Shaking in Your Boots
In Christian circles we talk about Islam being a works based religion, versus a religion of grace like Christianity. It is about what I can do by following strict guidelines in order to find enough favor to get into heaven. This is often cited as an explanation for why some people are willing to blow themselves up in the name of Allah (the other being that they are savages).
I was talking with a friend several months ago, before the cartoon controversy, and he pointed out that Islamic extremists have a very different view of who God is than we do in the West–a shaking in your boots kind of fear. While I am certainly not trying to justify violence in the name of religion, it is interesting to note that Americans often have the exact opposite view of God (if we believe He exists at all).
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You can’t deny their faith, that much is true. But given that their faith is in an object of their own creation, ultimately, their faith is in their own ingenuity and self-righteousness. It is easy to be sold out on faith in yourself. That is not to say that we here in the West are not guilty of the same type of idolotry, we just call our ingenuity and self-righteousness “Truth, Justice, and the American Way” instead of “Allah.” Be that as it may, you don’t find many Westerners strapping bombs to their bodies and blowing up buses. One major difference is that a works based religion legitimizes self-righteousness and lends authority to those who prefer to force their way on others. Dependence on our own righteousness is something that we all must repent of every day. It is only by God’s grace that we are not scheduling appointments for our dynamite vest fittings.
I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said in terms the logical conclusion of a works based religion–that ultimately it is man-centered. Self-righteousness must play a part in the decision for people to become suicide bombers. As I alluded to, I don’t think that calling these people ’savages’ or lunatics fully gets to the point. Besides being a self-righteous condemnation, it just does not make sense for that many people to be clinically crazy. We are as self-righteous as they come, but we do not blow ourselves up (we blow other people up…OK City, IRA, etc…but we typically save our own skin). I think that their faith–no matter how misplaced it is–does play a key role in their actions.
Granted, but for God’s grace there go I–but self-preservation is an integral part of humanism and self-righteousness, right? Christianity is not a works based religion, but that is how most of us operate on a daily basis. I am also not sure that Muslims would classify Islam as works based any more than Catholics would. Could it be that we are not being fitted for our vests, because in large part we do not have the kind of faith that believes in an all-powerful, mighty and wrathful God?
I’m thinking back to the questions posed in Sunday’s sermon…”What would it be like if God was real? What if the Bible were true? What if Jesus really existed? Wouldn’t it be cool?” Christians are seen as being terminally idealistic…and because we lack faith, we ourselves begin to doubt the true reality of the object of our faith.
Our culture at large either doesn’t believe in God, or has such a watered down “God is love” view that we do not have any reason to fear Him (and thus little basis for understanding the motives behind a suicide bomber). The reality is that we ought to fear God a lot more than we do, because He is holy and just and we are unholy and deserving of His wrath. It is only by His grace poured out on us that we are saved.
The difference for Christians in having a healthier fear of God (i.e., faith and dependence instead of disbelief and self-reliance) is that our obedient response would not be one of violence, but of gratitude for God’s mercy and an outpouring of ourselves on His behalf for the Nations. In other words, “Wow, what if Christians believed in God as much as these people who are willing to blow themselves up? Wouldn’t that be cool?”
I will say that I do not pretend to know much about Islam beyond what is generally presented in the media–so I may be generalizing things way too much. These are just my off the cuff ramblings, so I hope that others will contribute to the discussion and bring clarity and correction where needed.
i’ve just been a lurker lately and don’t have time to comment here either - other than to say I like where your line of thinking is going and it’d be great to talk through this some more.
Might be interesting to get Jay Green in on the discussion since he’s been studying Muslim culture a bit.
Take care.
[...] We are way beyond that, but then again we in the West are also enlighted to the point in which we dismiss religion as a crutch–as a sociological tool of man who lives in a closed naturalistic system. When the realm of supernatural is sheer fantasy, it is hard to put oneself in the extremist’s shoes (see my post, Shaking in Your Boots). But you can say that these horrors are usually being inflicted by a minority. You say it is a few crazed terrorists of Iraq who are doing the killing. It is not most Iraqis. You can say the same about suicide bombers and torturers and rogue governments, like the one Saddam Hussein once headed. You can take solace in numbers. Most people are like us. [...]
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