Where is Tim?

I will be away from home and the office from February 23 to March 13.  Ouch! 

If you need to contact me, the best way is to send me an e-mail. 

It is actually possible to phone me, but it costs me a lot to get your call.  You also need to adjust for the time difference.

 

If my phone is off, I will be checking my voice mail messages at the office.  You can leave me a message at +1(925)935-7640 and I should get it within a day or two. 

 

Here is where I will be.

 

Guatemala

February 24: In Guatemala visiting friends.  Ricardo and Elisa Hernández (Guatemalan serving in Senegal), Ciria Yela (fomerly PMI-USA, now living in San Cristobal, Alta Verapaz), Gerber López (Director of Agencia Misionera América Latina and sender of missionaries), David and Dora Amalia Ruiz (President of COMIBAM), Jorge Mario Ramirez (Administrator of the Church of God Center (IDEC) ).  Sleep at the home of Pedro Samuc from Santiago, Atitlán who promotes the use of the Scriptures in Mayan languages.

 

Costa Rica

February 25:  Fly to Costa Rica in the morning for a week with a short-term mission team from Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church who will be working at Roblealto Bible Home (for children), founded by the Strachans (founders of our mission, LAM) 75 years ago

February 26:  Preach at Iglesia Bíblica Nazareth in San José in the morning, Lunch with Cliff and Linda Holland, and preach at Iglesia Bautisa El Bosque in Zapote in the evening.

February 27 & 28:  Work with the Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church team at the Children's Home

March 1:  Visit ESEPA and possibly teach a Perspectives Course.  Visit friends Pablo Mauger, Olman Montero

March 2:  Spend the Day at Roblealto.  Carlos & Yamileth Abarca (Latin America Coordinator for PMI) and Stan Jeter (CBN News/Mundo Cristiano www.MundoCristiano.tv) should be joining us for lunch.

March 3:  Visit San José with WCPC team.

March 4:  Debriefing and departure for Guatamala 

 

Guatemala

March 4:  I spend the night at Hugo and Rhoda Morales' home. 

March 5:  Travel to Granada, Spain via LAX and London.

 

Los Angeles

March 5:  Spend the day with Carlos España between flights.

 

London

March 6:  Arrive 12 noon at Heathrow and leave 16:15 from Stansted.  Arrive Granada around 8pm

 

Granada, Spain

March 7-9  Executive leadership team of PM Internacional, led by Allan Matamoros. 

March 10  Meetings with PMI friends and colleagues for discussing a variety of shared tasks.

March 11  Travel to London

 

London

March 11-12  Weekend with my friend Bertil Ekstrom, (World Evangelical Fellowship--WEA--Missions Commission and former President of COMIBAM), who is working on his doctorate at All Nations Christian College.

 

HOME!!!!!

March 13 Fly home from London to San Francisco.  Finally!

 

 

 

Pipes or Piper? Jesus and the response to Muslim outrage

I love this article by John Piper. His comments about Jesus can point us to the way ahead in a world that is in grave danger of dramatically increased violence and of a great reduction in human hope about the future.

Whenever more news comes out about a new and more violent reaction by some Muslims against the West, I worry some will use the news to justify a violent response of our own. We say, "they are closed. They leave no room for dialogue. They hate us. It's either kill or be killed," etc.

When we look inside Western values for something to help us face the Islamic challenge and assure a better future than constant war, we get stuck. The geopolitical option soon looks like the only way out of the mess we are in. But the geopolitical option has serious trade offs (war, loss of freedoms, the risk of increasing alienation between the West and Islam, etc.).

Attempting to preserve the Western value of toleration, some suggest dialogue will help. A first reading of Daniel Pipes' most recent article "How the cartoon protests harm Muslims" seems, at first, to recommend this option.

He begins by outlining how Muslims and the West are increasingly "disengaging" in many of the areas important to maintaining geopolitical relations: commerce, investments, intergovernmental relations, tourism, immigration, foreign aid, education, etc.

There is a serious "wall of separation" separating Muslims from Christians. While I don't always agree with Daniel Pipes , I agree with his premise that the path the world is taking will lead to greater disengagement. The Islamic world will increasingly disengage (with some hostility) from the West and the West will disengage (also with hostility) from the Islamic World.

He would probably agree that disengagement between Islam and the West can be harmful for the future of humankind.

Nonetheless, we have to ask ourselves some questions:

• What good will dialogue do?
• Why should we expect that exposing more Muslims to Western ways will cause those Muslims to appreciate Western ways. This is a big leap especially when intellectual foundations radical Islam were laid by Muslim clerics and others who have lived in the West and been exposed to "the best the West has to offer." Why would we expect the same sort of contact to produce different results in the future?
• Do we really think that increased contact between Westerners and Muslims will change Westerners and make them more open to Islam?

I question whether Pipes is offering dialogue at all when he writes: "For everyone's sake, it is important that Muslims begin more successfully to negotiate their path to modernity, not to isolation." This is not dialogue. It is a one-way conversation. In this conversation, the West offers the solution and Muslims are "free to take it or leave it".

Would it ever be possible to get all the parties to agree to rules of dialogue like those offered by Daniel Dennett (clearly from a western perspective)? What reasons would any of them have to do it his way?

If you think about it, it is next to impossible for the secular West to offer true dialogue. It isn't open to changing itself. The West would just not be the West any longer, if it bowed to Islamic demands.

In spite of the failures of dialogue, I do think Christians should actively and intentionally break down the barriers keeping Muslims and Christians from knowing each other. Why? Do I think it will work? Won't increased violence between Muslims and Christians be taken as proof that breaking down barriers didn't work? Will this, like all the failures in the relationship of Islam and the West over the last 1300 years, be just another reason to lead the West to defend its interests by using political, economic and military power?

Christians should seek out Muslims and accept their friendship. I believe God Himself wants to take an active part in such friendships. He is actively making himself known when people meet and get to know each other. He is actively at work when people follow in the steps of Jesus.

Piper's article tells us why Jesus changes the rules of the game. There is danger in John Piper's article, though. Christians can use John Piper's arguement to say "Jesus is better than Mohammed, so you should be a Christian." It does not follow that Christians are thus better than Muslims. Muslim resistance to Christian arrogance is not persecution. Under the circumstances, Christians should be careful not to blame Muslim for "resisting" the gospel. The true problem is not resistance, but lack of contact. The vast majority of Muslims have never met a Christian. It would require time, intentionality and effort for them to meet and understand the rare Christian who is willing to bear insults for their sake like their Master did.

If Christians read Piper's article and choose to live as Jesus did, leaving their comfort and privilege to go and to live out their discipleship in Muslim communities, God will make Himself known to all of us. Both Christians and Muslims will get to know Him better. This should motivate Christians. We will know God better only when we are willing to follow Him and bear insults in Jesus' name, even to the point of wasting our lives through the kind death that can follow the insults.

"End of the Spear" and the struggle between Islam and the West

I went to see The End of the Spear today. Wow!

Go to the site and click on Behind the Spear and read it.

You dare not miss the first lines of the narration of the movie. It poses the question, can mankind, from different cultures, ever hope to get along? Can we live together without killing each other? The true story of the movie, though painfully violent, left me hopeful.

I am less hopeful about the current violent reaction to the cartoons that were published in Denmark insulting Islam and the Prophet. I don't think freedom of speech should give license to people so that they can insult and blaspheme.

On the other hand, the reaction that the media says is going on in the Muslim World is incredible. For those who have no hope in Jesus, and whose hope is that the West will prevail, this reaction should be frightening. Just look at the pictures in the link above. This could well be used to justify more war against Muslims. People in the West would be justified to think that their way of life is threatened by these attitudes.

The confusion among Western leaders about how to react to this is incredible. Religion just seems to throw us all into a tizzy. We don't understand it.

I read an article by Daniel Pipes in which he thinks outloud about what this means. Is this the clash of civilizations that Huntington was talking about?

Perhaps this will serve to remind us that the Kingdom of God is represented neither by the imposition of Western ways nor by the victory of Radical Islam.

The statement in the Pipes' last paragraph

It is a tragic mistake to lump all Muslims with the forces of darkness. Moderate, enlightened, free-thinking Muslims do exist. Hounded in their own circles, they look to the West for succor and upport. And, however weak they may presently be, they eventually will have a crucial role in modernizing the Muslim world.

contains a sub-text implying that "modernizing" the Muslim world is the path to peace. If we all just shared the same presuppositions of the Modern world, then all would be well and mankind could live at peace.

There is debate about whether moderate Islam is even possible or acceptable in Islam. I do not know. I am not a Muslim scholar. I do suspect, though, that modernization is not the hope of humanity.

At best, modernization is just one step along the path of humanity's violent history. Though it is a step that has been pretty comfortable to me, it may actually lead to the death of humanity (read CS Lewis, especially the science fiction).

Fortunately we know the end of the story. Anything that leads to death will be destroyed and replaced with the New Jerusalem (Rev 20,21).

This is what we are working and praying for. Keep praying.

Did you ever think how important it is to have a boss?

I have been working with my Latin American friends to organize PMI's ministry in the USA for about 4 years now. Just like in the American Express commercial about startups, starting a US version of a ministry created and led by Latin Americans can be a lonely business.

In spite of living 20 years in Latin America and having adopted many Latin American ways, I am still a gringo and I live in the midst of Gringos (echo Isa 6). I get to "visit" Latin America and sometimes experience it right here in the USA among my new immigrant friends.

Setting up an organization and a ministry that is relevant to Anglos, Hispanics, Brazilians as well Muslims, to immigrants in the USA, to residents and to people who have never been here, is a huge challenge. To set up an organization that honors them and honors God, one that is based on obedience to God and challenges other people to hear God's voice and obey Him, this is an additional challenge!

There is a group of people who stand with me in a special way as I do this.

What they do for me is so very important. They listen, they pray, they support, and they tell me how to do my job. If I didn't have them, I might be floundering.

Having a good boss is so important! And I have two sets of them.

One set of my bosses are the Latin Americans who run PM Internacional from Spain. I love working for them and with them.

My other boss is the Board of Directors of the US organization of PM Internacional (we call it PMI-USA for short). This last weekend they spoke clearly and honestly into my life. If I can do what they said, I will be more effective in ministry and more balanced as a person. If it works, I imagine Lois will be grateful!

This group of people sacrifices time and money and works hard so that Latino Christians can become friends with Muslims and they pray for the Spirit of God to make Himself known in those friendships!

That kind of commitment is humbling. I am grateful. I need what they do for me and for the rest of the family of PMI around the world. But I never feel like I deserve it.