- I remember the first time I took an imam
deer hunting in East Texas.
That's right, you heard it right.
I took an imam deer hunting in East Texas.
He had visited my church
because we were having a special event.
He heard me talking to one of my leaders
how that I was gonna go deer hunting with him.
And he said, "Bob, I've never been deer hunting.
"Would you be willing to take me?"
And I looked at him and I thought for a minute.
I said, "Zia, I would.
"But if you go dressed like that running through the woods
with a 12 gauge in your hands yelling, "Allahu akbar."
We're all gonna die.
(gun clicking)
If you're willing to put on a T-shirt,
slick your hair back,
speak with a Mexican accent, I'll take you.
So I took him and we had a blast.
My life has been changed radically
by all the friendships
that I have with Muslims and imams
and Jews and Buddhists and other people.
But it happened because I learned to be friends with them.
I'm Bob Roberts, pastor of NorthWood Church,
right outside Dallas, Fort Worth, Texas,
speaking for the Emir-Stein Center,
answering the question,
why do Evangelicals dislike Muslims?
Now that may sound like a negative thing
but I'm sorry to say it's true.
As a matter of fact
our own research says that 57% of Evangelicals
have a negative view of Muslims.
The only group who has a worse view?
Evangelical pastors.
And what does that mean?
It means Evangelical pastors
from pulpits and how they come across,
are the primary people
who are spreading among Evangelicals negativity.
It has to stop.
Why is it we Evangelicals struggle with Muslims?
Let me give you three reasons.
Here's the first one.
We don't know any.
We simply don't know any Muslims.
We do a thing at our church every single year
where hundreds of Muslims come and Christians.
And we have a table
where you can sign up at the end of the service
and at the end of the eating time,
and go to a Muslim's home
or they can come to a Christian's home
and we get to know one another.
And it's amazing what they wind up telling me.
The Christians, after they've been to the Muslims' homes
and they've been with them.
And they say, "You know, Bob,
"We never realized that they're just like us.
"They're not extremists.
"The views that we had,
"the crazy things about Sharia
"and all Muslims are like Al-Qaeda and ISIS,
"is just not true.
"They're as afraid of them as we are.
"And Bob. did you know
"more Muslims are persecuted by the extremists
"than any other group?"
And I sometimes grin from ear to ear
because what's happened now,
they're learning about who Muslims are
not from a 30-second soundbite on the news
but from a personal relationship they have with someone.
Here's a second reason,
Christians struggle with Muslims
is sometimes we have crazy eschatology
or what we believe about the end times
and how Jesus comes back.
We Christians have a thousand different views
about how he's coming back.
And here's the reality,
we actually don't know exactly how it's gonna happen.
Even people who agree with one another
will argue aggressively about how it's gonna happen.
Here's the only thing we know for sure,
Jesus is coming back
to set things in order, to bring peace,
and to put the world at ease.
That's all we know.
But some of us have these crazy ideas
that the Scriptures don't necessarily teach,
like the Jews have to go back
and the temple has to be rebuilt.
And so bad speculative theology,
things that we don't even know
cause us to look at one group of people,
and we've gotta watch out for them
but we've gotta be against these other people.
There are 1.7 billion Muslims in the world.
I don't want speculative theology,
things I don't know for sure,
to get in the way of me having a relationship with them
and being able to live the life of Jesus
and share the good news of Jesus
because I look at just one group of people.
Do we love the Jews?
Sure we love the Jews.
But we equally love the Muslims and the Arabs
and the Palestinians and everyone else.
Crazy theology makes us do crazy things.
Here's the third reason
I would say that Christians don't like Muslims.
This is gonna be tough but it's true.
It's because we've rejected the Gospel of Jesus.
Bob, what do you mean we've rejected the Gospel of Jesus?
We're Christians,
we believe in the authority of the Scriptures
and what Jesus did.
That may be true.
But the reality is,
when we don't do what Jesus says,
we've rejected the gospel.
And what is the essence of the Kingdom of God?
It's love.
So what does Jesus say?
Love God, love one another,
love your neighbor,
love your family.
Jesus even says love your enemies.
In other words, no one's left out.
We should never dislike someone.
We should never hate anyone.
We've been commanded by Jesus
to do only one thing, love.
Jesus said this,
"Greater love has no man than this,
"than to lay down his life for his friends."
I remember one time going to Afghanistan
to visit a friend of mine.
And that friend's dad was killed
by some people in the country.
I wanted to go and honor him.
So I go and I don't tell him I'm coming
so that he won't know
because I didn't want him to come pick me up
because being identified with me could cost him his life.
I get off the plane,
who's there to pick me up but my friend Umar.
"Umar, why are you here?"
"I'm here, Bob, because you are honoring me
"and I wanna honor you."
"But Umar, I'm not even a Muslim and you could die."
He said, "It doesn't matter, Bob,
"if you're a Muslim or a Christian,
"you're my friend."
Jesus said it another way.
"If any man will come after me,
"let him deny himself daily,
"take up his cross and follow me."
That's the way that we have to love others.
To take up our cross,
to put our lives on the line for others.
Jesus also said,
"Greater love has no man than this,
"than to lay down his life for his friends."
That is exactly what Umar was doing.
If we Evangelicals are going to love Muslims,
then the most critical thing that we have to do
is to love like Jesus
to the degree that we're willing to put our life on the line
for somebody's religious freedom
even if it means
that we totally disagree with their theology.
I want you Muslims to know,
there are many of us as Evangelicals,
you matter to us.
We love you.
(reflective music)