November 16 1998

ARTICLE TOOLS

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Southcentral Asia

"'You are more Christian than Christ,' my Hindu friend told me."

Greetings from your brothers and sisters on the other side of the world, people you will one day meet when we all get to glory.

I am a native of a Southcentral Asian country where many Muslims and Hindus live. I myself, though, was raised by a Christian mother and attended a church that encouraged us to take the gospel to the villages around us. My message has always been and will always be that Jesus is the only Son of God and the only way to the Father. I believe that with all my heart. But in my experience of sharing Jesus with those of different religions, I have learned something that I think Christians in the Western church should take to heart as well: it is not Christianity we have to offer, but Jesus himself.

I remember the first time I heard a Muslim man read the passage of Jesus' birth from the Qur'an. It hit me that there was a lot about Jesus in the Qur'an that I could agree with, which meant there was a lot a Muslim could share with my view of Jesus. With my evangelical theological training, though, I was predisposed to throw out all things Muslim, regardless of the good in them or of the potential bridge they might provide for witnessing to our Lord. This posture led many believers in Jesus in my country into absurd practices, such as our young women getting married in white dresses when the only women in my country who wear white are widows.

A childhood friend of mine who is Hindu and who had risen to an important government post once told me, "The problem with you Christians is you're more Christian than Christ." I began to see there was a lot of truth to that. We were, in fact, far too judgmental. I began to see the reality that ...