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SE020109
WARS OF RELIGION
1. The Star The Cross and the Crescent
We’re going to start a tour of world religions this month because we’ve got questions.
Increasingly our world is shrinking. Worldviews that would have been foreign and
distant to our parents or grandparents are in front of us every day, in the news and in
the media and stars in Hollywood and people knocking on our doors.
What’s good about this is that it forces to ask, “in a busy marketplace of religious ideas,
what do I believe?” It’s sort of taking away the squishy middle where we could be
blandly religious and try not to think about ultimate questions. But as these competing
ideas crash into our brains we’re now forced to react and we generally break along four
lines:
- One is to go Irreligious. The competition of ideas about God seems to
overwhelm us and where there are too many confusing answers, it leads us to
think maybe there are no answers.
- Two is to go Ostrich and stick your head in the sand. This is the person who
gets increasingly dogmatic about their own religious ideas and increasingly
closed to even look at other views. They fear cognitive dissonance. (Cognitive
dissonance is that acute state of mental anxiety that happens when you consider
evidence against all your dearest held assumptions about the universe.) Rather
than risk that, the Ostrich shuts down or shouts louder.
- Three is not to go Ostrich, but rather go Rainbow. This is the person who looks
at the competing ideas and tries to see how they are all different colors being
refracted from the same white light. The Rainbow response is increasingly
popular. It says all religions are really the same thing. It renders religious
dialogue and conversion obsolete, turns it into a question of preference not truth.
And once they’ve settled on Rainbow, ironically, the Rainbows can go Ostrich
about being Rainbows!!
- Four is not to go Ostrich and not to go Rainbow, but to go Sherlock. This is the
person who sees the different religions as a puzzle of clues to sort through to find
the truth. They start work on their theology, literally, their “God science” through
experimentation and observation and investigation.
So, which one are you? Which way do you lean, Irreligious, Ostrich, Rainbow or
Sherlock? I admit I lean Ostrich. As a convinced Christian I don’t want to consider
other views. But that’s not intellectually honest. And Jesus praises the one who asks
and seeks. So I’ve learned from Jesus to become a Sherlock.
Here’s what I’ve found: it’s possible to settle on some things about God as
TRUTH and yet remain intellectually humble and be a life long learner.
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THREE FAITHS
So I hope you join me in being a “Religion-Sherlock” this month. A humble investigator.
And this week, I think a good place to start is with the religions that are in the news. I
was just in Israel this last September and I had more than a couple moments wandering
around that country when the thot occurred to me with overwhelming force:
I’m at the epicenter of 3 major and ancient world religions.
One of those times was in the city of Jerusalem. The old city, the part you see in all the
pictures occupies roughly the city limits during the Roman era, is now broken up into 4
quarters. There’s a Jewish Quarter, a Christian quarter, a Muslim quarter and an
Armenian quarter, which is really another Christian quarter.
So three faiths dominate old city Jerusalem and three physical features…
- the Dome of the Rock, the most famous landmark in Jerusalem, the third most
holy shrine in Islam.
- And about 100 yards from the dome of the rock, just behind and below it, is the
Western Wall, the holiest shrine in Judaism. It’s all that remains from the
glorious 2nd Temple that Herod built around the time of Jesus.
- And just inside the Old City is the Church of the holy Sepulcher believed to be
the place Jesus was crucified and buried and thus holy to many millions of
Christians.
So almost 50% of the population of the planet traces it’s worldview to this city, 3 billion
people
- three different religions converge,
- living under three symbols,
o the star, the cross and the crescent.
Three religions, three shrines, three Founders.
- Moses, liberator and the giver of Jewish law, was a founder of Judaism.
- Jesus, whom Christians follow as the author of their faith and
- Mohammed, the Founder of Islam.
What is common to all three of these Founders?
Abraham. They all believed he was a real historical figure. They all
believed that he was the beginning of God’s revelation to mankind to make
things right.
FATHER ABRAHAM
So before these religions are a list of tenants, they are first a story: the story of
Abraham. Abraham is a guy who lived in Mesopotamia about 4000 years ago. Around
2000 BC the Bible says Abraham was selected by God to be the start of an amazing
program of redemption. Abraham would enter a covenant relationship with God. But
the scope of this covenant was just enormous.
It happened like this:
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Gen 12:1-3 The LORD had said to Abram , "Leave your country, your people and
your father's household and go to the land I will show you. "I will make you into a
great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a
blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
ALL the nations of the earth, blessed through him. Those are some pretty amazing
promises!! We don’t know why God picked him, but of all the people on earth, God
reaches down and gives this one man the assurance that He has a plan to bless the
world… not just his offspring, but everyone. It’s mind numbing!
So, Abraham moves from Ur to Hebron, (that’s from somewhere near Baghdad to
somewhere south of Jerusalem in you mental map). He just trusted God and went.
And God looked at that faith and the bible says he “credited it to him as righteousness”.
Which means, he hadn’t really done anything to BE righteous yet. He wasn’t this
mother Teresa type guy.
BUT… this guy had faith. He trusted God. And when the chips were down, he would
authenticate that trust by doing what God told him to do, even when it was scary. So
when he made the big move in faith believing in God’s promises God said,
‘that’s what I’m looking for. I’ll make you right, just for trusting me.”
But after 10 years, his great faith was growing some doubts. Abe was now 86 years
old. Sarah his wife was 76. Frankly, their patience with God and his promises was
growing thin. So Sarah presents Abraham with her Egyptian maid Hagar to Abraham
as a concubine and Hagar would have a child which they could raise. This was
common in those days, build a family through a slave bride basically.
Abraham agreed because, as I said, he was not above working the angles. So Hagar
became pregnant. But as happens in polygamous homes, jealousies rise and so Hagar
runs away. But God sent an angel to persuade Hagar to return. And that angel
prophesied over her son, a powerful promise that no doubt Hagar memorized and
passed down:
“I will give you more descendants than you can count through the son in your
womb. You will call him Ishmael – God sees. This son of yours will be a wild
donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against
him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”
So Ishmael is born. After 13 years, Abraham and Sarah are 99 and 89 respectively and
they’re raising Ishmael as the son of the promises, when God appears to Abraham
again. He repeats all the promises he had mentioned previously and then he tells
Abraham,
Hold on to your seat my friend, because things are going to get interesting.
About the whole idea of you becoming a big nation, well it starts next year,
because I'm going to cause Sarah to be fertile and you two will have son in your
old age.
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What is Abraham’s response? He reacts in disbelief. I mean, he’s so bowled over that
he laughs. Because he already had a plan of his own to fulfill God’s promise. But God
said, that Hagar, thing, that was YOUR idea, not mine. You need to send the boy and
his mother away. I’ll bless Ishmael on account of you, but the son of the Promise will be
ISAAC.
And just as an aside here. 2700 years later, when Mohammed, who was illiterate, got
some Biblical instruction from Jews, he was fascinated by this. He was thrilled to see
that the bible confirmed a rumor that a descendant of Abraham had settled in the
Arabian peninsula.
So Mohammed started to see himself and the Arab people as direct descendants of
Ishmael. In fact, Mohammed elaborated on the stories of Ishmael, the OTHER son of
Abraham.
- Today Muslim scholars insist, that Ishmael and Abraham maintained a close
relationship and that Abraham helped Ishmael rebuild a holy shrine in Mecca, the
Ka’bah shrine,
- which they also believe was originally built by Adam – as in Adam and Eve!
So this story was just a huge encouragement for Mohammed. To think the Arabs were
not left out. They too were sons of promise! And he felt Abraham was the greatest of
all the prophets. And they were connected to him through Ishmael.
Now let’s think of that prophesy spoken over Ishmael about him living in hostility to all
his brothers. And compare to what’s happening in the world today, all that conflict
between Ishmael and Isaac still going on.
When I do, I think, a lot of heartache in this world, and why? It started because
Abraham and Sarah ran ahead of God. Didn’t wait on him, but took matters into
their own hands.
SO that’s Ishmael. Back on the ranch, after Isaac grows a little older, Abraham is tested
by God. A huge test of faith. He asks him to sacrifice Isaac. SO he takes Isaac to
Mount Moriah which many believe is the very mount where today the Dome of the Rock
sits, and where Solomon’s temple was built. The place of sacrifice. But it was just a
test*. After that God reaffirmed all the promises Abraham had heard 25 years ago:
I will bless you greatly, I will multiply your descendants and through your
descendants, ALL THE NATIONS of the earth will be blessed.
O.T. HISTORY
There it is again: ALL nations. So now everything that follows in your O.T. and the
history of Judaism is a piece of the story toward the fulfillment of that promise. So
Moses bringing the Jews out of slavery. God rescues them by grace through the Red
Sea, and then he gives them the law to obey.
TRUST and OBEY pattern.
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So that rescued people eventually inherent Abraham’s land and establish a nation. And
many of the Jews thought that was the end of it right that. What more is there? We
have land, we have a nation, we have a king. But the prophets came to remind them.
No people, you’re not getting it. It’s not about you!
Isa 42:6 "I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your
hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a
light for the Gentiles…
The Gentiles? I mean, that wasn’t even on their radar screen. They weren’t supposed
to look like the Gentiles or dress like them or marry them!! How can we be a light for
them? But God was saying, “I’m keeping the dream alive.” You don’t exist for you!
This is so much bigger than you. Judaism exists and has been kept alive because of
the promise to Abraham:
That ALL the nations are to be blessed.
JOHN AND JESUS
So, 600 years later, a Jewish man John shows up in Palestine preaching:
You know all that stuff we’ve been waiting for? The light for the Gentiles thing?
The Day of the Lord, when all the world begins to be blessed? When all will see
that Abraham’s God, the one true maker of Heaven and Earth is their God? That
stuff is about to happen.
And people wondered if he was going to be the stick of dynamite that would ignite this
Abrahamic blessing. No, he said, I’m not the stick of dynamite, I’m just the match. And
soon a young man, about 30 years old, wandered out to where John was preaching and
John looked at him and said,
Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
The WORLD! And in saying so he believed that all of Judaism had come down to this
moment. – and this man. The moment of blessing. How? John said it:
A Lamb to take way our sins. Every Jew would have understood to reference:
without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
You know how Isaac was laid down, but God didn’t ask Abraham to follow through?
Well that was foreshadowing friends. 2000 years later on a hill less than a mile from
where Abraham offered up Isaac, God offered up his Son, Jesus, the Messiah.
Innocent blood shed. And so he opened up a way for all who trust and obey to be
brought into relationship with God.
And now, like Abraham, if you trust and obey, it will be credited to you as righteousness.
And even a Gentile like me can be blessed with God’s power and presence in my life.
His forgiveness for sins. And we all can be caught up in this story that’s 4000 years old
and counting.
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JEWS REJECT
So many of the Jews said Jesus was the continuation of Judaism. Not as the starter of
a new religion, but as the fulfillment of a myriad of promises made to Abraham. But
many other Jews, couldn’t accept that. Why not? Because they believed that the way
you get right with God was through Mosaic law.
They wanted to just keep thinking that if they could obey enough laws, they could be
right with God. Just keep the sacrifices of animals going and do enough good works.
Well, let me just tell you something that happened in history and you interpret this
however you want. But shortly after Jesus came and laid down his life, the Jews
became very agitated and rebelled against Roman rule and the general Titus came to
Jerusalem and knocked down the Temple in Jerusalem brick by brick – just as Jesus
predicted.
And friends, early Christians felt that God allowed that disaster to make his point: that
the blood of lambs and goats aren’t cutting it anymore. It’s the Lamb of God, once for
all. Whatever your view, since 70 AD there has not been a single Jewish sacrifice for
sin. It’s like God himself put an end to that system to shine the spotlight on what he had
done through Jesus.
And Judaism changed after the Temple went down… it had to. They couldn’t do
sacrifices anymore because God only allowed them to do sacrifices at the Temple in
Jerusalem. But now all that remains is one part of the wall of the Western Temple
mount foundation.
And when I went there I saw the orthodox Jews praying and crying out to God. You
know why? They are praying for the Temple to be rebuilt because they know that
without the Temple there really is no Judaism. As Moses set it up, it came to an end, in
70 A.D.
And to this day they stick their prayers in that Western Wall because 10’s of thousands
of Jews know that to be made right with God, there has to be sacrifice. There has to be
the satisfaction of God’s justice. Payment for sin by innocent blood. And until that
Temple can be rebuilt, Judaism is essentially on hold.
Yet today Jews by the millions refuse to connect what happened in 70 AD with what
happened in 30 AD, when God laid down his Innocent Lamb, once and for all time…
and for ALL PEOPLE.
ISLAM
Now Christianity started to spread and the Jews were dispersed as well and that meant
they both carried the monotheism of Judaism with them. And monotheism began to
dominate the Roman empire with the conversion of Constantine in 325 A.D. But the
Arab peninsula remained locked in polytheism and infighting.
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Until in A.D. 570, a man named Muhammad was born in Mecca, an important city in
Saudi Arabia – home to the Ka’bah shrine, a sacred meteorite where over 360 gods
were worshipped. Muhammad was a contemplative young man who was given to quiet
times in seclusion and meditation.
When Muhammad turned 40 in the year 610, he had his first vision where he met the
angel Gabriel who said to him “RECITE, RECITE”. These visions continued for 22
years and are recorded in the Koran which Muslims believe to be the very words of
God..
Now what you need to understand is that at first Muhammad did not feel he was starting
a new religion. What he wanted to do was to bring the message of strict monotheism to
his people.
- The Christians in that area had a prophet and a book, and
- the Jews had many prophets and a book,
o but his people didn’t.
So he saw himself as the vehicle to bring what was best about Judaism and Christianity,
the unifying message of One God for all people, to a people divided and hostile with
hundreds of gods. In fact, in the early days, Mohammed had his followers bowed down
toward Jerusalem, not Mecca! The Koran says:
29:46 And do not argue with the People of the Scripture except in a way that is
best, except for those who commit injustice among them, and say, "We believe in
that which has been revealed to us and revealed to you. And our God and your
God is one; and we are Muslims [in submission] to Him.”
So in the early days of the Movement, Mohammed saw himself as partners with
Christians and Jews in a common cause. But then two problems arose which changed
history.
- One, when he tried to teach his new version of old Bible stories to the Jews and
Christians in and around Mecca, they didn’t like it. He took stories from the Old
Testament and gave them new meaning. He put Ishmael in the place of Isaac in
the sacrifice story for example. So the Jews and Christians wrote him off. That
made him mad. No more bowing to Jerusalem. He made his own way to Allah.
- Secondly, Mohammed’s followers became locked in a struggle with the
polytheists that ran that Ka’bah shrine in Mecca. In 622, he and several hundred
followers were forced to flee to Medina. Muslims called this event the Hegira,
which means flight or migration and to this day, it marks the beginning of the
Islamic calendar on July 16. In Medina Muhammad brought a revelation that
Mecca was really the site of an ancient place of worship set up by Abraham and
Ishmael. So over the next 8 years, from 622 to 630, Muhammad and his
followers waged a long military campaign to get back to Mecca and take it over.
o *During this campaign Mohammed discovered that certain tribes of Jews
were in cahoots with the Meccans to defeat him.
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o In retribution, Mohammed beheaded 700 Jewish men of a certain tribe
and took the women as slaves. Some of the bad blood between them
goes back that far, friends.
Finally, Mecca signed a treaty with Mohammed and his followers and they walked into
the city in 630 without a fight. Immediately, Muhammad put down other opponents with
the sword and other tribes and countries were invited to embrace Islam. Two years
later he died.
That’s when a major break occurred in Islam over how to choose a successor. These
two major branches of Islam are still around.
- The Sunni Muslims
- The Shiites.
That’s Islam and Judaism 101. With Christians they all believe in One God. We’re all
theistic religions. We believe in One, Personal Creator God, who stands behind the
universe and made all things. We believe this God is infinitely Holy, infinitely Powerful,
and everywhere present.
After that, some differences quickly emerge:
God: Singular Unity vs. Complex Unity
Humanity: basically good vs. basically sinful
Sin: overcome by mending ways vs. atoned for like a debt
Salvation: good deeds outweigh bad vs. gift of grace
Jesus: mere prophet, lower than Mohammed, vs. divine Son of God.
Jesus Death: faked… Judas; God wouldn’t allow it vs. real, required for salvation, God
serves us
Bible: corrupted vs. authentic…
You see, just scratching the surface, we realize all religions are not the same. And
here’s where the rubber meets the road. How does each religion say we can have
peace with God and hope for the after life? I mean, surely that’s the biggest question
that any religions attempts to answer, right? Well according to the Koran, Surah 7:8-9,
on that day all shall be weighed with justice. Those whose scales are heavy
shall triumph, but those whose scales are light shall lose their souls...
So in Islam, there is no assurance of salvation. Unless, you die a martyr for the Faith.
Which helps explain why there seems to be no shortage of Islamic young men willing to
blow themselves up in defense of Islam. 911 Terrorist.
Their assurance depends squarely on what you and I do, on moral performance, on
doing enough. And you submit to Allah’s will. He may welcome you, he may not.
In Christianity, God can’t even look on sin. But in love, he took them on himself on the
cross. So because God himself makes the payment, anyone who trusts in him can be
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assured his debt has been paid in full. If God is for you, not even your own sins count
against you. But the key is, like Abraham, to get in on this promise, will you:
Trust and obey?
So that’s the difference. Ironically, as I line this out, maybe someone here would say,
“you know, Rick, I was born in a “Christian” country, but my view of God has
been more like Allah than Jehovah. I see God as creator and all that, but my
God is distant, he’s kind of easy on sin, but he asks me to work for my salvation
and I'm never sure where I stand with him. I wrestle with guilt and I think God
carries a big stick.”
Well, friend, it might be a step toward truth to just acknowledge that you’re more of a
Muslim than a Christian. If you don’t believe in grace that’s scandalous, then you’re not
a Christian. You’re still on the “DO” plan, not on the “DONE” plan.
So you look into this and decide where the truth lies.
