Pope Francis is a bit of a rock-star. What he lacks in theological soundness (Sorry, Pontiff. Christians and Muslims are not “brothers and sisters” anymore than Christians and atheists are.) he makes up for in setting a great example of a minister who is getting as close to his congregation as he can, which is saying a lot since his congregation is global. Furthermore, he’s constantly engaging in controversial issues like poverty, divorce, and commercialism.
So last month, when the Pope met with Tim Cook, it should have been no surprise to anyone that the Pope took on his most controversial issues ever: YouTube trolls.
“It is not technology which determines whether or not communication is authentic, but rather the human heart and our capacity to use wisely the means at our disposal.
“Social networks can facilitate relationships and promote the good of society, but they can also lead to further polarization and division between individuals and groups.
“The digital world is a public square, a meeting-place where we can either encourage or demean one another, engage in a meaningful discussion or unfair attacks.”
BOOM! Take that, cat video haters! You just got a holy dose of shut-yo-mouth, trolls!
Silliness aside, the Pope makes a great point about what the real issue is:
Our own broken hearts and lack of wisdom.
The Internet will not rise above pettiness and mean-spirited sniping until we rise above it in our hearts, which won’t happen until we all find healing for our hearts through Jesus.
So for all of you who’d love to charge through the comments section on YouTube, a blog, or your own social media feed and let the trolls have it, remember that they don’t need you to “set them straight.” They need Jesus to set them to rights. Instead of dropping some truth bombs on them, as I was pretending the Pope did, let’s pray for the trolls. They need Jesus, just as much as we do.
[The Pope’s quotes appear courtesy of Yahoo! News]
Adam Shields says
The catholic position on Muslims is that anyone that is rightly worshiping must be worshiping the only God since there is only one God even if they are not worshiping with full knowledge or understanding. He is not suggesting the Muslims do are saved by themselves or without Christ. The Catholic positions comes out of their understanding of the implications of monotheism and while not majority opinion in Christian history, it is a common opinion held by a diverse group of Protestants as well (Martin Luther to Billy Graham).
Phil Schneider says
I understand that position, but I think the way it has been expressed: “Christians and Muslims worship the same God,” is problematic.
The concepts of Allah and the Christian God are not equitable. Furthermore, I don’t think we can call it true worship when its done from such a flawed framework. We worship God for who He is (so do Muslims), and yet our knowledge of who He is and what they think God is cannot be reconciled. Adding to that, we worship God for what He has done for us, namely offering us salvation, adoption, indwelling through Jesus, while Muslims cannot thank Allah for that and would be offended at the suggestion.
These are just some brief thoughts. I’m on my lunch break and am really hungry. Always good to see your comments, Adam. I appreciate your opinion, even if I rarely agree. 😉
Adam Shields says
I think that people on different sides of this are often talking pasts one another. Most of the ‘worship the same God’ phrasing are talking about historical origins not referential qualities of that God.
I don’t know anyone that is arguing that the conceptions of God by Muslims and Christians are the same.
Most that are arguing for a complicated yes to the questions are doing it for missiological reasons and most arguing for no (complicated or simple) are doing it for theological reasons. We can’t really separation missiology and theology, which is why I think we need to be careful about not misconstruing the issues and reasons for the issues.
If you are interested in some of the missiological issues, I would suggest reading from this missions journal about the issue. http://www.emsweb.org/images/occasional-bulletin/special-editions/OB_SpecialEdition_2016.pdf
Phil Schneider says
You’re very right, Adam. It is a fight between missiology and theology. I usually come down on the side of the latter, but we do need both.
I don’t know that anyone is actively trying to unite the two concepts of God, but by using the phrase “same God” they are doing that for the many outside of the conversation, who don’t understand the deeper nuances of the theology.
I think it would be totally fair to say that Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all claim an Abrahamic origin, but even that’s hard because Islam essentially says all of Judaism and Christianity is false since their doctrines hinge on Isaiah being the child of promise in opposition to Ishmael.
Adam Shields says
I totally agree that language is often inadequate here. Same has several meanings and is probably not a helpful word.
This is a subject of nuance, and in a world of facebook/youtube comments, nuance is almost always lost.
Phil Schneider says
Indeed. Nuance dies a thousand deaths in a single comment thread.
Eric Dye says
Well THAT just happened….
Phil Schneider says
One does not simply enter an Adam and Phil thread.
Adam shields says
I did eventually get back to the topic
Phil Schneider says
Sometimes, we just have to take a side trip through the darkness, while fighting a Balrog.