The Lausanne Global Conversation is on the World Wide Open Network
Author: Hussein Wario
Date: 21.11.2011
Category: Religious Liberty, Religious Liberty
While participating in a panel discussion at Moody Church recently, Dr. Erwin Lutzer asked me a question a Muslim man had asked him. He was trying to highlight the plight of persecuted church in Muslim majority countries. The Muslim had argued Islam was the true religion simply because there were no mosques turning into churches but there are churches turning into mosques. The question was, “Are there any mosques turning into churches?”
In my answer, I noted the only mosque I knew of in Cordova, Spain, which was turned into a church building. Muslims had conquered Cordova and turned a Catholic church into a mosque. It remained a mosque for a few centuries until Spaniards overthrew the city and turned the mosque into what it used to be, a church building.
How this Muslim man would claim Islam is a true religion based on mosques not turning into church buildings is baffling. I wonder if he knows most Muslim majority countries do not even allow repairs on existing church buildings let alone establishment of new ones, which is an avenue for turning mosques into church buildings!
I added, no mosques are turning into church buildings because the playing field is not leveled in Muslim majority countries. There is no religious freedom for non-Muslims. Many Muslims who secretly follow Jesus Christ would come forward and establish a place of worship for themselves if it weren’t for threats they face.
We need to tell our Muslim friends a building is not what constitutes a church. A church is a body of believers. A Christian—one who professes Jesus Christ is the Son of God and abides by His Word—is a member of “church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven.” This Church even has members who are of Muslim background in a country as restrictive and hostile to Christians as Saudi Arabia. Though without walls, this church is flourishing and if freedom of religion were granted, would convert mosques into church buildings.
Keywords: persecuted church, religious freedom, Muslim background believers
Views: 3788
Comments: 2
Recommendations: 0
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United States
Thank you for your post! I have never heard of that particular argument about the Islam versus Christianity. However, I do not think it is limited to Islam, I know many Christians who define church as a building and define its success by those terms.
In my mind, the church is growing in Muslim areas. It is true that due to the lack of religious freedom that you mentioned and I am sure you are more knowledgeable about than me, church buildings are not being built and claiming that is a reason why Islam is the true religion is false. I completely agree that Church is not about a building but about people. Similar to how a group of lions are called a pride, group of ants is an army, etc. a group of Christians is a church. If we hold to that definition, then there are many people who once went to a mosque are now a part of a church because of a change of heart to Jesus Christ.
15.05.2012
United States
@ harek:
I agree with your post. I am a small group leader at my church and we are discussing the church with these teens. We simply asked them the question, "What is the church?" Most did respond as a body of believers but there were several who said a building. Christianity is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and while being connected with believers is important the location is not. God can will work where His Spirit leads whether in a beautiful sanctuary or in a backyard by a fire.
13.04.2013
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