Monthly Archives: January 2021

I didn’t know all that happened there. Still don’t, in fact.

Apparently, in some Islamic schools, kids learn nasty little songs about cutting people’s heads off. Lacking the language skills to properly pursue the prevalence of this, I’m going to assume that’s not the main thing after school Islamic training prioritizes.

Memorizing the Quran, up to the whole book, is another task of such programs. This intrigues me. Granted, most Muslim kids likely memorize in a language they don’t speak. And my conviction is that doing must be coupled with knowing. But still, that’s an ambitious task.

Can you imagine your pastor announcing that for the next year youth group will focus on memorizing the whole Bible?!? Makes me laugh just to think of it!

My wife and I led our church’s middle school youth group last night. We fussed and fretted over how to communicate the main points of the Bible story (The clearly low-hanging fruit of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego!), while maintaining the kiddos’ interest. I even set my hand on fire to communicate the lesson!

Jesus went to great lengths to communicate in ways that would stick. We should too. But maybe we sell our kids short? Maybe we could raise the bar, at least for some kids? What if we asked them to memorize some of the Bible? All of it? (AWANA parents and kids: Keep up the good work!)

It will be a gut punch if a Muslim kid in college kindly tells my kid he’s memorized the entire Quran and asked why my kid hasn’t memorized the Bible.

Well, now I’m feeling pretty convicted. I’m off to memorize life-giving scripture with my kiddos. 

Sometimes Christians do this with sharia, or Islamic law. We think of the worst possible behavior, eg. stoning a woman for adultery, forget it’s also in the Bible, pay no heed to the reality that most Muslims disagree with it, then think, “Whoa, Muslims really are weird!”

To be clear, I’m not advocating for life under sharia, for me or anyone else. Its implementation on a state level has been difficult to devastating for many. Not only have our Christian sisters and brothers suffered, but also untold millions of Muslims whose faith didn’t measure up in the eyes of the judges.

Sharia, what my witty friend Bruce calls, “Moses for Muslims,” is rooted in the teaching of Muhammad and is based on the Quran, the Hadith, reasoning and judicial consensus. It does include hudud crimes which are punishable by lashing, amputation and death. But “For the most part, Sharia is concerned with personal religious observances such as prayer and fasting.” (Please take a look at this page where a Muslim explains sharia. It helps to also hear from insiders. Of course, the description is sympathetic. They’re describing something they love.)

Here’s what I like about sharia: At least in an idealized sense, it’s asking WWMD? What would Muhammad do? “Based on what he said, how should we as Muslims act?”

This idea has been haunting me of late: To what degree do my thoughts and actions emerge from the Bible and to what degree from my culture? I deeply want to think and act in line with Jesus. I want to be able to examine a particular aspect of myself and say, “Yes, that has roots in scripture. Increase it.” Or, “Nope, that’s only American, not biblical. Time to change it.”

Will you join me in this? Maybe correct me? Reach out here.

Since you’ve been willing to read my brief squawks for awhile, maybe you’ll indulge me a few thoughts on how people of Jesus might respond to the situation in the U.S. right now. (If you’re not American, please pray for us. I’d also invite you to share with me how you see things from your vantage point.)

1. If your life is so arranged that everyone you know basically agrees with you on stuff, enjoy it. It’s nice to be agreed with. Just don’t be like me and continually chorus, “Those other people are silly dopes!”
2. If you find yourself exposed to, attending church with or going home to folks who see things that matter differently than you do, well, that can be a challenge, no? I love what my friend, Brian Newman, shares in this brief video about the Beatitudes and the radical way following Jesus’s teaching might shape our behavior in these days.
3. Often, but not often enough, I remind myself when people do things I think are crazy: I have no idea the anger and pain they’re dealing with. I haven’t walked their road. If you’re convinced the rug is being pulled out from under your world, that hurts. It’s scary. It can be infuriating.
4. Being a peacemaker means choosing to not win for a long time. Peacemakers will win, to be sure, but that victory may be way out on the horizon. Your peace making efforts won’t change everyone’s mind in a single Wednesday night Bible study, no matter how smugly that would make me feel!
5. Listening is undervalued. It’s tough to listen when “those other people are silly dopes,” but worth the effort. As David Ausberger says, “Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person, they are almost indistinguishable.”

This should go without saying, except that I need to hear it: If you’re frustrated, stressed, angry, scared or just done with it, don’t take it out on the kids. They didn’t vote for either candidate!