Frankie Rodriquez

While respecting other religions, I cannot say that we are all the same, nor that we worship the same God. Before you called me exclusionary or intolerant, my comment is based on what religious folk say who belong to the two other monotheistic religions. The difference is in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Christian doctrine holds him to be divine, the second person of the Trinity, God Incarnate. That is blasphemy say the other two religions and therefore they will never say we worship the same God. Try telling those religious leaders they are exclusionary or intolerant. You won’t be politically correct, will you? We are insulting them and their faith when we make the claim that we are all worshipping the same God. False. Lie. Deception. Feel-good, but sadly and deadly wrong.

The significant difference between Christianity and all other faiths is found in the theological concepts of law and grace. Let me give you an example. Salvation for Jewish people is accomplished by the perfection of the law, by obeying the laws of God—all 613 of them. The Jewish prayer shawl (called a “tallit”) traditionally has 613 fringes around the edges to remind them of the LORD’s commandments. Breaking any of these commandments means a spiritual death. Thus, an atonement must be made for these broken commandments, and atonement is offered by works. The Jewish Yom Kippur is a day when no work is allowed. One must refrain from eating and drinking. There are restrictions on washing and bathing, wearing cosmetics, deodorants, etc., wearing leather shoes, and engaging in sexual relations—but only for 25 hours. Or you go to hell. Obey or perish eternally.

There are myriad of Islamic fatwas (religious edicts for the modern life in order to conform to the law of Q’uran). Sheikh Muhammad Al-Mujanid ruled that Jerry of “Tom and Jerry” and “Mickey” (and presumably his main squeeze “Minnie”) must “be killed in all cases” because they were “soldiers of Satan”. The Q’uran apparently teaches that mice are unclean and Jerry and Mickey are trying to desensitize people to believing mice are holy. This sheikh isn’t a nutcase. He is a former diplomat at the Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C. Then, there’s the theology based on law by the Grand Mufti Sheikh Ibn Baaz who wrote a Fatwa in 2000 entitled “The Transmitted and Sensory Proofs of the Rotation of the Sun and the Stillness of the Earth.” Want to guess what he is teaching? That’s right! The Q’uran teaches that the sun revolves around the earth. (Yes, the Bible uses the same words but they are figurative, not literal!) The Sheikh wants Muslims to believe that the world is really flat and disk-like and the sun rotates around it, and that satellite images to the contrary are a Western conspiracy to undermine the teachings of the Islamic holy book.

Which brings me back to law and grace. We need law as Christians. God desires us to live within the law. We desperately want grace. And the Good News for Christians is that we have been given grace in Jesus of Nazareth, not in the perfect compliance to the law, not in the highest level of self-actualization, not by performing works of affirmation, but only in the salvific work of Jesus at the cross on Calvary. All we have to do is believe in Jesus. No other effort or work of humanity can make it happen for us. Just believe. That is the Law of Grace in the Christian faith.

Regarding my Jewish and Muslim friends and neighbors, I want grace for them, too. It’s easy and often practiced that we Christians want grace for ourselves and the law for everyone else. But, we can ask God to grant grace to all His creation. Better yet, let’s invite all His creation to receive that same grace through Christ who saves.

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