No God but one.
Judaism, Christianity, & Islam all come from the line of Abraham. We share a lineage. A heart. We just have all disagreed on what came after the first prophets of the Old Testament and about the authenticity of the Bible today.
Monotheisim. We all believe in one God, in Yahweh. We share this truth. It is where we find common ground. Everything else may be up for debate, but belief in the one true God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that we agree on.
For the Jews, they are still waiting on the Messiah to come; they don’t accept Jesus and Mohammed.
For us Christians, we believe that Jesus came and fulfilled the law as the perfect sacrifice. He was God-incarnate.
As for the Muslims, they accept most of the Old Testament prophets. They even accept Jesus as a great prophet (not as the son of God), but they believe that Mohammed was God’s last and final prophet.
My team and I dedicated our time in Oman going to the mosque as often as we could. My blog a few weeks back talks about meeting some of our new friends, Khalid & Aisha (not their real names), the first time we went to the mosque! You can check out the whole story here.
(From left to right)
Tamara, Gabby, Aisha, Jewel, and me
We first visited the Grand Mosque in Muscat because it was one of the city’s main tourist attractions! On city tours of Muscat, it is usually the first destination on the list. It is arguably the most beautiful mosque in the world, and it just so happened to be less than a 3 minute drive away from where the first place we stayed. If you have a chance to go to Oman, it is a must see!
Visiting hours are 8 to 11am everyday except Friday (which is their holy day). As women, we are required to cover our heads, arms, and legs in order to go into the mosque. There is a very strict dress code. They have people check the tourists on the way in to make sure everyone is fully covered. They even have abayas (long traditional dresses and head scarf) for rent for women that didn’t come prepared.
The Lord used our passion and sense of adventure to lead us right where He wanted us, at just the right time. On our tour, we met Khalid in the main prayer room! Please read “It’s Getting Real; Stories From Oman” for the first full encounter.
Then we met several ladies in the Islamic education center where they served traditional kah-wa (coffee), ginger tea, and dates. They offer many free books on Islam from every perspective; for Christians, for atheists, and in all languages (especially English, Chinese, German, & Italian). They also provide books discussing the historical perspective of Islam, scientific perspective of Islam, creation perspective of Islam, and of course the sacredness of the Qu’ran. The volunteers in the center are trained and ready to speak with people from all around the world with different religious affiliations.
The mosque volunteers all are eager to talk with guests of the mosque, and there are usually thousands coming through the mosque each day! We thought it was the perfect opportunity to meet our new friends right where they were every day. So that’s exactly what we did. Our time in Muscat was dedicated to spending our mornings in the mosque.
It is a curious thing. When my team, “The Cartographers”, first prayed about where the Lord was leading us to in Oman, the only thing that came to my mind was ‘Muscat’, the capital city. It was funny though because none of us had any interest in staying in the city for the month. Many of us wanted to go adventuring in the mountains, on the coast, and in the desert with the Bedouins (that’s what my desire was)! Because of my sickness though, we stayed in Muscat so that I could go to the hospital, then I never ended up leaving in order to rest. It is crazy awesome how the Lord works out those details.
(Left to right)
Kati, Me, Ian, & Elijah
Conversations at the Mosque
Our friends at the mosque are VERY highly educated and informed individuals. They know and own their faith and are eager to share it. They welcomed any questions we had about Islam. Our conversations were never short with our friends. Many of our visits to the mosque went way past the closing time of 11am; they flowed into the afternoon! We even continued one of our conversations in the parking lot for another couple hours, when certain volunteers wanted to enforce the closing time.
Our conversations centered around the differences between Islam and Christianity, who we say Jesus is, the need for redemption and a Savior, and the nature of God. Our conversations were not often light; we got deep real fast with our friends. They are always ready for spiritual conversations. We talked for hours upon hours about Allah (God), the Bible, and the Qu’ran.
They spoke boldly to us as followers of Islam pointing out the flaws they see in Christianity and the Bible. They did not shy away from talking about hard things. We created a very safe space for open dialogue. Neither side became offended or shut down because of the other side’s beliefs or statements. So we spoke truth boldly. We shared about Jesus, the proof and importance of his death, and of the hundreds of prophecies in the Old Testament that Jesus fulfilled during His life on Earth. We talked about the trinity and the nature of God. Maybe one of the most important things was we talked about the need for a Redeemer. This is where the divide comes.
Of course, there are many divides, but this is one VERY important distinction between Christians and Muslims.
Christians believe that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are in need of a savior. Our sin nature has separated us from God. Just as the Israelites gave offerings and sacrifices to the Lord to reconcile themselves to Him, we as Christians believe that Jesus was the perfect Lamb of God. He tore the veil between God and man, so that His spirit can now dwell within all of us. He took on our sin and shame and defeated sin and death when He died on the cross and rose from the grave three days later.
Muslims believe that Allah can forgive them with no need for sacrifice, that their good works and deeds will help make up for their sins. They strive to do as many good works as possible so that they have enough “points” to outweigh the sins during their life. They never truly know if they have done more good deeds than bad. They are not waiting on a redeemer or savior because they do not believe there is a need for one. They can earn their own salvation by following the Five Pillars of Islam: to believe there is only one God and that Mohammed is his prophet, to pray five times a day, to give alms to the poor, to take haij to Mecca, and to fast one month out of the year- Ramadan.
(Left to right)
Elijah, Laura Leigh, Me, Aisha, Saha, Kati, Ian, Doctor, & Fatima
Our last day at the mosque!
Our friends showered us with generous hospitality. They welcomed us in with open arms. Our last visit to the mosque this past Sunday, the women brought in food so that we could have a luncheon and continue conversations together. It was such a sweet time!
They even presented us with Omani scarves right before we said our last goodbye. One of our closest friends, Aisha (standing to the right of me) had never had a Bible before, so I gave her our Arabic Bible. She was thrilled to have one and showed the other ladies; she is excited to dive in.
Our time in Oman is sadly ending. I am writing this blog as I sit in the Muscat airport waiting for our flight to Turkey! This is certainly a special place. Our experiences experiences this month building relationships and having deep theological discussions has convicted me and motivated me like never before.
My greatest takeaways from the month are I want to own my faith and have answers for my faith when people ask. Of course, none of us are perfect, but we need to be rooted in Christ and understand what it is that we believe. We need to always be ready to give testimony for our faith.
I am dedicating this new month to further study into apologetics as we are in Turkey! Here are some books/documentaries that have brought a lot of new insight!
Books I highly recommend:
A Wind In The House of Islam by David Garrison
The Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef
Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus by Nabeel Qureshi
The Case For Christ by Lee Strobel
Documentaries/Testimonies I highly recommend:
Sheep Among Wolves Part 1 & Part 2
Nabeel Qureshi’s Testimony (Accepts Jesus after being a devout Muslim)
The Case For Christ – full length movie found on Netlix
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“In your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” 1 Peter 3:15
