Tonight I was at the AWARE centre to listen to the Love Languages of God. The speaker was an American called Kevin Stodos and he was sooooooooo good. I was very impressed with his powerpoint presentation and he was a first class example of Christian Muslim Relations at work.
Firstly he has been going regularly to the Diwaniya at the AWARE centre and they have gotten to know him and trust him. Secondly he was willing to offer his skills as a teacher to talk on this subject.
His presentation was essentially based on the work by an Amerian Christian author -Gary Chapman , who outlines 5 love languages. These are 1) Words of Affirmation 2) Quality time 3) Gifts 4) Acts of Service 5) Physical Touch.
He went on to give Biblical examples of how God has revealed His love to us in these different love languages. Although I am familiar with the concept of Love Languages this was the first time I have seen it applied to the religious context.
Kevin got the Muslims there to apply this model to the five pillars of Islam and it made for a stimulating evening.
Great job Kevin! I was inspired by your example. Your presentation deserves to have a bigger audience. Kevin also writes a thought provoking blog with essays online with his views on life in Kuwait and Christian Muslim issues. It is worth a visit. Check out http://alone.gnn.tv/users/blogs.php
Kevin worships at the Internatonal Church of Christ in Kuwait city. Thanks too to the AWARE centre for their creative diwaniyas and excellent hospitality. I was blessed.
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Friday, 4 April 2008
Scripture Reasoning
Well, they are doing it in USA, UK, Europe and in some countries in the Middle East. Scripture Reasoning is rapidly becoming the way to do inter faith dialogue. So what is it?
Scriptural Reasoning is a text study between Christians and Muslims and Jews. It is a practice where members of these faiths in small groups, study together, their own and each other's religious texts. The act of engaging openly and honestly with each scripture and allowing the texts to speak for themselves has proved to be a winning strategy.
Selected scriptures from each text are laid side by side and each member of the group is invited to read the text and feed back to their group what they think the text is saying. This is done after someone presents what their own scripture means to them coming from their faith tradition.
The beauty of this approach is that it allows the scriptures to speak for themselves. At the heart of each monotheisitc faith are the scriptures which all belive conveys God's message to the world. Scripture Reasoning allows God to speak to each person through the sacred books without compromising one's own faith.
I wonder if this could ever work in Kuwait? Obviously the number of Jews here would be minimal, so I guess it would have to be just Christians and Muslims.
If I can find six Christians and six Muslims willing to have a go at this then I would love to make it happen. Any takers?
For more information on Scripture Reasoning check out the related websites on the blog list.
Blessings
Sunday, 30 March 2008
Spot the Difference
One of my favourite blogs on kuwait is http://intlxpatr.wordpress.com/
There is so much here about life in Kuwait in general, and every now and then there are issues raised to do with religion in Kuwait.
One of the latest entries titled "Minarets", shows photographs of minarets in Kuwait and asks if you can identify them as belonging to a mosque used by Sunni or Shi'a.
It is possible - click on the link above to find out how you can recognise the difference.
Enjoy
Thursday, 27 March 2008
A popular guiding principle for Christians is WWJD or What Would Jesus Do? It was interesting to see an Islamic equivalent presented as What Would Prophet Muhammad Do? See Article below.
What Would Muhammad Do?
From Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR
Muslim Response to Cartoon Controversy
"You do not do evil to those who do evil to you, but you deal with them with forgiveness and kindness." (Sahih Al-Bukhari)
That description of Islam's Prophet Muhammad is a summary of how he reacted to personal attacks and abuse.
Islamic traditions include a number of instances of the prophet having the opportunity to strike back at those who attacked him, but refraining from doing so.
These traditions are particularly important as we witness outrage in the Islamic world over cartoons, initially published in a Danish newspaper, that were viewed as intentional attacks on the prophet.
Peaceful and not-so-peaceful protests have occurred from Gaza to Indonesia. Boycotts have targeted companies based in Denmark and in other nations that reprinted the offensive caricatures.
As Muslims, we need to take a step back and ask ourselves, "What would the Prophet Muhammad do?"
Muslims are taught the tradition of the woman who would regularly throw trash on the prophet as he walked down a particular path. The prophet never responded in kind to the woman's abuse. Instead, when she one day failed to attack him, he went to her home to inquire about her condition.
In another tradition, the prophet was offered the opportunity to have God punish the people of a town near Mecca who refused the message of Islam and attacked him with stones. Again, the prophet did not choose to respond in kind to the abuse.
When he returned to Mecca after years of exile and personal attacks, he did not take revenge on the people of the city, but instead offered a general amnesty.
The Quran also says: "Invite (all) to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching, and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious: for thy Lord knows best who have strayed from His Path and who receive guidance." (16:125)
Another verse tells the prophet to "show forgiveness, speak for justice and avoid the ignorant." (7:199)
These are the examples that Muslims should follow as they express justifiable concern at the publication of the cartoons.
What Would Muhammad Do?
From Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR
Muslim Response to Cartoon Controversy
"You do not do evil to those who do evil to you, but you deal with them with forgiveness and kindness." (Sahih Al-Bukhari)
That description of Islam's Prophet Muhammad is a summary of how he reacted to personal attacks and abuse.
Islamic traditions include a number of instances of the prophet having the opportunity to strike back at those who attacked him, but refraining from doing so.
These traditions are particularly important as we witness outrage in the Islamic world over cartoons, initially published in a Danish newspaper, that were viewed as intentional attacks on the prophet.
Peaceful and not-so-peaceful protests have occurred from Gaza to Indonesia. Boycotts have targeted companies based in Denmark and in other nations that reprinted the offensive caricatures.
As Muslims, we need to take a step back and ask ourselves, "What would the Prophet Muhammad do?"
Muslims are taught the tradition of the woman who would regularly throw trash on the prophet as he walked down a particular path. The prophet never responded in kind to the woman's abuse. Instead, when she one day failed to attack him, he went to her home to inquire about her condition.
In another tradition, the prophet was offered the opportunity to have God punish the people of a town near Mecca who refused the message of Islam and attacked him with stones. Again, the prophet did not choose to respond in kind to the abuse.
When he returned to Mecca after years of exile and personal attacks, he did not take revenge on the people of the city, but instead offered a general amnesty.
The Quran also says: "Invite (all) to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching, and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious: for thy Lord knows best who have strayed from His Path and who receive guidance." (16:125)
Another verse tells the prophet to "show forgiveness, speak for justice and avoid the ignorant." (7:199)
These are the examples that Muslims should follow as they express justifiable concern at the publication of the cartoons.
Monday, 24 March 2008
Conversions
The high profile event of the Pope baptising a Muslim convert to Catholicism has drawn some strong reactions.
The local Italian Muslim leadership voiced their protests and asked why not just have a low profile local parish baptism. They feel that such a media saturated event is a deliberate provocation.
The convert himself, an outspoken critic of Islam argues that while one can convert from Christianity to Islam without fear of negative consequences from the Christian community the same does not seem to be true for those who convert from Islam to Christianity. He felt that the Catholic church should be moAll the schools of Islamic law treat apostasy (ie; leaving Islam) as a serious crime which requires the death penalty to be applied.
As an outsider to Islam I find the apostasy law rather extreme. Is there someone out there who can explain to me why this is so important? I am just trying to understand, that's all.
Blessings
The local Italian Muslim leadership voiced their protests and asked why not just have a low profile local parish baptism. They feel that such a media saturated event is a deliberate provocation.
The convert himself, an outspoken critic of Islam argues that while one can convert from Christianity to Islam without fear of negative consequences from the Christian community the same does not seem to be true for those who convert from Islam to Christianity. He felt that the Catholic church should be moAll the schools of Islamic law treat apostasy (ie; leaving Islam) as a serious crime which requires the death penalty to be applied.
As an outsider to Islam I find the apostasy law rather extreme. Is there someone out there who can explain to me why this is so important? I am just trying to understand, that's all.
Blessings
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
Are we talking about the same God?
Are we talking about the same God? For Muslims and Christians to begin talking with one another about religion, there is a requirement that we share some common assumptions. The first most basic assumption is that we agree that we are talking about the same God. This is not as basic as it seems, for there are those Christians and Muslims who will vehemently assert that the Muslim and Christian God are completely different entities.
Colin Chapman presents a helpful analogy.
Suppose there is a country somwhere in the world where the sun is never clearly visible. People are aware of the sun, because they can see the shape of the sun behind the clouds, and know that the sun is the source of heat. But they can never see the sun in a cloudless sky. Contrast this with people who live in the Mediterranean. They see the sun very clearly, and feel its heat. Is it the same sun for both people in both places? It must of course be the same sun, although each group of people have very different images and experience of it.
If we cannot accept this analogy, we have to think in terms of two completely different astronomical bodies, such as the sun and the moon and assume that Muslims and Christians are talking about two completely diffferent beings. That assumption is likely to make communication between Christians and Muslims extremely difficult, if not impossible.
What do you think?
Are we talking about the same God?
For Muslims and Christians to begin talking with one another about religion, there is a requirement that we share some common assumptions. The first most basic assumption is that we agree that we are talking about the same God. This is not as basic as it seems, for there are those Christians and Muslims who will vehemently assert that the Muslim and Christian God are completely different entities.
Colin Chapman presents a helpful analogy.
Suppose there is a country somwhere in the world where the sun is never clearly visible. People are aware of the sun, because they can see the shape of the sun behind the clouds, and know that the sun is the source of heat. But they can never see the sun in a cloudless sky. Contrast this with people who live in the Mediterranean. They see the sun very clearly, and feel its heat. Is it the same sun for both people in both places? It must of course be the same sun, although each group of people have very different images and experience of it.
If we cannot accept this analogy, we have to think in terms of two completely different astronomical bodies, such as the sun and the moon and assume that Muslims and Christians are talking about two completely diffferent beings. That assumption is likely to make communication between Christians and Muslims extremely difficult, if not impossible.
What do you think?
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