jesus the extremist

Well, as i was walking here this evening a few notable thoughts crossed my mind. One, which has been scouting around in my mind is the fear people have of people like me, and how strange that is for me when I know that my perspective is the right one... There's another aspect in that they are prepared to place their fears anywhere except where they most deserve to be - and that is of God, Allah. We really shouldnt fear anything except Him, as everything is under His will...

Now one might think thats a mite presumptious (that's sort of proud, for those who's 'mother-tongue' isnt English, and I hope I spelt it correctly), of me to be so self-assured, but thats the way it is. There are self-evident truths in the world, and you just have to allow yourself to see them. I have taken that freedom, and that is where I am. I call others, but I know that most will not be able to listen. Then, its not for me to apologise, because I only want good for all.

Now, a second thing which struck me, was on the realm of Christianity. I saw a number of cars today, with rosary beads hanging from the rear-view mirror (I also see many Muslim beads too, or any number of suposedly religious trinkets, placed as markers - actually now I think of it, I saw some cars with santa hats placed over the driver and passenger headrests. Classy!) It made me think... and it is related to the first in a way.

If a Christian looks at me, and thinks Im a fundamentalist or whatever, what do they think of Jesus (peace be upon him)? Surely in his time it was exactly the same. His thinking was seen as against the prevailing powers (both Roman and Jewish), the Sanhedrin guys thought he brought religious revolution, which would undermine the twisted version of religious laws they had built up around themselves, and the Romans, and many of the general people supposed he would bring this 'kingdom' on earth through military revolution.

In short, on all sides he was seen as a fundamentalist. A terrorist, and a danger to the established order. He was apparently tried for this etc. (but that contravenes my particular truth system, because a lot of politics rests on that being taken as a truth too. ie. all of the Christian world, and so much of the killings perpetrated in Christianity's name rest on this falsehood). So I dont want to get into that just now. Perhaps later...

So in terms of what we can agree on about Jesus (Peace be upon him), we know that these accusations could not be farther from the truth. He was an incredibly spiritual man, a Prophet of Allah, who came as a mercy to man, and his mission was to bring the people back to God, in the correct way, which did mean making some adjustments to the Law, but the main purpose was to ensure the MONO-theistic belief of the pure religion of Abraham. He was the example to follow- he said, "I am the way,the truth and the life...", and his people for the most part shunned him.

Now fast-forward to today, and the people who are (like me) calling their neighbours, and brothers and sisters in humanity to that same worship, what do we find? Well, not much has changed. The people fear them as bringing disruption to their 'creature comforts', and established order. They fear the 'fundamentalist's' living 'outside the box' of conformity, and thus point the finger of blame at them.

Now much can be said about some pretenders who do atrocious acts which jeopardise the position of those purely seeking to diffuse truth among the masses, but since this isnt an apologetic, I cant devote much time to it. Know that that is not the true face of closeness to the Creator.

How could it be? To take the life of one person without legal cause is tantamount to murdering all of humanity that ever existed, in the rules of Allah. There is a time when people will stand on either side, and perhaps it is near. Still, we cannot fear each other. An old piece of wisdom which rested with me even in the dark years was - 'we fear something that we dont understand'.

And it's ironic, that the more you come to know God, and His characteristics derived form His beautiful names, the less you understand Him, and the more you fear him. But at the same time your hope in His mercy grows.

I could write a book right now, but this is a mere blog. A sprinkling of thoughts, on a day of a meanderer. Hope it sheds some light, at least to brighten up your lives.

God bless.