Brian D. McLaren Hey, friends - another quick update. I'm going to be observing the fast of Ramadan with some Muslim friends, beginning in about a week.
Susan Tittmar ... A fabulous idea. May you meet Christ more fully in your experience of their own spirituality.
Kristi Shirley Kernal ... Thank you, Brian for your courage to obey God and care more about what HE thinks than what people think. Can't wait to read about it.
I almost don't even want to hear the rationale ... but I couldn't resist ... I went to Brian's blog ... urgh ...
First he imagines that sharing Ramadan is like Jesus overcoming religious prejudice and learning from (and being inspired by) a Syrophonecian woman (Matthew 15:21 ff, Mark 7:24 ff). Uh, yeah, He overcame prejudice to demonstrate the Gospel ... not that He would learn and be inspired. McLaren seeks to "learn from our Muslim sisters and brothers."
McLaren then lists common commitments:
We, as Christians, humbly seek to join Muslims in this observance of Ramadan as a God-honoring expression of peace, fellowship, and neighborliness. Each of us will have at least one Muslim friend who will serve as our partner in the fast. These friends welcome us in the same spirit of peace, fellowship, and neighborliness.
Pardon my confusion but I do not understand that we share the same spirit.
We will seek to avoid being disrespectful or unfaithful to our own faith tradition in our desire to be respectful to the faith tradition of our friends. For example, since the Bible teaches us the importance of fasting and being generous to the poor, we can participate as Christians in fidelity to the Bible as our Muslim friends do so in fidelity to the Quran.
No, we have opposing objectives in mind. We seek to humbly serve Christ. They do not. Again, postmodern innovators focus on works and thereby confuse the crux of our salvation and the need of the world.
Update: the facebook brain trust continues (to prove my point) .... the following comments are from McLaren's supporters [emphasis is mine]:
Bob Melone ... Thanks ... for reminding us that a life of faith is not about 'obeying' God, it's about experiencing the presence of God, with those seeking after the things of God [ah but this is with Muslims?]!
Tracy Pace ... other religions have as much to offer as my own in terms of spirituality and service. Jesus never meant for any of us to worship him as the one and only - that came much later ...
Robert G Bob Pearson ... GOD = Allah, same same, no difference, same source in Abraham. A spiritual practice that brings you both closer to God and closer to other people cannot be questioned as a heresy.
Annie Haden Mehlhoff ... McClaren's participation in Ramadan is very similar to what Jesus did with his neighbors ... Jesus is a mediator between humanity and God, but that doesn't mean he is the only one. ... I just suggest that perhaps you listen to those other faiths. I think you'll find Jesus in them as much as Christianity.
Update 2 ... Tracy Pace couldn't help but to continue to reinforce my issue with postmodern innovators ... she speaks on ... "Men clearly had a huge political hand in the formation of the christian religions, and of the documents which came to be our Bible, which I don't see any evidence in the scriptures for Jesus having planned."
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