I Know What You're Against, But What Are You For?

For the sake of research I recently viewed or read dozens of media outlets to determine how they treated religion and people of various faith backgrounds. Obviously the majority were focused on the Ground Zero Mosque issues, which has gone from virtually everyone being in favor of to a grand free-for-all incited by arch-conservative bloggers. Lost in the fray is the reality that the Muslims have been in business on that site for two years. Some sites focused on the intra-Muslim violence that is escalating to historic levels in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa. Muslims have been in a quasi-civil war since soon after the unexpected death of Muhammad. If you’re into math that’s approximately 700 years of in-fighting over which group is truly Muslim. One satirist site offered a video interview of various members of the Arkansas Baptist Church famous for picketing the funerals of soldiers. Their beef isn’t the war in Iraq, it’s homosexuality in America. Go figure.

Needless to say, faith in general was not looking good after my research. It was hard to find a positive story on the web, even on sites dedicated to religion and faith groups. I’m disappointed, but not surprised. Do you know of a major religious group that isn’t fractured, in major flux, about to divide or already divorced? Even Hinduism and Buddhism are splintering! This has to be a sure sign of the apocalypse; or possibly a wake-up call for us, the people of Christianity, to make some positive strides. It’s time for people to know what we are for, not what we are against. If educated, thinking and evaluative Americans hear what Christians are against ad infinitum, but never hear what we are for…our marginalization will continue.

Islam isn’t going away. Whether the mosque/community center is built near Ground Zero or not is not going to effect the growth of Islam here or abroad. America is pluralistic by Constitution and as such won’t have a primary religion promoted by the government. This shouldn’t be a surprise as we broke away from England to get out from under a government sponsored church. The equality movement is growing and like it or not America will be more, not less, inclusive, of people groups. We are also a nation of immigrants and if we closed all borders tomorrow we would nevertheless remain a giant melting pot of peoples. Yell, scream, picket, stew, rant…won’t change any of the above, except for the worse.
What would Jesus do at a time like this? I’m guessing He would be extending a hand of grace and peace to all. From reading the New Testament I surmise he would opt to speak for people and not against them. We would definitely know what He was for, and only in a secondary manner would we know what He was against. Imagine that, people of faith being known more for what they are for than what they are against. This shift alone could change the world as we know it. Oh yeah, and Jesus would do that too…He’d change the world. All in all, Jesus continues to be our best option.

Michael McCullar

The Dude Lives Like Jesus

Dr. C. Louis Perrinjaquet, Doc PJ to his friends, lives in Breckenridge, Colorado and for a few months each year he practices family and sports medicine among the ski-season crowd. I can tell what you’re thinking at this moment: this guy’s a ski bum part-time physician who’s living the high life in a Rocky Mountain paradise. I thought the same thing while reading an article about him in Trail Runner magazine. Actually my exact thoughts after one full paragraph were more like, nut-case-ski-bum-part-time-physician. He’s a genuine piece of eco-work, but not for the reasons you might imagine. Doc PJ doesn’t use heat in his home, takes cold showers to conserve energy, buys giant bags of rice and beans to cut down on packaging, teaches transcendental meditation in his living room and breathes exclusively through his nose. I was with him right up to the point of breathing exclusively through his nose. That must be a TM thing; or possibly something to do with cold showers and not using heat during Colorado winters.

Doc PJ is also an avid trail runner, but again, not for the usual reasons. He trains six days per week to prepare for long stints as a jungle doctor. He treks to Darfur, Honduras, Cameroon, and Haiti to do relief medical work; often traveling on foot carrying a 50-pound pack filled with medical supplies. He has pulled rotted teeth from the mouths of Pygmies and cleaned gunshot wounds in raging war zones. He invests $5,000.00 and treats 5,000 people. By the end of the second paragraph I’m ready to canonize the guy and then I read these lines: “In 1991, PJ was working in Vanatu in the South Pacific, when he saw a diabetic man with no shoes. PJ gave him the shoes off his own feet. And to fill the void, he made a pair of sandals out of tire rubber.” This guy is the MacGyver of international medical relief doctors! He’s my newest hero.

I’d love to report that Doc PJ is a committed Christian who is living out his calling in Christ. Sadly, nothing in the article suggests that faith plays a part in Dr. Perrinjaquet’s unusual life. His life’s motto is placed at the bottom of his e-mails: Life is Bliss! Christian or not, you have to love this guy’s attitude and his passion for making the world a better place. Our world needs more people who live to serve others. Doc PJ may not realize it, but his life’s work is intensely Biblical in its application. Think, Mother Teresa in a pair of handmade sandals made of worn out automobile tires. This is the kind of life Jesus died to provide for us: others first, meeting the needs of the oppressed, orphaned, and sick, and being the living embodiment of Christ. Christian or not, the dude’s a role model for us.

Michael McCullar

An Islamic Bonfire?

A church in Florida is planning a Qur’an burning. I can’t remember the last time I went to an old fashioned burning of any type. As a kid I read about Christians burning Beatles music after John Lennon stated that people placed the Beatles above Jesus. Rather than participating I wanted to sneak in and save as many of the records as possible. My allowance was a pittance and purchasing 45’s wiped me out every two weeks. I’ve always been a big fan of marshmallow roasting and weenie-roasts but a Qur’an burning? Why in the world would a group of Florida Christians hold a bonfire for Muslim holy books? Apparently because their pastor told them to do so. He is a believer than Islam is a religion of Satan and as such the Qur’an should be burned.

I believe this pastor (our kind can be a looney lot) is going about this in the wrong way. If he asked me, which he won’t, I would suggest he read, rather than set fire to, the Qur’an. Then I would suggest that he reread the New Testament, especially the parts about Jesus, and reassess his strategies. If he did this he might come away with a different plan of action for dealing with Islam. It is true that Islam is patently non-Christian. Islam sees Jesus as the second greatest prophet and an all around talented guy; but not God Incarnate. Islam is a religion of works and must-do’s, and Allah is capricious and far away. Islam is both a religion of peace and violence due to the Qur’an being written in a longest to shortest chapter form and utilizing abrogation at its core. The Qur’an is a list of revelations received by Muhammad over many years. These revelations were progressive and whenever a later revelation conflicted with an earlier one, the initial writing was abrogated in favor of the latest. The confusing part is determining the verses that have been abrogated. None of the abrogated verses were removed; so many conflicting revelations are included. This is the reason why Islam can be simultaneously hailed as being both peaceful and violence-prone.

O.K., so Islam is confusing, can be violent with sanction and doesn’t see Jesus as God. Color me a heretic and don’t sign me up. I am a follower of Jesus and I reject the Qur’an as being my holy book, but never in a million years would I take part in a Qur’an burning. If Christians want to engage in a witness to Muslims they must first make sure they are doing so in a Christian manner. Simply rereading the life and teachings of Jesus will provide a plan for both witness and dialogue. Nowhere in the New Testament does it teach to demean and do harm to another religion; yet Christians have used Scripture as justification for the Crusades and for burning people at the stake. Where exactly is that verse in Matthew? This Florida pastor should stop seeking publicity and reread his Bible. If he did he would save the matches, the O-Zone and, if it’s not too late, his standing as a witness of Jesus Christ. Burn one Qur’an and your witness goes up in flames as well.

Michael McCullar