A journey through the Qur’an, pt. 1

Last Friday, my day off, I went wandering through Minneapolis on my mountain bike. Snow was predicted for the next day, so I assumed this might be the last nice fall ride. I rode over the stone arch bridge. I passed a bridal party getting their pictures taken, tempted to ride up right behind them as they all smiled and make myself part of the family. There’s a Dunn Brothers coffee shop just up the hill where I rested for a few moments. I didn’t buy anything, so they asked me to leave—fair enough.

I rode over to the University campus and entered Kaufmann Union. I explored the three levels, the restaurants, the movie theater, the large meeting hall, the student book store, the large collection of couches and cushy chairs. I noticed some representatives from a local Mosque camped out by the escalators. At first I was disturbed that there was no Christian representation in the place, only Muslim. By the time I was ready to go, I walked past their table again and saw they were giving away paperback copies of their holy book, the Qu’ran. I asked if I could have one and they were more than eager, of course.

They started to discuss with me how good the book was and how it’s a continuation of what the other prophets said. One of their comments regarded how the gospels were not as reliable in fact as the Qu’ran because they were written by man, not words given by God. Having studied both Testaments that Christians believe in their original languages to some degree, and having a strong belief in the historical reliability of these texts, I pursued them further regarding the issue of the harmonizing the Mohammed with previously revealed Scripture.

It was an interesting discussion. The white guy with the long red—haired beard told me he had converted from Agnosticism to Islam and he dressed as he did to try and be like the prophets of old as much as possible. He gave me a book that defended the authority of Mohammed, and said they are there every Thursday and Friday. With that in mind, I thought, what if I were to actually read through the book that over 1 billion people on earth claim to be the last word on faith?

So, as best I can I seek to work through this holy book, ask questions and see what I can learn from original sources. Of course, this little paperback being in English is not the original source, as my Muslim friends are quick to point out. I will only get the truest meaning from the Arabic text. Granted, I understand this from the perspective that Biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek that our English Bibles are the most rich and meaningful resource any Bible scholar could tap. Here my questions start:

Is it possible to be a true Muslim without understanding the Qur’an in Arabic? Did Allah only intend Arabic speakers to understand its meaning? Are there cross-cultural principles and beliefs that this text teaches that are adequately translatable into other languages?

Certainly as a student of the Torah and the Christian Canon, we would never abandon the original languages or cultures or their study, but would say that modern English translations are effective at communicating a high percentage of the story and doctrines and principles of the faith.

I only feel qualified to speak about the validity and interpretation of Genesis and Revelation, so I will write to the issues raised by these devoted Islamic missionaries with respect to my understanding of Christian doctrine.

The Authority of Mohammed

Was Jesus speaking of the coming of Mohammed, not the Holy Spirit in John 16:7?

The Muslim argument goes that since Jesus was present and filled with the Holy Spirit that Jesus could not have been speaking about the Holy Spirit, since the Holy Spirit was already there. It doesn’t make sense that Jesus and Holy Spirit would have to go away for the Holy Spirit to come again. It refers instead to a different Counselor/Comforter that would come. These missionaries seemed to call the Holy Spirit “the Praised One’ also, which introduces a new idea to the text.

1. The word means "one who comes alongside." The Greek word used in the text is parakletos, meaning helper, encourager, one mediates on behalf of, I think the Muslim I talked with called it “the Praised One” which seems like a far wandering from the Greek word. I am curious to know if Mohammed acts and serves as a helper like one who comes alongside and helps his people. Does he acts as one who mediates on behalf of his people? If he does, how can we know if Allah will hear his advocacy? Does Mohammed even come close to doing what the Holy Spirit does in reminding people of the truth? Convicting men of sin and judgment? I will have to read the Qu’ran to find these things out. I have a sense that Mohammed is very good at accusing people of sin, however, does Mohammed function as an advocate?

2. The text argues that parakletos = the Holy Spirit. A look at the context of John 14-17, all passages in which Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit as he prepares his disciples for his upcoming departure, show three obvious uses of the word parakletos in extremely close association with the one titled Holy Spirit. In John 14:6, it says “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” The grammatical construction is what’s called an appositive, a renaming of one thing by another. Take for example, “Jim, the smelly guy by the door, regularly turned away customers from the restaurant.” Jim = the smelly guy. Two nouns next to each other meaning they refer to each other. John 15:26, John 14:16-17 also use parakletos in a similar appositive.

Why would Jesus or the gospel writers use the same term to refer mystically to a man who would appear 6oo+ years later? The context argues for agreement with a previously mentioned usages of parakletos where The Counselor=the Holy Spirit.

That’s all I have time for today.

Loving God Wholeheartedly

As Tim Olson spoke this morning at our men’s meeting, I was reminded again of the priority that Jesus gave to what church people call the Great Commandment. In fact, it isn’t just church people who would call it that, it was Jesus who called it the greatest commandment.

Look it up if you’d like: Deuteronomy 6, verse 5 is the Old Testament quote, from the law given to Israel through Moses: “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

Jesus quotes it this way, almost identically in Matthew 22:37 and Mark 12:30 respectively:

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment."

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

I can’t help but notice Mark recites the Old Testament concept for concept better than Matthew. Matthew adds “mind” and deletes “strength.” Nevertheless, the parallel witness of Mark gives us hope that the Jesus, the son of God knew his Old Testament.

After doing a brief word study of the terms used in both the Old testament and the New testament, as well as a look at the context surrounding Deuteronomy 6, I came to these conclusions regarding the Great Commandment:

1) The command to love God is based in God’s desire to see His people flourish and endure for generations. The context of Deuteronomy 6 gives the reasons for this and all the rest of the commands God would give:

These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, (vs. 1)

so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and (vs. 2)

so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey (vs. 2)

so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you. (vs. 3)

Moses, the messenger of this command lays out this directive in light of God’s initiative of a love relationship with his people. He laid out this distinct relationship when he revealed himself to Moses in the ten commandments:

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand [generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:5-6)

The Great Commandment is not a random, obligation God demands of his people, but rather an order rooted in God’s love for His people. It is rooted in his desire to see his people flourish and endure for generations.

2) To obey the command to love God does not necessarily depend on an initial feeling of warmth towards God. This observation may be contestable if we only look at the Hebrew text where there are no distinctions made regarding types of love. However, in Greek, the word (agapao) calls us to love God out of deep appreciation and high regard, not out of the warmth of interpersonal associations that the word phileo might have conveyed. In this sense, one’s emotional state could be anywhere and still love (agapao) God. Of course, as the rest of the verse carries on, our emotions must play their part to the full in our loving God.

Taken in this sense, this command to love God might let us “love” him, even when we don’t “like” him. I say this as one who enjoys being in that place where I sense I have “heard from God” and “feel close to God.” It is isn’t authentic emotions if I say that all the time. Regardless, the truth of who God is stands strong and my obedience to the command to love God needn’t begin from some kind of warmth I feel towards God.

3) Our loving response to God incorporates the whole person. The terms heart, soul, mind have significant semantic overlap. Taken as a whole, any one of these terms could mean thinking, feeling or willing. Even as the lexicon scholars Louw & Nida suggest, these terms would need to be translated differently in different cultures to effectively communicate meaning. Regardless of whatever psychology theory about the relationship between mind, emotion, will, inner man, outer man, affections, appetites that you hold to, the semantics and term definitions are not the end goal. The command to love God demands all of us, asking all that is going on inside and all that happens through our physical body to work together as a team effort.

4) There is a choice we make in loving God whole-heartedly that requires us to point ourselves towards God. It takes place inside of us. It results in outward expressions of love, towards God and neighbors.

5) There are physical activities that help us love God. The Deuteronomy passage suggests:

- Be active in passing on your faith to the next generation. Impress them on your children. (7)

- Talk about your faith. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (7)

- Use physical reminders on the body and at home: Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. (8) Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (9)

- Find Remembering exercises. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. (12)

- Ask yourself the question: “Do I seek God’s approval or someone else’s?” Do what is right and good in the LORD’S sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers, (18)

Who Needs Our Worship?

“The multitude of your sacrifices, what are they to me?” says the LORD. Isaiah 1:11

St. Augustine was a scholar who converted to Christianity in the 4th century. His story is intriguing and his writings are quoted by almost every Christian tradition, including our own. In the Free Church you may have heard "In essentials, unity, in non-essentials diversity, in all things charity." That’s vintage Augustine. He doesn’t have the same authority as scripture when he writes, but he writes humbly, thoughtfully and powerfully. Confessions is Augustine’s life story, written as one long prayer to God. I have been encouraged to continue journal my own life in prayers by his work. I commend the book to you and leave you with some of Augustine’s thoughts on worship.

I call upon you, my God, my mercy, who made me and did not forget me when I had forgotten you. I call you into my soul which you are making ready to receive you by the longing which you yourself inspire. Do not forsake me now that I call upon you; for before I could call upon you at all, you were ahead of me; by all sorts of voices and in all kinds of ways over and over again you pressed yourself on my attention, so that I might hear you from far away and be converted and might call upon you who were calling me.

For you, Lord, have wiped away all those acts of mine which deserved punishment; from my hands which sinned against you you did not exact the price due, and in everything I did that deserved well, you were ahead of me, so that you might give the due reward to the work of your own hands, the hands that made me. Because before I could be, you were; nor was I such as to deserve the gift of being. Yet, see, I am and I am because of your goodness which went before--before all that you have made me and before all out of which you made it. For you had no need of me, nor am I anything so good as to be of help to you, my Lord and my God. It is not that I should serve you in case you grew tired in your work, not that without my service your power would be less. You are not like land which requires cultivation if it is not to be barren; it is not in that way that you need my worship. No, I worship you and I serve you so that it may be well with me in relation to you, from whom it comes that I exist as someone capable of well-being. (The Confessions of Saint Augustine, Rex Carroll, translator, Book XIII).

Eight Big Boys

I wrote this during and after our trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area a couple of weeks ago.

Eight Big Boys
- To be sung to “Yankee Doodle”

Eight big boys from First Free Church
C’noed the boundary waters
Left couch and remote behind
With wives and sons and daughters
Packed a pair of underwear
Was that all I needed?
The doctor said that I could go
So with care I proceeded

To Grand Marais we left with haste
And stayed at Pastor Harvey’s
Slept in comfort, ate real well
It’s Northern hospitality
Up the gunflint trail we drove
In at Seagull Lake
Little did we know that eight mere
Hours it would take

Captain Ole was our man
He headed our adventure
Navigated like a champ
With calculated measure
Ole, Ole, lead us on
Into great blue waters
When this trip has come and gone
We’ll hold you up in honor

Browner was a fisherman
With Mountain Dew and paddle
“Trolled” the lakes with his own hand
Caught nothing now I tattle
Cast it out, cast it again
Never from it weary
If you ever catch a thing
I might believe your theory

Scotty is a carpenter,
A jack of every trade
Cabinets and paddles are just
Some of what he’s made
Once for dinner he prepared
Dehydrated spaghetti
Adding water was such fun
Your talents sure are many

Jon was vet’ran guide and cook
His meals were a sensation
After feeding us would
Encourage contemplation
Engineered our feasts so well
Loved the steak and chicken
Cared for us e’en at the end
By lending us tenactin

Stopped at Knife to set up camp
It could not come too soon
Not much happened here, we slept;
While Scotty shot at loons
Jeremy snored, kept us up
Jon cooked eggs and bacon
Packed it up and then we left
Eight boys on their vacation

Knife, Amoeber, and Topaz,
Day: two; lakes down: just three
God had mercy on our backs,
A sweet site at lake cherry
Portage nearly killed us all
Muscles were so tender
Lunch was good as I recall
Cheese, sausage, bread, p-butter

Mark & I swam ‘cross the lake
As fish we were in water
Browner, Koby caught bass so we
Cooked some up for dinner
Love the taste of small mouth bass
Heated over fire
Fresh from where he swam his last
And only inches higher.

Football player Jeremy
was quite the entertainer
Showed me how to fish
With hook, leech, bobber and a sinker
Did a little dance one time
A joyful celebration
At the catch of a walleye
He showed his delectation

Mark is our man from the south,
No, wait he’s from Ohio.
Kicked out of his church because
He read from NIV -- O
Pastor Mark, you rebel, you
Paddle strong and steady
When I needed some ear plugs
I ask you ‘cuz you’re ready.

Playing bard has been my role,
I do not take it lightly
Would have wrote much less but thanks
To Jeremy I write nightly
I won’t think about my legs
They’re not really throbbing
Aches and pains, I’m going to bed
My sleep you have been robbing

After pancakes we moved on
Portages to go: four
Roots and rocks and up and down
Until we see the lake shore
We all peed on Canada
North of monument
Paddled up the Sag Lakes as
Relieved Americans

Camped by Munker Island for a
Final night of rest
Only to be greeted by
Green Man of the Forest
Mask on face he was a friend
With us he would fish
“Litter Not” was his command
“Come back again” his wish

Chip was oldest and best dressed:
Red jacket and brown pants
Navy man & teacher, now
Consults for insurance.
When the rain began to fall
And our spirits tired
He’s the one to cheer us on
Keeping the weary fired

Morning rain was our goodbye
Our trip is at its end
Food was gone and so we lunched
With Ole and with Sven
Eight big boys from First Free Church
C’noed the boundary waters
Left the wild to return to wives and sons
and daughters!

Getting to the Heart of Worship, pt. 1

"He has put eternity into man's heart" (Eccl. 3:11)

Everyone worships something, because we are created to worship. When I went to India a few years ago, I was struck by many the temples and idols. Poor folks would offer food sacrifices to the god of their choice, often an elephant-like creature with many arms. "Sacred Cows" walked the streets like princes while humans were treated with far less dignity in the nearby barrios. The irony in this culture's value system is striking, but it is so only because we are blind to our own culture. Americans by and large tend to worship self.

For this week's muse, I want to direct you to Mark Driscoll's talk on worship (about 20 minutes) as he introduces several concepts that clarify what worship is. Enjoy the video and take some time to process the questions at the end of the video with someone.



Who worships?

How does the Trinity worship?

What kinds of things can be in the place of glory? (He later calls these "functional saviors)

How does what you worship create your identity?

What did Martin Luther say about worship?

Quotables:

"Taking a good thing and making it an ultimate thing." (This sounds like Tim Keller)

"The opposite of Christianity isn't atheism, it is idolatry." (Peter Kreeft)

1 John 5:21 Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

"The human heart is an idol factory" (This sounds like Martin Luther)

Personally:
1. What am I offer my heart to as the answer to my heart's greatest longings?

2. Who or what do you love the most?

3. What are you afraid of? (being alone, being unhealthy)

4. What do you make sacrifices for?

5. What do you consider the mediator between you and God? (songs?)

6. What is your actual functional view of heaven? Are you satisfied with Jesus?


For those of you who want more:

Here's a take on our School of Worship's Key verse: Romans 12:1



If you really want more:

Here's the full message on Worship

Honoring God in Curious Times

I Samuel 6:19-20 - “But God struck down some of the men of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the LORD had dealt them, and the men of Beth Shemesh asked, "Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God? To whom will the ark go up from here?"

Years ago, the disobedient Israel suffered the loss of her most famous symbol of God’s presence- the ark was captured by foreigners. God uses this moment to speak to these foreigners about His own superiority. God himself afflicts several Philistine cities through the presence of His ark—destroying their idol ‘Dagon’ and causing an epidemic of tumors amongst its people. In a desperate move to rid themselves of the ark, they sent the ark back to Israel, via a cattle cart. The foreigners were humbled and keenly aware that the God of Israel was no ordinary ‘god,’ but one deserving respect and honor.

They watched the cart, as God directed the cattle back to Beth Shemesh (from here noted as BS), where the Israelites rejoiced at the return of “God’s presence.” Amidst the celebration, however, tragedy strikes. Several of the men pry open the ark to peer inside. Rumor had it that inside the ark were the two tablets with the covenant written on them, the covenant the Lord gave to Moses (Ex. 40:20). Perhaps these men wondered: “Were the tablets still there?” or “Did the Philistines place something else in the ark?” So they did and they died.

It could have been a scene right out of Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, sans the Nazis.

Before we think of God as being harsh with His presence, think about how where the ark was before this: In the Holy of Holies—a place visited only once a year by a priest. The ark was also carried only by Levites, and then, only with poles.

The men of BS were thoroughly unschooled in the things of God. They had to be taught just as the foreigners were taught that God’s ‘presence’ is nothing to joke about.

Are we any different than the people of BS? In the new covenant, we don’t carry an ark around as a token of God’s presence. The Holy Spirit living in us is the presence of God in us. Yet, when it comes to rightly relating to God, we are as unschooled as the people of BS.

For us to be in the presence of God requires us to be absolutely perfect. None of us have lived this way since our great-to-the-hundred degree ancestors in the garden disobeyed. None of us are worthy of God’s holy presence. The only reason we are able to enter into God’s presence freely is through the blood of the sacrifice of Jesus. We may enter that holy place many times each day and know the presence of God hears us—unlike the once a year priest. We have tremendous access to God.

Yet, we are curious. We are creative types and our eyes hunger for more. Instead of resting in the simplicity of the presence of God in our lives through the Spirit and the Word, some of us want signs and symbols. Instead of trusting his promises, some of us want to know how He will fulfill them. Some of us take our entertainment more seriously than our God, or worse yet, see the things of God purely as entertainment.

That’s not to say that God doesn’t do fascinating things. This story is evidence of God making a mockery of any ‘idol’ that man might construct. Let’s be faithful in God’s school of worship by radically honoring Him. Let’s rid ourselves of idols. Take time to review how you and I are able to enter the presence of God through his blood. (Heb. 10:19-22). Let’s thank him for that. Let’s honor and respect the Lamb who was slain to bring us to God.