Pray With Me For A New Believer - Ayaan Hirsi Ali Declares Her New Faith

It is an amazing story.  

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born 1969 in Kenya to a Muslim family.  In high school she became a radical Islamist and joined the Muslim Brotherhood - the parent organization of Hamas.  Her family soon emigrated to the Netherlands where she would leave Islam, and later be elected to the Dutch Parliment.  After the September 11 attacks on the the US, she became an outspoken atheist.  In her mind, religion of all sorts was dangerous.

While working on a documentary decrying the treatment of women in Islam, her director Theo van Gogh was assassinated by a radical Islamist.  She then moved to the United States and has built a career as a public intellectual ctiticizing Islam, advocating for free speech and the "New Atheism" - think Richard Dawkins.

Until Monday, October 13, 2023 when she posted "Why I Am Now A Christian" on the UnHerd.com site.

WHAT?!?!?!?

I am certain, her journey is not over.  Ali clearly moves through life and ideas at a different clip than I do.  There is a long sad history of people stepping forward with a confession of faith, and then being marketed by church culture as the "next new thing" only to then move on to their own next new thing.  Still, this is an interesting story and she is the one who made it public.  I'm glad to share it AND to ask you to pray with me for her.  Here are some thoughts:

That she might be well discipled and not marketed

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is clear a swift and incisive thinker willing to consider thoughts and act decisively on her informed - and transforming convictions.  That makes her just the sort of "trophy convert" that the "evangelical-industrial alliance" would want to pick up as a "celebrity" for "our side."  I'm guessing that she may be too smart to put up with that for long.

But could we - the church - just stop doing that to new converts in the first place?  Ali should be welcomed, loved and then discipled, just like another decisive thinker who converted to the faith from another religion.  I'm referring to the Pharisee Saul who who met Jesus on the Road to Damascus (Acts 9) went for three years to the desert. (Galatians 1:17)  Even after that, he only went to Jerusalem to meet with Peter and James, not to take a position in the spotlight.  It would be years of serving in a local church before Paul and Barnabas would be called to cross-cultural ministry and Paul the Apostle would emerge. (Acts 13)  Give people who come to faith time to dig deep roots in the Gospel, cultivate live-giving spiritual practices and integrate their thinking (Romans 12:2) with the whole counselof God.

That her faith commitment would be to more than just the "Ideas of Christianity"

I am fascinated and thankful for her original post.  There is clearly something wonderful happening here.  But I noticed that I don't see the name Jesus anywhere.  I am praying that her conversion would be more than an affirmation of the "idea/s" of Christian Faith.  I am with her 100% on those as I read, but I also know that transforming Christian faith is more than a collection of ideas.  It is a response of faith to the grace offered by a Personal God.  Jesus, The Word Made Flesh who was murdered but is now alive and reigning, is the source and center of all the ideas that flow from Him.

Join me in praying for this new sister-in-Christ.  Let her bask in the warmth of God's love, rather than the spotlight of celebrity.  We are happy to have her join in the journey of being found in, formed by and following Jesus Christ.

Here are some further resources

One Of The World’s Most Famous Atheists Becomes A Christian - This is a good summary on Mercator.com  CLICK HERE

Why I Am Now a Christian - Her original post on UnHerd.com. CLICK HERE

Ayaan Hirsi Ali Answers Her Critics - a 23-minute video interview - CLICK HERE 

What We Can Learn from Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Conversion - A helpful post from TheGospelCoalition.org - CLICK HERE

 

Who Are These People?!? Trying To Understand Hamas

A recent article in The Atlantic Monthly rocked my boat.  "Understanding Hamas’s Genocidal Ideology" by Bruce Hoffman - CLICK HERE - made the Hamas Covenant (1988) sound pretty outlandish to me.  So, a quick Google search and I could easily find an online copy of the full translated documented - with thanks (ironically!) to Yale Law School.  CLICK HERE    

All I know to say is that both the article and the Hamas Covenant are harrowing reading.  Hoffman seems correct to me when he says that the Covenant is reminiscent of Adolf Hitler's 1933 personal manifesto Mein Kampf.

Hoffman summarizes the 36 articles of the Hamas Covenant in this way:

• The complete destruction of Israel as an essential condition for the liberation of Palestine and the establishment of a theocratic state based on Islamic law (Sharia),
• The need for both unrestrained and unceasing holy war (jihad) to attain the above objective,
• The deliberate disdain for, and dismissal of, any negotiated resolution or political settlement of Jewish and Muslim claims to the Holy Land, and
• The reinforcement of historical anti-Semitic tropes and calumnies married to sinister conspiracy theories.

Reading the full text, I find 3 separate references to the Rotary Club (!!!!!) as part of the international Zionist conspiracy that must be resisted?  The Rotary Club?

After reading this I am no longer surprised that Hamas would build their command structure headquarters underneath a civilian hospital.

I am horrified to watch video of the carnage in Gaza right now - children buried in rubble, civilian deaths, the destruction of infrastructure.  But after reading Hamas' own words and Hoffman's analysis of them, those videos now remind me of the photographs taken after the Allied firebombing of Berlin and Dresden in World War II.  Horrifying?  Certainly.  Did they cross a line of justice?  Perhaps.  That is worth a hard discussion.  But Hamas sounds too much like the Nazis for me to find an easy resolution.  I'm not coming up with any slogans that fit on a sign or shout through a bull horn.

How does one separate Palestinian civilians from Hamas idealogues?  I'm not sure, but would love to figure that one out.  How does Israel wage war against Hamas in such a way that civilians are not injured, or just as disconcerting, radicalized to support Hamas? That is another sleepless night of prayer and pondering.

I'm not in a position to answer those questions, but I am in a position to raise them.  And I am using them as I pray.  My experience pastoring church members in the Washington, DC area who were involved in national security settings has lead me to pray in this way:

• For people I do not know
• Who are tasked with making decisions I am not faced with
• Involving facts that I do not have
• That have consequences we cannot completely project.

As always, if you would like to talk more, think I missing something, have more to offer or would like to hear more, call the Harderwyk office and let's arrange a way to get together.  But for now .  .  .

Please join me in praying.

Reflecting On Waging War With Help From 15 Centuries of Believers

 It's been hard for all of us to watch the ongoing carnage of suffering in Ukraine and now in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.  It has been even harder to sort out what to think and pray as I watch.  In response, I've gone back to refresh my memory on what is called "Just War Theory."  I think of it as the thinking of smart Christians for nearly 15 centuries on the matter of war for believing Christians.

History generally looks to St Augustine as the first to speak directly to the questions.  The story goes that a soldier asked Augustine if it was permissible to be part of the military and be involved in the killing of war.  After all, Jesus had a number of well-known sayings: Turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39), Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God (Matthew 5:9) among them.  Augustine pointed out that "peacefulness in the face of a grave wrong that could be stopped by only violence would be a sin."

From there, the thinking developed to clarify foundations for the "right going to war" (jus ad bellum) and the right conduct of war (jus in bello)."  These can be summarized as following:

jus ad bellum ("right to go to war")

Competent Authority

• Only "duly constituted public authorities" can initiate war.  Dictatorships, Anarchists, rioters are examples of authority structures that are ruled out.

Probability of Success

• The reason for going to war must be reasonably achievable.

Last Resort

• All other options - diplomacy and blockade for example have been exhausted

Just Cause

• The reason for going to war must be just in itself.  Revenge, economic gain are ruled out and the protection of innocent life in immanent danger are legitimate guidelines.

jus in bello ("right conduct in war") - how combatants are to act or should act:

Distinction

• There is a distinction between non-combatents and combatents as the war is conducted

Proportionality

• Damage resulting from waging war - paricularly colatteral damage to non-combatents - is not excessive compared to the security and military advantes gained

Military Necessity

• War is waged with a military objective to defeat an enemy.

Fair Treatment of Prisoners of War

• Captured enemy combatents are held as no longer being a threat.

No Means Used That Are Intrinsically Evil

• In accomplishing the military objective no "intrinsiclly unjust means" - think rape for example - are to be used.

CLICK HERE to link to a clear, 2-page summary of Just War Theory for students from the Guildford county, NC school system.  I'd encourage you to "print and ponder."

Are you the more the video-watching type?  CLICK HERE for a ten minute presentation from Grand Canyon University professor Dr. Paul Raabe.  Watch it with the student summary above in hand.

The Wikipedia Entry on Just War Theory is also pretty helpful and fair with more detail and history. Their devinition: "a tradition, of military ethics that aims to ensure that a war is morally justifiable through a series of criteria, all of which must be met for a war to be considered just." CLICK HERE 

As you can see, "Just War Theory" it no so much a formula  - plug in some data or opinions and out pops you justified answer - as it is a framework of helpful questions to ponder.  Could this make for helpful personal reflection?  Civil conversation around the table?

This War Shows the Weakness in Just War Theory is a thoughtful piece on the challenges and shortcomings of Just War Theory  when applied to the current Israel/Hamas war.  CLICK HERE

More Resources - Without Comment

BreakPoint Ministeries

• How Do We “Do Unto Others” When the Others Want Us Dead? - CLICK HERE
• Oppenheimer Reminds Us of Just War Theory - CLICK HERE
• Ten BreakPoint Broadcasts related to "Just War Theory" - CLICK HERE

Public Discourse Online Magazine

• Just War Theory Isn’t Obsolete - CLICK HERE
• Let’s Talk About Just War - CLICK HERE

Providence Magazine

• The Just War as Christian Tradition - CLICK HERE

University of Notre Dame Press

• Just War and Christian Traditions - CLICK HERE