WWJHUD

I've been re-reading Way of the Wild Heart by John Eldredge. In his books he uses a lot of movie references. This one focuses on how a boy and a man becomes a man, examining the six stages in the life of every man. A lot of it has to do with training and adventure, and so the movies he uses deal with those things. One that has stood out to me a lot with this book is the movie Kingdom of Heaven. I had seen it once years ago and I remembered not really caring for it, but I couldn't remember why. I once felt the same way about Gladiator, so I gave it another shot. Last night my wife and I watched it.

The movie is set during the time of the crusades, when wars between Christans and Muslims were fought over the Holy Land. In the movie, which is based on factual events, a battle is fought over Jerusalem, and in the end the city is surrendered to Saladin, a Muslim general. After the surrender of the city there is a scene with a cross laying on the ground. A Muslim man is walking through the room and after noticing the cross, he gently picks it up and places it on a table.

The scene reminded me of my time in Istanbul, Turkey at the Hagia Sophia Church. Over the last 1500 years it has been a church for several branches of Christianity, a mosque, and currently is a museum. When the current structure was completed by Justinian in 537 AD he claimed that he had out done Solomon. Gold covered everything, today there is gold colored paint to show everything was covered in gold mosaic. If I have my church history right, people came from the west and claimed to have seen a glimpse of heaven when they entered the church.

Much of the gold is gone today but some remains. There are still mosaics portraying Christ that remain there, even after the the church had been converted to a mosque. The Muslims did not destroy the images, they simply covered them with tapestries. Even though they do not see Jesus as divine, they still respect Him as a great prophet. Therefore, they did not destroy the images.

As I stood there looking at the centuries old work that had been preserved, my mind wondered, what would have happened if it had gone the other way? What if it had gone from a mosque to a church? Would Christians have treated the Islamic work and symbols with the same respect? Sadly, I seriously doubt it. Christians led the Crusades, killing Muslims in the name of Christ with the battle cry, "God wills it!" Even today things haven't changed all that much. A few years ago a pastor in Florida planned "Burn a Quran day" as part of a memorial for the September 11 attacks. Is that how the Church and Christianity should behave? I have to ask, What Would Jesus Have Us Do?

As I write this I don't want it to sound like I am promoting Islam. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; that He came to earth, died on the cross to pay for sin, and then rose from the grave forever conquering sin, death, and hell. I believe that a relationship with Him is the only way that anyone will ever enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I am a Christ follower now and forever. And at the same time my mind keeps going to Gandhi's quote, "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians, they are so unlike your Christ." Jesus would not have led the Crusades, Jesus would not have burned a Quran; so why would His followers?

The Gospel of Jesus is a message of love, why has it been presented as hostile, violent, and so full of hatred? Jesus had respect for all people and He treated people with dignity no matter what their cultural background was. He said that the world would know we were His disciples by our love (John 13.35). Paul said in 1 Corinthians 16.14, "Let all that you do be done in love." What would happen if we really lived as Jesus did? If we loved as Jesus loved? What if the world saw Christianity as God intended it to be; a faith full of love and hope.

We must stand firm on the truth. I see the bumper stickers all the time that spell out "COEXIST" and "TOLERANCE" with the different faith symbols. The issue is Christianity can't. It says that Jesus is the only way, that is what separates us from everything else. If we say "Yes, let's coexist. Whatever you believe is fine, and it's all the same God" we would cease to be Christian. Our belief that Yahweh alone is God, that Jesus, His Son, came to earth to die for sin, and that Jesus alone is the way to God, is what separates us from everything else.

Let us, the Church, go forth in the name of Jesus with His Gospel of love and hope. That is what God wills. That is what Jesus would have us do.

Peace be with you