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Rick Warren, yoked with Islam?

 

Even though everyone should want the best for themselves and their neighbors, there is something wrong with what Warren proposes. We should love our neighbors but Warren seems to have his priorities all wrong. The Gospel is the first priority but your lifestyle should match your beliefs. By this, I mean Christians first and most important duty, as presented by Christ is to spread the Gospel. Jesus wanted us to take care of the poor but in Matthew 26 just before Judas aggress to betray him, Jesus admonished his followers saying, “you always have the poor but you will not always have me.” There are two important points here. While Jesus was telling them that he was their priority because he was leaving soon, I think he points out that He in general is our priority. I believe He is also pointing out that there will always be poor people and it is not something that will be eliminated in this current world. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t care for the poor but that a war on poverty is pointless.

 

In these five things Warren continually sets aside the Gospel truth. He wants to fight spiritual emptiness but what does that mean? Christ said He is the only way. If people are spiritual but don’t know Christ it is emptiness. Other religions might not agree with this but this is what makes Christianity different, it’s about a relationship with Christ not religiosity or spiritualness. Corrupt leadership, sure this is a bad thing and I think we should fight against it, but should this be a priority for a Christian leader. Did Jesus focus on fighting the corruption of Rome? Pandemic disease, I’m all for doing what we can to stop disease, including donating money. But this is best focused on by doctors and health organizations, not pastors. Illiteracy, again this is something that we as individuals can put our time into in our community and it is noble to help other organizations work to educate people so they can have a better life but I don’t see these things as a priority for a Christian minister.

 

Warren apologizes like Obama. Warren has apologized for the Crusades and for excess in the war on terror by Christians. First, Warren has no right to apologize for anyone but himself. Second, if Warren were a good student of history he would know that despite popular myth, the crusades were not a war on Muslims to win converts but the Crusaders took action to stop Islam from subjugating the Christian world. I’m sure wrongdoings were done by some crusaders but to give a general apology does not represent the truth.

 

 

One of the major problems is that Warren is not just willing to work with Muslims but he wants to partner with them. The Bible say we are not to be yoked together with unbelievers, I think this speaks to marriage but to other partnerships as well. Your Christian message will be watered down if you yoke yourselves with unbelievers. I am for cautiously allowing Muslims to work with Christian servant organizations, as long as they don’t preach Islam and are willing to help under the rules of the organization.

 

Warren stated “You know as an evangelical pastor, my deepest faith is in Jesus Christ, but you also need to know that I am committed not just to what I call the good news, but I am committed to the common good.” As a Christian pastor, Warren should realize that the only common good that counts in the end is salvation. It’s great and important to show love to others. Jesus said what you do to the least of my brothers you do to me. There is no point in doing good works for the sake of doing works though. It’s likes saying I’m committed to doing good works. It should be that you are committed to Christ and out of that, good works will flow. Also I know Warren is speaking cautiously as he is being sensitive to his audience but should he really say “what I call the good news” or should he simply say, the good news? As Christians, we believe that Jesus is the good news, not just to Christians but to the world.

  

“You know what I discovered is when you walk down the middle of the road you get hit coming and going,” This statement by Warren is one thing he said that I believe he should learn from. We are not called to walk down the middle of the road. We are called to take the narrow path. Jesus warned us to be hot or cold but not to be luke warm or he would spit us out of his mouth. We are to reach out to others but we should be careful not to compromise our beliefs.

 

Many well known Christians such as Warren and Bono and to some extent Bill Hybels are into publicly making a big deal about works and caring for others and while they’re underlying ideas are good and loving, we should be careful not to follow a gospel of social justice. The Good news is that Jesus died for us to be reconciled with the Father, while we were yet sinners. That should not be watered down with anything, no matter how nice it sounds.

 

Rick Warren said he is not interested in dialogue but projects. Dialogue is the most important thing because it is through dialogue that we share the truth of Christ. It is popular to say that you should spread the Gospel at all times and use words when necessary. I think our actions should speak to what we believe so that our words don’t ring hollow but dialogue is still important. If someone else said what Warren said, I would give them the benefit of the doubt. Warren however, said to the Muslim audience that he doesn’t want anyone to compromise their conviction. I think we should treat others with respect but knowing the truth how can a Christian pastor say to someone from another religion don’t compromise your conviction? How does that leave room to share the truth?