In defense of Islam?

A screen capture of Google Image search for Muslim - which image comes to your mind?

Yesterday in my twitter stream I saw this...

Not sure what it was about this particular tweet but I felt provoked. Islam is a diverse religion, with many different aspects and forms to it. As I read this tweet I thought of my muslim friends - people who have shown unbelievable kindness toward me and my family - and I responded.

140 characters - brevity wins over subtlety and something humanising is lost - A number of other responses followed:

 

It took me by surprise. Am I defending Islam? Am I naive? Am I a jackass? Why is an internet troll-ster defending me, using an argument I don't agree with?

I think what provoked me more than anything is that the people who were characterising muslims as having a 'primary goal' of beheading people and of being murderous and questioned my knowledge, intelligence, naivety are people who are believers in Jesus.

What struck me as wrong is the 'alienification' (I just made the word up) of muslims - 'they' become a murderous mob, 'they' are waiting to kill me - not simply on the streets of Helmand but around my corner and in my neighbourhood. 'They' are the enemy and the sooner we are rid of them the better.

However, I can't reconcile that with the truth of and about Jesus. If these are murderous men and women then they need the gospel as much but with more urgency than everyone else.  If they are evil in their intent then they are a ripe harvest field for the gospel.

I lived in a muslim majority area of the UK during late 2001 - a house nearby was raided by police and the occupants were taken away in the early hours of the morning. Women in Hijab were so common a sight I thought it extraordinary on a day when I didn't see the formal and full dress code. My muslim neighbours never failed or faltered to show us kindness, warmth and friendship - to such an extremity that we became like extended family to them and they to us.  

It would be naive to imagine that all muslims are like my neighbours - but it is foolish to argue that they are they only 'good' ones out there or that all the time they showed love toward us they were thinking "how can I best decapitate this family?".  You see, 'they', muslims, are real people. Real people are incredibly complex. Real people defy stereotypes, caricatures and polemic.

In a world where tweeting and status updates enable us to frame arguments in neat packages, where we are instantly able to attack people we've never met and reduce discussion to argument, complexity can take a backseat and eventually be silenced and ignored.  We do that to our peril. We do that to the loss of the gospel.

The issue that I think Daniel was touching on in the first tweet that sparked the discussion was one that I DO think brings up an important question. In many democracies where muslims are in a minority there is a muslim voice calling for the validity of their perspective and beliefs to be honoured and recognised - for freedom to exercise their religious practice without fear or intimidation. Rightly so.  The irony is that those same rights are vigorously denied to faith minority groups  within muslim majority countries or nations ruled by Sharia law. 

For the record - I'm a Christian, not a muslim, I believe that the unique and eternal revelation of God in Jesus is particularly and exclusively true. I therefore believe that any system of belief which modifies or denies that Jesus is God in flesh (born of a virgin, lived a sinless life in order to die as the perfect sacrifice and rise from death the vindicated Saviour of all, ascending into Heaven as the Sovereign King to return one day as the Ultimate Judge and Saviour) is deficient and inherently untrue.  

But also for the record - I don't believe that this assertion about Jesus, my relationship with God through Jesus, demands me to hate people, denigrate a race, deny rights to individuals or characterise any other religious grouping on the actions of a few or even the many.   I'm not defending Islam - but I am defending the right of people to be muslim and to do so without fear or intimidation. I would hope that friends in muslim nations would do so for me, equally, but even if that were not true - it wouldn't change my voice or perspective on what is the right thing to do.

²⁵ Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶ He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” ²⁷ He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁸ And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”²⁹ But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ³⁰ Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹ Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. ³² So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. ³⁴ He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ ³⁶ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” ³⁷ He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Luke's Gospel 10:25-26 (English Standard Version)

Jesus wears a Fijian Dress

My reflections at the end of a day in Fiji recently... we had visited an old folks home as part of the South Pacific Regional Conference Mission Taster (SPaRC+2).

Today I washed Jesus windows, brushed his floor, rolled Roti for his dinner and washed the lunch dishes that he and his friends has used. They were messy eaters, but they had had a good lunch.

Before all of that though He himself showed up. Imagine my surprise when his English was spoken with a joyful Fijian accent. He'd also borrowed one of Auntie Mila's dresses, brushed his hair to look like hers and moved just like her as he walked across the room.

And then he prayed - he asked the Father to bless these people, and as He spoke about how these elderly men and women who had lived lives full of hardship had been abandoned by the families who should have loved them, hot tears ran down Auntie Mila's cheeks (Jesus had borrowed her face, as well as her dress and voice and hairstyle). There Jesus poured out love in prayer in the form of Auntie Mila.

One the elderly women smiled and turned to Dalcy and said - "She come here most every day, that Mila". And Jesus stood praying in tearful, heartbroken, love. I realised he had put me there this day to stand in the place of the sons and grandsons who would never come - not for long but for a day. For Auntie Mila - she prayed, full of Jesus, full of love - for she has been called to be a daughter with 80 moms and dads and to serve them as Jesus calls her to do.

I saw Jesus today - he wore a Fijian woman's dress and cried big prayerful tears for the elderly and frail. He turned up unexpectedly and I am once again changed in meeting him. I wept as he cried for I had been unwilling to come at first, but now I had seen him and knew. So I washed his dishes and his windows, I stooped to sweep his floor, I rolled roti for his friends to eat. The melody and words of "Here I am to worship" echoed through my head, and worship moved my soapy hands and foolish heart to service and to joy.

Celebration

It is hot and sticky - the sun is beating down, humidity is high. I'm in Fiji. The women in the mission centre are preparing dinner - roti, rice and beef curry. The team comes from all across the South Pacific: Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu. The nationalities extend even beyond that - Indonesia, USA, English, Scottish... No one is in a majority - all are on a level playing field. Music plays "You are my hope, hope like no other... hope like no other... reaches to me... From the fullness of your love... you lift me up."

This is what the death and resurrection of the Jesus has done. He breaks the power of culture to divide and our diversity becomes a point of enjoying his unifying grace. Once we were not a people but now we are one people in Christ Jesus. It extends beyond just working together toward a common goal - we work as one because He has made us actually united us.

The last 6 weeks have given me pause to reflect and to learn more deeply the truths that the good news about Jesus makes real.

This is the last of my "Live Life" posts. We are called to celebrate, to enjoy and rejoice. To see and know and hold with gratitude the grace of God make evident in our lives.

I can think of no better place to celebrate the lessons of these last few weeks in this company, in this context and with these people. In celebrating in this community I see proclaimed all of the hope that we anticipated through the season of lent: Jesus once dead, now Risen King, ruling as The Lord of lords and The King of all kings, over all peoples. This groups proclaims that One Day every language group and ethnicity will cry out "Jesus is Lord" to the glory of God the Father.

That is Life well lived - eternal life. Life worth celebrating. A life of celebration.

Reflection | noitcelfeR

"So," said Dumbledore, slipping off the desk to sit on the floor with Harry, "you, like hundreds before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised." "I didn't know it was called that, Sir." "But I expect you've realized by now what it does." "It -- well -- it shows me my family --" "And it showed your friend Ron himself as head boy." "How did you know --.""I don't need a cloak to become invisible," said Dumbledore gently.
"Now, can you think what the Mirror of Erised shows us all." Harry shook his head.
"Let me explain. The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is. Does that help." Harry thought. Then he said slowly, "It shows us what we want... whatever we want..." "Yes and no," said Dumbledore quietly. "It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. Ronald Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, the best of all of them. However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone 

Reflection is not reality but helps us to understand it better. 

Looking back over the last 5 weeks of Live Life I see myself and the world better in reflection. Most importantly, I think I know God better.

In fasting I saw the power of appetite - to drive us to or away from God. We have been created with a hunger for Him - for the Life that he gives. Life in Him fuels a hunger for truth, beauty, justice. 

God grant me an insatiable hunger for You and Your Glory, an unquenchable thirst for Life.

In praying I was humbled and exalted - reminded of our need for Our Father's provision and encouraged that He is at work renewing this creation for the New Creation.

God, My Father, Your Name is Holy and Your will is Life. Pour out each day that which we need to live justly, righteously and truthfully - give us peace and courage in fleeing compromise and evil, as we pursue You.

In giving I saw the joy of being gifted and in giving away that which has been given to us we can discover the limitless capacity for increased joy.

God, You who did not spare Your Son, in giving us eternal life - grant us the grace to give that which is most precious to us to the building of your Kingdom - may our heads, hearts, hands and feet but exhausted in our living for you and replenished that we might give more.

In thankfulness I better understood the grace of God at work in our lives, in our world. Gratitude opens our eyes and hearts to the grace of God made freely available to us in good times and in sorrow. Giving thanks transforms struggle into victory, loss into gain and sorrow into joy.

God of all Joy and Comfort, instill in me a heart of thankfulness and a song of praise. Thank you for the power of your presence and the hope of the gospel.

In serving I've seen the importance of my heritage - of how God's Son, the Master of All, did not come to be served but to serve and in doing so become the ransom for many.  In serving others we walk in His ways and proclaim His truth, until He comes again to bring us to eternal rest and service.

God, who loved and served Your enemies through the cross, teach me to serve friend and foe: stranger, brother, sister. Let my heart and eyes be so full of You that I care not for my own position and service, but would serve you as the least and the lowliest or the loftiest and the largest position, without love for my own comfort or reputation.

As I look back, I look forward,

and ask my desires be caught up in Him.

As He lay down His head in death,

and stood again all Life and Light -

So I look to death and life in Him.

And though I walk

through dark valleys of shade

and bright days of hot sun

I pray my life reflect only His Image

His Love, His Truth, His Ways:

not as illusion,

but in illustration,

of His Beauty.