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Poster's Note: I found these editorials (especially the second one) a fascinating reminder of how we become an attractive light to those who do not believe in Christ when we live the Christian Life. Just as authentic worship (focusing on Christ) attracts others into our Churches so, too, does the authentic Christian Life attract others to Christ.

Tough Questions for Islam
By Chuck Colson
4/22/2008

The Challenge of Fr. Botros

Zakaria Botros is a conservative television star with a huge audience. He is even more hated by his political enemies than Rush Limbaugh and Hillary Clinton put together, if you can believe that. At least one newspaper has labeled Botros: �Public Enemy Number One.�

So why haven�t you heard about this guy? It is probably because you do not watch Arab television. On channel al-Hayat, or �Life TV,� you will find Father Botros, a Coptic priest, discussing theology in a way that embarrasses�and enrages�Muslim leaders. His television talks are leading not only to mass conversions, but to the disempowering of radical Islam.

Recently in National Review Online [article.nationalreview.com], Raymond Ibrahim described the work of Father Botros. He is a bearded, bespectacled cleric who sports a large wooden cross, and his specialty is examining �little-known but embarrassing aspects of Islamic law and tradition,� Ibrahim writes. Because he speaks and reads classical Arabic, Botros can �report to the average Muslim on the discrepancies� and what Ibrahim calls �the affronts to moral common sense found� within Islamic teachings. Satellite TV and the Internet mean Butros can question Islam�s teachings in Arabic�the language of 200 million Muslims�without fear of reprisal.

Drawing on the Socratic method, Botros will ask such questions as: �Are women inferior to men in Islam?� �Did Mohammed [really] say that adulterous female monkeys should be stoned?� And, �Does sharia really teach that women must breastfeed strange men?�

Botros cites chapter and verse, so to speak, of Islamic sources, and then politely invites Islamic scholars to respond. �More often than not,� Ibrahim writes, �the response is deafening silence.� Even worse, religious experts have at times been forced to agree with Botros��which has led to some amusing (and embarrassing) moments on live Arabic TV.�

Naturally, this drives the sheiks crazy�which is probably why there is a rumored $5 million price on his head.

Botros�s ultimate goal is �to draw Muslims away from the dead legalism of sharia law to the spirituality of Christianity.� In doing so, he is not only saving souls, but cutting at the very heart of radical Islam.

What Western critics fail to appreciate, Ibrahim says, is that the West will not disempower radical Islam by offering Muslims democracy, capitalism, secularism, materialism, feminism�or any other �ism.� Instead, we must offer them �something theocentric and spiritually satisfying.�

This is why, at the end of each program, Botros reads from the Bible and invites his listeners to follow Christ. That he is successful in this endeavor is acknowledged by none other than al-Jazeera, which complains of Botros�s �unprecedented evangelical raid� on the Muslim world.

Botros offers a great example of why we Christians must learn our own doctrines, along with those of other religions: so that we can lovingly reason with people and draw them into the kingdom of God.

Tune in tomorrow for more on how you can witness to Muslims�even if you do not star in your own television show. And do not forget to pray for the safety of �Public Enemy Number One,� who is doing a great work for the kingdom�in the heart of radical Islam.

This is part one of a two-part series.

Drawn to the Light
By Chuck Colson
4/23/2008

Why Muslims Convert to Christianity

A few days ago, Fox News ran a grim special titled �Jihad USA: Confronting the Threat of Homegrown Terror.� It was a warning of the continuing danger of Islamo-fascism.

The program probably deepened many Americans� fear of and hostility toward Muslims. That is unfortunate, because most Muslims are not would-be jihadists. But we Christians especially need to guard our emotions so we can be a good witness to Muslims�a caution raised by Dr. Dudley Woodberry, professor of Islamic Studies at Fuller.

Woodberry, aware that throughout the world Muslims have been turning to Christ, was curious about the reasons why�especially in countries where the cost of converting is so high.

To find the answer, he created a detailed questionnaire. Over a 16-year period, some 750 Muslims from 30 countries filled it out�and the results are eye-opening. The number one reason Muslim converts listed for their decision to follow Christ was the lifestyle of the Christians among them.

As Woodberry, Russell Shubin, and G. Marks write in Christianity Today, Muslim converts noted that �there was no gap between the moral profession and the practice of Christians� they knew. An Egyptian convert contrasted the love shown by Christians �with the unloving treatment of Muslim students and faculty he encountered at a university in Medina.� Other converts were impressed that �Christians treat women as equals� and enjoy loving marriages. And poor Muslims observed that �the expatriate Christian workers they knew had adopted, contrary to their expectations, a simple lifestyle.� They wore locally made clothes and abstained from pork and alcohol, so as not to offend Muslim neighbors.

Second, converts identified �the power of God in answered prayers and healing.� For instance, in North Africa, a Muslim family asked Christian neighbors to pray for a sick daughter; and then the girl recovered. Some converts �noted deliverance from demonic power as another reason they were attracted to Jesus.�

Converts also mentioned unhappiness with Islam itself, especially the Koran�s emphasis on God�s punishment and the uncertainty of salvation. By contrast, Woodberry notes, the biblical teaching that God loved us so much that �He sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins� is deeply attractive to Muslims.

Converts are also attracted to �the love expressed through the life and teachings of Christ.� Ironically, Muslims first learn about Christ through the Koran, but then read the Gospels to find out more about Him.

Finally�and this is the key��When Christ�s love transforms committed Christians into a loving community, many Muslims [identified] a desire to join such a fellowship.�

Woodberry�s research shows that when the Church is being the Church�witnessing to the love of Christ and of His transforming power�Muslims are drawn both to us and to Him.

When is the last time you welcomed a Muslim family to the neighborhood, or invited a Muslim co-worker for a cup of coffee?

Even though we are in the midst of a worldwide war against Islamo-fascism, we must never forget Christ�s command to witness to our neighbors�to all of our neighbors�of His redeeming love.

This is part two of a two-part series.

www.breakpoint.org [breakpoint.org]

John,

Those are two beautiful articles -- thanks for making them available.

Chuck Colson seems to have made a remarkable recovery from politics -- God bless him!

Michael

I actually went to see him today (he spoke at a church across the street from my house) and it was a very interesting 4 hour event, full of hand-waving and random eulalalalaitin by certain women in the pews. It was a strange assembly of Arabs of catholic, orthodox, and evangelical varieties. I just sat there quietly.

Admin,

Thanks for the post. I think they bring home many excellent points.

I would like to add that there is NO reason why we can't have an Islamic outreach.