I got told a new one today by a very enthusiastic taxi driver. When I stepped into his cap and greeted him in Arabic he lit up and smiled from ear to ear. "I'm so happy to meet you, a foreigner who speaks Arabic like us!" And then followed a very typical question, "But do you follow the prophet Mohammed...do you know the Qu'ran?" What followed next was a not-so-typical apologetic, "The Qu'ran tells us everything we need....EVERYTHING we need...every situation you find today there is an answer for it in the Qu'ran." Oh really? I politely say. "Yes...in fact, even scientific things like... do you know the disease Alzheimers...where old people forget things?" Oh yes I am now hooked. "The Qu'ran gives us the cure for it...something people have been searching and searching for but it was in the Qu'ran the whole time." What is the cure? I ask. "It's something so simple you wouldn't believe it...7 parts olive oil and 1 part cardamom spice...you have to drink it every day...you know what I mean by olive oil right, natural olive oil that God gives us." At this point I decide to try to engage the guy in some kind of reason, "but if that's the cure why are there still people dying of Alzheimers all the time?" "Well, you have to catch it at the very, very beginning...but if people would just listen to the Qu'ran they would have the cure for Alzheimers."
Our conversation went on and on...he telling me that I didn't understand the Qu'ran and if I would just read and follow it I would find God. I told him I have read it. He didn't believe me. I asked him if he'd read other holy books, he insisted he didn't need to. You know, I could relate to this guy because I've been there. Raised in the Christian community, I heard numerous scientific "proofs" of our faith. These proofs were always rock solid and yet somehow unspecified, "Some NASA scientists at some point were doing some research and they found an astronomical proof of the story in the Bible of the sun standing still." Who were these scientists? What exactly was the proof? Well...of course the person telling the story didn't remember the details exactly. Somehow I picked up the vibe that I had to share my faith and I had to share it in a way that would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was real and Christ was the only way to God...because it is so easy to prove that.
I've grown up and developed a more complex view of life and faith. Ask...seek...knock. We're on a life-long quest for truth and purpose. We find our calling and our place in the world. I have no proof for any of this, but I know my story and things I can only say have an orchestrated meaning. How did I meet my husband when I was living in Tunisia and he was living in Las Vegas and we happened to cross paths in Los Angeles? How did I end up with a little Tunisian daughter who needed a family even though foreigners are not typically granted custody of children? There seems to be something going on when I randomly meet someone who needs to talk about adoption because they are considering it. I hold their hand and share the good, bad, and the meaning behind it all.
My taxi driver friend, we cannot prove anything, God is simply too big for any of that and maybe he likes our quest. Really, if God wanted to be proved he could split the sky, part the oceans, shake the earth and show us all the truth, black and white. Instead he invites us to a journey of understanding who he might be and what that might mean for us. If God is loving can I give my heart and soul to being loving even when it costs me? What will I discover in the process? If God created my intellect can I take risks, invent, and create believing that something amazing will come out of it all? Will I open myself up to others knowing that my story and experiences can somehow connect to them and hold them up along the way? I believe all these things to be true, proof or no proof. God is in there, weaving a story between us all...what story will we as humans create on this earth? I think the story we write with God will be almost entirely determined by how we see God. Is God an angry powerful God who needs to be defended by arguments, apologetics, and war? Are we God's army? What kind of story will we write with that...a self-righteous battle. Is God our divine creator who has compassion on the broken and who cares intimately for each of us, his children? A different kind of story is evolving here. And of course, I have no proof for any of this except for what I would call living proof. We see glimpses in the prophets of our age, Martin Luther King Jr, Gandhi, and the quiet woman who lives sacrificially so she can care for 4 foster children. Mercy, love and hope can triumph, I want to be living proof.
Our conversation went on and on...he telling me that I didn't understand the Qu'ran and if I would just read and follow it I would find God. I told him I have read it. He didn't believe me. I asked him if he'd read other holy books, he insisted he didn't need to. You know, I could relate to this guy because I've been there. Raised in the Christian community, I heard numerous scientific "proofs" of our faith. These proofs were always rock solid and yet somehow unspecified, "Some NASA scientists at some point were doing some research and they found an astronomical proof of the story in the Bible of the sun standing still." Who were these scientists? What exactly was the proof? Well...of course the person telling the story didn't remember the details exactly. Somehow I picked up the vibe that I had to share my faith and I had to share it in a way that would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was real and Christ was the only way to God...because it is so easy to prove that.
I've grown up and developed a more complex view of life and faith. Ask...seek...knock. We're on a life-long quest for truth and purpose. We find our calling and our place in the world. I have no proof for any of this, but I know my story and things I can only say have an orchestrated meaning. How did I meet my husband when I was living in Tunisia and he was living in Las Vegas and we happened to cross paths in Los Angeles? How did I end up with a little Tunisian daughter who needed a family even though foreigners are not typically granted custody of children? There seems to be something going on when I randomly meet someone who needs to talk about adoption because they are considering it. I hold their hand and share the good, bad, and the meaning behind it all.
My taxi driver friend, we cannot prove anything, God is simply too big for any of that and maybe he likes our quest. Really, if God wanted to be proved he could split the sky, part the oceans, shake the earth and show us all the truth, black and white. Instead he invites us to a journey of understanding who he might be and what that might mean for us. If God is loving can I give my heart and soul to being loving even when it costs me? What will I discover in the process? If God created my intellect can I take risks, invent, and create believing that something amazing will come out of it all? Will I open myself up to others knowing that my story and experiences can somehow connect to them and hold them up along the way? I believe all these things to be true, proof or no proof. God is in there, weaving a story between us all...what story will we as humans create on this earth? I think the story we write with God will be almost entirely determined by how we see God. Is God an angry powerful God who needs to be defended by arguments, apologetics, and war? Are we God's army? What kind of story will we write with that...a self-righteous battle. Is God our divine creator who has compassion on the broken and who cares intimately for each of us, his children? A different kind of story is evolving here. And of course, I have no proof for any of this except for what I would call living proof. We see glimpses in the prophets of our age, Martin Luther King Jr, Gandhi, and the quiet woman who lives sacrificially so she can care for 4 foster children. Mercy, love and hope can triumph, I want to be living proof.
I really enjoyed this post.
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