Posted on 12/18/2001 4:10:48 PM PST by Pokey78
SOME years ago, an agnostic friend of mine married a Jewish woman who practised her faith seriously. He took instruction in Judaism and seemed quite likely to convert - but eventually did not. His chief reason was that he remained agnostic. But there was another obstacle that surprised even himself: "I found that I just did not want to give up Jesus."
In European culture, there is no getting away from Jesus even if you are agnostic. True, Nietzsche tried to reject him with detestation and contempt, calling him an "idiot", a purveyor of a sick, decadent view of the world. Nietzsche thought that the only figure in the New Testament who commands respect is Pontius Pilate. Yet the very ferocity of Nietzsche's onslaught on Jesus showed how strong in his heart was the image he wanted to destroy.
Now, what if my friend had married a Muslim? The interesting thing is that he could have kept Jesus - not the Jesus who was the Son of God, admittedly, and who was crucified, but certainly the Jesus who was Messiah and miracle worker, who conversed regularly with God, who was born of a virgin and who ascended into heaven.
Jesus is referred to quite often in the Koran, six times under the title "Messiah". Yet I had long supposed that the importance of Jesus as prophet in Muslim tradition was not much more than a matter of lip-service, something to which Muslims gave (to use Cardinal Newman's distinction) "notional" rather than "real" assent.
This impression was strengthened when I went to Ur of the Chaldees in southern Iraq and visited the so-called house of Abraham. It is only a few piles of sun-baked mud bricks, but you would have expected hundreds of Muslim Arabs to be visiting the birth-place of their Patriarch. I saw none - whereas the shrines of Muslim martyrs in Najaf and Kerbala were thronged. I assumed, therefore, that Jesus must be a marginal figure in the Muslim world.
How wrong this assumption was I have learnt by reading a fascinating and instructive book, The Muslim Jesus, by the Cambridge academic Tarif Khalidi. Professor Khalidi has brought together, from a vast range of sources, most of the stories, sayings and traditions of Jesus that are to be found in Muslim piety from the earliest times.
The Muslim Jesus is an ascetic, a man of voluntary poverty, humility and long-suffering. He literally turns the other cheek, allowing his face to be slapped twice in order to protect two of his disciples. He teaches the return of good for evil: "Jesus used to say, 'Charity does not mean doing good to him who does good to you . . . Charity means that you should do good to him who does you harm.' " He loves the poor and embraces poverty: "The day Jesus was raised to heaven, he left behind nothing but a woollen garment, a slingshot and two sandals." He preaches against attachment to worldly things: "Jesus said, `He who seeks worldly things is like the man who drinks sea water: the more he drinks, the more thirsty he becomes, until it kills him.' "
Many of the sayings of the Muslim Jesus are clearly derived from Biblical sources - "Place your treasures in heaven, for the heart of man is where his treasure is"; "Look at the birds coming and going! They neither reap nor plough, and God provides for them." Sometimes there is a sort of gloss on words of Jesus from the Gospel: "Oh disciples, do not cast pearls before swine, for the swine can do nothing with them . . . wisdom is more precious than pearls and whoever rejects wisdom is worse than a swine."
He is certainly a wonder-worker. He often raises the dead, and gives his disciples power to do the same. More than once he comes across a skull and restores it to life, on one occasion granting salvation to a person who had been damned. The skulls, like everyone else in these stories, address Jesus as "Spirit of God". Once he is even addressed as "Word of God".
I once had a conversation with members of Hizbollah in Beirut. One of them said this: "The greatness of Islam is that we combine Judaism and Christianity. Jesus freed enslaved hearts, he was able to release human feeling, to reveal a kingdom of peace. Jesus's realm was the realm of soul. Jesus is soul; Moses is mind, the mind of the legislator. In Islam, we interweave both."
This is certainly the Jesus of these stories - the Jesus of the mystical Sufi tradition. The great Muslim philosopher Al-Ghazali actually called Jesus "Prophet of the heart".
The Muslim Jesus is not divine, but a humble servant of God. He was not crucified - Islam insists that the story of the killing of Jesus is false. He is, as it were, Jesus as he might have been without St Paul or St Augustine or the Council of Nicaea. He is not the cold figure of English Unitarianism, and he is less grand than the exalted human of the Arians. As you read these stories, what comes across most powerfully is that the Muslim Jesus is intensely loved. There is an element of St Francis of Assisi.
It is good to be reminded, especially now, of the intimate connections there have been between Islam and Christianity, and how close in spirit Muslim and Christian piety can come to each other. Curiously enough, the Muslim Jesus, shorn of all claims of divinity, could be more easily held on to by my agnostic friend than the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.
One other thing: since Muslims deny the Crucifixion, their emphasis has been on the wonders surrounding the birth of "Jesus Son of Mary", born as his mother sat under a palm tree, and miraculously speaking from within the womb. There really is no reason why schools that put on Nativity plays, or anyone who wants to insist on the Christian meaning of Christmas, should fear that they may offend Muslim sensibilities, for Jesus really is shared by both faiths.
The travesty is that Islam throws out the best of both, and mixes up a stew of the rest.
Jews are earnesly seeking the Messiah. The difference is that Christians believe He's already appeared.
The ONLY issue is this: Do you WORSHIP Jesus?
He is, after all, GOD of very GOD! Any effort to steal divinity from the incarnation is of the spirit of antichrist.
Lee Marvin IS the American man.
Are you on crack or just plain stupid?
Muslims have never been Christians. Furthermore, many Christians are NOT Catholics. Get a life.
If, as this article claims, Jesus is so venerated then why the message from radical Muslim clerics, instructing their prostrates not to wish anyone a Merry Christmas or a Happy Holiday because it would offend Allah to take any part in anything that celebrates that cursed Jesus?
Really? I never knew that, even when the guys from the Navigators were speaking to me.
Muslims REJECT Jesus Christ as the Son of God. They refer to him simply as an "important prophet."
Since Muslims (like Jews) reject Jesus Christ as the Son of God, there is no way they can Love Jesus as much as Christians do.
Case Closed.
Neither! It is a part of your beliefs. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states the following:
841 The Churches relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; those profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day,"Of course, the Bible says otherwise. I'll accept your apology now!
The Catholics just don't like it when someone points out that they claim their beliefs and the Muslim's beliefs are equally valid.
Reformed Protestant. WHAT is THAT?
See your FReep mail. I'm not going to waste band-width refuting your lies.
[/SARCASM]
MM
Muslims do not believe Jesus was crucified, or that He was the Son of God. In fact, they believe God took Jesus up to Heaven before He could be crucified, and instead made someone in the crowd look like Jesus, who was then crucified in His place! They pervert the story of Jesus, turning it on its head--instead of dying for humanity's sins, someone else dies for Jesus!
I could say, "I love Mohammed, he was a great prophet. But the Angel Gabriel never spoke to him, and didn't really give to him the word of God." Then I would be accused of blasphemy by Muslims (and I could be killed if I went to a Muslim country). It's the same thing. Islam does not respect the core tenets of Christianity.
In any case, look back to the early years of Christianity. Virtually everything that Christians are criticizing Islam for had its adherents in early Christianity. Various Christian sects denied the Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection and other mysteries which became Christian orthodoxy. And indeed, Judaism denies them even now.
It took some time for the early Church to sort out who Christ was, what his message was, and what was necessary for salvation. The situation was somewhat similar with Judaism and Islam. One has the revelation. What it means and what to do about it now may take some thinking, arguing, and praying.
If it's a lie, it comes from the Catholic Church. You can find it on their website.
Mushy Ecumenism: Incoherent Civil Religion
During a service at a large evangelical church, a Muslim leader -- who had been invited to give the message -- stood at the pulpit and declared: "All of us believe in Jesus. I believe in Mohammed and all the prophets. So our mission here is to introduce people to God." And then he added, "We believe in Jesus more than you do, in fact."
What a thing to hear in a Bible-believing church!
Since September 11, we've seen all kinds of ecumenical services -- from the huge one at Yankee Stadium, to the prayer service at the National Cathedral, to the celebration of Ramadan in the White House to small celebrations all over America. And, yes, it's right to reach out to our Muslim neighbors -- to offer love and support at a time when they may be feeling vulnerable. President Bush is absolutely right to reach out in friendship to Muslims -- to lead the way so as to discourage outbreaks of religious bigotry. But Christians must be careful not to allow support and acceptance of our Muslim neighbors to sink into a kind of mushy civil religion -- one that obscures the truth about both Christianity and Islam. As I have been documenting over recent days, the two are not the same.
One dramatic difference is Christianity and Islam's understanding of Jesus. Christianity teaches that Jesus is part of the Trinity. He is God, the Son who has offered as an atoning sacrifice on the cross to save his people from their sins. By contrast, the Koran denies that Jesus was crucified at all and claims that Jesus was no more than "a Messenger of Allah and His Word." Muslims reject the deity of Christ and His atoning sacrifice. That's a big difference. Contrary to what the Muslim leader says, Muslims do not believe in Jesus more than we do -- pure nonsense.
To suggest that Christianity and Islam are basically the same is not only unfair to Christianity, it's equally unfair to Islam. It compromises both and thus creates massive worldview confusion. People need to know where the lines are drawn to think about Christianity or Islam rationally.
And getting out the truth about how Christianity differs from Islam is more important now than ever. Just before the September 11 attacks, a Gallup survey showed that some 45 percent of Americans had favorable views of Muslim-Americans. Today, 59 percent do. Imagine it -- Islamic extremists attack America, and we think more of Islam than before the attack!
Well, this has happened because leaders on many fronts have cleaned up Islam. They've made a point of including Muslims in public religious events and telling Americans that the terrorists hijacked a peace-loving religion. Those who dare to suggest otherwise, as some Christian leaders have done, are vilified.
Again, while it's right to love our Muslim neighbors, we must redouble our efforts to make sure our children and our neighbors know that all religions are not alike.
The same survey showing that more Americans view Muslims favorably also says Americans -- by a huge majority -- believe religion is gaining influence in American life. The critical question, of course, is what kind of religion is gaining influence. Is it the real thing or mushy civil religious ecumenism? It's time for Christians -- lovingly always -- to make the truth known. All religious beliefs are tolerated -- not all are true.
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