Inter-faith?

Just this morning I read an article about an Episcopal Church that held an inter-faith service with an Islamic Mosque in the area. The pastor of the Episcopal Church received all sorts of criticism and couldn't understand why. He said that many of his congregants were in inter-faith marriages, so it wasn't much of a stretch for them to do it, yet his complaint was that other Christians, some even senior ministers within his own denomination, were the most critical of this. The article then quoted the Islamic Imam who presided along with the Episcopal Priest as saying that the people who were being critical of the service could not know much about the Jesus they claimed to follow, because Jesus' purpose on earth was to show love, kindness, and forgiveness. He further stated that Jesus never said anything harshly, and never called anyone, certainly not those of his faith group, names.

As I read the article, the thought that came to me is that the article was written from the perspective of a progressive person who doesn't have any convictions. But what really struck me was the audacity of allowing an Islamic Imam speak for the Church relative to our Saviour, Jesus. First, the Bible clearly says in 2nd Corinthians 4:4, that the God of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the Gospel. So, an Islamic Imam cannot know the Jesus we worship, because he is blinded by Satan. Because of this blindness, he was totally wrong in his report of Jesus. Did not Jesus have extremely harsh words for the Pharisees and Levite Priests? Did he not call them sons of the devil? Did he not say they were "white washed tombs"? As a matter of fact, the people who Jesus never criticized were the ones who freely admitted they knew nothing of Him. But to those who supposedly knew the Law, that is the Old Testament, he spoke harshly because they, more than anyone else should have known better.

When I see this Episcopal Priest saying that the God if Islam is the same as the God of the Jews and Christians, I have to take exception. Allah is not Jehovah God. Allah is a false God made up by a false prophet, 600 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And more importantly, Islam denies the diety of Jesus, and vehemently denies the virgin birth and incarnation. Jesus said "I and the Father are one" He further stated that "he who has the Son, has life. But he who has not the Son, has not life."

But even more tragic than the Imam speaking for Christianity, is the priest who doesn't realize that the Bible also forbids communion with worshippers of other Gods. 2nd Corinthians 7: 14-18 says: "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you, and you will be my sos and duaghters, says the Lord Almighty." These verses make it clear that we cannot and should not try to "worship" with unbelievers. And Muslims are unbelievers because they deny the very Son of God.

So, what should our action be toward other religions? Well, certainly God loves them and died for them just as much as he loved us and died for us. So our action should not be to isolate ourselves from them. That is not what these verses are teaching us. What they are saying is don't be yoked with unbelievers. That can mean don't be married to unbelivers. It can also mean dont be joined in bussiness with unbelievers. But it certainly means don't worship with unbelievers, because Paul refers to our bodies as Temples. You worship at a temple.

What we can do is build bridges of friendship. We can develop strong relationships where unsaved people see the difference in our lives that Christ makes. Then as 1st Peter 3 says we should be prepared to give an answer when they ask us about the hope that lies within us.

In conclusion, let me say that we live in a very different world than the one I grew up in 50 years ago. Today, if you tell someone they're wrong, you are accused of hate speech. The article I referred to at the top stated that the Priest had received over 54 pieces of hate mail. Yet when he read excerpts from some of them, it wasn't hate mail at all. It was other Christians trying to correct and reprove this priest. I'm reminded of the years I lived in Colorado. We have one of the most beautiful pieces of creation there, the Royal Gorge. It's a breath takingly beautiful chasm and the only way across is the Royal Gorge Bridge. It's stretches several thousand feet above the floor of the gorge. Now if someone asked me how to get across the gorge, and I told them the only way is the bridge, I wouldn't be a narrow-minded biggot, I'd be telling the truth. Using the logic of many so-called Christians, I'd be rebuffed. They'd say: "You can't tell a person there's only one way across the gorge. Their religion is as valid as yours, and so if their religion says there are many ways across the gorge, then who are you to say there isn't. This of course would be obsurd, but it's just as obsurd to say that Christians are narrow-minded biggots for re-stating the words of the Son of God ("I am the way, the truth, and the light. No man comes to God except through me.") We aren't narrow-minded and biggoted. We're telling them the truth that can save them and keep them from eternal torment in Hell.

Let me know what you think of this post.

Pastor Jim