No embarassments...

One of the blessings of these times for Christians is that some, in the face of a rising secularism and militant Islam, will look to the roots of their faith and perhaps see for the first time this Jesus the secularists mythologize and Islam distorts.

I think if they do they'll be very pleased with what they see. Let me explain.

In a few weeks we'll be having a presentation on Islam here at my work (I'm a bi-vocational Priest) by the Islamic Association of the University of Minnesota. The intent is good, it's always worthwhile for people to have a basic working understanding of other faiths, but it'll probably be a generic whitewash. Islam is about peace, jihad is personal struggle, it's all about brotherhood...

No one there will probably have the ability to ask a few basic questions that could make all the difference and puncture the veil of political correctness that surrounds our vision of Islam. Here's one question no one will ask. "In Islam the Prophet Muhammed is considered to be the ideal human being with a purity of action and thought that transcends all others and a life that is worthy of emulation. Would it be proper, then, to allow your six year old daughter to marry a forty year old man as Muhammed did when he married Ayesha?" Imagine the silence that would follow.

Now Christians have often done terrible things in this world. In fact some have posited that the best argument against Christianity is Christians themselves! Looking at my life I understand that point. But when a Muslim goes to the founder of their faith they find Muhammed, who married a child, exterminated whole villages, thought for a while that he was possessed, and used his faith to rule as a tribal chieftan and excercise control when he could and vengeance when he needed to to solidify his power.

The truth is that Christians have done all of that in one form or another throughout time. But Christ never did. If a Christian destroys a whole village because they refuse to become Christians our Lord weeps for the sins of his followers. In Islam they are following the example of Muhammed. Christ loved all, killed no one, had no political power, and forgave the very people committed to torturing him. The contrast between Christ and Muhammed could not be more stark and if people prompted by the turmoils in the world bother to investigate they will quickly come to the conclusion that if one must submit to God, as Islam claims, the God revealed in Jesus Christ is by far the better choice.

Whatever Christians have made of their faith and life, and sometimes we've made a real mess of it, we never have to run away from our Author, Jesus Christ. Not from the way he lived his life, the words he spoke, the miracles he performed, or the holiness of his being. However we have failed there is no awkward silence needed when we speak of Christ, no apologies for the things he did, and no need to play intellectual games to try to make sense of him within his time.

For all our lives we followers of Christ will struggle and often fail to be what we claim to be, but Christ stands and transcends without peers.

And that makes all the difference.