WWJD? For the thoughtful Christian
October 2nd, 2007
The Christians in my family range from true believers who devote their lives to Bible study and social obligations that revolve around a church community, to folks who follow an odd hybrid religion that seems to wed neoconservative values with the worship of Bill O’Reilly and the celebrations of Christmas and Easter. This is a letter to the first group, in my family and beyond.
So I have been like, devouring these these scholarly books: what is known about the life of Jesus, the earliest parts of the Gospels, the nature of the books that were not included in the New Testament, the early Christians and their beliefs, the Church’s role in narrowing the definition of “Christian” and the role of Roman emperors in defining the religion. And I’ve learned a lot. For example, why, as a 15-year-old girl, thumbing through my New King James Version of the Holy Bible, the words of Jesus in red had the ability to bring tears to my eyes, but the rest of the narrative often left me cold. (Sometimes I would just skip through and read the verses in red. Then I would feel guilty.)
This is a free online book I found called Beyond Mere Christianity. The author refers to C.S. Lewis’ seminal work throughout. And reading its 141 pages, it does feel like a sequel, in many ways, to what was my favorite book as a teenager. It is an answer to some logical fallacies in that book, yes, but more than that, it encourages the reader, who should be a thoughtful Christian, to look beyond church dogma to the revealed word of God that is found in the Gospels. The author is a Catholic-turned-Presbyterian-turned-Muslim who clearly has a great love for Jesus, and a great thirst to search for his authentic words. And I dig that, because I do, too.
It seems like a major change, Christianity to Islam. Jesus as son of God to Jesus as Prophet, salvation through Jesus’ death to salvation through submission to God. It’s not, not really… but several family members have reached out to me with phone calls and handwritten letters (or gossiped about what a weirdo I am). And though they haven’t expressed much interest in hearing about my journey to Islam, they did tell me about their Christian faith and quote the Bible extensively.
What this did was deepen my understanding of Islam. Any religion that is the worship of one God and puts the onus of salvation on the believer is Islam. There is a thread of Divine Unity and Divine Truth inside every religious tradition… Christianity is Islam. Buddhism is Islam. Hinduism is Islam. I feel a kinship to all believers, though of course I hope they will include Islamic beliefs in their understanding of the universe and its interconnectedness. Muslims see God in everything, and it’s a pleasant way to look at the world.
Most of us in the West see Islam as “other” — it is not a part of our history, and it is certainly not in sync with the present geopolitical climate. Some view Islam as a militaristic, misogynistic, spread-by-the-sword faith. Some view Islam as a grave, legalistic religion for nomadic desert dwellers. They are not interested in hearing what is in the Qur’an, or what Muhammad said. To them, even if it is peaceful and unified and coherent and lovely, somehow it’s still not relevant.
But perhaps we can still find a common ground for dialogue, based on the Gospels brought by Jesus.
9 Responses to “WWJD? For the thoughtful Christian”
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October 3rd, 2007 at 19:20
I would go further and say that there is a thread of Divine Unity and Divine Truth to be found in every religious tradition, of which Islam is one. I think by organizing and naming a tradition or by defining it, we alienate others and tend (as an organized religion) to sometimes muddy the path to Divine Truth that we all seek out. While some yearn for a path that is directed, others seek to discover their own path by degrees, without the guidance of a religion per se. I agree that Islam is Buddhism is Christianity is the search for Truth. Lately, this very belief of mine makes me struggle to identify as a follower of one faith. I feel that to name my faith limits it, and I feel that while I am a Christian, I am also so much more.
October 4th, 2007 at 10:26
This is the reason I put Christianity, Hinduism, etc. inside of Islam: “Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians, whoever believes in God and the Judgment Day and does good, they shall have their reward from their Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve.” Qur’an 2:62. Many religious traditions have a long history of rigid exclusivism. Islam does not. I am not aware of any faiths, other than Islam, that decree that people of other faiths can go to heaven.
But to say Islam = Christianity = Hinduism is to make religion a “salad bar”: I choose Caesar, you choose Greek, he chooses tabouleh — and it doesn’t matter which, whatever tastes good to you. To say there is no right path, that all roads lead to Rome… This makes religious faith lose its vitality and its urgency, you know? I think we’re on to something: it’s good to keep a balance between exclusivism and pluralism. Maybe religion is most relevant when it’s neither.
October 4th, 2007 at 14:54
I like that Islam specifically states that other religions are acceptable. Of the religions I’ve heard of I think Buddhism may be the only other one that would be this accepting. I’m anything but an expert in Buddhism, but I think they are pretty much ‘find your own way and it will be the right way, but here are some guidelines to help you on your way’.
With regards to the salad bar…I didn’t meant to imply that all the religions are actually exactly the same. Obviously they are all different and each person experiences them differently, but I think that any religion can be the right path and I hesitate to raise any one religion above any other in terms of ‘rightness’ for lack of a better word. I wish God would bless me with an internal thesaurus.
October 5th, 2007 at 14:23
I have just discovered your blog and I like it very much.
I will be back!
October 17th, 2007 at 21:09
I think when people hear thoughts which are not comfortable for them, they struggle to make sense of it with something they believe or know instead of just letting go and letting their minds open and ponder something new and different. Time spent reflecting seems to be time spent growing….
October 20th, 2007 at 21:59
“Time spent reflecting seems to be time spent growing…” I like that and I would also add that time spent doubting, even, is time spent growing.
I also wanted to add that it is, inevitably, where you find truth that leads you to where you need to be. Even Paul quotes region-specific gods because there can be truth found anywhere. Which is also how you can say Islam is Christianity is Buddhism is Hinduism, etc. However, the reason it is not a melting pot of religion (besides Bah’ai, which is, I understand, not a good definition at all of Bah’ai) is because of a separation at one point in time. In “western” religion Judaism is the original stem and thus broke off in two to Islam and Christianity. In Eastern religion Hinduism was the original stem and thus broke off into Buddhism.
And there are conflicting passages as well in all these texts which is important to understand them more fully, rather than being ignorant about all other religions besides your own. So if you have your own base religion but then seek out the truths in your own AND other religions, I believe you are instead on the search for Truth rather than Religion.
October 20th, 2007 at 22:01
**”You”/”your” are objective and not pertaining to anyone in particular, I think it applies to everyone.
October 27th, 2007 at 10:08
Hi…I Googled for king james version bible online, but found your page about WWJD? For the thoughtful Christian…and have to say thanks. nice read.
October 29th, 2007 at 17:56
Hi Hannah… thank you for your comment. I really agree with you: time spent doubting *is* time spent growing.
Hi James… you’re welcome, I’m glad you enjoyed it.