All things to All people

    Narcissa Whitman and her husband embarked on, what would be known as, The Oregon Trail, in 1836. They had heard stories that the Natives were begging for the Bible and Narcissa had a life long dream of being a missionary. Yet, when she got there, she found life to be very different. She didn't understand their culture and they resisted change in all of it's forms. What had been a dream for her became a nightmare, that ended in a massacre, known as The Whitman Massacre.

    At the same time, Henry Spalding and his wife traveled out with them.  They ended up in Idaho. While there they were very successful. They baptized several of the leaders of the local native tribles and taught many of the tribal members about the gospel. The women loved Henry's wife and would follow her around her home to see how this "white woman" lived and did things. Spalding and his family went on to have a successful mission. 

  The Whitmans and the Spaldings were friends and came from the same church family. The Spaldings were affected by the Whitman massacre on many levels. Besides emotional, their youngest daughter was a survivor of it. Because of the Whitman massacre, their mission organization called off all mission work in the area and the Spaldings had to find a new and more creative way to reach the people, and they did, they did not stop.

    Why where the Spaldings a success and the Whitmans a failure? Was it because the Cayuse were just a brutal tribe with impossibly hardened hearts, while the Nez Perce were peace loving and open hearted people? No. It was because the Whitmans were not willing to follow Paul's advice to be all things to all people where as the Spaldings were. The Cayuse's were upset with the Whitmans as they brought no gifts to them when they arrived, per Cayuse tradition. The Whitmans couldn't or refused to understand why that was a big deal. The Whitmans wanted the Cayuse to give up everything they knew and model their version of Christianity. Narcissa found everything about the Cayuse to be vulgar and savage. She even banished them from her parlour for fear of it being over run with fleas and filth.

    The Spaldings, on the other hand, loved the Nez Perce and met them where they were. Henry worked to translate the Bible into their language and encouraged them to only give up what conflicted with scripture, not everything about their lives. Eliza loved the women of the tribe and happily allowed them into her home. Despite all that ended up happening to them and those they loved, they continued to work towards saving the Native Americans for Christ and Spalding's church were sponsors and supported relations with the US Indian Affairs agent.

    Learning of this struck a chord with me. Paul wasn't the only one who called us to be all things to all people. Christ did as well. As a matter of fact, God emulated it in the most perfect beautiful way. In taking on human form as a helpless baby, to a poor family, in shaky circumstances. He could have simply saved us with a word or a wave of his hand. He could have saved us by showing up already as an adult and doing all the things he ended up doing in the new testament, maybe even in a week.... But he didn't. He knew the importance of relationships, the importance of being able to relate to those you came to save. He knew this because he made us and he made us to relate to us. He did not come in with trumpets. He was not born in a palace to a King and Queen and servants to attend to his every desires. He was born on a cool night surrounded by animals, feed and dung. He was born to young and poor parents. The first to come and see him were shepherds who were stuck pulling the night shift. He lived through many of the same experiences we did. The death of his earthly father, brothers and sisters who didn't always get along and having to work for a living. He lived according to his Father's word and yet also blended in with the rest of the culture, another face in the crowd.

To be successful in reaching people for Christ we must follow this example. 

"I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some" 1 Corinthians 9:22

What is there to fear?

    I had a friend stop by for a surprise visit yesterday. It was a really pleasant surprise and stirred up fun conversation. Yet, out of all the things we talked about one thing set a stirring in my heart. It was only one little thing they said, but it really struck me. "I'm really concerned with the level of fear people have over Muslims. I don't like where the public dialogue is going."

I don't either.

    The members of the extremists groups are doing an excellent job at terrorizing all around them. The governments are chasing shadows and people are now afraid and distrusting of anyone different.The religion of Islam is diverse and varied, much like any religion and the majority have no desire to hurt others or take over the world, etc.  Yet, in the public sphere, all those of the Muslim faith are either terrorists or not being true to their religion. What's disconcerting about that is that the terrorists believe this too. ISIS and other extremists groups believe themselves to be the only true followers of Islam and relish in killing anyone they consider to be apostates. That includes other Muslims. 

Here are some interesting facts: 

1) The majority of terrorists come from Arab nations... But less than 15% of Muslims are Arab or live in the Arab countries.  Asia has more Muslims than the Arab countries. 

This is important to pay attention to because the majority of the terrorists are coming from the nations of Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria and Sudan. (The Syrian refugee crises is another conversation for another time, perhaps)

2) The Muslim majority are appalled by the terrorists. Terrorism cannot be justified under any valid interpretation of the Islamic faith. The entire Qur'an, taken as a complete text, gives a message of hope, faith, and peace to a faith community of one billion people. The overwhelming message is that peace is to be found through faith in "God", and justice among fellow human beings. Muslim leaders and scholars do speak out against terrorism in all its forms, and offer explanations of misinterpreted or twisted teachings. 

This is important to really think about because there have been many, in Christian past, who have twisted scripture to justify brutal acts of terrorism. It would be extremely foolish of us to behave as if the Crusades were some how not really terrorism or not really the same as now etc. Okay, that's true, it's not as bad as now... if we are at least allowing that people could readily identify a crusader whereas we can't readily identify a terrorist. But, many more were tortured, killed and had forced conversions by those claiming to be fighting on behalf of Christ than our current situation. We must keep that in mind. We must never forget that humbling fact.

3) Muslims are taught that Jews and Christians still worship the same God. While we know that to be wrong, it's important to keep it in mind when figuring out how to think about Muslims and how we can approach them with the truth in love. Throughout the Qur'an, Muslims are reminded that they are not the only ones who worship God. Jews and Christians are called "People of the Book," meaning people who have received previous revelations from the One Almighty God that we all worship. The Qur'an also commands Muslims to protect from harm not only mosques, but also monasteries, synagogues, and churches -- because "God is worshiped therein.

 - Yes, in their end times their "savior" will show the Jews and Christians as wrong and destroy them.. BUT, the Qur'an teaches that it's that "saviors" job, not the Muslims of the current time. I know that sounds like I'm just making insignificant distinctions, but they are considered important distinctions to your average Muslim. 

4) Many believe that Muslim is the fastest growing religion out there today. Not true, Christianity is. Praise be to God for that.


Why do I say all of this?

Let me start with what I'm not trying to do first.

1) I am not trying to defend Islam as being a viable religion that will see you enter the Kingdom of Heaven. There is only one way to do that and that is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ and being redeemed by his saving Grace.

2) I am not trying to lull people into a false sense of comfort "oh don't worry, terrorists aren't that big a deal." etc. NO. The terror cells are a huge concern, and rightfully so. 


Here is what I AM trying to say.

How can we reach the lost if we are afraid of them, so afraid of them that we will no longer allow ourselves to get close to them or them to us?

How can we reach the lost if we are so afraid by a few that we turn our backs to the larger number; that we are willing to label all as suspect because of a rotten few?

How can we have proper dialogue on how to solve the terrorist problems if we decide to give them what we want and say they are Muslim or that they are proper representations of the religion... Especially when statistics and evidence shows the exact opposite?

How can we properly pray for a lost community if we pray as if all of them have possible desires to kill us? Especially when the reality is that these extremists are very happy to kill their own (who aren't living up to their standards). Muslims are being terrorized by these extremists just as much as we are (if not more).

Will we allow these current events to shape our feelings and views on those different from us or will we continue to reach out to God, reach out to His Word for help? Will we allow ourselves to be victimized by these terrorists or will we joyfully pronounce that God's victory is already won and live lives of joy and not lives of fear?


These are the stirrings of my heart lately.