Monday, September 22, 2008

no god but God-Aslan

for my Oman (preperation for xmas trip) we are reading Aslan's No god but God...here were my weeks thought on it...

I really enjoy this book. No god but God really helped “point out” some of the “historical” aspects of Islam, which I find completely fascinating, and it reminds me over and over how religions have developed and that historically the evolution of Xianity is no different or better than Islam. What I find really difficult about this though is that I begin rattling with the notion of what truth really is, and why, and how “truth” can be so vastly different to people. In this though the challenge of truth tares so many people and groups apart that it seems to me to be more of a hindrance than importance. After reading this book I find myself becoming more angry with “Xians” than I worry about what is wrong with Islams. I don’t understand how we can call ourselves “followers of Christ” when we argue with each other’s theology more than care to live in peace then we throw stones at those who are struggling with the same problems, perhaps in different ways, but in the end in the same way we are. I am not saying that there should be one complete Xian or Islamic theology, but I wish that although we might not agree and although we might fight, we could realize and be more understanding in what Muslims are facing and why there is conflict, or perhaps just admit to ourselves that we are in conflict too. Christians persecuted Muslims more than they did us. It seems to me, that throughout history we were the first to dismiss them, while they tried to live in peace among us.
More than anyone will ever know, I am excited for this trip. At the same time I am scared shitless. I am scared of what I will learn, I am scared of how much more my faith can be challenged before it becomes torn to screeds. I feel like a sheet of paper that has many tares but I am not completely ripped yet. I thrive on being challenged and seeing and learning about people, their stories, walks of life, but I wonder how far and how much I can learn before I completely lose what all I have left.