Opus 2020-218: Monday Pulpit: Juxtaposition

I was reviewing some old sermon notes and I came across something I still find interesting.  It involves a basic difference between Christianity and Islam.  It deals with a passage relating how Jacob wrestled all night with what is assumed to be God or at least an angel.  He demands a blessing and gets this:

(Gen 32:28 NAS77) And he said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed."

Christians have permission to wrestle, or strive, with God.  We see frequent references showing how different Biblical personalities would argue with God.  Moses comes to mind.  We are told to come and reason.  The call is to an active faith that understands and buys into the covenant. 

Islam is different.  The name itself means submission.  Muslims traditionally have been fatalistic.  They assume that Allah is going to do what He wants and their opinions are not required.  I remember reading about how it was almost impossible to train Muslims to be marksmen with a rifle.  They tended to think that all you had to do was point the rifle in the general direction and God would guide the bullet where he wanted it to go.

It is a difference in philosophy that brings radical differences when expressed in culture.  It is one of the reasons that the west based on Christian values overtook Islam and moved into the modern scientific age.  Even in the “Golden Age” of Islam much of the gold was from non-Muslims.

Little differences make big differences. 

homo unius libri