Tonight I spent three hours talking with a new friend of mine who is a Muslim. It was an excellent talk, slash honest debate. While neither of us converted, we both promised to pray for the other that God would reveal Himself. It was very neat discovering all of the ground that we have in common (the worship and love of the one almighty God) and the issues – or I should say ISSUE that divides us. That ISSUE of course is Jesus Christ.
Jesus confuses people. We dont know what to make of Him. Is He God or is He the son of God or is He A son of God. The Trinity? Dont get me started. When it comes to the nature and details about God, Jesus and their relationship, there is a lot of confusion.
And that is reassuring to me. I am trying to understand and comprehend this mystery but the fact that there is so much in my faith that is beyond me is comforting. If it were all within my feeble mind to grasp, than that would make God a very weak god indeed.
Im not embracing the disengagement of the mind. Some religions worship DESPITE all evidence that their beliefs are unlikely. For example, a certain sect believes in an ancient Hebrew/Indian civilization that flourished in America but did not leave a trace of archaeological evidence. The proponderance of the evidence should be reasonable – but I will not be so proud as to demand complete knowledge and understanding of both good and evil.
The last line was a deliberate segue to the Garden of Eden. What many religions that insist that everything make sense and that there be NO confusion (Jehovahs Witnesses and Muslims are two that Im most familiar with) quickly forget is that the desire for this knowledge is what caused Adam to fall. And part of his fall was because he wanted to be LIKE God and know the difference between good and evil.
Making the assumption that in order for God to exist we must understand Him completely is like my five year old refusing to obey me unless he understands the WHY of my every order. Some orders I can explain to him, many I will attempt to explain, but some he must obey even though he may never understand. He must trust me despite the confusion that he sometimes experiences.
Besides, the lack of confusion, depth or complexity in a religion doesnt mean it must be true, it probably means that it was man made. Complexities, intricacies, riddles and paradoxes are not the hallmark of simpletons. Beliefs that are too simple and lack any confusing material merely reveal the character of their creator.
Personally, I find great comfort in the knowledge that I dont know everything and that God is and will always be a whole lot smarter then me. For if God is my mental equal, then I might as well be worshipping myself. Yeh, that isnt a good idea, I cant even keep cookies from burning.
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