Being Evangelized with Blessed Assurance

          We were living in married student housing and had at the time two preschoolers and a baby, when a very nice Asian Muslim came over to visit. She was a liberal Muslim, even a music student, aware that some factions of Muslims frown on music. She charitably confessed to singing classical Christian music, but she drew the line, however, at singing the Gloria Patre. I completely understood this boundary, for the Gloria Patre is dear to me as the standing up, memorized high point of a church service. Singing it I always look upwards in praise towards the cross and the sky. I rejoined her with my inability to repeat after my twinkle-eyed mother-in-law the Shahada, and we were off into a four-hour religious discussion.

          By the time she left our cordiality had leathered, and I was not just all-day-factory-tired but on the verge of resentful. She must’ve been equally surprised at the length of our discussion, maybe even at the upwelling of her own evangelism. We both tried: she, to convey the irresistible beauty of Islam, and I, to remain open. For Muslims, the religion of Islam is the culmination of the Judeo-Christian prophet cycle, which includes the beloved prophet Issa, Jesus; the Quran sets the tradition straight once and for all. It’s similar to the way Christians view the New Testament as a supplementary corrective to the Torah: why stay stuck in the old version when there is a definitive, all-inclusive update? My husband had also been genuinely surprised that I didn’t convert.

          One reason that Christian and secular Americans avoid Muslims is this very self-assured, sincere evangelism. Honestly, I wouldn’t be writing this blog if I weren’t concerned with Christian-to-Muslim attrition. I’ve even contributed to it with four Muslim offspring and now a daughter-in-law. However, another part of me says Eh? what’s the problem? they’re worshipping (and faith is good) the same monotheistic Creator called Allah by Arab Christians. What's more, my open-minded influence has a positive effect on the development of homegrown American Islam, through them. The twinge of bereavement I feel as a congregant during baptisms is a small price to pay for being an example of tolerance.   

          It takes understated courage, but it is possible to encounter Muslims without risk of loss of Christian identity. On the contrary, Christian humility as more than a stance or demeanor, but as a way of life, is not passive or weak, or easily erased. Rather, the humility it takes to undefensively hear out sincere Muslim proselytizers may strike Muslims as quaint, and most other Christians as absurdly foolish. However, there’s a proud history to Christian humility, and it’s needed now more than ever.