An Appeal to Dr. Leith Anderson (mostly), and a Wake Up Call for the Rest of Us.
January 21, 2008
Today I received an email from a good friend which pointed me to a website entitled www.acommonword.com. I have not read through all the documentation on this site. That is not necessary in order to come to a conclusion which is biblical and right because the stated goal of the Muslim inspired message at A Common Word on the front page is for more dialog between the Christian and Islamic worlds based upon the (presumably) common theological ground we share.
“Indeed, the most fundamental common ground between Islam and Christianity, and the best basis for future dialogue and understanding, is the love of God and the love of the neighbor.“
Not only can A Common Word Between Us give them [i.e. “worthy organizations and individuals who are carrying out interfaith dialogue”] a starting point for cooperation and worldwide co-ordination, but it does so on the most solid theological ground possible: the teachings of the Qu’ran and the Prophet r, and the commandments described by Jesus Christ u in the Bible. Thus despite their differences, Islam and Christianity not only share the same Divine Origin and the same Abrahamic heritage, but the same two greatest commandments.“1
In response to this document from 138 Muslim scholars, “A group of Christian scholars at Yale Divinity School crafted a response called “Loving God and Neighbor Together: A Christian Response to ‘A Common Word Between Us and You.’” (http://www.yale.edu/faith/abou-commonword.htm). Here is a quote from that document:
“We applaud that A Common Word Between Us and You stresses so insistently the unique devotion to one God, indeed the love of God, as the primary duty of every believer. God alone rightly commands our ultimate allegiance. When anyone or anything besides God commands our ultimate allegiance – a ruler, a nation, economic progress, or anything else – we end up serving idols and inevitably get mired in deep and deadly conflicts.”
“We find it equally heartening that the God whom we should love above all things is described as being Love. In the Muslim tradition, God, “the Lord of the worlds,” is “The Infinitely Good and All-Merciful.” And the New Testament states clearly that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Since God’s goodness is infinite and not bound by anything, God “makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous,” according to the words of Jesus Christ recorded in the Gospel (Matthew 5:45).”
“For Christians, humanity’s love of God and God’s love of humanity are intimately linked. As we read in the New Testament: “We love because he [God] first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Our love of God springs from and is nourished by God’s love for us. It cannot be otherwise, since the Creator who has power over all things is infinitely good. “2
At the end of the Yale document, there is a long list of signatories from the Christian community. That phrase should be interpreted loosely. Among those endorsing “A Christian Response” are names like Leith Anderson (President of the National Association of Evangelicals), Timothy George (Dean, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University), Bill Hybels (Founder and Senior Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church), Rick Warren (Founder and Senior Pastor, Saddleback Church, and The Purpose Driven Life), Brian MacLaren (primary promoter of the Emerging non-Church) John Stott (Rector Emeritus, All Souls Church, Langham Place, London), and locally, David B. Miller (Pastor, University Mennonite Church, State College, PA). There are other names you would no doubt recognize, but these are some of the patriarchs of evangelicalism in America today.
Beloved, let me make a very simple statement: Muslims and Christians do not worship the same god. I never attended Yale Divinity School, but I have read my Bible. It’s in there and that is the end of the argument. If the historic Christian doctrine of the Trinity is true, then biblical Christianity is totally incompatible with the one universally held, fundamental doctrine that permeates every corner of Islam: Allah is the one true god, and he is one, not two and definitely not three. 3
Compatibility with Islamic thought is absolutely impossible for the Christian who says he believes in the deity of Jesus Christ. Of course, The Watchtower Society (Jehovah’s Witnesses) and other groups whom we would (and should) refer to as cults, do not have this problem since they openly deny Christ’s deity and refer to Christians as polytheists (as do Muslims). In fact, the Deity of Christ is one of the most common truths by which we measure orthodoxy, whether a religious movement is or is not a cult. How far are Evangelicals from the denial of Christ’s divinity?
We may not be as far away from cultdom as you think. One of the signers of A Common Word is the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, Leith Anderson.4 Dr. Anderson is very popular within evangelical circles having written several books on church management and leadership, and attained his position when the previous president of the NAE had to resign because of sexual “misconduct.” What is so glaringly ironic is the logo on the NAE website that states in a three-word phrase the purpose of the NAE: “Cooperation Without Compromise.” 5 They need to change the logo.
Thankfully, Dr. Anderson simplified things for us by listing what he hoped would be four results of this new dialog between Christians and Muslims:
• “First, mutual respect between the two largest religions on the globe. This includes a freedom to state what we each believe without pretending that there is comprehensive mutual agreement.”
• “Second, peace in places and between peoples who are hostile toward one another.”
• “Third, religious liberty where every nation allows its citizen to freely believe and worship even if that means changing what is believed and how worship is rendered.”
• “Fourth, an opening for future dialogue with the conviction that it is not good to live in either ignorance nor isolation.”
Regarding #1 - “Mutual respect.” Far from pretending that there is such a thing as comprehensive mutual agreement, there needs to be the universal reminder to every Christian on the planet that there is zero mutual agreement based upon clear biblical teaching regarding the nature of God Himself. We have no theological common ground. None. Therefore there can be no mutual respect.
Islam is a false religion in direct defiance of the first commandment (of the Ten): “You shall have no other gods before Me!” How are we supposed to respect a religion that officially and unanimously rejects the claims of our Lord and Savior to be equal to God the Father? Here is what Jesus said concerning Himself: “For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” (John 5:22-23, NKJV).
Does anyone need to be reminded that Islam does not honor Jesus in the same way as it presumably honors “God?” In this, they are more compatible with Judaism than with Christianity. They do not honor the true God because the true God sent His Son and we have this command in John 5 to honor both of them equally. To deny this honor to the Son is to forfeit all access to the One and Only true God. However, this equal honor is non-existent in Islam.
Dr. Anderson, the mutual respect for which you hope is impossible, unless the Muslim world repents of its denial of the Deity Christ. I do not think they will soon repudiate the Shahada, the first pillar of Islam: “There is no god but Allah, and Mohammad is his prophet.“ To be a Christian is to be in complete opposition to Islam and its non-god. That is a fundamental and irreconcilable difference. How can we respect infidels? How can we respect those who pray to a god that is not there? Is this a call for the cessation of evangelism among Muslims because we must respect their unbelief in the only Savior?
Regarding #2 - “Peace,” the cessation of open hostility. Dr. Anderson, to whom are you speaking? Are you suggesting that all the warmongering Christians and Jews all over the world should lay down their weapons and sign a peace treaty with the non-violent, non-aggressive, peace-loving, victimized Muslim populations of the world? The only word that fitly describes this hope is naivete’.
The war will never end until we are all Muslim or until Islam becomes so marginalized that it ceases to be a threat. Those carrying the guns in the name of “God,” those who are strapping bombs to their children for the sake of Allah, and beheading teenaged Christian school girls, and burning down buildings in response to political cartoons in Denmark, and destroying Christian churches all over the world, and dancing in the streets when the Twin Towers fell . . . , they will see to it that that never happens. How many times does the President of Iran have to state publicly that his desire is to annihilate Israel before we begin to believe it?
Conservative, moderate, secular, or whatever adjective you want to use to describe liberal, non-literal, unorthodox Islam, is utterly powerless and largely unwilling to control the terrorist “faction,” the “radical minority” in its midst, regardless of the wishes of the signers of A Common Word Between Us and You.
The way in which more and more of us will become Muslim (because it is very doubtful that more and more of them will become Christian through this increased dialog) is by blurring the lines of doctrinal distinction. This is accomplished through the propagation and endorsement of documents like the one you signed. This contributes greatly to our assimilation by Islam, not the propagation of the gospel. And, in spite of the fact that you signed it as an individual rather than as the representative of the NAE, my friend, you are the president of the NAE. The connection is there. The message you have inadvertently sent to many millions of Evangelicals is, “We’re not all THAT different from the Muslims.” Sir, you and your version of Christianity may not be all that different, but I am and mine is. It is irresponsible behavior like this that makes me embarrassed to be numbered among the Evangelicals of this country.
Regarding #3 - Religious liberty. As it stands now, the most democratic Muslim-majority nation in the world is Turkey. Several months ago, three missionaries were murdered there because they distributed Bibles. According to the murderers, the missionaries were a threat to the religion of Islam. This statement comes from people whose own holy book, The Koran, states that the Bible is also a holy book. But those who would distribute it threaten Islam and deserve to die?? Does this make sense?
Religious liberty is not a core value of Islam. Religious domination is. But in all fairness, that is also the desire of every true Evangelical. That is what it means to be evangelical. It is our stated goal to win the world for Jesus Christ. Guns and suicide bombers are not an approved means by which we accomplish that goal. However, that is not a problem for much of Islam. In fact, it appears to be one of the most effective ways of winning the world for Allah: convert or die. If you can’t win them, kill them. Either way, the world is ultimately filled with Muslims and Allah is presumably happy about that. Allah doesn’t appear to be the god of love all us Christians want to believe he is.
Religious liberty is a Christian value, not a Muslim one. Separation of Church and State is an American and a Christian conviction, not a Muslim one. It is anathema to Islam to have multiple religions, multiple gods, and a plurality of faiths. All other faiths must be eradicated, sooner or later, because Allah is worthy of it. In other words, we’re not getting religious liberty under Islam. Ever. It doesn’t exist now, and it never has. It would be anti-Islamic.
Regarding #4 - Continuing future dialog in order to avoid ignorance and isolation, presumably in the context of religion. Dr. Anderson, I think you have hit the nail on the head. The real issue here is ignorance. Christian ignorance. That is the key. Our own ignorance and naivete’ is the greatest weapon our enemies have. (Yes, they are our spiritual enemies.) As long as we don’t understand the fundamental differences between our two religions, but focus on what is the wrongly assumed “common ground” of loving God and my neighbor, they can present themselves as the purveyors of peace. The only people on the planet ignorant enough to believe such a thing are American Evangelicals, Christian liberals, and those who follow their lead. We are being led to the theological slaughter by religious leaders that can’t (or refuse to) see the threat because they are bereft of true spiritual discernment in this situation: Muslims don’t believe in God.
Dr. Anderson, you are the leader of a 30 million member Christian organization. Please lead in the right direction. I implore you to hear what I am saying and remove your name from this document. Please, for the sake of your constituency and the name of the Lord Jesus, recant your position. Muslims do not worship Christ, and therefore they do not worship God. We have no common ground because we have no common God. We cannot afford for you and your Evangelical colleagues to make these kinds of mistakes.
PS - Another good friend of mine (I actually have more than one friend. God is kind.) forwarded a link to John Piper's response to "A Common Word" and the Yale document. You may see his video on YouTube Here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTY-9FY13kw
1 http://www.acommonword.com/index.php?lang=en ; Emphasis mine.
2 http://www.yale.edu/faith/abou-commonword.htm
3 My good FIRE friend and missionary to the Muslim community, Ken Temple, suggested I make the following clarification to this statement:
"If the historic Christian doctrine of the Trinity (from the Latin, 2 words, Tri – unitas, “three in One”; One God in three eternal persons in love relationship) is true, and it is, then biblical Christianity is totally incompatible with the one universally held, fundamental doctrine that permeates every corner of Islam: Allah is the one true god, and he is one person or thing from all alone from all eternity, not two persons in a spiritual love relationship and definitely not three persons. Christians are monotheists, (Mark 12:29, I Timothy 2:5, I Cor. 8:4-6) but we are Trinitarian Monotheists. God is One; but He is love and relationship and that love relationship is the only personal being that fills the emptiness in the human heart."
"Muslims have translated the Trinity as “three-ness” rather than “three in One”. The English word Trinity loses the “unitas”, “uno” (one, unity, unity) aspect of communication because the word for one gets lost by the shortening of it. That is why you will see Theology books sometimes emphasize the Trinity with “the Tri-une God” or “Tri – Unity”."
I like the phrase, "Trinitarian Monotheists." That is very helpful, Ken. Thanks!
4 http://www.acommonword.com/index.php?page=responses&item=44
5 http://www.nae.net/index.cfm?FUSEACTION=editor.page&pageID=500&idCategory=1