Tonight, my Pastor gave a brief review about his recent trip to Indonesia. He said a lot, but one anecdote stood out.
At one place, there is a baptist church that meets every Sunday. (duh, there are a lot of them that do).
Yea, but how many baptist churches do you know of that meet in a Islamic Mosque?
If there were a local Islamic fellowship in your community, and they needed a place to meet and worship, is there a Christian church that would allow it?
Should they allow it?
7 comments:
Shoot, most Baptists I know wouldn't even let the Pentecostals have a service at their church.
It IS a touchy thing, but it is an interesting question. One guy I discoursed with last week even claims that it's "slighting" God to have an American flag in the sanctuary, and that saying the Pledge of Allegiance is violating the "one God" principle. This was a Christian, not a Jehovah's Witness.
Many would be highly offended by allowing Muslims to meet in a Baptist church, or even Seventh-Day Adventists.
In my "basic" response, it's evidence that we don't really grasp I Cor 6:19 and that we think the church BUILDING is still the only place God "lives".
That said, I would have a hard time with the Muslim use of a Christian church.
Just my nickel :)
I would tend to agree. I remember one of the first campmeetings the SDA had at Lake Junaluska -- there was quite a furor, if I'm not mistaken. Not from the Methodists who own the place, but all the others around.
Who knows.
I'm still pondering.
Well, I gotta say, no way. It surprises me the Muslims let them do it. It seems they would consider that sacrilege.
I was really surprised, as well. I wonder if it was a true "mosque," or if it was just a building where they met. I dunno.
My other thought was whether or not a church's by-laws and constitution would allow it.
Bernard, what say you? You are the resident BL&C guru.
Ours do not forbid or allow it, specifically, to the best of my knowledge.
If we follow the regulative principle, only what is specifically ALLOWED in the BLC would be permitted, which means we would not. If we follow the normative principle, we could allow it since it is not specifically disallowed.
I doubt many Baptist churches think of this one. It would probably fit better in a Policies and Procedures manual, but it's commonly "accepted" that only the church that owns the building meets there, and anyone who is not a member but uses the facilities (weddings, etc.) has to pay for the privilege.
There would be logistical problems even if a church of like faith wanted to use "our" building. You've seen what a quartet arguing over the sound system can cause; just imagine the furor when the "renters" leave too much trash in the pews....
Daryl's comments (and some other things I have read) lead me to believe that MANY Muslims actually think they are Christians, because they "believe in Isa", too. I think there's a tremendous naivete involved, and probably very little understanding of Christianity. It's possible, in my way of seeing things, that the Muslims don't know who they are REALLY lending their facility out to. Not sure.
Ours do not forbid or allow it, specifically, to the best of my knowledge.
If we follow the regulative principle, only what is specifically ALLOWED in the BLC would be permitted, which means we would not. If we follow the normative principle, we could allow it since it is not specifically disallowed.
I doubt many Baptist churches think of this one. It would probably fit better in a Policies and Procedures manual, but it's commonly "accepted" that only the church that owns the building meets there, and anyone who is not a member but uses the facilities (weddings, etc.) has to pay for the privilege.
There would be logistical problems even if a church of like faith wanted to use "our" building. You've seen what a quartet arguing over the sound system can cause; just imagine the furor when the "renters" leave too much trash in the pews....
Daryl's comments (and some other things I have read) lead me to believe that MANY Muslims actually think they are Christians, because they "believe in Isa", too. I think there's a tremendous naivete involved, and probably very little understanding of Christianity. It's possible, in my way of seeing things, that the Muslims don't know who they are REALLY lending their facility out to. Not sure.
Sorry for the double post... Thank you, Blogger!
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