I’ve experienced three powerful things in the last 36 hours.
On Wednesday night, during our Emerging Artist gathering, Carmen Paradise played a song remembering her brother (Nic) who lost a battle with a drug addiction last month. I wrote about that here and here. She, and her fellow band member, played a song entitled "Rudy Ruby." It was a powerful lament/statement of faith. The most meaningful line (addressed to Nic), “You’ve been dying since I can’t remember.” We all mourn in different ways. The important thing is that we mourn.
Last night, I spoke on the campus of Michigan State University for Join the Conversation—a dialog about faith and spirituality for Christians, religious folks of different stripes and seekers. We talked about theodicy (God in the midst of suffering), ethics, war, non-violence, politics, theism and atheism…among other topics. It was a lively and enriching conversation. The other two panelists challenged me in various ways. If God is Absolute Truth we should have some humility when treading on the ground of holy conversation. I believe in “absolute truth but not in my ability to understand truth absolutely,” to quote one Christian thinker.
Last night, as I prepared to sleep, Kara and I engaged in a discussion about the things our children will challenge us on. My generation loves to talk about the Civil Rights Era, Vietnam, Communism and Democracy—what will our children challenge us on? My wife said something so true. “I think that our kids will challenge the way some white people view middle easterners.” (I should add here that one of Kara’s close friends is a Christian from Iraq…yes, there are Christians in the Middle East. She’s Chaldean. A side note: Microsoft Word doesn’t even recognize the word Chaldean.)
I think Kara’s right. Whites have slowly moved past the stereotypes of Blacks and Hispanics (for the most part) but now transfer those sentiments towards all people of Middle Eastern descent. Some Christians use the phrase “sand nigger” “rag-head” “or camel jockey." In these moments I tend to think to myself, “The Jesus of history was a poor Jewish man from said region. I wonder if we would be able to embrace him were he to move into our neighborhood today.” Jesus looked more like the men who receive extra screening at Metro Detroit Airport, than he does White-Suburban-Scandinavian-Romance-Novel-Jesus.
4 comments:
i LOVED Nic's sister and her friend...i'm forgetting their names...
Ruby Rudy was quite a touching tribute to Nic. i am glad they shared that song with us.
The church in current Iraq, Iran, and Syria was one of the most vibrant areas of early Christianity. The Syriac stream (a third stream that is usually forgotten amongst our discussions of the Eastern and Western churches that we usually discuss in Church history classes)produced some amazing literature and powerful church leaders, like Ephrem, Aphrahat, etc. In fact, as a Semitic culture and people, the early Syriac church was largely free from Greek influence and thought much more like the authors of the Old Testament than those influenced by Greco-Roman philosophy.
I am glad that they are being rediscovered and that the recovery of that stream of Christianity is forcing us to rethink our over-generalized biases of those in the Middle East.
What a blessing for you and Kara to be in relationship with this young lady.
First of all, I grieve with the family of Nic as we are told to mourn with those who mourn.
"If God is Absolute Truth we should have some humility when treading on the ground of holy conversation. I believe in 'absolute truth but not in my ability to understand truth absolutely,' to quote one Christian thinker.
Last night, as I prepared to sleep, Kara and I engaged in a discussion about the things our children will challenge us on. My generation loves to talk about the Civil Rights Era, Vietnam, Communism and Democracy—what will our children challenge us on? My wife said something so true.
'I think that our kids will challenge the way some white people view middle easterners.' (I should add here that one of Kara’s close friends is a Christian from Iraq…yes, there are Christians in the Middle East. She’s Chaldean. A side note: Microsoft Word doesn’t even recognize the word Chaldean.)
I think Kara’s right. Whites have slowly moved past the stereotypes of Blacks and Hispanics (for the most part) but now transfer those sentiments towards all people of Middle Eastern descent. Some Christians use the phrase 'sand nigger' 'rag-head' 'or camel jockey.' In these moments I tend to think to myself, 'The Jesus of history was a poor Jewish man from said region. I wonder if we would be able to embrace him were he to move into our neighborhood today.' Jesus looked more like the men who receive extra screening at Metro Detroit Airport, than he does White-Suburban-Scandinavian-Romance-Novel-Jesus."
My response:
If we claim to believe in Jesus at all, I don't see how we can back-pedal from saying that we are right. If we believe the Bible to be inerrant and divinely inspired, we are told that narrow is the way to heaven. If these people from other religions do not believe in Jesus, they are bound for hell. I do not believe that all of the religions "bleed into one"(to quote U2). This is why I do not approve of such efforts to form a one world religions as such. I see no point in ecumenical efforts between religions.
The Bible says that the anti-Christ will be one who employs the one world government. To me it appears that this would appeal to those who say: "You're right, I am right. It's all relative." That attitute scares me, Josh.
I have several friends who are Chaldean Catholics originally from Iraq. It is very easy to dismiss them as you said.
The fact remains that many of Arabic descent hate us and seek to end our existence. In times like these where America's security is at risk, there's no need to apologize for reporting those who look suspicious or at the least being cautious. If they appear suspicious at an airport, then I hope security could act.
On a somewhat related note, did you know in the Koran that a Muslim is permitted to lie to a Christian? It's the truth as had been explained to us through illustrations from one of our missionaries at my church.
For this reason, we were very cautious when a young Muslim man entered before youth group time in his full customary garb. This had been just days after several Muslims opened fire inside a Turkish church. We didn't know his intentions, but our youth pastor decided it would be fine for him to sit in on the worship part of our time and invited him. After worship, he came to the stage. Our kids asked him questions about Islam, and he asked questions about Christianity. It was a worthwhile discussion for them to learn more about how to approach Muslims with the gospel. This was fine and healthy. The last thing I would want is for our churches to be combined, and the faiths blended. We serve two different Gods.
I do not at all tolerate the name calling and outright refusal to associate with anyone of Arab descent, but few people like that exist.
We don't know what Jesus looked like. It's difficult to assume one another, but let's not forget that other cultures have made assumptions about Jesus. I have seen a Chinese Jesus and an African-American Jesus.
All cultures are myopic to some extent. Most of the Muslim extremists believe all of the U.S. is Christian! We know that's not true.
Eric,
You are right. Philip Jenkins really challenged me on the "the third stream"--thanks for your comments.
Dave,
I think you misunderstand me. I represented the Christian faith all the way. The last thing I said was, "God love you and he sent his son to die for us in order that we might we fully human now and fully human in the age to come."
I never took a pluralist stance...not for one minute. But I'm also going to an event like this with an open posture and a spirit of humility.
I can't expect someone to convert to Christianity if I'm not willing to consider all the tenets of their faith.
By the way, those are not the correct lyrics. The U2 song is that "all the colors will bleed into one"--that's not a reference to religions as much as it is ethnic groups.
BTW--show me where this word "inerrant shows up in scripture"--I believe the Bible to be the word of God but word like inerrant and infallible are battle terms...terms that are proven by circular logic. That is, "how do I know the Bible is the word of God? Because the Bible says so."
We have to be able to approach our faith in ways other than this kind of logic...in my humble opinion.
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