One of my (many) heroes of the faith is a Saint by the name of
John who lived in
Damascus. Now he was the last saint that was accepted by both the Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox before the Great Schism (which properly refers to the split between east and west and not the protestant reformation). His writings leaned towards the east defending the use and veneration of icons, but he actually lived in a Muslim controlled area. There's a great story about how he gets accused of trying to convince the church to send troops to oust the Muslims, they cut off his hand, he grabs it, prays for it be reattached and goes right on writing.
He writes a book called Heresy in which he outlines bad and outdated theology of various groups but the one that I think is relevant for today is about what he calls the Ishmaelites which if you are interested you can read
here. The real point being that voracity of the Koran is much to doubted.
It seems that Mohamed was into what ever was convenient.
He wrote an "edict from Allah" that allowed him to marry another man's wife.
He wrote an "edict from Allah" that allowed for the inclusion of a
pagan site of worship to be included in Islam so as to help transition those already accustomed to worshiping there.
At points in the Koran he has "edicts from Allah" some times extolling Jews and Christians as "people of the book" when he needed to find refuge among them from his enemies and other times calls them infidels that need to be converted or killed.
Most of what he knew of Christianity came from heretical exiles of the church -
Arians mostly - who believed that Jesus was a created being and therefore separate from God. (If you want an historical treatment of why this is important to Christianity you can check out my post called "
Only God Can Save Us"
All this to say that St John of Damascus considered Islam not to be its own religion but a heresy of Christianity, seeped in basic ignorance of key Christian beliefs (he thought the Trinity consisted of God, Jesus and Mary and that Mary and Moses were brother and sister) and in the idea of his own convenience.
But this post isn't about Muslims, the Koran or Islam. Its about the fact that all to often, we as Christians become our own prophets, seeped in ignorance, giving preference to our own convenience.
We ignore doctrines and practices that seem hard. We become satisfied with easy answers (the Trinity is like an Egg...) and turn away from God himself to the things of God because they seem more tangible. Church is easy - we can ignore the hard things sometimes spoken from the pulpit as meant for another and avoid those certain people that stir up wild emotions in us. We can suit our study of the word to avoid those difficult passages like Matthew 25 where it seems that we will be judged not for right beliefs but for right action, or for passages that call out our particular pet sins like Anger, Lust, and Covetousness. Even Christian service can be manipulated into making us feel good, or keeping us so busy that there is no time for true reflection.
Convenience is the opposite of change.
And prayer is the agent of change. By sitting down, stopping, and embracing who God is, what he has done for us and seeking him for guidance and direction we are really looking for change. We don't like when we are confronted with our need to change things about ourselves.
At some level we all like ourselves or at least our habits. That's why we still do them. We feed what ever wisp of desire and appetite comes our way because we are not sure that any one else will. And we fill that desire with junk, what ever happens to be lying around because it may not be there if we wait to fill it. CS Lewis says its "not that our appetites are too strong, but rather that they are too easily pleased" and that "if it seems that nothing in this world can satisfy us, perhaps we were not meant for this world".
Even as I write this, I feel convicted of my own relationship with Him. It has fallen off as of late. I'm afraid of change. I want a plan, I want to see the end of the road before I start something, and seeking Him about what He wants and not about what I want seems a little beyond my faith right now. I see the hungry people and cant figure out how these few scraps of food are supposed to feed so many. I'm afraid of Him asking me to do something crazy, to step out onto the sea. I'm afraid to even seek sometimes because I know he can and does speak.
So in the old testament if a prophet was not of God, the people would throw stones at him till he died. So I'm picking up a stone for my own prophet of convenience. And it may take time, and there might be times when we shrink back, feel overwhelmed and are alone. But take heart for He is with us.
"The truth is, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, because the work of the Son brings glory to the Father. Yes, ask anything in my name, and I will do it! - John 14:12-14
These are pretty much the best chips ever. They are intensely spicy but not that Mexican sorta spicy that you cant get out of your mouth but that addictive sorta instant burn that goes away in a wash of warmth and goodness. They are slightly sweet with a bit of nutty goodness thrown in for good measure. I could eat the entire bag in one sitting with out a problem. I think I might even lick the bag if I could. And you would think something that yummy has MSG or food preservatives or something bad like that in it but there isn't a single weird ingredient.
DISCONTINUED!?!?!?! Now its true that we have seen no bags of Spicy Thai chips in the last few weeks but discontinued? No more, ever! I tried to get Sarah to go round to all the stores and buy up a reserve, but she just laughed at our dilemma. Apparently she is not a true believer. But there is hope! It seems that Spicy Thai has not made the official list of "retired flavors" on the KettleFoods.com web site yet. So we need to get the petitions going! Stop emailing your congressmen (and women) and start emailing Kettle Foods. Don't let them retire Spicy Thai and thus group it in with other failed flavors like Island Jerk, Red Peppers & Goat Cheese, and my personal favorite, Cheddar Beer. Get your picket signs ready and your walking shoes on! SAVE SPICY THAI! SAVE SPICY THAI!
