Divine Appointment at the Blue Mosque

For the past few days, my life had an eerie similarity to movies like Up In Air or The Terminal. One airport after another, all the various terminals were starting to blur into easy familiarity. Still, I was able to spend two lovely nights in Istanbul, the paradoxical port where East meets West and the two mutually agree to disagree. Asia and Europe are strange yet necessary bedfellows in this country which eagerly desires full admittance into the exalted establishment of the EU. To its credit, it has made its ambitious presence felt as this year it was selected as Europe’s 2010 City for Culture and the Arts. Charging ahead, as Turkey tries to woo its economic and political superiors, it spouts concessions to religious equality. Of course, this is bollocks. Take the Hagia Sophia for example.
For a thousand years, the Hagia Sophia was the crown cathedral, a shining giant of byzantine architecture. Yet, when the Turks invaded Constantinople, the Sultan converted it to a mosque and it remained thus utilized for hundreds of years. Then, in 1935, Turkey secularized the Hagia Sophia and dedicated its use as a museum. Tour guides sport polos with Faith emblazed on their backs but anyone who shares the gospel is in danger of expulsion for being “un-Turkish”. The guides supplied by the Hagia Sophia are quite verbose in their sentiments of the Bible as well. Unsubstantiated, of course. As I stood gazing up at the mosaics that decorated the vast dome ceiling and near the world-renown Deesis mosaic, a small group of internationals, led by an impartial Muslim guide who launched into the Trinity (the paradoxical nature of it) and Jesus’ own statements affirming order within the Diety (the Father has sent Me, I am send the Holy Spirit, etc.). All of this was put forth without reference or context to the passage or book. He picked his few lines and from this, apparently satisfied with his silent audience, that he had proved that Christ was only a prophet (totally ignoring EVERYTHING else that Jesus taught and accomplished) shuffled off. I bit my tongue and I could have sworn that I tasted blood. As I was not apart of the group, I didn’t think it was right to hurtle into their midst and say, “Excuse me but you are leaving out these other passages and you are also leaving out the passage context. Furthermore, the New Testament was written by those who believed in His divinity and resurrection---don’t you think they would have had a problem recording these statements if they believed otherwise and were concerned about confusion?” Needless to say, the fact that this experience coincided with recent reports about Christians expelled from the country for sharing the Gospel (it’s “un-Turkish”) left me in an Irish-fighting mood. Sometimes I can almost feel the cellular red in my hair when I get this way. I left the museum and made my way across the park towards the Blue Mosque, an active worship site for thousands of Muslims. The call to prayer rang out on speakers and echoed throughout the city even as I watched tourists and souvenir vendors hawk their Faith merchandise. It left me in a mood to do something unmitigated. That’s when I was approached by a man. Now, I’m frequently approached by men (most single women are) and I assumed he was either coming over to chat me up (ugh) or sell me something (sigh). But whatever his (at present) unknown intentions, he had a nice, unaggressive approach and as I walked toward the mosque, he tried to engage me in conversation. At first, I was cool and brief, not encouraging him yet not freezing him off (no matter what some may mock as my Ice Queen routine). Yet by the time that he had stated that he was a Persian rug shop keeper, and I had clearly stated that I was a poor grad student whose idea of a splurge was a tall Mocha frap from Starbucks, our talk had already led us to discuss the Mosque and why I desired to visit this Muslim site since I was patently not Muslim. I was delighted to comply with his questions and for the next hour, standing in the inner courtyard of the mosque, my unsolicited Muslim friend and I discussed religion and works and why Jesus was necessary as both Man and God and as our sacrifice. Why the Resurrection is not an optional belief. The poor fellow---all that I had longed to say to the Hagia Sophia proselytizer, I expounded with this fellow. And he listened and questioned and debated: it was wonderful. He concluded that he needed to study this for himself and I pray that he does. So many people are confronted with their lack of substantiated knowledge and settle easily into their own good opinions from sheer laziness. As it is, for the past couple of months, I have listened and conversed with Muslims this summer and they all (all ignorant of actual Scripture) argue that the Bible has been corrupted by translators. When I ask when and where, they admit that they don’t know. In fact, aside from listening to their mullah, they don’t know anything about it at all. To be fair to our Muslim friends, people are noxiously comfortable about listening to others instead of investigating the matter for themselves. Even Christians fall into this passive crap trap. This is directly opposed to the Apostle Paul’s teaching when he urged the Thessalonian Christians to "test all things" and "hold fast to that which is good" (I Thessalonians 5:20-21). If the Bible is filled with error and contradiction, it should be viewed as man’s work, not God’s. But, no matter how many opponents try to lay siege to the word of God (and there have been thousands—the Gospel is always under attack because the claims and work of Christ are radically unique to a works-based religion world), it remains strong and pure with its historical reliability and the power of its message from Creation to Redemption to Glory, that God came to save the Lost and bring to life those who were dead through the Person and work of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15).




Read more at Suite101: Is Biblical History Knowable?: How to Evaluate the Credibility of the Bible http://biblestudies.suite101.com/article.cfm/is_biblical_history_knowable#ixzz0wg8YpSnV