http://cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2010/02/03/amanpour.mother.daughter.seg.cnn
This link is to a video about Yvonne Ridley, a female Scottish journalist, who converted from Christianity to Islam after being taken captive in Afghanistan. She discusses her conversion with her mother, Joyce. I will admit that I watch such videos with skepticism. I look for the bias or slant that the producer has, just as I try to understand my biases. I encourage you to watch this as a means of challenging what you know and believe.
Several questions and observations I had as I watched this:
How much of grounding did she have in the Christian faith before converting to Islam? She doesn’t say anything about having read the Bible only the Koran. How much do you or I know about the Koran? How do or would we respond to this woman about the truth of her faith?
One thing I noticed is that they did not talk about truth, but about feelings and lifestyles. Many religions offer practices, beliefs, and commands that are appealing to our senses and desires; but the question does not rest on this but the truth. We as Christians fall short of our calling to share the good news of Jesus Christ when we focus solely on the physical appeals of Christianity and not the truth of His reality.
We follow Christ because He is who He says He is-attested to through historical events and scriptural evidence.
Stories like this remind me of the importance I have as a husband and father to teach my children the truth of what I believe. I must know what I believe and why I believe it and why I don’t believe other things. It is more than a matter of telling them that they should believe as I do, but showing them why. I am a sinful and inconsistent man who does not and will not live up to all that the Bible teaches in the way of lifestyle commands, so if I just leave how I live my life as the example for my children I will fail them in their spiritual education-their quest for truth. I must instill in them the truth that faith in the one true God is not about me, but about Him. I strive to live a life that reflects Christ and will serve as an example to others, but ultimately everything rests on His truth.
I am saddened by this story because it shows the path many people will take when they do not know the truth. They may not choose Islam. It may be new age philosophy or Unitarian teachings or any number of other religions or even no religion at all. The point for me is that we must know what and why we believe so that we can share and persuade others to know that truth as well. In Colossians 1:28-29 Paul says, “We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.”
Our children converting to Islam may not be a strong concern for us here in north Alabama, but they are and will be confronted with other worldviews on a daily basis. What do we or will say to them as we seek to lead them to embrace a proper biblical worldview?
Seeking and Serving Christ,
Dan
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