Which came first, love or religion?

Every once in a while I have a deep thought and share it with my dad. He's my spiritual mentor. This latest e-mail traffic is fairly interesting and worth posting.



Enjoy.



Dad,

Have you ever done a study on the Prophet Daniel? I’m curious about his method of prayer. I’m taking a class on world religions right now and we went over the Muslim practice of set prayers at set times. I wonder if that stems back to any Hebrew traditions since much of Islam is adopted from Jewish and Christian practices. Any thoughts?



Shawn,

I can’t say that I have done a study on the prayer habits of Daniel but some thoughts do come to me immediately. The common thread in Islam and Judaism is the idea that it is possible to please god my means of works. A relatively small group of the Hebrew people of the Old Testament understood that our God is a God who is holy but is also a God of love who both loves and can be loved. When the law was given at Mt Sinai, only a few understood that its demands were unattainable and that the sacrificial system was a temporary illustration of a future work of God where a permanent substitutionary sacrifice would be made by a loving and merciful God. Those that understood it, gladly obeyed the external demands of the law out of love and appreciation for the law giver. Those who did not understand, developed the Judaism of works that Paul addressed in Galations 4:15-30. David understood (Ps. 119:97). Daniel’s prayer habits were rooted in his love for God. They were disciplined acts designed to provide a constant reminder of God’s goodness and faithfulness and of Daniel’s dependence on Him. To the misguided founders of the religion of Hagar, these types of disciplined acts where attempts to attain God’s favor, not a response to God’s loving mercy. The god of Hagar’s Judaism is not one of love. The god of Islam is also not a god of love. Both religions are false and are attempts to attain righteousness by human effort. So, I would say that it is not just Islam and Judaism that have similar roots, but it is all world religions that require rituals of any kind to appease or please a deity.


Dad,

Right, but within any religious practice there must be elements of sincerity. Just like today there are likely devout Catholics who practice out of love for the Savior or Jews who sincerely look for Messiah or love the Lord the way David did. There may even be a handful of Muslims who have figured out that Allah isn’t all fire and damnation. The 99 names of Allah include names like, The Kind and Forgiving of His Own, The Beneficent, whose mercy appears in all creation, The loving one of His own. With names like these, someone, somewhere must have figured something out.

What’s driving this is the fact that I’m fed up with churchiness and I’m trying to get to the core of what this is really all about. The Evangelical answer always comes to mind but just doesn’t make sense anymore. I just don’t have it in me to follow it.

Lately, I’ve been deeply convicted by a number of things. One is Jesus’ statement that many will say Lord, Lord but He won’t know them. I’ve never really settled that one. Then there is “Well done, good and faithful servant,” from Matthew 25:21. A literal translation of this is that we’re supposed to make money for God – which is just silly. Evangelicals will say we’re supposed to be out witnessing and winning people for Christ – but that doesn’t hold up against Matthew 23:15, “You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.”

Most troubling to me is Isaiah 58 – the whole chapter. How much of my life have I spent trying to be “holy” and stressing over how much money I put in the offering plate or whether I’m taking my kids to the right church. Meanwhile children are starving, people are lonely and oppressed and sick, others are oppressed or punished without mercy, and I’m completely oblivious.

Then there is the issue of the men nailing Christ to the cross. Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing.” These words run through my head all day.

We spend a lot of time combing through other religions and pointing out where they are wrong and we are right. And this increases the tension. And while tension increases, the troubles of the world are unattended. I am inclined to believe that the God who is willing and able to forgive the men who nailed Jesus to the cross, is also able and eager to forgive those who never believed in the Christ but still fed the hungry and freed the oppressed and sought justice and loved mercy – Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Atheists…everyone and anyone who acted. Remember the parable about the two sons whom the father asked to work for him: one said he would and then didn’t; the other said he wouldn’t and then did.

Weeding through all these thoughts has convinced me to boil the whole thing down to the bare bones basics. Lots of faiths have lots of good practices which are well worth adopting. But Islam gets most of my attention over here. It seems like the Muslims, regardless of their motivation, have a pretty good practice of praying three to five times per day and strictly observing their holidays. Isn’t that how Daniel lived his life – even though his motives were different? Then again, is it possible that the one led to the other – like the chicken and the egg? Did love lead to religion or religion lead to love? Regardless, this is how I want to learn to deepen my faith and walk. I intend to learn the religion of the patriarchs but with the added blessing of knowing that the Messiah has already come.