Bible Discussion Thread

 
  • Tim Kane on John 10 - 2 years ago
    The difference in the Gospel of John from the gnostic Gospels used to bother me. I saw it as more fanciful. But these days I have been viewing it, in part, as a letter to Muslims, to address their issues, written 500 years before Mohammed preached Islam (according to the standard Islamic narrative of Mohammed's biography). This springs out at you in the very first verse, of the very first chapter - which is written in terms that seem out of place but a Muslim would immediately grasp: "In the beginning was the Word,..." and later in verse 14 comes the kicker, "...and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us...."

    Most Muslims are programmed to ask: "where in the Gospels does Jesus say 'I am God, worship me.'" (Islam emphasizes the majesty of God and that humans should make themselves slaves of God.) The Gospels of John address these concerns most directly, but Jesus, in John 15:15 addresses the nature of our relationship to God, we are no longer servants, but made friends with God. We are to have an intimate relationship with him.

    But, in John 10:10, Jesus, compared himself directly with Mohammed. You see Mohammed started his career as a warlord first as a caravan robber, a thief. Western Civilization is based upon Christ's teachings (and a few of his commandments) among them are: separation of church and state, search for truth, value truth, avoid falsehood, freedom to search for truth, exercise of that freedom (the theology is worked out in the parable of the Prodigal Son), love and forgiveness. For people living in the West, these principles have given us a more abundant and full life - what a gift!

    Today almost no Christian, living in the West, aspires to live in a Muslim majority country, but almost all Muslims living in a Muslim majority country aspire to live in the west. Islam threatened/encroached Western Civilization for about 1000 years. In that time about half of Christendom was lost to Islam. Today the West walks on the moon, Islam not so much.



This comment thread is locked. Please enter a new comment below to start a new comment thread.

Note: Comment threads older than a month are automatically locked.
 

Do you have a Bible comment or question?


Please Sign In or Register to post comments...