On Offending Islam, Christians and Party Spirit
August 7th, 2006 by Stephen
Muslims took offense at the publication of cartoons showing Mohammed - apparently any depiction of Mohammed is offensive to them. I don’t understand why someone else’s rudeness in publishing these depictions equates to repeated rioting and destruction.
I would ask: what would Jesus do? I don’t see Jesus railing against the wrong beliefs of the Samarians, nor the attitudes of pagan Romans and Greeks. Jesus had much more of a problem with hypocrisy amongst the Jewish leaders of his day than with the easier (external) targets.
It is human nature to form parties and communities from which we draw a sense of significance and security. It is also human nature to demonise those outside our communities, so as to strengthen our feelings of significance within. Thus fundamentalists think their Christianity is the only orthodox Christianity, and liberals cannot be Christian at all. Liberals think that intellectualism makes their belief superior, and we all will happily point the finger at what we see as the almost pre renaissance religion of Islam, or the moral quagmire of humanism. (I generalise of course).
But Jesus was different. He did not need the crutch of his community to bolster his feelings of significance or security. Those needs were fully met in his perfect relationship with the Father. Thus he had more of a problem with hypocrisy in his own community than he ever had with the attitudes and sins of those outside.
If we are to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, I think we should worry less about the actions of the offended muslims, and more about how our reactions point to our own feelings and attitudes towards these people.
Being a fundamentalist– I do not deny that it’s possible that a liberal may be saved, but I do question his fruits. It’s certainly possible for any one who believes on Christ to be a true Christian, but that doesn’t mean that they are in correct relationship with Him.
There is a line between believing something about a person’s stance in Christ and whether I will fellowship with them or believe they are correct in their doctrine. You can be saved, but have incorrect doctrine as the church of Corinth was a prime example.
I agree, the Church in Corinth held some views so way out that it is a wonderful example of the truth that we are not saved by correct doctrine.
As I said in my piece above, I was generalising. I have met fundamentalists who do not believe liberals are saved at all. I accept that others are less extreme, but my point was to emphasise the extremes to make the point that this is not what God wants.
Where we disagree with the doctrine of other Christians, it is - in my opinion - important that we deal with the doctrinal issues alone, and never seek to attack by group.
For instance, if I say “the Episcopal Church of the USA is full of liberals, and X is a member of them and is thus a hopeless liberal with views that are hateful to God”, I have done nothing but alienate X. If I get to know X, engage him in debate, understand his views and then tell him I disagree with his stance on Y (and Y I disagree), then I am dealing with him constructively and honestly, and we can hope that we will move together towards some kind of enlightenment.
I think this is the kind of thing Jesus did, when he met with Zacchaeus. Where other people wrote him off and just criticised the whole class of tax collectors, Jesus saw a human being with just the same hopes and needs as the rest of us.
[...] Would Jesus Criticize the Muslims? Published by MInTheGap August 17th, 2006 in Church and Bible What would Jesus reaction be to the varying world religions of the day. Stephen Kingston postulates that Jesus was much more concerned about the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders than in attacking the Samaritan or heathen religions, but why is that? I would suggest that it is not the fact that they are indeed apart from Christ and in the wrong, but because of His mission and to whom He was here to minister. [...]