Jesus is Alive
Have you ever stopped to think of what a huge impact religion has on our world? If you were to ask this history teacher what forces have changed the world more than any other I would definitely say religion and war, and unfortunately those two often times go hand in hand. By far my favorite things to teach, and my students favorite things to learn about are world religions and war. Now that may seem a little odd, but I know that the Lord uses those lessons and discussions to draw people closer to Himself – I’ve seen it and I’ve felt it.
This semester I am teaching two History of America 1980s-present classes. That time period is full of Islamic extremism, so we have talked about terrorism but we have also talked about the roots of Islam and who exactly Muhammad was. It is fascinating to me, but even if you’re not interested no one can deny that it is extremely relevant to the world today. We’ve talked about the basic beliefs of Muslims and also the 5 pillars of their faith – or the 5 things that Muslims are expected to do. Some of them aren’t so unusual, but some of them, and the reasonings behind them, definitely are. For example, Muslims are expected to go on a huge trip to visit Saudi Arabia to visit what they call the Kaaba – basically a big cube made out of granite and gold. They must walk around it so many times, try to touch it, and even kiss a random rock inside. They even face it when they pray no matter where they are in the world! Again, fascinating to me, but just plain trippy.
I could go into a lot more detail about Muslim belief and even about Muhammad, but I’ll just leave you with a few things the Lord has taught or reminded me while I’ve been studying Islam.
Of course there are things that the Lord wants his disciples to do, but I am SO thankful that Jesus Christ is a Lord of GRACE – we don’t have a checklist to work through to earn His love. When Jesus died on the cross the last thing he said was “It is finished.” (John 19:30) Jesus did the work because we never could.
Similarly, Jesus doesn’t expect us to make a huge trip – and He definitely doesn’t expect us to worship anything other than HIM. Jesus said that we are to worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24)
And lastly, and most importantly I’ll leave you with these thoughts: Muhammad died in 632 – it is historical fact. Jesus Christ is ALIVE – again it is fact. We worship a holy and living God and He is coming back for us! He is awesome, and so much more capable of anything we could ever imagine or anything any other religion teaches.
"After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1:9-11
Stephanie
Teen Leader / "Game Gal"
