From Ted Dekker’s Corner
From my corner:
The question at the heart of Tea With Hezbollah is this: How should we as individuals treat our enemies irrespective of that person’s ideology and or religion? In particular, how should we treat Muslims, enemy or not?
Jesus was confronted with the Samaritans of his day, who were seen by all as violent heretics worthy of death. Indeed Jesus’ own disciples urged him to call down fire from heaven to destroy them. They were the lowest, most conniving and evil of all heretics. As you know, Jesus response to these enemies was maddening to his disciples.
Then there were the Romans who were brutal and killed relatively far more than any terrorist today, subjugating, raping and slaughtering where it served their purpose. Again, Jesus reaction to these enemies was unsettling to most.
It is that reaction to both of these groups that haunts me, and it is in his response that we find his heart.
The real questions for me have nothing to do with how right or wrong or evil or vile or ruthless any ideology is. The questions are whether we are called to love those who hold that ideology, and what that love might look like.
And those, my friends are not easy questions to answer.
The sum of it from my corner. Now back to something called fiction, a form of writing in which ideology takes flesh and walks among us.
Ted
Hmm..thought provoking! This book
needs to hurry up and get here!
Muslims are often viewed collectively by outsiders as terrorists the way all Americans are often seen as Christians, thus taking away our faith identity in many ways. What must it be like to have such a negative light shed on your faith? I’m looking forward to some answers in your book, and in the interview, Ted. Lots of food for thought here.
First commandment of Christ when asked by His disciples was “love the Lord God with all your mind and all your heart and all your strength.” 2nd to this command was “love your neighbor as yourself”. Don’t(southern talk)see anything in there about what religion, race, or social standing they are, do you? You tell it Ted. God has given you the ability to tell the truth so others will understand it. Never stop.
I think that people (as in, humans in general) tend to ball cultural beliefs together in the way jr. high girls band up in groups and terrorize each other. The notion of taking each person at face value and forming an individualized relationship one person at a time is a bit fanatical and will peg you as a loner. Yet that is truly the only way that anyone can challenge his or her own preconceptions on a concrete level. We can intellectually understand that the average Muslim does not behave or believe like a terrorist, but we do not truly learn how to love them until we come in contact with them and step beyond the boundaries set by our preconceptions to ask relevant questions in person.
I am looking forward to listening and learning at this event, but I must confess that I will likely only be influenced because the words are coming from not only people with “real world” experience, but because I already have a measure of respect for them on a personal level. In some small meandering of a similar way, it is like seeing the gospels as reliable because they are the testimony of eyewitnesses, or at least of those who knew the eyewitnesses personally. Three more kids down the telephone line and we usually get a much different idea of what the intended message really is.
I am very excited to be a part of this event!
I was always taught by my parents that I was to love everyone, especially my enemies. I was also told that it didn’t mean I had to like them, just love them!
This is something I have tried to follow during my life, not always with great success, I might add! However, it means that I have built relationships with people (that others feel the need to question) which have borne suprising results. Just because someone is different to you does not make them wrong, it just makes them different.
People who I do not like are not disliked because of where they come from, or what religious persuasion they have (or don’t have), they are just REALLY annoying!
We should learn to rejoice more over that which we can agree on, and in a friendly way, agree to disagree on those areas where we cannot give way on Biblical and Godly principle.
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” EPH 6:12
To me, Paul seems to be addressing this very issue. We aren’t fighting a mythic “Cosmic War” that cloaks the “other” in a garment of evil, leading us to wage war on “flesh and blood.” Instead, we should be fighting against the powers of myth, the labels, and the scapegoats, and all the other things that lead us to dehumanize God’s children.
A passage from the Jewish Midrash (Shir HaShirim Rabah 5, Sanhedrin 39b) says that as the Israelites crossed the Red Sea and the Egyptians drowned the angels began celebrating and singing praise to God As they begin their praise, they are immediately silenced by God saying, “My children are drowning in the sea, and you sing to me?”
Nathan,
It is so profund to see through someone else’s Holy Book something we should know through our Bible. That God loves every person he has created on this earth; which is everyone, with no exception.
I know the feeling of having a child turning on me, but thanks be to God she returned. I cannot fathom the pain of God when so many of his children choose to turn their backs on him and follow the path to death.
Jesus is our commonality, even though our beliefs are not the same, we are all searching for the path to God. Jesus is the way, yes, the key I believe, as I’ve been told, is to find a sensitive way to show others this path We cannot just come out and tell them point blank, because their beliefs will not allow them to accept that until we gently led them through the path to Jesus as the Messiah. There they have to come along and make that choice to follow that path themselves. We cannot do it for them and should not become angry at them for not accepting our way.
We need to be friends with them any way we can and with prayer and supplication to God, he can help to soften their hearts.
1 Peter 3:13-15
Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.” 15But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.
“But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.
“And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:16-20).
Is this what the book is about? Will Tea With Hezbollah tell us that we need to get along with our Muslim neighbors, or that we need to pursue the salvation of their souls with our utmost? Most Christians (myself included) are despicably negligent at sharing the Gospel with anyone, Muslim or not. We need a new spark to get us passionate about the Gospel, because apart from the Gospel, Jesus was a fool and we are altogether more foolish for following Him. We have NOTHING to offer the Muslims by holding hands with them if we do so in an attitude of brotherhood. It is the greatest of sins to befriend them but never give a care as to whether they are God’s enemies or His friends.
Having read your book now, I think I understand the question you are getting at, Ted. How do we reconcile our view of these people, who we now see as real, living, breathing souls with children, grandchildren, favorite jokes, and seemingly similar beliefs and values, with the image we have of these people as fundamentalist Muslims out to kill us?
And how can we love them in a world full of hate? Really love them, as in Jesus’ command to love our enemies.
Tea with Hezbollah clearly demonstrated that, even in the Middle East alone, this has clearly shown the most difficult commandment for any human being to understand, let alone follow.
Going off to watch the web event.
We can’t afford to repeat the last decade. We desperately need a new generation of American Christian and Muslim leaders, who embody our nations’ decency, to stand up and show the world that we can overcome our fury and work toward reconciliation, accountability and mutual respect.
Why? Because 1.2 billion Muslims believe that America is at war with Islam. This climate of war emboldens radical ideologues, giving them a foothold to recruit young jihadis (some of whom are now American youth). Meanwhile, many Christians are openly apprehensive toward their American Muslim neighbors. Most importantly, America needs leaders to remind the public, in a fresh and relevant way, of Jesus’ teachings to love our neighbors (even if they feel like enemies).
Shirin Taber
Author of Muslims Next Door
Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.
Ted, I loved your emphasis tonight at the event on loving enemies. That’s the theme behind a grass-roots participatory on-line movement called Adopt a Terrorist For Prayer. It pairs people up on line with people on the FBI’s most-wanted list in order to pray for them. It’s very practical, very simple, and potentially very powerful. I hope you’ll browse the database and pick a featured person to pray for, and encourage others to as well. Nine years of political leadership in the war on terror hasn’t gotten us very far. It’s time for the followers of Jesus to minister in the opposite spirit.