Dreaming of Jesus

Lately I've been running across references to dreams and visions that Muslims allegedly have of Jesus. Since I haven't read these accounts, I don't have an informed opinion on the particulars. But I will make a general observation.

In the case of someone who's already a born-again Christian, he's prepared to pay the cost of discipleship. He knows the promises of eschatological reward are true, as well as threats of eschatological punishment for apostasy. He knows the tradeoffs between winning in this life and losing in the next, or losing in this life and winning in the next.

But a Muslim in a Muslim country faces a dilemma. Because the social sanctions for conversion are so terrifying, there's an overwhelming disincentive to putting himself in such a risky position before he knows if it's true. He's got too much to lose if it's not. So he cannot or will not count the cost in advance. 

As such, there's almost no natural prospect that a Muslim in a Muslim country will expose himself to the Gospel or give it a fair hearing. He avoids putting himself in a position where he'd have to make that momentous choice. If he knew in advance what he had to gain or lose, that would be worth it. But, in a sense, that's too late. That's foreseeing the outcome of something contingent on doing it. But you can't know the result unless you do it. If he knew it was true, that would steel his heart against the hardships which lie ahead. But that's the effect of conversion. 

It's so hard to get over that initial psychological hurdle. As long as they are Muslims, they are not prepared to find out where the truth lies, for the prospects of conversion are too forbidding from their Muslim viewpoint. If they could see over the hill, that would be different, but that's not something they can normally glimpse in advance. If you know what lies ahead, you can afford to burn your bridges, but you can't arrive at the destination before you start the journey. You can't know what you will discover until you leave something behind and take the the first few steps. For a Muslim in a Muslim country, the dire consequences of conversion are more real to him than Christian rewards. For at that preconversion stage, the Christian rewards are hypothetical. It's not something he knows in his heart. 

And isn't that a primary reason the Gospel never caught on in Judaism? Consider what it took to convert St. Paul. Paul was in a similar situation to many Muslims. 

So I can imagine God giving Muslims whom he intends to save a jump-start. Something extra to overcome their paralyzing fears and oppressive social conditioning. The way God prepared Cornelius for the Gospel. Pre-evangelism.