GlocalNet

LIke everyone else 9-11 impacted me in some pretty dramatic ways - but not in ways like you would expect. 

Lesson #1 - There is always a false idol waiting to set up it’s throne of fear in our life when we destroy a fear idol.  I traded one god for another to fear.  Our church had been working in Vietnam - and I remember when we began to work in Vietnam I feared the communist.  My father is a pastor and had buried soldiers who fought there as well so it took some time for me to get comfortable with it.  I remember thinking on 9-11 “I’m so glad I work with Vietnamese communist instead of Middle-Eastern Muslims!”  I feared them.

Lesson #2 - I feared them because I didn’t know them and I judged all Muslims and all Middle-Easterners the same.  I had no clue there were “evangelical” Arabs.  I thought all Muslims were the same.  I vaguely knew there were Shia & Sunni - but I didn’t understand how many differences there were in those two groups- and those outside those groups.  As I came to know many Afghans and others in the Middle-East I found out their culture was as unique as other global cultures and there were good and bad people in that culture just like other global cultures mine included. 

Lesson #3 - sometimes our theology reinforces prejudice and when we look at prejudice we have to examine the accuracy of our theology.  I was raised on a steady diet of God’s love of the Jews - and it’s true.  I didn’t hear enough about God’s love of the Arabs and promises he made to them.  I discovered speculative theology - actually gets in the way of direct commands of Jesus and can even trump the Great Commission and other commands Jesus has given us when we let prejudice drive us. 

Lesson #4 - I had to know my theology, but explain it in far simpler ways than the books I read.  The Trinity and the dual nature of Christ came alive and real to me.  As crazy as it sounds Muslims helped me develop my theology in ways I probably never would have.  It was like someone learning another language - they get better at their own native tongue as they learn because they have to understand the rules of the language. 

Lesson #5 - great tragedies are great opportunities for humanity connecting and getting to know one another.  This entire blog is the story of what I’ve been learning the past few years - I’m very sad 9-11 happened, grateful for all I’ve learned and experienced as a result.