Islam, the Trinity, and Prayer

It’s amazing how when you ask God for things.. Sometimes, He gives you way more than you could ever ask for.

Recently, I’ve found myself ridiculously jealous of one of my friends. It wasn't jealousy over a car, clothing, or relationship that they have... But because of the opportunities they’re having.

Not because they’re traveling through Asia or traipsing through Europe… But because of the conversations they’re having with people!

One of my friends has this amazing ability to attract Atheists. And not just Atheists that don’t believe in God, but Atheists that don’t believe in God, and are adamant over the fact that you shouldn’t either. She gets in these hour long discussions with these people, and it tends to stress her out a little bit, but she does a great job at handling them and standing up for Christ and holding her own.

I, on the other hand… Don’t have any of those type of people in my life. My church friends are Christians, and they are amazing, God fearing people that I am so thankful for and blest to have in my life. But my friends outside of church.. They don’t stick to their guns or religion. I have friends that are Buddhist and Catholic, but they’re only those religions because it’s what their parents are. They go to mass and temple because it’s what their parents have always made them do (or because it’s a holiday). I don’t believe I have a single friend that is actually an Atheist, and if they are, it’s because they tend to just be too lazy to get up and figure out what this life is all about. And I have friends that a “Christians”, but definitely don’t live a Christian life.

Anyways, I have these people in my life that claim to be Catholic/Buddhist/etc, but they don’t really know what they believe. Or they don’t care enough to talk about it. We studied Catholicism a few months ago in College Group, and now I know more about the religion than most of my Catholic friends. And anyone that’s talked to me for an hour or more (normally even less than an hour), knows where I stand. I don’t hide it. I’m proud of it.

Where was I going with this? Oh yes.

Jealousy.

We’re not supposed to be jealous. But, I am. Or, I was. I decided I didn’t like being jealous, so I prayed somewhere along the lines of “Lord, I’m jealous of my friends that get to have these amazing conversations with non-believers. Help me not be jealous, and help me be excited for them. And if you happen to want me to experience the type of conversations they’re having, I’d be okay with that. Love, Kelsey”.

And guess what? He answered. :)

I’m trying to figure out the right way to word this next part, because I’m very aware that this is a public blog any anyone can find it. While I’m never ashamed of what I post, it’s more for the privacy of the people that I want to share about. I’ve never been vague about a single thing in my life, but I’m going to try.

There  have been three people in the last 6 months or so that the Lord has opened doors up for me to have these awesome conversations with. Two people more than the other.

Two of the people (one person is the one with the less conversations) I am with quite frequently. And it’s interesting, because both of them have a Christian background. One decided that Christianity wasn’t “right” after he took some Philosophy classes in college, and the other one decided about 6 years ago when he decided he doesn’t like the way that Christians are hypocritical and the way that the church is these days.

Now, I get excited over the idea of taking a Philosophy class. I LOVED my Woman’s History class because I loved getting in discussions with the class about abortion and women submitting to husbands and stuff. So a Philosophy class is kinda up that same alley. So, when it comes to a Philosophy class changing your opinion on your faith… Your faith wasn’t strong enough to begin with. And if your faith was genuine, you can’t lose it. And it drives me crazy when people blame their decision to leave their faith because of other people or because or something they don’t agree with in their church. If you think someone is living two lives or lying, the Bible tells us to confront them. If you don’t like your church, find a new one. Don’t blame others for your rocky faith.

That aside.. It’s presented some very interesting conversations. Because these two come from a spiritual background, they at least kind of know what they’re talking about. And it’s stretching me and it’s exciting.

The third person (this is the one that I really need to be vague on), is a friend of mine that actually is very religious (but not Christian). We’ve had a handful of very, very deep religious conversations over the past few months, and it’s so exciting! I’m so thankful that God put it on her heart that of all the people to confide in about the doubt in her own religion, that God had her open her heart to me. And that He’s given me the right words to help guide her in the right direction. I don’t know what His plan is, but I can’t wait to see how it all turns out. Whether it’s in God’s plan for her to become a Christian or not, I know that He’s placed her in my life for me, too. Because this whole situation with her has helped me grow so much in my own faith (while helping direct her out of her “faith”).

 

So I asked God for some awesome conversations, and boy, has He ever provided! I had two within 16 hours of each other this week!

One took place at work. I don’t know how the topic came up, but the topic of Islam came up. And my co-worker was trying to tell me that MY God was the same god that Islamics prayed to.

 

Now, if I’d had this conversation last Thursday, I wouldn’t have had anything to say. However, (and how cool is God in making things all work according to His timing!) last week we started a lesson in college group on Islam, so I happen to have a lot of Islam theology on the tip of my brain.

 

And I knew certain things: Islam believes in Allah. They believe that the Holy Land in their land. And that the Qu’ran tells them that they need to destroy Christians (it tells them to cut off our fingers and heads. Look it up: Suran 8:40).

 

Now, how can someone claim that Allah god is the same God that I have? Allah god is different than Jehovah God. If they were the same God, why would my God be a God of love, and Islam’s god, the “same god” is a god that tells them to kill me? That does not make sense.

So I’m sitting there, telling him that they aren’t the same God, and he keeps telling me that I just know different characteristics of God, and that Islam just believes the other characteristics. And I just can’t grasp my head around this. The Bible is a whole book about God, God’s people, God’s love, God’s characteristics… The Bible doesn’t hide the evil side of Christ where He really wants us dead.

 

His jaw dropped and he called me presumptuous when I told him that if someone is Islamic and they believe what they're supposed to believe, then I don't believe they're going to Heaven. "How dare you be judgemental of someone's personal beliefs??".. And I clarified and said that "I'm not talking about someone that claims to be Islamic and really believes that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died for our sins. I'm talking about someone who is Muslim, through and through, and believes exactly what the Qu'ran says. My beliefs and his beliefs are not that same, and I believe he's going to Hell. And not just Muslims. Anyone who doesn't believe the Truth".

He ended the conversation by telling me to ask my Pastor if I pray to the same God that Muslims pray to. And I just kept saying “I have never met a Christian who would ever say that it’s the same God”, and he kept saying that I was wrong. So, he left.. And (how convenient is this?) I walked down the hallway to my college pastor, and said “Um, I don’t pray to the same God of Islam, right?”. And he confirmed that I was correct. And he reminded me that Allah is based on the “moon god”. And the moon god was a pagan god. And the moon god is NOT the same god as my God.

Whew. Was I relieved! And I walked back to my desk… And laughed because I saw my notebook (that I take notes in at church) sitting on my desk, and I opened to my notes from last Friday, and ten lines down I have the line “Allah is not the God of the Bible”. Okay, why didn’t I just open my notebook while we were sitting there? Hah! But, I was glad that my argument about MY God not being the same god was actually Biblically based, and not just because the idea of praying to the god that tells people to kill thousands of people in a jihad makes me want to cry.

Thank you, Lord, for not being that type of Almighty God.

 

So that was Thursday night. Friday morning, I woke up to a text from friend #3 asking me “What does it mean in Matthew 26:42 when it says that the Son submitted His will to the Father? Are they still on being?”. And I have to admit.. I went “Hah!”.. Just because I will tell you that, hands down,  that is the hardest topic for me to explain. And I don’t think I’m the only Christian that gets a little tongue tied when trying to explain how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are One, but three.

I asked her to give me a little bit to get gather my thoughts.. And then I started praying. And asking others to pray for me. And then I texted Matthew (my college group pastor). I didn’t get a response for awhile, so I talked to one of my friends at work to find out how he would explain it. Both of us were struggling (“I get it, but man, it’s hard to explain.”), and then Matthew called me back (thank You, Lord!). He gave me some great examples to use and I felt so much better. So I prayed some more… And then typed out my response. And sent it to two guys at work to see if they thought the response was good.. And then sent it on over.

Here’s what I ended up writing:

First, you have to understand the difference between a being and a person. You have to picture God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit as three persons, but one being. And as a being, they are all equal. However, it's like a marriage (example one). A marriage is a man and woman being two separate people, but coming together as one. They are one unit, one partnership. Neither is greater than the other, but they have separate roles. The husband's role is to be the head of the household. (In the Trinity, it's the Father's role to be the head). The wife has separate roles, as does the Son and Holy Spirit. But, you can't say that the husband is greater than the wife. However, the wife will submit to the husband, while still being equal. Jesus submitted Himself to the Father, but He was never less great.

While Jesus was on earth, He was a man. But, he was still God. Think of it like Princess Jasmine in Aladdin. Jasmine was princess and always was a princess. But, she willingly left the castle and lived as a commoner. And while she was living as a normal person, she was also still a princess. And at any time, she could pick up her princess duties. While Jesus was on earth, He was a man. He lived as man. And He didn't have His "God powers", but He was still God. At any point, He could have picked up his powers, but that didn't make Him any less God when he didn't have them. And because He put His God powers aside, when, in John 14:28, He said that the Father was greater than Him.. It was accurate, because at that point, the Father was greater than Him since He had put His powers aside. Any miracles He did while on earth was the Father working through Him, because He was man.. So He was submitting to the Father’s will because while He was on earth, God was God with power, and Jesus was God without using His powers.. But He could have called His powers back at anytime, because He was still God.

 

Oh yes, the Princess Jasmine analogy was definitely Matthew’s suggestion. :)

I was so excited to finally have great examples to explain it (to this friend and others). And it definitely helped me, too.

 

So I sent her the 13 page text (hah! Yes, 13!) and we talked a little more and she said that my explanation really helped, and I was so thankful for the people I have in my life that were just a few keystrokes away to help me!

 

God is so good!

All of this to say.. I prayed for conversations. I prayed for God to bring people into my life that I could have conversation with that would challenge me. And man.. Did He deliver, or what?! And I love it! And I pray that He continues to bring it on :)

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