Rewriting

Knowing where the Church has come from can give us insight into where we are going. Jesus has a
profound purpose for the Church, as a conduit for His love, to bring Him glory. Psalm 78 speaks to the concept of learning from history:
5 For He established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers, That they should make them known to their children;
6 That the generation to come might know them, The children who would be born, That they may arise and declare them to their children,
7 That they may set their hope in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments...

God's truth continues to echo through the ages - the story of His faithfulness has been seen throughout all generations.  What is amazing to me is how much God loved the people He created, even though they rejected Him.  He has worked in His Church, His glorious Church, and He is still moving mightily today.  We can reflect and rejoice on our faithful God, who, even though there are those that would deny and even try to erase the evidence of His presence, continues to show Himself faithful.

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In Deuteronomy 32, we find that Moses is urging the people of Israel to remember their history and reject the claims of those who reject God:
6 Do you thus deal with the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father, who bought you? Has He not made you and established you?
7 "Remember the days of old, Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; Your elders, and they will tell you...

It seems as if attempting to erase history is in vogue these days.  Not only in the U.S., where anarchists are continuing to declare war on icons of ages past and symbols of authority, such as Federal courthouses, but in Turkey, where the opportunistic Tayyip Erdogan has declared that a church building that has been thought of as traditional symbol of Christianity will now be converted to a mosque.

John Stonestreet, in a Breakpoint commentary, related:

In truth, the original identity of the Hagia Sophia was as the Christian cathedral of Constantinople.

Now why should a building halfway around the world matter to us today? Well, that’s because, unfortunately, the Turkish government has a long track record of revising history. For example, between 1915 and 1923, in what’s known as the Armenian Genocide, an estimated 1.5 million Armenian Christians were killed and expelled from the Ottoman Empire, what is now Turkey.

And, as he points out, "Turkey and its ethnically related neighbor, Azerbaijan, are the only nations in the world that deny that the Armenian Genocide happened. What’s more, Turkey has prosecuted scholars and journalists who say otherwise, accusing them of 'insulting Turkishness.'"

The International Christian Concern website notes:

The ancient cathedral, the heart of Eastern Christianity, was pierced by the sword during the Ottoman era conquest. She was converted into a mosque, and Christians pondered their future.

Centuries later, the Ottoman Empire transformed into modern Turkey. Hagia Sophia was changed into a museum as a violent genocide targeting Christians swept across the country.

Today, Christians are forced to ponder an uncertain future. Christianity mourns as Hagia Sophia is once again converted into a mosque.

As Stonestreet shares, "Denying history, or simply re-writing it, seems to be a major goal of Turkey’s Islamist regime. Otherwise, they’d be forced to acknowledge that centuries before the coming of Islam, and a millennium before the arrival of the Ottomans, Armenians embraced Christianity and lived in what is now Turkey."

The ICC site relates the words of a Turkish Christian, saying that Hagia Sophia: "...became a symbol of conquest...I wonder what will come after the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque. I can’t make sense of the cry of victory for some of the Islamic side. [They say] ‘we took your temple to the Christian world from you. We have triumphed against Ataturk.’”

From Christian cathedral, to mosque, to museum, back to a mosque.  This is the path of Hagia Sophia, which is a powerful symbol of the nation's Christian past, but now is a symbol of a future dedicated to Islam.

Paul's travels took him to what is now modern-day Turkey. There was a strong Christian presence in that country; and that area was also the site of strong Christian persecution. As Stonestreet points out, even politicians in the U.S. for many years refused to officially acknowledge that the Armenian Genocide occurred. He says, "In fact, it was only after Turkish-American relations had deteriorated because of other issues that the U.S. Congress recognized the genocide as genocide."  We can be inspired when we think of the dedication of Paul to preach the gospel in a broad geographical area.

In this world, there is conflict, there is hostility toward Christianity. There are attempts to erase our rich Christian history, even in our country today. Christians are on the receiving end of persecution throughout the world.  But, the Church can be emboldened by the Spirit of God to continue to be faithful to Christ.

We can also recognize the tension between Islam and Christianity.  And, we can recognize two things, very simply. We can't nuance the discussion of the question about whether or not Muslims worship the same God we do - Allah, as defined by Islam, is not the same as the God of the Bible. And, Islam is not just another path through which people come to God.  Jesus said that He is the way, truth, and life; as it's been said, who are we to argue with Him?  This reminds us that while we should be respectful of people from different religious backgrounds, we should also recognize they need to come to know our Savior - we can respond by being loving and faithful to share our faith.