Introduction
One of my assignments for a pastoral theology course was to analyze Christianity Today’s article on Christian Churches allowing Muslims to worship on their grounds. Below is my abridged response to this serious issue. I feel that this issue is something that Christians need to be made aware of. Do we open our church buildings up to false worship, Muslims, Mormons, and so forth? Why or why not? The full Christianity Today article is attached for your reading pleasure.
Summary
Where is the line between fulfilling the Great Commandment of Love God and Love People (Matt. 22:36-40) and balancing strict commands regarding false religions (2 John 10-11)? This is the issue that Christianity Today introduces in their article. They give two examples of churches that decided to open their doors and allow Muslims to worship in their church buildings while mosques (and or Islamic Centers) were being built.[1] Both of the pastors basically promote that Christians need to acknowledge that Jesus is the only way to the Father, but “we must also manifest the Father’s love (what would Jesus have us do?).”[2] This question is paramount for pastors and Christians alike. Therefore, should pastors open their church buildings to allowing Muslims and or other non-Christian religious groups into their buildings for worship? These churches are technically the Lord’s but the pastors and leadership teams have been entrusted to shepherd a local flock, which includes protection from false teaching.
Christianity Today’s article does a fair job introducing the issues but falls short in promoting one view or the other. It closes,
Ultimately, as these (issues) and others confront us, the answers may be a matter of wisdom rather than an obvious application of biblical teaching. They will also reflect the deployment of broader theological principles such as the sacramental nature (or lack thereof) of space and place.[3]
It would have been preferable for the author of the article to make a judgment call and defend it biblically. Therefore, this response paper is going to do two things: biblically promote why it is wrong to open a church to false worship and give a personal application section.
Related Issue
The related question that arises and is also introduced in the article is the issue if Christians do not open their church buildings, how far does this boycott go? Do individual Christians who are plumbers, architects, and so forth refuse to assist or service people of other religions? “Does the Golden Rule apply to congregations as it does to people?”[4] While this issue is peripheral, a brief answer would be that individual Christians should do good deeds for these people and show them the love of Christ to further the Kingdom (see Mark 16:15 and 1 Cor. 9:22). This will be addressed more in the Application section.
Response
Issue One: What Would Jesus Do?
In the 1990s, it was popular to use the slogan, “What would Jesus do?” Unfortunately, it is not the best slogan or question because Jesus is the Son of God, the second person in the Trinity. When a person came to Jesus, or He to them, with a request for healing, He healed them (see Luke 7:1-10 for one example of many). Regardless of view on charismatic gifts, Jesus was endowed with more power from the Holy Spirit than people ever will be and thus He was able to accomplish things that only the Messiah can. One of the pastors interviewed for the article claims, “a matter of his United Methodist congregation modeling the love of Jesus to strangers, just as Jesus had welcomed them.”[5] Did Jesus really welcome them? In the Gospel of John, there are two statements of Jesus telling people “go and sin no more” (John 5:14; 8:11). The theology behind those statements is not that they became perfect but that they would live a changed life and sin less as they grew in the Lord. So, while Jesus did welcome all people, He also challenged them to live a changed life.
Along with this is the issue of how would Jesus handle the other world religions. During Jesus’ First Coming, His primary focus was Israel (Matt. 15:24, John 10:16; 11:52). With His primary focus being Israel, this means that His main religious interactions where with the Jewish religious establishment. Matthew 23:1-39 contains seven woes and judgments against the Jewish religious leaders. Below are a couple verses that contain some of the more harsh language by Jesus.
But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
(Matt. 23:13-15 ESV)
This demonstrates that Jesus took people’s souls very seriously and gives strong judgment against those who do not preach the Gospel. Sadly, one pastor in the article says, “It is (opening the church door to Muslims), I think, the fullest possible expression of what we believe about Jesus.”[6] It might be time for him to rethink what the Bible says about Jesus.
Issue Two: Good Works Versus Leading Astray
“Does facilitation of false worship violate the love command?”[7] What an interesting question, but it is not best one. A better question would be how can I fulfill the love command without enabling people to continue on their journey to eternal separation from the Lord? If churches facilitate false worship, they are either directly or indirectly promoting to the general population that they do not believe Jesus is the only way. What open doors to false worship show skeptics and the world is that all or most roads lead to some kind of heaven or positive eternal life. Jesus declares in regards to good works, “… let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16 ESV). This is one of many statements found throughout the New Testament that address good works. What is evident from this statement by Jesus is the purpose of good works. They are to give glory to the Father and the context of the passage is about being a light and salt to the world. It is not possible to be a light and salt to the world by enabling false worship.
Application
I must confess that I had presuppositions against allowing non-Christians to use church buildings for worship. This article has helped me develop a biblical framework to argue against the use of consecrated church buildings for false worship. The article does bring up the extreme other side of the arguments about Qur’an burning and protesting the building of Mosques which is wrong in all circumstances.[8] In no way are Christians supposed to make a show of burning books of other religions or protesting their civil freedoms (building their own religious institutions) which are protected by United States law. Also, individual Christians that are in positions to help out people that follow other world religions, such as plumbers, have wonderful opportunities to witness and be a light to those people as they assist them or service something for them. Therefore, pastors should not tell their congregations to boycott helping those people on an individual basis but should rejoice at the opportunity. But in no way am I or leadership at any American church obligated to open our buildings up to false worship.
Conclusion
In closing, it is wrong for pastors and church leadership to open their buildings for false worship, regardless if it Muslims, Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, or anyone else like that. It is too bad that the author of the article did not interview anyone who had a solid biblical argument against opening up church buildings to false worship. By interviewing those who promote allowing false worship, the author is either directly or indirectly promoting the practice. As displayed throughout this paper, the biblical texts do not want us to enable false worship (reference 2 John 10-11 and Matthew 23). Actually, Christians are called to draw people out of the world and into a relationship with Jesus Christ (Rom. 12:1-2, 1 Co. 5:9-13). Finally, this is not meaning that Christians are to become hermits or live in communes but are to strive to live a holy life by the empowering of the Holy Spirit (John 15:26; 16:13).
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
Muslims in Evangelical Churches | Christianity Today
