theocratic society that has served as a model for later Muslim communities. Muslims quickly conquered surrounding areas, so that within a century of the prophet’s death Muslims could be found not only throughout the Arabian Peninsula but also in southern France, Spain, North Africa, central Asia, and even in western China. Islam today is a genuinely global religion, with an estimated 1.7 billion Muslims worldwide, compared with roughly 2.4 billion Christians. Most live in Asia and Africa, with more than 50 percent of the world’s Muslims living in Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Iran, Turkey, and Egypt.

The major division within Islam is between Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims. Although there are some doctrinal differences between the branches, the division stems from violent struggles early on over the legitimate successor to Muhammad. About 85 percent of Muslims today are Sunni, and roughly 15 percent are Shi’ite. Indeed, Islam faces significant internal tensions as various factions struggle to define what it means to be Muslim in the 21st century. In addition to the tensions between Shi’ites and Sunnis, there are divisions between traditionalists (who resist accommodations to modernity) and progressives (who maintain that Islam is fully compatible with modern, democratic societies), as well as between various ethnic groups. Since the 1980s, radical Islamist movements have adopted global terrorism to promote their agendas.

Muslims are united in their belief in one God, the Qur’an as God’s revelation, and Muhammad as God’s final prophet. They find unity of practice in the Five Pillars: (1) the shahadah, or declaration of faith (“There is no God but God and Muhammad is the messenger of God”); (2) prayer five times daily; (3) almsgiving; (4) the fast of Ramadan; and, if possible, (5) pilgrimage to Mecca.

Islam and Love

Both Muslims and Christians affirm there is one God who is the creator of everything that exists (apart from God himself). But while Muslims and Christians agree to some extent on some of the divine attributes, they also have fundamental disagreements over the nature of God and what he expects from humanity.

For example, Muslims regard God as sovereign, merciful, and benevolent, but they generally don’t think of God as loving in the way the Bible speaks of his love. The Bible declares “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16), and it’s because of his love for the world that he sent his Son to atone for sin (John 3:16; 1 John 4:10). In turn, Christians are commanded to love God with their entire being, to love their neighbor (Matt. 22:34–40), even to love their enemies (Matt. 5:43–47).

The Qur’an, by contrast, never identifies God with love, nor does it command us to love God. Many Muslims would maintain that talk of God as love compromises his sovereignty, “humanizing” him and distorting what is transcendent. Christians maintain that although God is transcendent and sovereign, he is also personal and loving.           

Islam and Scripture

Both Christians and Muslims believe God has given a special revelation to humanity, but they disagree over the nature of this revelation. Muslims believe God revealed his will to various prophets in the past, including to the Hebrew prophets and to Jesus, but that the Old and New Testaments of the Christian Bible have been corrupted and thus are not authoritative. The Qur’an is the definitive and final revelation. Muslims insist Muhammad didn’t author the Qur’an; he was the passive recipient of dictated revelations.  

Christians, by contrast, hold that God has revealed himself progressively in the Old and New Testaments. Christians believe that each book of the Bible is simultaneously the product of God and the human author. Although God superintended the process, so that what was written is what God intends, the distinctives of the human authors were allowed to shine through. Therefore, although the product itself is veritably God’s breathed-out word, it is delivered through human authors. Christians believe that the Old and New Testaments are the complete special revelation of God and that no other writings are to be added to the canon. The last of the New Testament writings was completed by the end of the first century—more than five centuries before Muhammad is said to have received revelations. There is simply no historical or textual evidence to support the claim that the Christian Bible is a corruption of an earlier revelation from God consistent with the Qur’anic teachings.

Islam and Christ’s Life

The New Testament itself points to the incarnation in Jesus Christ as the apex of God’s self-revelation (John 1:1–18; Heb. 1:1–3). At this point the differences between Islam and the Christian gospel become most pronounced. Islam has traditionally denied the doctrines of the incarnation and the Trinity. This is not a minor disagreement, as the biblical teaching on the deity of Jesus Christ is central to the message of the gospel.

It’s true Jesus is given a prominent place in the Qur’an. He’s called the Messiah, Son of Mary, Messenger, Prophet, Servant, Word, and Spirit of God. Jesus is always spoken of with reverence in the Qur’an. His virgin conception is indicated in Surahs 3:45–48 and 19:18–22. But the Qur’an omits Jesus’s teachings and rejects the notion Jesus is divine. For example, the Qur’anic Jesus explicitly denies he is to be identified with God (5:109–119). Particularly offensive to Muslims is the title “Son of God.” There can be little doubt that Muhammad understood this title to imply the physical generation of the alleged Son from the Father, an implication he detested (23:90–93; cf. 112). The Qur’an also includes numerous denunciations of what was taken to be Christian teaching on the Trinity (cf. 4:171; 9:30–31). In fact, the Qur’an seems to assume Christians believe the Trinity consists of God the Father, the Virgin Mary, and their child—Jesus. This, of course, isn’t what the Bible teaches nor what orthodox Christians have historically affirmed.

Islam and Christ’s Death

The death of Jesus on the cross, followed by his glorious resurrection, is at the heart of the Christian message. The gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word and Son of God, is Savior and Lord, and that through his life, death and resurrection we can have forgiveness and redemption from sin, new life through the indwelling power of the Spirit, and reconciliation with God. There’s no gospel without the cross, for it’s through Jesus’s atoning death on behalf of sinful humans that justification and reconciliation with God are possible.

But it may come as a surprise to Christians to learn that most Muslims deny Jesus died on the cross. Surah 4:155–159 has been taken by many as claiming that although the Jewish leaders tried to kill Jesus, they “did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but they thought they did.” For Muslims it’s unthinkable that God would allow Jesus, God’s anointed prophet, to be crucified.  As Kenneth Cragg observes, “The event which is the very fount and heart of Christianity is held by Muslims to be unhistorical and incredible” (Jesus and the Muslim, 166). There is in Islam no need for something like Christ’s atoning death, for each person is responsible for his or her own actions, period (36:54; 53:38; 82:19). Sin isn’t a matter of the total depravity of human nature but is more a weakness, defect, or flaw in human character (cf. 4:28; 30:54; 7:19–25). 

Winsome Disciples in a Diverse World

Christians in the West are part of a world becoming more tightly interconnected on many levels. American society itself is becoming increasingly diverse. Divisions and tensions over ethnic, cultural, ethical, and religious matters often drive further polarization among various groups. How should Christians respond to Muslims and adherents of other religions in American society? The importance of affirming both similarities and differences in beliefs and practices between Muslims and Christians has already been noted. The differences are real, and they are significant. Nevertheless, even as differences are acknowledged, Christians should also recognize the importance of cultivating healthy relationships with Muslims as we together seek the common good.

First, as disciples of Jesus, Christians are to be great citizens (Matt. 22:15–22; Rom. 13:1–7; 1 Pet. 2:13–17). There are roughly 3.3 million Muslims in the States (compared with 5.7 million Jews and 2.1 million Hindus). Muslims serve in the U.S. military; in local, state, and federal government positions; and are active throughout the business, medical, and educational communities. American Muslims, like all other citizens, are guaranteed freedom of religious belief and practice by the Constitution. American Christians should welcome American Muslims, then, as fellow citizens and should work to establish relationships with Muslims at work, at school, and in the community. Where Muslims and Christians share common interests, they should work together for the common good.

Moreover, Jesus’s disciples are to love their neighbors (Matt. 22:34–40), and this includes Muslims. Loving others includes seeking their well-being and acting in ways that promote their good. We are to treat others, including Muslims, how we would wish to be treated (Matt. 7:12).

Finally, Christians are to make disciples of all peoples (Matt. 28:18–20), and this includes Muslims. In faithfulness to the Lord Jesus, Christians must share the gospel with their Muslim neighbors, clarifying misconceptions and urging them to accept Jesus, the Son of God, as Lord and Savior.

Given centuries of mutual suspicion and misunderstandings as well as current tensions, doing so in a winsome and responsible manner won’t be easy. But this is the challenge facing American Christians in the days ahead: to be appropriately accepting and welcoming of Muslims as neighbors while also encouraging them to become disciples of King Jesus. The Christian obligation and privilege to love one’s neighbor doesn’t depend on Christians agreeing with Hindus or Muslims about their respective understandings of God, or even with Buddhists or atheists who deny God’s reality. Differences of understanding are real and profound. But the obligation to love one’s neighbor springs from the fact that all human beings are made in the image of God, and from the command and example of the Lord Jesus himself.

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Further Reading:

• Daniel W. Brown, A New Introduction to Islam, 2nd ed. (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009)
• Kenneth Cragg, Jesus and the Muslim: An Exploration (Oneworld, 1999 [1985])
• Timothy George, Is the Father of Jesus the God of Muhammad? (Zondervan, 2002)
• Gordon Nickel, The Gentle Answer to the Muslim Accusation of Biblical Falsification (Burton Gate, 2015)
• David W. Shenk, Christian. Muslim. Friend. Twelve Paths to Real Relationship (Herald Press, 2014)