An Essay

A CHALLENGE TO ABRAHAMIC FAITH:
Muslims, Christians, and Jews Facing Skepticism
by Herschel E. Moore

INTRODUCTION: The Challenge of Skepticism

We live in a skeptical world. We always have. But since September 11, 2001, our world has reason to be particularly skeptical of people who claim allegiance to God.

This skepticism is brought on not by the simple fact that a terrible thing happened. One church leader (I am sorry to say.) said the attack of September 11 was the last bit of evidence needed to prove that we human people are on our own and that God has nothing to do with human affairs. But if human destructiveness disproves God, we didn't need this last bit of evidence. Human history is full of the tragedy and sorrow of Man's inhumanity to Man. What happened to those thousands at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon was terrible, but it was by no means the worst thing that has ever happened. Terrible things happen all the time, and, yes, God often takes the wrap for fires and floods and even wars. Skeptics ask, "If there is a God, why would he let these things happen?" And, of course, they rarely listen for the answer.

But this time is a little different. This time, we who believe in God find ourselves on the witness stand not to explain why God allows tragic events in general, but to explain such wanton murder perpetrated in the very name of God. After all, the terrorists' message was clear, "We are killing you (and ourselves) on behalf of God," and they are recruiting everyone they can for an on-going war not against corruption itself, but a war against flesh and blood - a war against the people in what they see as a corrupt civilization.

The skeptical world must wonder, "Are people who believe in God our enemy?" They must be saying, "We have always thought faith in God was irrelevant; now it appears to be downright dangerous!" And, indeed, faith is dangerous, because the power of faith is great.

I. THE COMMONALITY OF THE CHALLENGE

There are a few points we need to make about religions in general before we actually tackle the question of the challenge to Abrahamic faith. We need, first of all, to acknowledge that religions are not all the same.

Sometimes you get the feeling from the popular culture that one religion is just like another, but that simply is not true. All religions have some things in common, but it is a mistake to gloss over the differences as if they did not matter. Nothing could be more disrespectful of a person's religious faith than to suggest that those beliefs she or he holds most dear are insignificant.

Yes, most religions have some concept of a god or gods - they could hardly be called religions if they did not - but there are vast differences in those concepts. Most religions have some idea of life after death, but, again, beliefs about what that life is like and how a person enters that life vary tremendously. For example, I can and do have great respect for the Buddhist view of Nirvana and the Eight-Fold Path that leads to Nirvana, but the Kingdom of God that I seek is nothing like Nirvana, and I know I can never enter that Kingdom by the Eight-Fold Path nor by any other discipline. I simply have to acknowledge that my Buddhist friends and I are on different paths to different destinations.

The Buddhist and the Christian can be enriched and inspired and enlightened by discussing their similar beliefs as well as their different beliefs, but neither should dismiss the differences as insignificant.

I mention Buddhists and Christians here merely as an example of how followers of two very different religions can respect and appreciate one another without either side diluting their own beliefs. But I want to address, primarily, followers of the monotheistic faith traditions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. While these three religions are more closely related than, say, Hinduism and Mormonism, they cannot be taken simply as different manifestations of one great religion. Jews are not Christians, Christians are not Muslims, and Muslims are not Jews. There are critical differences between them.

For example, faith in Christ as the Son of God is essential to Christianity. Islam, on the other hand, places great emphasis on the belief that "God is not begotten nor doth He beget." The idea that "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" is absolutely contrary to basic Islamic doctrine, if I understand correctly. Such differences in belief cannot be reconciled except by the intervention of God in God's own way and God's own time. Meanwhile, we live by faith. And we live together.

Now. I hope we have established the fact that there are real differences between different religions and that those differences are important, because I want to spend the rest of my space talking about some things Jews, Christians, and Muslims have in common. The first is, of course, that all three religions are MONOTHEISTIC. They recognize God as the only true, righteous, loving, and all-powerful God, Creator of heaven and earth, Redeemer, and Judge of all mankind.

Second, all three of these religions are HISTORICAL. They acknowledge that God is active in the history of mankind. God speaks, makes God's self known, and otherwise impacts the story of mankind and of all creation.

Third, our religions are SCRIPTURAL. God speaks and makes God's self known in revealed scripture. I understand that Muslims accept the Qur'an as the single perfect scriptural revelation of God, but they also respect and utilize the New Testament of the Christians and the Hebrew Scriptures of the Jews. Christians accept both the New Testament and the Old Testament as the authoritative written word of God. And Jews reverence the Tanakh, which Christians and Muslims also cherish as the Old Testament.

And finally, our religions are ESCHATOLOGICAL. Jews, Christians, and Muslims believe God has an intentional purpose for history and for mankind. Though history does indeed repeat itself in some ways, we are not just spinning our wheels. We are going somewhere. God has a purpose for his creation.

For all the differences between us, these are some pretty significant similarities. We Muslims, Christians, and Jews, in spite of important differences, are closely connected at several points. And for that reason, we face some of the same challenges. Most of these challenges come from either the skeptical or the gullible, and it is debatable which is the greater challenge. However, we will set aside the special challenge of gullibility for another writer and focus here on skepticism.

Because we all claim allegiance to one and the same God, the unbelieving world raises serious questions for all of us. We could get defensive and ask, "Who are they to question our faith?" But that would do us no good, and, worse, it would do no good for the skeptic whom God loves and desires to redeem. If we, as people of faith, are to respond in a redemptive way to the skeptic's question, we would do well to review the PURPOSE of God and our role within that purpose.

II. THE PURPOSE OF GOD

As a Christian in a very utilitarian culture, I find it important to remind myself that God does not SERVE a purpose. I do not know about Jews and Muslims, but too many Christians seem to think of God as a genie whose purpose is to stay bottled up until they need him. Religion, for them, is a matter of trying to learn how to rub the bottle just the right way to make God appear and grant their wishes. Many folks are able to carry on all their lives in this manner, finding just enough gratification of their wishes to keep them rubbing the bottle, so to speak - the way a gambler is tantalized by occasional small winnings to keep pumping quarters into the slot machines. Also like the gambler, however, many are destined for disappointment, and these tend to abandon God sooner or later. Their attitude is expressed by the famous American capitalist, Henry Ford, who said, "It is not that I don't believe there IS a God; it is just that HE SERVES NO PURPOSE that I can see."

And, of course, he was right. God does not SERVE a purpose. But we monotheists believe God does HAVE a purpose for all creation and all history and for you and me. The question is - are we human folks going to serve GOD'S purpose in the world?

Well, we need to give some thought to what that purpose is. I know of no better statement of God's purpose for God's people than the one stated in God's call to Abraham. The scripture reference is Genesis 12:1-3.

Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, SO THAT YOU WILL BE A BLESSING. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and IN YOU ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED."

Did you hear God's statement of purpose in that scripture? "...SO THAT YOU WILL BE A BLESSING ...IN YOU, ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED." And that promise was not only to the man Abraham, but also to all his descendants, both through his first son, Ishmael, whom God blessed AND through his miraculously-born son, Isaac. God's purpose in creation, God's purpose in history, God's purpose in calling Abraham was and is to BLESS!

God loves human people! I think he loves animals and trees and rocks and everything else he created also, but it is important that we perceive that God loves human people - ALL human people. And God's intention from the beginning of creation - certainly from this call to Abraham - is to BLESS all the peoples of the earth.

Let us give some thought to the meaning of the word bless. It is a word that has been over-used and misused in our society just as the word love has been.

God's blessing is not a big turkey on the table at Thanksgiving. It is not a Mercedes or big-screen TV. God's blessing is God's APPROVAL; it is God's ACCEPTANCE; it is God's EMBRACE that empowers us for the life God calls us to live. The blessing of God ENDS THE ENMITY and RESTORES THE RELATIONSHIP broken by sin. God's purpose in everything God does is to extend that blessing to everyone who will receive it. We Christians have a scripture that says, "It is not God's will that ANY should perish." God's purpose is to bless. It is the purpose God HAS. It is the purpose you and I SERVE.

III. OUR RECORD SO FAR

So how are we doing? Is God blessing people through Jews, Christians, and Muslims? It seems obvious to me that the answer is yes. God's blessing is extended to and through all three of these religious traditions. It is hard to imagine what our world would be like if it were not for God's work throughout the history of the Jews. The Jewish contribution to the concepts of justice and mercy are immeasurable. Similarly, Christian compassion has transformed the way people everywhere think about the poor, the ill, the oppressed, and all those on the fringes of society. Furthermore, the Islamic reverence for the greatness of God, their call to complete submission to God, and their tradition of hospitality are models for all of us. God's promise to Abraham is indeed being fulfilled. Abraham's heirs are blessed, and they have been extending God's blessing to all the peoples of the earth for thousands of years in thousands of ways.

But the skeptical world sees very plainly that our record is NOT SPOTLESS. Indeed, the spots on our record may be all they CAN see. As a Christian, I am painfully aware of the spots on the record of the church. Christians have, at certain well-known points in history, done things in God's name that have dishonored God, and our only course of hope is confession and repentance of our sins. Jews and Muslims know of similar sins in their own histories. Anytime the people of God in God's name contribute to systems that trap people in their poverty... anytime the people of God in God's name restrict the ignorant from the light of knowledge... anytime the people of God in God's name oppress those yearning for freedom... Anytime God's people in God's name curse their fellow human beings rather than blessing them, they are at cross purposes with God, and they are in need of repentance.

In the scriptures, every time God's wrath was aroused, it was because someone tried to stand in the way of God's blessing. Isn't that what Pharaoh was doing when he would not let the people go so that they could gather to worship God? Isn't that what the money changers were doing when they would not let people into the Temple unless they paid for the privilege? Isn't that what the disciples of Jesus were doing when they tried to keep the children from coming to Jesus? God's desire, God's purpose, God's intention is to bless all the peoples of the earth. And only when we human beings with all our fancy philosophical and religious rationalizations try to block that blessing do we suffer God's wrath.

CONCLUSION: The Call To Faithfulness To God's Purpose

It may seem presumptuous of a Christian such as myself to chide Jews and Muslims as well as Christians, but, frankly, I think it is about time we started preaching to each other. After all, we all claim allegiance to the One God who called and spoke and acted through Abraham and his descendants for the purpose of blessing all the peoples of the earth. And the way we live out our faith before a world that is both skeptical and gullible is our testimony about our God. When terrorists kill in the name of Allah, it bears false witness against the God of us all, and none of us should have to let such false witness go unchallenged. The same could be said about Christian cruelty against Jews and Muslims in the inquisitions of ages past and even of the Israeli oppression of Palestinians in our day. Surely God is not honored when we curse one another or any of our fellow human people.

If we claim to be heirs of Abraham, then we share the common purpose of being God's channel of blessing for all the peoples of the earth.

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