Growing up I was sometimes bullied by bigger boys. I got over it quickly. Now I consider these my friends!
Nabil and Nasaret complained about their son being teased by kids in his school. We suspect some of it has to do with language ability. Another nominal Muslim family's son has been harassed by other Muslim kids that he is a 'pork eater'. In both cases we advised them--tell your son to play with other kids and not to hang around the group that harasses. If problems continue, incidents should be reported to the school but that also complicates things after school.
The problem is that if the 'victim' card is played too often people tend to ignore the cry. It's like the young shepherd boy crying 'wolf' for fun and then when the real thing happened, people ignored him. The wolf came and consumed the sheep!
Yusef is a young man who had a hard time in his homeland. He soon developed a secrecy about his life. The negative experiences accumulated, to the point where he really wanted to get out of his country and start all over again. He came to the West with a victim mentality. No one could criticize anything he said or did. So when someone mentioned that 'he is a sinner', he vehemently denied it. "No, I'm quite good." was his response.It's difficult to deal with a person with a victim mentality. In their minds, the whole world is against them. Many Muslims slip into this mindset. Sometimes it's their own doing and at other times it is based on peoples' reaction to the world news. The cure would be to become friends with one another. Understanding comes when distance between people is reduced.
Anything can happen with people with a victim mentality. They become their own biggest enemy. They quickly blame others for all their problems in life. It's best to walk off from people with an excessive victim mentality. Beware, if empowered the abused can become the abuser. Even kindnesses can be interpreted as bad or suspect.
How different for mature Christians. Recently I received an email about preparing missionaries to pay the ultimate price. "Almost 40 years ago, a veteran worker in North Africa, by the name of Charles Marsh, spoke to young recruits about the challenge of missionary work with Muslims. He related the stories of many in Algeria who had been martyred by family and friends during the first two years of their conversion. He said, "If you have not yet counted the cost, and are not prepared to die for Christ, then you do not have the right to speak to Muslims about Christ being the message you bring them could lead to their being killed for the sake of Christ, should they believe." (Don Little)
Most of us won't suffer to this extent. But ministry to Muslims does come with a price. There is a battle in the heavens for their hearts. We are often caught in the crossfire.Dear Lord: Thank-you for sustaining and protecting your servants. Please bring spiritual healing to those who view themselves as victims. Amen.
