What does these two seemingly dissimilar people Rosaria Butterfield & Nabeel Qureshi have in Close Common? Read on:
Rosaria Butterfield & Nabeel Qureshi Very Different Yet Similar Stories
- They made a 180 conversion in their
worldview after they earned a doctorate degree
- It took years for them to make it
- They lost a lot of friends, family or
associates, even made real enemy’s in the process
- They had a close friend come alongside
them in a non-judgmental way that made all the difference
- They were ultimately interest in truth
- They published a rather explosive book
about the experience
- The chance that they would make this
radical conversion seemed off the charts
Dr. Rosaria Butterfield:
As a professor of
English and women's studies, on the track to becoming a tenured radical, I
cared about morality, justice, and compassion. Fervent for the worldviews of Freud,
Hegel, Marx, and Darwin, I strove to stand with the disempowered. I valued
morality. And I probably could have stomached Jesus and his band of warriors if
it weren't for how other cultural forces buttressed the Christian Right.
After my tenure
book was published, I used my post to advance the understandable allegiances of
a leftist lesbian professor. My life was happy, meaningful, and full. My
partner and I shared many vital interests: aids activism, children's health and
literacy, Golden Retriever rescue, our Unitarian Universalist church, to name a
few. Even if you believed the ghost stories promulgated by Robertson and his
ilk, it was hard to argue that my partner and I were anything but good citizens
and caregivers. The GLBT community values hospitality and applies it with
skill, sacrifice, and integrity.
Read more at: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/january-february/my-train-wreck-conversion.html
Dr. Nabeel Qureshi
Born as a U.S. Citizen in California, I was raised by devout Muslim parents. My mother and father are immigrants from Pakistan and among the most dedicated Muslims I have ever known. My father was an officer in the U.S. Navy, and because of his career I have lived up and down the Atlantic Coast in the United States, as well as in the U.K.My mother taught me Urdu and Arabic before I learned English at the age of four. By age five I had read the entire Qur’an in Arabic and had already memorized many chapters. From that time on, my life as a Muslim was used as a model for all the children in the local Islamic communities. Every morning, as soon as my eyes opened, I recited the prayer that was to be read upon waking, thanking Allah for saving me from the death of sleep and for giving me another day to live. I would then proceed to my morning recitation of the Qur’an, following this with the first of the five daily prayers (salaat). Interspersed were many smaller prayers, such as the prayer recited during ceremonial washing (wudhu), the prayers before reciting the Qur’an, the prayers before the morning salaat (fajr), and the prayers immediately after fajr. Then would come the prayers before eating and after eating. Then there were the prayers upon leaving the home and while walking to the bus stop. Soon afterwards I would find myself sitting in class, reciting prayers which ask Allah to give me knowledge and help me learn . . . etc. All of this by 7:30 a.m. But the prayers did not stop there; a devout Muslim’s day is full of the remembrance of God through traditional Islamic methods.
Suffice it to say, my youth was not lost in complacency and disillusionment with religion. I loved Islam with all my heart. The reason for this was not only that Islam was the religion of my parents (though this was surely a factor), but for two other reasons. First, as I had learned it, Islam was a very peaceful religion that taught me to worship God Almighty, and because of this, my family’s devoted practice was not in vain: we were the happiest and most tightly-knit family that I (and many of my friends) had ever seen. Second, I had learned to defend Islam using reason and evidence. My parents taught me never to believe anything blindly, and as such they provided me with an apologetic stance on Islam (i.e. one that focuses on reason and evidence as a defense of the faith). Being naturally inquisitive, I greatly appreciated this approach to religion.
Islam was not just my religion, it was the whole structure of my life. Born into and raised in Islam, it was my heart’s blood. Laying the foundation for how a youth should live, Islam was the framework and the blueprint of my life. Edified by apologetics, I challenged its opponents and called everyone else to it.
Read more at: http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Qureshi/testimony.htm
Their conversion to a very orthodox Christian Worldview, and what we can learn from it
- Reading the bible and putting it to the
truth test made all the difference
- Having someone disciple them in a loving
way over the long-term is essential
- No one interested in ultimate truth is far
from Christ
- The message of the bible is much more
powerful than any Christian or Christian group in and of themselves
- The Christian Worldview is second to none
- Every Christian needs to understand what
they believe and why in depth
- Read and listen in to the stories from both
Rosaria and Nabeel
Rosaria:
The Secret Thoughts
of an Unlikely Convert
Nabeel:
Seeking Allah,
Finding Jesus:
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