Christ on the American Road
Posted: Wednesday, December 29, 2010
by Aaron Taylor
Aaron Taylor
Last year when I wrote the post Can Muslims Follow the Biblical Christ and still be Muslim?, about four people, all of them missionaries, wrote me and told me that I had to read Paul Gordon Chandler's Pilgrims of Christ on the Muslim Road. I did. It's every bit as good as what I heard, though the book led me to raise a different set of questions than the ones that drove me to read it in the first place. Call it an unintended consequence, but after reading Chandler's soul-stirring account of Mazhar Mallouhi, the Syrian novelist who started his life as a Muslim, then converted to Christianity as a soldier in Gaza, and now calls himself a Sufi Muslim follower of Christ, I found myself caring less about what Christ looks like on the Muslim road and more about what Christ might look like on the American road.
While his life over the past few decades reads like that of a modern day Apostle Paul, complete with persecutions, imprisonments, and deportations, it's Mallouhi's writings that have captured the heart of the Muslim world. In the Arab world, Mallouhi's novels have been compared to the likes of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. With grace and sensitivity, Mazhar Malloui has introduced millions of Arab Muslims to Christ--all through legal distribution channels. Lo and behold, who's the individual that inspired Mazhar Malloui to dedicate his life to Christ? Gandhi.
Forgive me for being a little too honest, but here's what I was thinking as I read Chandler's book. "Great! Now I have yet another reason to look to someone like Gandhi as a role model for how to follow Christ. Not only did Gandhi change India and inspire Martin Luther King, he also influenced a guy to reach millions for Christ by becoming an Arab Dostoevsky! Gandhi presented an Indian face of Christ to India. Mallouhi has presented an Arab face of Christ to the Middle East. Who's presenting an American face of Christ to America?"
Seriously. This is really bugging me. How can a guy like me, a guy who eats at Taco Bell, watches American Idol, and ocassionally yells at his kids, how can a guy like me truly follow Christ on the American Road like some of the world's greatest luminaries have followed Christ on their roads? When Gandhi threatened to fast until his death, Hindus and Muslims stopped killing each other. If I did that...well...I would die. If Jesus wanted to walk the American road through me, what would that look like? Would he want me to speak out against a grave injustice, or perhaps write a soul stirring novel? Would he have me visit a homeless shelter or comfort a person dying of Aids? I don't know, but now that a new year is approaching, I think now is the time to start asking these quetions.
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)Maybe you already are doing what you're suppose to do, Aaron. You're questioning and keeping an open mind and staying away from crucifying people with judgment. I think the core of Christ's teaching was "listen to your own integrity". It seems to me you do that pretty effectively...Thank you Jennifer. Jesus did say, "Remove the plank in your own eye before removing the speck in your brother's eye." Internal reflection plays a huge part in Jesus' teachings.
I did comment on your blog and I like what you have said over here about the "Christ" impersonation in Gandhi and many others. This is how religion should be opening up with universal acceptance I think. :-)
DMThank you Drunken Mystic. For clarification, when I think of Christ living his life through me, I have in mind the historical Jesus of Nazareth living in me through his Spirit, not an impersonal mystical force, though I do believe that before he took on human form, Jesus existed as the Word of God, what the Greeks called the Logos. The Book of John says that Jesus is the "light that giveth light to every man coming into the world", so there is a sense that as the eternal Word and Wisdom, Christ has been known and felt by every human being.
Hi Aaron. Thank you for sharing this moving story, I need to read this book. I always think about what Paul said, "We are living epistles.. As Christians is grace does not go before truth, we may as well quit moving and tie that milstone around our neck. The best we can do is live what we believe and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. If we do this, humility will surpass arrogance. Keep serving, and ministry will flow. God bless you always, and thank you for the thought-provoking, and attitude changing piece. Many blessings to you in the new year! Teresa
Interesting article thanks for sharing Aaron
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