YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN

I met Maher Wednesday at the Union building on the University of North Texas campus. It was our 3rd time to meet this semester. This is a busy area with students everywhere. On this particular day, they were having a concert inside the building and it was very loud. We decided to go outside and sit. We began the conversation by talking about upcoming finals and summer plans. Maher is looking for a family to host him (much like an exchange student program) in order to improve his English speaking and listening skills. In his classes he is doing well in grammar and reading but his listening and speaking skills are not as advanced.

Having talked in depth previously about his early childhood and culture back home in Saudi Arabia, I began to ask about his future plans. I asked what it was that he wanted out of life. I was curious if he was pursuing money, happiness, a nice career, etc. His desire is to have a family one day and have his PhD in Chemistry. He looks forward to traveling and helping other university students advance their studies.

I asked him the question “Why are we here?” I explained that I meant “we” in the broader meaning of “mankind” not simply the two of us. I had planned on asking a couple more questions like “What is God like?” and “Is Jesus who he said he was?” However with my first question he breached the topic of religion for me. He felt as if we were placed here to follow the messenger sent to us by God’s messengers (i.e. Muhammad, Jesus, etc.). We began to talk very openly about our two religions. I was not expecting for him to be so open and willing to talk about things. Apparently he has another acquaintance who is Christian and they talk periodically about similar issues. For the next hour we went back and forth explaining to each other in greater detail what our beliefs were. We both had limited knowledge of each other’s religion and many questions.

Perhaps the most eye-opening experience for me was the realization that I am very uneducated in witnessing to other religions. I feel very confident in arguing my position to a nominal believer however to talk with a Muslim about Christ when he did not even believe Christ was God’s son, was very difficult for me. I was somewhat expecting him to be abrasive towards Christianity but he was not. It was almost as if he was perfectly fine accepting that I believed differently than he did (pluralism at its best). He continued to explain that he believes Jesus was a good man with a good message and that he was but one of several good messengers given by God for us to follow. I began to find myself in a battle of circular knowledge. I wanted to defend my stance with Scripture (and did) however it was almost anti-climactic since he did not hold the Scripture up in the same light I did. He would respond with how the Koran proclaimed that our Bible was good but not all inclusive and authoritative.

I began to look for discrepancies in his logic. For example, he believed that Jesus was perhaps the best messenger to have existed. So I therefore asked him, “If he was the best would that mean what he said while alive would have to be true?” Then we read John 14:6 together from my Bible “No one comes to the Father except through me.” Never in the conversation was it tense or awkward. We were very gracious to one another in our words.

I ended to conversation by telling him that while I respect his belief I wanted him to make sure what he believed and why he believed it. I was able to systematically explain the plan of salvation to him. I explained to him that I did not think there were multiple ways to heaven and that if I was correct and he was incorrect then he had much to lose (even though according to his belief if I was wrong and he were right, I would still be ok in the afterlife).

He agreed to allow me to mail him a Bible and I encouraged him to read the words of Jesus. My belief is that while he believes Jesus was a good moral man and teacher, he is limited in his knowledge as to what Jesus actually lived and taught. I look forward to talking with Maher again in the future. I also look forward to learning more about the Muslim faith… it was obvious to both of us that I knew very little.