Paradoxically, hatred and tolerance are teaming up to take
eternal life from Muslim people. Jesus said - and we say it with
tears - "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who
does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God
abides on him" (John 3:36). In other words, nominal Christians,
devoted Muslims, pious Hindus, faithful Buddhists, orthodox Jews,
devout animists, sincere agnostics, secular atheists - everyone who
does not hold fast to Jesus Christ as the supremely valuable Son of
God and Savior - will perish and not have eternal life. "He who has
the Son has life; he who has not the Son of God has not life" (1
John 5:12).

Whatever obscures this message for Muslim people obstructs their
way to eternal life. For them Christ is a prophet, but not the
divine Son of God who said, "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58).
For Muslims Jesus is not the Savior who died for their sins and
said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to
the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). Unless Muslims - and all others
who deny Christ's deity - hear and embrace the good news that "the
fullness of deity" dwells in Jesus (Colossians 2:9), they will be
without eternal hope. This has always been true, but today things
are different. Two seemingly opposite forces gather to block the
gospel from Muslim minds.

First, there is the fire of hatred, fanned by the flames of
September 11. Second, there is a twisted tolerance fed by the fear
of man.

My son called me from Chicago to say that one of his Muslim
friends had been beaten on the street. No reason. He just looked
like one of "them." The spirit of revenge against Muslims in our
nation these days is indiscriminate. Rage boils just beneath the
surface. This is not the way of Christ. He calls his people to
suffer for the sake of love, not seethe with the fire of hate.
"Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should
follow in his steps. When he was reviled, he did not revile in
return; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he trusted to
him who judges justly" (1 Peter 2:21-23).

Hatred from Christians keeps Muslims from seeing the superior
worth of Jesus Christ. The spirit of revenge sends the false signal
that Christ is not an all-sufficient, all-satisfying Savior. We
justify our own little jihad, and seek our satisfaction by injuring
the adversary. But true Christians treasure Jesus above vengeance,
and do not rob Muslim people of truth and hope in this way.
Christians would rather suffer to show the supreme worth of Christ.
They crucify the craving of hate in their own hearts. They long for
Muslims to see Jesus for who he really is. They know that eternal
life is at stake - for both.

In reaction against indiscriminate hate there is now a stampede
to pluralism and twisted tolerance. If Muslims are hated, then let
us call ecumenical gatherings, and let us all praise the virtues of
Islam, and the wisdom of Allah and the goodness of Mohammed. But
let no one speak the intolerable and indispensable truth that Jesus
is the only way to God.

Once upon a time tolerance was the power that kept lovers of
competing faiths from killing each other. It was the principle that
put freedom above forced conversion. It was rooted in the truth
that coerced conviction is no conviction. But now the new twisted
tolerance denies that there are any competing faiths; they only
complement each other. It denounces not only the effort to force
conversions, but the very idea that any conversion may be necessary
for eternal life. It holds the conviction that no religious
conviction should claim superiority over another.

When Muslims are protected from hate with this "tolerance," they
are cut off from eternal life. And what promises deliverance proves
to be death. If, in the name of this new tolerance, we are
forbidden to say of Jesus, "There is salvation in no one else, for
there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we
must be saved" (Acts 4:12), then eternal life is concealed and we
are cruel.

Therefore let us open the door of life for all Muslim people by
renouncing hate, showing love, conquering fear, commending the King
of the universe, Jesus Christ, and suffering willingly, if we
must.

Praying with you for a stunning breakthrough,

John Piper