First I would like to start out my greeting all my readers, it has been a while, but as many of you may know I have been busy, busy, busy with raising funds for Israel (which is very much still needed - http://www.riskybusinessforChrist.weebly.com), re-launching new ideas for Freaked-Out Fellowship, living the ups and downs of being in love with a beautiful woman, and being involved in an awesome local expression of the body of Christ (Messiahreformed.com).
` So what did you think of the title? Great! I would like to start out by defining IGNORANCE. Ignorance is the state or fact of being ignorant; lack of knowledge, education, or awareness. We see this very much in common conversation these days, when people speak on matters they don't know much about. If you read through the book of Proverbs this topic is addressed very much and thus is why as people of God we are told to watch our tongue, or just simply don't speak all that much.
The topic of Islam has always been of interest to me. Before I had come to Christ, I studied Islam under a Shiite imam, and was fascinated and still somewhat am with the devotion to Arab culture. Obviously through studies I have come to believe that Islam is false, and that Christ is the Son of God.
The way many Christians have gone about the discussion of Islam has always bothered me. I remember when I first came to Christ and would foster discussion with Muslims, I would always hear Christians have an issue with me saying allah as a term for God (allah means God in Arabic, even Arab Christians use the term), or say "be careful when reading the Quran". My immediate response to these issues has always been to question the foundation of Christian in these peoples minds, why would we as Christians be so scared of false doctrine, when our doctrine is so clear and true? I still to this day don't understand how many can have a flimsy foundation in Christ (Matthew 7:20-27).
I read and see many Christian books, movies, and discussions that speak against this scary demon of Islam and the threat they pose to us as Christians. This is just ludicrous. Islam is as false as any other religion or ideology that fails to see the truth in Christ Jesus (read through 1 and 2 Epistles of John). That would go for Jews, Buddists, Atheists, and the like. We can not be hypocritical in our approach of truth especially when we are suppose to be people marked by truth and love.
Another good example would be my up and coming renewal fast that I am participating in for Ramadan. Now Ramadan is an Islamic festival of fasting, prayer, alms giving, and study. Muslims believe that Ramadan (which will be August 11 to September 9 of 2010) is the time that the Quran was revealed to the prophet Muhammad. I do not believe that the Quran is a holy text or the prophet Muhammad proclaimed the truth of Christ but I see opportunity for a unifying factor and a time of renewal for myself and all who choose to participate. What would Jesus do? Many Christians are seemingly troubled by this idea as you can see by reading about the participation in Ramadan by Brian McLaren and other Christians he congregates with. Why not create a unifying factor with Muslims? I would love to explain more about what my Renewal and Study festival will be like.
Of, so this brings me to the reason for this blog. Just days ago I heard that "they are trying to build a mosque at Ground Zero", and the response isn't that great from many people, especially Christians. I thought the immediate aggravation I was seeing from people was crazy and decided to do some studying (Gabriella and I like to have these conversations, so always researching). As a former 9-11 Truther and being very involved into the studies around September 11, 2001, I have a heart for this topic just as I do Islam. After researching I have realized that this was once again a hyped up issue and still is, and many people are mis-informed. The Cordoba Initiative is looking to build a cultural center with emphasis on better Muslim-West relations, that does not sound like a mosque to me! The idea sounds great and would foster much needed discussion and also help the healing process and blame many have put on Islam as a religion. You can read about it here- http://www.cordobainitiative.org/?q=content/cordoba-house-new-york-city.
As Christians, we need to really develop a loving conduct for both people and truth, they are intertwined, so we must develop both. Believe it or not, in both the Bible and the Quran, Christians are marked as people devoted to love and truth, do we really live up to that title? I did some reading this morning into Muslim-Christian relations in history and you may find it quite interesting, here is the link- http://www.soundvision.com/Info/jesus/MuslimChristianRelations.asp.
Thanks for reading and I hope this fosters great discussion and study.
With love for Truth and people, in Christ Jesus,
Michael Miano
http://www.freakedoutfellowship.weebly.com
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