Pastor Ryun Chang (AMI Teaching Pastor, Ph.D.) will present a series of blogs, dealing with various issues raised in the recent election that showed a deep divide, impacting both society at large and the church. The thoughts presented are processed through the lens of the Radical-Middle (both/and), personal narratives, and pastoral concerns. Your rational feedback is welcomed.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here do not necessarily represent the respective views of AMI pastors.
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT FOR TODAY
Are You Keeping Scores? It’s a Tie “Ballgame.”
Mathew 5:43-4
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
On the web, I found this statement: “Christians have invaded and colonized a dozen Muslim countries in the past 100 years.” My response: Why start the discussion from such an arbitrary point; why not begin from the very outset of their clash at the geopolitical level? Those who want to lay all the blame on the church may not want to go there, because it will not fit their revisionist and selective history.
The first clash between these two groups occurred in the 8th century, when the Moors from North Africa, who had been conquered and converted to Islam by the Saracen Empire (from Middle East), successfully attacked Spain. They then penetrated as far as central France (Tours) to subject the entire Europe to Islam.
The next major clash was the infamous Crusades, beginning from 1095, for which the Roman Catholic Church owes a major apology to the Muslims, Jews and believers of the Eastern Church, since they all fell victims to these misguided and radicalized Christians from Europe. If you are keeping scores, it is 1:1.
Now, here is how I became aware of the third clash. In 1992, after Bosnia—as part of former Yugoslavia—declared its independence, the Serbs began the campaign to “cleanse” much of the Bosnian territory contiguous with Serbia. Subsequently, as many as 2 million Bosnians (about 44% being Muslims) were displaced out of Bosnia. While reading about this, I began wondering how these Eastern Europeans became Muslims in the first place. It was because after the Ottoman Turks conquered the Serbs (including Bosnia in 1463) as part of their military campaign against the Holy Roman Empire, the Turks forced the conversions of the Bosnian nobility, which one author described as “unusually harsh.” Over the years, while one group of Serbs became Muslims, the rest continued to be part of the Orthodox Church.
The 4th round of their conflict occurred when European countries such as England and France occupied Iraq and Syria, respectively, at the behest of the League of Nations after World War I. This event and the Crusades, then, are selectively cited by the critics of the church to present Christianity in its worst light.
Presently, the 5th round of their ongoing conflict (including the 9/11 and the military response thereafter by America) is played out on the soils of Europe and America through terrorism carried out by radicalized Muslims.
No, don’t keep scores—that’s foolishness. Instead, since we claim to follow Christ who taught us to “love your enemies,” let us love Muslims, most of whom are our neighbors, not enemies.
Prayer: Lord, help me open my spiritual and theological eyes to understand that Your common grace is given to all, including Muslims. Give me humility and soundness of mind not to paint all Muslims with a broad brush based on terroristic acts committed by radicalized Muslims. Give me courage to love them. Amen.
Bible Reading for Today: 2 Kings 21
LUNCH BREAK STUDY
Read Jonah 1:1-3 (NIV): The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord
Questions to Consider
- Based on the prior (before the time of Jonah around 760 B.C.) and on-going conflict between Israel and Assyria (known for their cruelty), can you understand why Jonah did not want to preach in Nineveh?
- What is one similarity between how Jonah felt toward the Assyrians and how some Christians in the West feel toward radicalized Muslims and their sympathizers?
- The Assyrians worshipped many gods, including Tammuz (Ez. 8:14). What is suggested by God’s call to Jonah to preach the message of repentance in Nineveh (the capital of the Assyrian Empire)? How should that realization change us?
Notes
- Yes, we can sympathize with Jonah. Understandably, Jonah wanted to see the Assyrians pay for their ruthlessness and cruelty meted out against his people.
- The similarity is obvious: inasmuch as Jonah disliked the Assyrians, some Christians in the West dislike the Muslims because of terroristic acts committed by some radicalized Muslims.
- It shows clearly the heart of God for all nations, which is aptly summarized by the apostle Peter: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). We should all be dedicated to world missions, which, at its center, is bringing the gospel to the nations.
EVENING REFLECTION
When was the last time you read a book that deals with church history? What was presented in the morning devotional came from the study of church history. We must know it because the enemy is using revisionist history to debunk our faith (e.g., The Da Vinci Code). Try Church History in Plain Language by Bruce Shelley (Thomas Nelson 2013). Also, familiarize yourself with the kings of Israel by reading 1 & 2 Samuel; 1 & 2 Kings; and 1 & 2 Chronicles.
On the heels of a deadly mass shooting in Southern California by a radicalized Muslim couple in December 2015, the then candidate Donald Trump called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States, until country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.” But what really concerned the Muslims living in the U.S. was Trump’s suggestion to create a database of them, so as to better track suspicious Muslims and detain the radicalized ones before they strike. Now, most of us would agree that the threat of violence by radicalized Muslims in America, regardless of their number, is real—unless one is an ideologue who even refuses to use the term “Radical Islam.” The question is, then, whether restraining Muslim immigration and keeping a registry of Muslims in the states is a useful and just measure.
A Turkish man sitting next to me in our flight from Istanbul to Antalya in 2015 bore a striking resemblance to Manu Ginobili, an Argentinian basketball player from San Antonio Spurs. When I commented to him of this, he (who spoke some English) became quite pleased after seeing that Ginobili wasn’t bad looking. This then led to a pleasant conversation about religion, including acts of terrorism committed by those who do so in the name of Allah. In one poignant moment, the man said, “Had I seen these terrorists first, I wouldn’t be a Muslim, but I read the Koran first.” I took that to mean, first, the Koran doesn’t advocate violence; and second, the terroristic Muslims do not accurately represent the sacred book.
Soon after immigrating to the States, I began attending a middle school without understanding hardly any English. But I felt that I could handle math and geography, since it didn’t involve much English. Ironically, my intent to take tests put the teacher in an awkward position, since he had been excusing another immigrant boy from taking them but would give him a “B” anyway. Since I chose to take tests, the teacher could no longer excuse the other boy—who now had to work.
We saw yesterday how the early church grew rapidly, but so did the challenges, obstacles, and oppositions from both inside and out. From within, the church struggled with disunity due to conflicts and complains about unequal food distribution among the widows. God’s solution was to appoint Spirit filled leaders to meet practical needs while modeling and teaching godly principles and attitudes. In instructing the young flock to follow Christ, their objective was looking not only to their own interests, but also to the welfare of others in the church.
response to my answer can either place a smile on my face—or drop an atomic bomb in my spirit. After all the effort I put into making a meal, the last thing I want to hear is “Are you making that again?” or “I don’t like that.” So, at the dinner table, I often need to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to help me to maintain a loving attitude and to zip my mouth from unleashing well-deserved rebuke to my unappreciative, complaining, and expert food critiquing family. Ironically, this situation helps me to understand why the Holy Spirit impressed Luke to emphasize the leadership qualifications to care for the practical needs of a growing church family.
Just before last Christmas, an elderly woman’s caustic rant directed at two Hispanic shoppers in Louisville went viral. She said many hurtful things such as “Go back to wherever the _____ you come from” and also “Speak English . . . you are in America.”
Respectfully and lovingly encouraging immigrants, particularly the youth, to learn English is not racist; it’s a matter of showing respect for the host nation and doing what is good for their future wellbeing. I came to the United States when I was 14 (1974) without speaking English; my SAT verbal score was 480. Yes, mastering the English language was a struggle (still is), but in time, I attained enough proficiency to publish numerous articles in English, and I recently contributed a chapter to a textbook on mission published in England (2015). I went to Mexico to serve as a missionary when I was 40 without the ability to speak any Spanish (2000). After taking one year to learn it, I went to the field mostly to teach and develop theological courses (books) in Spanish, one of which was published in Mexico (2005), which is still being used as a textbook.
It wasn’t long after I began to attend a church in Juarez, Mexico in 2000, (while attending a language school) did I realize how uninformed I was of what God was doing among the Mexican churches—they were sending out missionaries. While the number of Mexican missionaries continues to grow, 75 percent go to just two countries: Spain and USA (David Markham). Going to Spain is certainly understandable, since evangelicals make up only 1 percent of the population—but to America?
I visited Nealtican three times to teach a week-long course to train missionary candidates—the first time being 2003, when I stayed at Juanita’s three story brick house.