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Though I make no secret of my
relationship with Jesus, I was not surprised to read that Islam has become the
fastest growing religion in the United States. There are perhaps 7 million
Muslims in this country compared to over 200 million Christians, so maybe there
is simply more room for growth. Still, I think there’s more to it.
Let me digress. When the time came for my wife
and me to start a family, we decided it would be a good idea to find a church.
We weren’t sure why; it just seemed like something good parents should do.
With no more purpose than that we set off to
find ourselves a religion. I was mainly seeking something that went with what I
already believed, confident no self-respecting god would disagree with me.
There was certainly a wide variety, which I approached much like buying a
shirt: Pick a design and pattern you like, then grab one that fits.
One of our first stops was a small denomination
known for its open-mindedness and the intellectually gifted adherents it has
attracted over the years. The service was interesting if a little unfocused,
but the people were friendly, happy to have guests, and eager to explain their
beliefs.
From my conversations that day I learned they
were Christians … and that they were not. That they believed in a god, and that
they didn’t. That they prayed, that there was no one to pray to. Collectively
these nice folks believed everything and nothing and were merrily indifferent to
the fact that no two seemed to think the same thing. I decided I’d rather be a
good ol’ Southern Baptist; at least you don’t have to puzzle out where they’re
coming from. In hindsight it was a fine show of the Lord’s humor, but at the
time it was about the harshest thing I could think of.
As does the culture of our day,
which doesn’t take kindly to folks who believe something. “Diversity” and
“tolerance” once implied respect for people of differing racial, ethnic, and
cultural backgrounds; today the terms mean condemnation for anyone brash enough
to believe there is truth, regardless of what they think that might be.
What right, many ask, has one to
think they are right? What gall to believe there could be one truth and one
God! When we’re not being told there is no God, the patter goes that there are
many paths, that the one you choose doesn’t matter.
I had a hard time buying that
even back in my “Church Of The Right-Sized Shirt” days. Most of the world’s
religions are mutually exclusive, with beliefs that bar other explanations. It
follows logically that they could all be wrong, but they can’t all be right.
Unfortunately a lot of Christians
have strayed from that. Many denominations condone practices and theologies
that are clearly not Biblical, so certain are they that they have discovered
truths the creator of truth could not. Yet the fastest growing Christian
churches in recent years have been evangelical, precisely because they are less
afraid of what they believe.
And that also is the appeal of
Islam. By my observation American Muslims have less fear of practicing what
they preach than American Christians, and that appeals to people who are truly
seeking.
It is not my intent to debate the
merits of Christianity or Islam. Nothing anyone says changes the essence of
truth anyway, only how others react to it. God exists or He doesn’t, He is
Jesus or He isn’t, He is Allah or He isn’t, and all the words in the world won’t
change it.
Nor do actions; I have long told
my children to follow Christ, not Christians. But if our faith is to bear fruit
we have to let it show, to change us. That is both our challenge, and our
privilege.
© 1997- 2002 Brent Morrison
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