Evangelizing Muslims
Jun 28th, 2007, in News, by PatungChristian evangelizing efforts in Aceh.
In the area of Bener Meriah, Aceh Tengah, a video is being given away free, it is claimed, when people buy some kinds of snacks or candies, a video which features Christian songs and sermons. Faisal Aly, an official of an Islamic boarding school association in Banda Aceh, the Rabithah Thaliban Aceh, says: antara
It’s a fact, it’s upsetting the people of Aceh.
Faisal said efforts at Christian evangelizing to Muslims in Aceh, or the attempt to spread any other religion but Islam, could not be permitted, were criminal, and the police and attorney general’s office had to act against them.
Don’t let this issue upset the peace in Aceh.
If the Christians here say that they aren’t responsible then let’s work together to get to the bottom of this and find out who did it.
Faisal complained that the police were not following up on the Christianisation case adequately.
If the police can’t handle it then we will write to General Sutanto and president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono because this sort of thing never stops and it really disturbs the Muslims of Aceh.
40 Comments on “Evangelizing Muslims”
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Ihaknt says:
Here we go….But I like the area’s name…I wonder who named it.
Isn’t it up to people which faith to believe? Why is it a criminal act, if people doesnt want to believe in it then they simply will ignore it.
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Islam community is not confident that I will be able to retain its followers?
If they are confident, then why must they be afraid?
Just treat this as a friendly competition lah. -
Dimp says:
I didn’t know that simply by hearing or watching Christian songs/sermons you can become Christians, how about when you are walking and accidentally hear a Christian song, are you then accidentally become Christian?
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Sputjam says:
The koran states that religion is irrelevant.
Any who beleive in God and the hereafter and do good deeds of righteousness, for them there shall be no fear.
From what my understanding of the verse means that, if you have a religion, then the chances is that you will be doomed in the next life.
Why? because you have accepted partners besides God, by taking priests and clerics/ulamas as your mentor. God warns submitters (Muslims) against taking partners besides God. And all religion are idol worshippers, including present islamic religion (worship stones placed in holy cities) or Christianity (worship a man) or some even worship dead people.
So follow the path indicated in the koran, and study it. For it is the only guide acceptable, if only you understand. -
Arema says:
@Sylvester: I also think the same, but it is understandable why people in Aceh behave like that. It is a wrong method of evangelizing, which turns people away from Jesus rather than to Him. Be the salt and the light of the world, said Jesus. Do good things to others and love each other like how you love yourself, so everyone that see you will glorify your Father in Heaven. I think that is the correct one.
And unlike Islam who convert people to amass numbers, Christians evangelize based on genuine love for our brothers and sisters. We want all of you to receive the gift of Salvation through Jesus Christ.
The problem is, most Muslims will close their ear rapat-rapat, and switch off their mind once they hear Christians evangelize. They don’t even want to hear it. But nevermind, we do our job, and pray. God will do the rest.
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Saipul says:
Most of this stuff is made up. My friend worked for an NGO and was arrested and held without charge for 6 months because some Madurese accused him of being a missionary.
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Tomaculum says:
If the police can’t handle it then we will write to General Sutanto and president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono because this sort of thing never stops and it really disturbs the Muslims of Aceh.
And then they will burn the churches and they will go to heaven and Allah will embrace them.
Faisal said efforts at Christian evangelizing to Muslims in Aceh, or the attempt to spread any other religion but Islam, could not be permitted, were criminal, and the police and attorney general’s office had to act against them.
And burning down churchs isn’t criminal act.
Sighhhhh (a very long “sigh”).
It seems so that many moslems have almost zero self-confident. -
Hi Saipul,
Most of this stuff is made up. My friend worked for an NGO and was arrested and held without charge for 6 months because some Madurese accused him of being a missionary.
Unfortunately these things happen, not all of them are bad, but these few bad apples are creating the hatred towards the whole bunch. I hope that there are still sane people left to make things right.
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People in their right mind, aka sane, will just get over it and get out of there. I wonder if the place is still bener meriah, by the sounds of things, it seems pretty gloomy, ill thoughts, curigation, that’s not a way to live.
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Raden says:
In contrary, I am in the opinion that the ‘Syairah Islam’ itself must be banned from Aceh. I think we who live outside Aceh must write ‘petisi’ to SBY to withdraw the Syairah Law there, it is a kind of poison for human live. At least if we still care about Aceh is part of Indonesia instead of Mekkah
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Aceh province is situated smack right in the middle of the trade route between india/middle east/europe to far east/south seat asia.
The distance between aceh and Myanmar/Thai west coast and north malaysia is about similar.
If the governor has any brains, they would have focus on buildig aceh as a new trading area/tax free zone in order to benefit fom these God given privilege.
They could have built a port to attract exports from south east asian countries to aceh before mother vessels come and collect it for re-export to europe.middle east/India.
Similarly imports.
Abundant LNG is found in Aceh province. They could convert these into clean burning fuel such as diesel/petrol/kerosine as shell had done in Bintulu, malaysia, and sold the product as Shell V-power. It has no sulphur content and sold at a premium over the normal fuel. Big buyers could be Japan and korea, where environmental laws are strictly enforced. (They could also come in as investors).
Tourism is also a good income earner. But the airport will have to attract the airlines to it before this can be a reality.
Instead, all I hear from Aceh province, after decades of civil war, is a man made law disguised as from god called the syariah law.
It seems creating jobs and welfare services amongst its citizens are not important at all when compared to forcing them to attend prayers etc. -
IndoGood says:
Sputjam said:
If the governor has any brains, they would have focus on building Aceh as a new trading area/tax free zone.
The Indonesian governor surely has brain! The problem is they are afraid of to be called Kafirs or being killed by Muhammad’s ‘true’-followers.
This unwillingness of the governor to work properly toward the Islamic radicals can be seen clearly in many places of Indonesia for many-many years.The Indonesia’s lands and sees (including ACEH) are abundant of many good things. That is true!
What we need to make the nation become a great and healthy nation is a handful of courage to cut off totally all Islam extremists! -
Denny Crane says:
Lock and Load for Aceh,
If the western has stereotypes about Moslem then certainly it is obvious that Moslem have stereotypes too about them. The history tells how these two stereotypes can lead to world scale conflicts. The issue should be on how to resolve and clarify these stereotypes as I am sure that every religion in this world calls for peace and not for conflict for that matter.
Cheers
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Julita says:
Faisal complained that the police were not following up on the Christianisation case adequately.
If the police can’t handle it then we will write to General Sutanto and president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono because this sort of thing never stops and it really disturbs the Muslims of Aceh.
See you people, how strong it is, they need police. Faisal is going to contact the president. For what? Christian Videos? Just tell the people to accept the videos (I hope they are not going to peek first though!), trample or burn them. Biar tahu, and I don’t mind since video is just a thing.
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Dan says:
Its a very bad sign when ideas become illegal. The total lack of confidence on the part of the ulama towards Christianity and communism makes you wonder what they really think of their own religion.
On the other hand, Arema’s statement
And unlike Islam who convert people to amass numbers, Christians evangelize based on genuine love for our brothers and sisters. We want all of you to receive the gift of Salvation through Jesus Christ.
This might be true for yourself. But historically, pure rubbish. There is no qualitative difference between Muslim mujahidin and Christian crusaders. Destroying the native civilizations of half the world could not possibly be an act of “Christian Love”!!
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Abdul Khalid al Jumhuri says:
The message that Patung tries to underline (and I agree) here is the quality of the publication that ANTARA deliver out of Indonesian taxpayers’ (and that include me) money. I have seen it over and over that ANTARA’s publication of this type of a news is very frequent compared to other themes. I sensed that there is a specific agenda to put higher share of print, share of time, or share of show in the “declining Islamic tenets in Indonesia” kinda news.
IMHO, if I am the authority I will fire all ANTARA staff for making news out of stupid thing like this. If there is no news, so be it, there is no news; but wasting taxpayer money for inciteful news like this is immoral and criminal. I just hate to see the fact that ANTARA (which is a great national assets in Indonesia’s independence time) becomes WAHABBIAN PRESS OF INDONESIA. I hate the wahabis.
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Quazi says:
Antara is trash, that much is obvious. However, it’s not just a problem with the media, but with Indonesia at large. The Islamist trend is apparent in every wing of the Indonesian government. Have you ever wondered why, for example, employees at the Department of Religion (Depag) are 94% Muslim (see here)? That means only 6% of Depag’s employees represent non-Muslim faiths, yet according to the department’s own statistics 14% of Indonesia’s population are Christian, Hindu, or Buddhist.
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Dan: There is no qualitative difference between Muslim mujahidin and Christian crusaders. Destroying the native civilizations of half the world could not possibly be an act of “Christian Love”!!
Jlta: I am not comparing, I just want you to reason. If you want to have am honest discussion, I need your specification about “Christian love” destroying the native civilization of half the world. This is interesting, please, when and where?
The following is about the Crusade.
One among the many reasons, I repeat, the pilgrims going to Holy Land were attacked. Type Crusade and search in this blog we had a long discussion about it.
Thomas Madden : “A Concise History of the Crusades,”
After a few centuries of steady conquests, Muslim armies had taken all of North Africa, the Middle East, Asia Minor and most of Spain.
By the end of the 11th century the forces of Islam had captured two-thirds of the Christian world. Palestine, the home of Jesus Christ; Egypt, the birthplace of Christian monasticism; Asia Minor, where St. Paul planted the seeds of the first Christian communities “” these were not the periphery of Christianity but its very core.
And the Muslim empires were not finished yet. They continued to press westward toward Constantinople, ultimately passing it and entering Europe itself. At some point what was left of the Christian world would have to defend itself or simply succumb to Islamic conquest. -
Lock and Load for UN Alliance of Civilization
Thomas Madden : “A Concise History of the Crusades,”
After a few centuries of steady conquests, Muslim armies had taken all of North Africa, the Middle East, Asia Minor and most of Spain.
By the end of the 11th century the forces of Islam had captured two-thirds of the Christian world. Palestine, the home of Jesus Christ; Egypt, the birthplace of Christian monasticism; Asia Minor, where St. Paul planted the seeds of the first Christian communities “” these were not the periphery of Christianity but its very core.
And the Muslim empires were not finished yet. They continued to press westward toward Constantinople, ultimately passing it and entering Europe itself. At some point what was left of the Christian world would have to defend itself or simply succumb to Islamic conquest.This is very provoking indeed. In the recent scientific study conducted by BBC and cited by the UN, it is reported that there is a grave and acute mis-perception with regard to the spread of Islam, particularly on crusades. It is interesting to know that this mis-perception is caused mainly by the lack of field research from the side of the writers explaining about crusades. For more information, just google ‘alliance of civilization’ by the UN initiatives.
With regard to the prevailing debate on Muslim and Christian Love, I would argue that one must look at the teaching at first instance and not simply from the conduct of its believers. The former will obviously provide objective assessment compared to latter. When the law forbids a man to kill, yet the man still kills, we surely cannot simply say that the law needs to be changed because the man cannot follow the law.
Cheers
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None of this even mentions that Muslims destroyed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The evil Christian crusaders, on the other hand, preserved the Dome of the Rock during their two-century rule of Jerusalem.
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Saipul: None of this even mentions that Muslims destroyed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The evil Christian crusaders, on the other hand, preserved the Dome of the Rock during their two-century rule of Jerusalem.
The following information is from the web.
In the year 1009, al-Hakim, the Caliph of Egypt, ordered the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem destroyed. Workmen obeyed; and Yahia ibn Sa`id, an Islamic historian, wrote: “…the holy deed commenced on Tuesday, the fifth day before the end of the month of Safar of the year 400 of the Egira.” Converting from the Muslim calendar would place the destruction on or about this day, October 17, 1009..I
Below you will find why the evil Christians preserved the Dome of the Rock..
Dome of the Rock is sacred to three of the world’s major monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The site was first consecrated by the Israelites of Exodus. Later, according to Jewish tradition, Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac upon a rock that protruded from the centre of the platform. Later still, upon the same platform, Solomon erected his temple.
For Christians, in addition to the Old Testament Jewish associations, the Temple Mount was revered because of its place in the life and ministries of Jesus Christ. For Moslems, the rock was sanctified by the story of the Prophet Mohammed’s Miraaj or Night Journey to Jerusalem and back to Makkah [Mecca] (Qur’an 17:1). From the top of the rock, Mohammed began his ascent to Heaven. -
In the following you will see Mohammed was a good leader in many ways. I would not be surprised if his followers walk in his footsteps, no? It is unlikely for a Believer not to share his Believe with others, it is God’s command to spread the good news. I try to, but in no way insulting others, that is definitely not in God’s favor.
I am, here, using simple terminology. I want to call Muhammad a prophet and a politician as well. In his 23 year career, Muhammad showed a moral reformation through his prophetic career, and led a social and political reformation in Medina.
By: Ulil Abshar-AbdallaFor Believers the law of God is perfect and cannot be changed but men made law is not perfect and will continuously change. For example: China’s one child policy hopefully would change one day.
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dewaratugedeanom says:
Sputjam said
Aceh province is situated smack right in the middle of the trade route between india/middle east/europe to far east/south seat asia.
The distance between aceh and Myanmar/Thai west coast and north malaysia is about similar.
If the governor has any brains, they would have focus on building aceh as a new trading area/tax free zone in order to benefit fom these God given privilege.
They could have built a port to attract exports from south east asian countries to aceh before mother vessels come and collect it for re-export to europe.middle east/India.
Similarly imports.Very true. Banda Aceh could even outdo Singapore. Instead they prefer to waste their time and energy on religious trivialities which are solely founded on nonsensical beliefs. What’s wrong with these people? Do they suffer from a genetic defect or are they just plain stupid?
Also, every time Christianity comes up in the news, Muslims stubbornly jump on the Crusades wagon, events that happened almost a thousand years ago in a historical context which has no relevance whatsoever in modern times and certainly not in Southeast Asia. Did Muslims always act so civilized in those days, even among themselves? Look what happened to Sufi Muslims like Al-Hallaj and the atrocities between Sunnites and Shiites up to this day in the Middle East. Following this rationale the Balinese should have more reason to keep on brooding over the reason why Majapahit was forced out of Java.
Come on people. This is the era of quantum physics. Can we please go on with our lives and try to catch up with evolution instead of continuously digging up a distant past that never affected us personally? Should we like masochists continue to wallow in our own frustrations, barking at the moon with the fundamentalist coalition of underdogs? No wonder Indonesia is still a backwater.
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roger says:
Back then prior to the coming of foreign traders, Aceh was a beautifull and peacefull place with very little religious problems. A peace loving indogeneous Malay people. Then came the traders and the conqueres who brought wealth and power along with their believes which the indogeneous adapted, in order to gain respect from the more powerfull and wealthy comers. 1000 years later the shariah was adapted and yet wil it guarantee freedom of choice they once had. When the indogeneous adapted their believes it was free but it was also done for some reasons back then. What happened since then turmoil and will it continue?. May be the definition for freedom of choice still has to be thought in this democratic country. A good person of any believe will go to heaven and there no single religion in this world who does not promise heaven. So if will we all strive to have a place in heaven, it does not matter if our neighboors, friends or somene you are not familiar with are rich or poor or powerfull have their own believes. It one wants to be Islam, Hindu, Budhist, Christian let it be. We all want to go to heaven. Only good deeds and teaching without force will have followers.
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Enigmatic says:
Lets face it folks, if you want Muslims and Christians to coexist in harmony, you need to WORK.
A good person of any believe will go to heaven and there no single religion in this world who does not promise heaven. So if will we all strive to have a place in heaven, it does not matter if our neighboors, friends or somene you are not familiar with are rich or poor or powerfull have their own believes. It one wants to be Islam, Hindu, Budhist, Christian let it be. We all want to go to heaven. Only good deeds and teaching without force will have followers.
The correct words are BELIEF and BELIEFS.
But back to the point, who says Muslims and Christians cant live together? And yes, only good deeds and teaching WITHOUT FORCE will have followers. And strong followers at that.
Just look at Singapore.
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We better close all the churches in Aceh region, this is good for the sake of those Christian’s safety. Look at the hopeless Korean Christian missionaries being hostages in Afganishtan with those Muslim pagans. Sooner or later it could happen in our Indonesia’s Aceh soil ! the trend is going toward that direction
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Shiva says:
Raden
We better close all the churches in Aceh region, this is good for the sake of those Christian’s safety.
For Christians safety, I have a better suggestion.
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Shiva, what is your suggestion?
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Raden
Shiva, what is your suggestion?
Punish the culprits, not the victims.
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