Should We Read the Holy Books of Other Religions?

00:00:05.000 | A few years ago, Pastor John was asked a question about reading the Quran and other such religious books.

00:00:10.500 | "If I want people in other religions to consider reading the Bible,

00:00:13.500 | then should I be willing to return the favor and read their holy book?"

00:00:17.000 | That's the essence of the question.

00:00:18.500 | And here's what Pastor John had to say.

00:00:20.500 | I think it depends on how serious they are and serious you are and the kind of person you are.

00:00:30.500 | Not everybody is gifted or called to be an analyzer of other people's religious literature,

00:00:42.500 | and it could be dangerous, I think, especially if they're just provoking you.

00:00:48.500 | But if you've got a serious conversation with an intellectual person, say a professor of Islam,

00:00:55.500 | or just a thoughtful work colleague who takes their holy book very seriously,

00:01:02.500 | and you want them to consider listening to the Bible or reading it,

00:01:06.500 | and they say, "Well, could you trade? You know, talk about mine one week and yours one week?"

00:01:11.500 | I think that would be good.

00:01:14.500 | If you're wired to be involved with that kind of person at that level, and they're wired that way, yes, yes.

00:01:21.500 | I just want to avoid saying, "In order to be a credible Christian, you've got to read the Quran,

00:01:28.500 | or you've got to read the Hindu holy books, or you've got to read the Book of Mormon."

00:01:33.500 | I don't think so, because most people, number one, don't have time,

00:01:40.500 | don't have the inclinations and the intellectual wherewithal to read all the things in the world.

00:01:47.500 | And if you said the only way to have a credible faith in Jesus is to have read all the options

00:01:52.500 | and discovered all the reasons for why those options don't suffice,

00:01:55.500 | you'd spend your whole life, or at least a big hunk of it, reading all this stuff.

00:02:00.500 | There has to be a way to read the Bible and see enough self-evidencing and validating truth there.

00:02:10.500 | Jesus shining forth from the Scriptures, winning our trust that we know this is true

00:02:18.500 | and don't have to be threatened by other holy books, even though we haven't read them.

00:02:24.500 | It's like if you've tasted two things, and that's honey, and somebody says,

00:02:30.500 | "But I've got another brown thing over here that's honey."

00:02:32.500 | You say, "But this is honey. I can tell this is honey. I've tasted this."

00:02:36.500 | You don't need to experiment with every brown, viscous thing that's brought to you

00:02:40.500 | in order to be sure this is honey.

00:02:43.500 | That was Pastor John a few years ago, and recently he traveled to the Middle East,

00:02:47.500 | and when he returned, he had some fresh thoughts for us on Christianity and Islam

00:02:51.500 | that he shared on this podcast. You may remember that in Back to Back episodes 233 and 234.

00:02:57.500 | Those episodes were titled "Lessons from the Middle East" and "Muslims vs. Christians on the Sovereignty of God."

00:03:03.500 | You can find both of those episodes and over 300 others most easily in the Ask Pastor John apps

00:03:08.500 | for the iPhone and the Android, both of which are free for you thanks to our faithful financial donors.

00:03:14.500 | We will return tomorrow with a question about entertainment.

00:03:18.500 | Specifically, how can I break my addiction to it?

00:03:21.500 | I'm your host Tony Reinke. We'll see you tomorrow.

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