CHRISTIANITY, ISLAM AND WORSHIP

• First some comments about a proposed dialogue between Christianity and Islam.  In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI gave a lecture in which he made a series of comments that were accurate but considered offensive to Muslims.  Last October 2007, he made a dramatic declaration calling for greater cooperation and broader interfaith harmony.  These papal initiatives have resulted in a Muslim declaration, “A Common Word Between Us and You”, and a Christian rejoinder, “Loving God and Neighbor Together.”  Both are posted on www.acommonword.com.  The Muslims argue that the two religions claim more than half of humanity, so “the very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake.”  Peace between the two religions is imperative!  They asked that Christians “come together with us on the common essentials of our two religions,” defined as love of God and love of neighbor.  Muslims also suggested that “justice and freedom of religion are a crucial part of love of the neighbor.”  The Christian response was organized by Yale Divinity School’s Center for Faith and Culture.  The statement confessed that Christianity has been guilty “in the past (e.g., in the Crusades) and in the present (e.g., in excesses of the ‘war on terror’) . . . of sinning against our Muslim neighbors.”  But many evangelicals expressed some real problems with this Christian response.  For example, R. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Seminary, found it difficult to apologize for the Crusades, since there were atrocities on both sides.  He was likewise thankful that Islam was halted in its jihad against the West in 732.  Further, Mohler found it difficult to apologize for the war on terror, since there has been little remorse from Muslim leaders for what occurred on 9/11 and signaling that the war on terror is not a policy of Christianity but of the western governments.  John Piper also expressed dissatisfaction with the Christian statement because it does not really define the unique aspects of Christianity and that the center of the faith is Jesus Christ and that only through Him can true Christian love be understood and expressed.  Many evangelicals have expressed concern that the statement, in its desire for dialogue, refuses to come to terms with one absolute reality:  Islam denies the trinity and therefore the deity of Jesus Christ.  The nature of the godhead and especially of Jesus is not an open issue for dialogue and debate.  Richard Ostling writes:  “Conservatives also questioned the Muslims’ affirmation of religious liberty, given the faith’s history and problems in Islamic countries (regularly monitored by groups like the Barnabas Fund and International Christian Conner).  Traditional Muslim law relegates Christians and Jews to second-class status and imposes other restrictions.  Saudi Arabia prohibits churches altogether.  Muslims even teach that believers who convert to another religion are ‘apostates’ subject to the death penalty.”  Quite surprisingly to me, Richard Love, international director of Frontiers, contends that “Muslims worship the true God,” though this “falls short of his perfections and beauty as described in the Bible.”  I must say that I am shocked by Love’s statement.  The God of Islam is not the God of the Bible.  One cannot read the Qur’an or the texts inscribed on the rotunda of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and reach the conclusion that Islam worships the God of the Bible.  I would find it impossible to sign and affirm the Christian response.  There is an enormous gap between Islam and biblical Christianity.  A genuine dialogue of faith seems impossible.  I am more than willing to discuss the differences but the gap between these two world religions is enormous—and that difference all centers on Jesus Christ.  Islam and biblical Christianity can have no meaningful dialogue on who Jesus is.  He is the Godman—undiminished deity and perfect humanity, united in one person, without any confusion of the attributes of his humanity or His deity.  Islam will never agree with any part of that statement, so there is really very little about which to dialogue.  Listen to Vern Poythress:  “The power of the Christian faith is the power of the cross, power in human weakness, the power of God’s love.  Christian faith spread in the Roman Empire not by strategically placing Christians in the Roman Senate and in the aristocracy, but by people hearing God’s good news—the ‘foolishness’ of the gospel (1 Corinthians 1:18-31).  Christianity spread by orphanages, by caring for the sick and by returning good for evil.”  For Islam, the cross is false, for Allah took Jesus to heaven:  He did not die for human sin.  See Richard N. Ostling, “Can We Talk?” in World (8/15 March 2008), pp. 58-59 and Poythress in the same edition, p. 64.

• Second, on a totally different matter, consider what is occurring in Christian worship.  Before he died, Robert Webber published Ancient-Future Faith: Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World.  Among many other things, Webber called on Postmodern Christians to look to the ancient traditions and practices to rejuvenate Postmodern Christianity.  The way of the future is to look back!  Today, we can see many evangelicals doing just that.  For example, Protestants observing Lent is becoming more and more common.  Lent, in the Catholic tradition, is a time of inner cleansing and reflection upon Jesus Christ’s sufferings before His resurrection.  This is evidence that Protestants are looking backward to gain energy for the future.  As Jacqueline Salmon observes, some evangelical churches now offer confession and weekly communion.  Others have formed monastic communities, modeled after the ancient ones of the early church.  D.H. Williams of Baylor University writes that “Evangelicalism is coming to the point where the early church has become the newest staple of its diet.”  Upset over megachurches and seeker-friendly superficiality, some evangelicals, especially the young, are adopting a trend that has come to be known as “worship renewal” or “ancient-future worship.”  Such evangelicals are seeking to be in touch with “the mystery and beauty of God.”  Listen to this adaptation of the ancient rite of confession:  “Confession—a staple of Catholicism—is appearing in different formats.  Thousands of people, for example, have posted anonymous online confessions on church-run Web sites like mysecret.tv, and ivescrewedup.com.  Those postings have confided feelings of guilt over abortions or over homosexuality, while others have confessed to extramarital affairs, stealing, eating disorders, addictions—even murder.  ‘We do believe there is value in confessing our sins to each other,’ says Bobby Gruenewald, pastor of Lifechurch.tv, an Oklahoma-based megachurch that runs mysecret.tv, which has received 7,500 confessions since it started in 2006.  Ministers and volunteers pray over the confessions as they come in.  ‘This process may be a more modern way of people discovering the value of that tradition.’”  The new monastic movement can often involve sharing apartments or houses, having outside jobs and wearing regular clothes, not habits.  But the movement still stresses collective sharing, caring for the poor, a humble submission to Jesus Christ, and a commitment to a disciplined, contemplative life.  The number of such communities has grown from about 15 to almost 100 in the last decade.  Much of the information presented here was dependent on Jacqueline L. Salmon, “Feeling Renewed By Ancient Traditions,” Washington Post (8 March 2008).  Several thoughts:

1. All of these renewed or ancient traditions demonstrate the need of the human for community and a personal relationship with the living God.  This longing is not being met by the superficiality and shallowness of current American evangelicalism.  That Christians are turning to these ancient traditions demonstrates that something is missing today!
2. Further, my major concern is that some of these practices are experience-oriented, not truth-oriented.  It is God’s Word that brings conviction, power and the capacity for spiritual renewal, not confessing online!  A careful reading of 2 Timothy 3:16—4:4 and Hebrews 4:12 demonstrates where the focus of the church should be—on the Word of God!!  If the renewal of ancient traditions drives us back to God’s Word, I would support the traditions.  But if the ancient traditions merely focus on an experience that does not last and that does not promote holiness, conviction of sin and the promotion of righteousness, it is just another form of spiritual superficiality and shallowness.  The charge of the church is to “Preach the Word.”

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