And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?Rev 6:9-10 (KJV)
To most Christians, Mohammedanism ; a religion that has from the seventh century to the present day, threatened, persecuted, killed Christians and converts and suppressed the preaching of the Gospel; is generally considered a Bad Thing.
Not however to David Schütz of Sentire cum Ecclesia. Mr Schütz, an ex-Lutheran pastor, now the Executive Officer of the Ecumenical & Interfaith Commission of the Romanist Archdiocese of Melbourne, has in a number of recent posts defended Mohammadanism from its Christian critics.
For instance in a post from August entitled: Islam: "Of God" or "of the Devil"? - he apparently argued that Mohammedanism is of God:
I was shocked recently by a priest who said to me that he prays every day for the downfall of Islam. As if to explain, he told me that he believes that Islam is “of the devil”, and that the world would be a better place if it had never originated.
Well. See my previous blog re “vilification”, but in return, I not only pointed out that it was perhaps a good thing that the Muslim religion had converted so very many from paganism to monotheism, but that we could have no idea what might have been the alternative. I can imagine Jews not being totally thrilled about Christianity, and even thinking that Christianity was “of the devil”, nevertheless, it was via Christianity that the names of Abraham and Moses, the Torah, the practice of monotheism, etc. etc. came to the entire civilised world, and surely that can be “no bad thing”. Likewise, has not Islam carried the name of Abraham, Moses, AND Jesus to the world? Albeit in a way that we would not endorse, nevertheless, can all this be “of the devil”?....Contrary to my friend’s prayers, Islam looks like it is here to stay. Perhaps this is because God is blessing them for blessing Abraham? Perhaps it is because, far from being totally “of the devil”, there is in fact something “of God” in the religion of Muhammad?[emphasis added]
Frankly I'm shocked that any educated Christian could so grossly mischaracterise the Mohammadan conquest, let alone the Gospel. The Mohammedans didn't convert "so very many from paganism to monotheism" - they converted many Christians from Christianity to Mohammedanism - through centuries of preaching but also murder, rape, threats, kidnapping, harsh unjust laws, and punitive taxation - indeed they converted many Christians from alive to dead, from wives to widows and concubines, from freemen to slaves. Two of the major homelands of historical Christinanity in North Africa and Asia Minor are now fervently Mohammadan areas. Surely it would have been a better alternative for these areas to have remained Christian and to have sent out missionaries with a Gospel that saved, rather than a false religion that condemns.
The position of the Christian church has always been that anyone who trusts in Jesus as the Son of God and the Savior of the world will be saved - and that those who do not believe this, are not saved. Instead of quotations about Abraham, and from the Pharisee Gamaliel perhaps some more relevant Biblical quotations in regard to Salvation would be:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. "(John 3:16-18 KJV).
"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."(John 3:36 KJV).
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."(John 14:6 KJV).
"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."(Acts 4:12 KJV).
As these quotations make clear it is not enough to give garbled and incorrect information regarding Moses, Abraham, Jesus and God that Mohammedanism does - this will not save souls. The problem is not only Mohammadanism but that the Church of Rome has added an incoherant semi-Universalism to its already existing heresies.
To quote from the WELS Q & A site:
Catholic church teaches two doctrines which, if taken literally, contradict each other. They teach both that one cannot be saved without being a member of the Catholic Church and that heathen can be saved. They reconcile these contradictory teachings by claiming that the heathen who live good lives are "anonymous Christians," that is, they are Christians without realizing it. According to this way of defining things, one does not need to be "enrolled in a Catholic parish" to be a "member" of the Catholic church, or as you say to be saved "through the Catholic church." A member of another church or religious organization is really a member of the Catholic church through baptism, which by right belongs to the Catholic church.This theory of "anonymous Christians" exposes the erroneous view of the Roman Catholic Church about the nature of the Christian faith. If they believe that works without explicit faith in Christ can make a person a "Christian," then the essence of Christianity is works. In this one doctrine they include the two opposite errors—claiming that the Catholic Church is the one saving church and claiming heathen can be saved without faith in Christ.
This idea of "anonymous Christians" and of Mohammadans being saved while remaining Mohammedans not only undercuts the clear teaching of the Gospel; it undermines the impetus to preach, the urge to convert and it betrays and makes meaningless the great personal sacrifices that Christians are undergoing in Mahometan lands to remain faithful to Jesus Christ.
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5.20 KJV)
1 comments:
My dear friend,
I do not hold to the doctrine of "anonymous Christians". This is a classic doctrine of Karl Rahner, but has never been taught by the Church. The evidence that the Church still holds to "no salvation outside the church" can be seen in the fact that it has never canonised anyone who has not been in full communion with the Catholic Church.
Nor am I arguing that in all points Islam is "a good thing". However, I am always wary of saying "I wish such and such had never happened". God makes all things work for good, even those things which have occured due to the evil of our hearts. There is no way that we can know "what would have happened" had Islam never arrived on the scene. Would things have been better or worse? We don't know. Bujt the possibility of militant paganism rather than militant Abrahamic monotheism doesn't bear thinking about.
Consider the Jew considering the Christian. Is Christianity a totally "bad thing"? Has not Christianity spread the Torah throughout the whole world? Has not Christianity proclaimed the name of the Lord God of Abraham from East to West? Should the pious Jew pray for the downfall of Christianity, or is there some good that the Jew can find in the Christian doctrine.
In other words, is the rise of Islam a mere contingency, or is it part of divine providence in some form or other? One must always remember the old adage "Cheer up, things could be worse; and behold, they became worse."
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