A good buddy sent me a link today to this very short television commercial about a Muslim, a Christian, and a Jew – all friends.
The commercial reminded me once again of the God-appointed meeting I had in Al Quds (Jerusalem) with a new Muslim friend and a new Jewish friend (see picture above).
Below is the link (you will need to copy and paste) and the transcript for this tv ad:
http://www.values.com/inspirational-stories-tv-spots/75-Old-Friends
I hope you will watch it.
I hope you will act upon it.
Reach out in friendship to those of other faiths.
Love really can build a bridge.
Video Transcript
WOMAN: My father taught me a lot about life without ever saying a word. When I was a little girl my friends were all just like me. His never were.
JEW: Hello, Hello.
CHRISTIAN: Didn’t you bring them, George?
JEW: I thought you were going to.
CHRISTIAN: No, no. I brought them last time.
JEW: You are right (laugh) I forgot! All right, all right.
WOMAN: I used to wonder why would a Jew, a Christian, and a Muslim ever get together?
JEW/CHRISTIAN: It was him!
WOMAN: And then I got it, they had a lot more in common than donuts.
MUSIC: Love can build a bridge, love and only love, between your heart and mine.
ANNCR/SUPER: Friendship. . .Pass it on. A message from The Foundation for a Better Life.
I like to think of Kathy Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb, a Jewish and Egyptian girl respectively, co-hosting the Today Show, and getting on so well, actually being friends. What a terrific witness that is to the world.
Thanks, Franco. But isn’t Gifford a Christian?
Well, I guess you are right about Gifford being Jewish. Here is what Wiki says about her: Gifford’s paternal grandfather was Russian Jewish from Saint-Petersburg. After seeing the Billy Graham-produced film, “The Restless Ones” at age 12, Gifford became a born-again Christian. She told interviewer Larry King, “I was raised with many Jewish traditions and raised to be very grateful for my Jewish heritage.”
Right, Kathy Lee is a professing born-again Christian, Jewish by ancestry.
“I used to wonder why would a Jew, a Christian, and a Muslim ever get together?”
—I hope a day comes when we begin to accept that we ‘get together” as brothers/sisters in humanity…..hopefully to be of benefit to all of God’s creations.
“All are but parts of one stupendous whole whose body nature is, and God the soul”
—Alexander Pope
Yes! “Brothers/sisters in humanity.” I don’t know what the Qur’an says but the Bible says we are all made in the image of God:
“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them. . .” (Musa – Moses – The Tawrat, Genesis chapter 1, verse 27)
If we take this seriously, we have to watch out how we look at and treat any human being, right?
A preacher I like (Ray Pritchard) says this:
“The world looks at who you are, what family you come from, how much money you have, your health, your good looks (or lack thereof), your connections, and above all else, your ability to contribute to the bottom line. If you can’t make a difference, you aren’t worth much. . .In God’s eyes there are no “little people.” Everyone matters to him because his image is in each person — small or great, rich or poor, young or old, educated or illiterate, healthy or sick, strong or weak, and his thoughtful care extends from the moment of conception when the unborn child is just a microscopic bundle of cells all the way to the moment of physical death. Thus we learn the value of humanity. . .despite physical limitations, or disabilities, or crippling diseases, or mental handicaps. People have value wholly apart from their outward circumstances. All are made in God’s image. . .We know that sin has marred the image of God in all of us. After the fall in Eden, things have never been the same. Sin has marred the image of God in us but it has not destroyed it.”
One more comment from Ray Pritchard:
“All humans are descended from the first couple, the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. All of us are related to each other because we all come from the family tree of Adam and Eve. To make the point sharper, you are related by blood to every other person on planet earth. Though we have divided into groups and clans and tribes and ethnic origins, and though we have different languages and cultures and patterns of speech, and though we have different skin tones and different physical features, it is still true that “he has made of one blood” (Acts 17:26) the entire human race. Thus there is no room for racial prejudice or bigotry. We’re all in the same boat together—created by the same God, all fallen into sin, and all able to be saved by the blood of Jesus.”
Too perfect to be true, facts on the ground say otherwise.
Hussain, I know the video is idealistic but it happens here and there in the real world. I will never give up hope for it to happen more and more and more. My passion is for Muslims, Christians, and Jews to tear down walls that divide us as humans. We will never believe all the same things. Our cultures, our religons, our histories are indeed different in very significant ways. Nevertheless. . .we are all made in the image of God our common Creator and we have much common ground in our beliefs. I know He wants us to learn to love each other and be peacemakers as far as we are able. I will never give up hope. God can do anything and I want to work with Him in all His purposes on the earth. Jesus has shown me the way to love and I will follow him in that path.
Well said my friend, may the Lord bless you and enlighten your path and give u strength to tolerate and reason with the ones that have lost all reason. If history taught us something it is that the Prevalence of Evil never lasted.
“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them. . .” (Musa – Moses – The Tawrat, Genesis chapter 1, verse 27)
—-Both Judaism and Islam do not take this literally—but understand it as a metaphor—to take it literally would be to anthropomorphise G-D and this would be idol worship. No aspect of God is “human”—because human is created and God is uncreated.
“Sin has marred the image of God in us but it has not destroyed it.”
—–Neither Judaism nor Islam have “original sin”—-neither religion interprets the story of Adam this way.
what the Quran says—-
Surah 49 verse 13
“O Humanity! We created you male and female and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another.(not despise each other) Surely the most honored among you in the sight of God is the one who is of good conduct. God is full of knowledge and is well aware.”
Even though we may differ in belief—we can all have good conduct in common—-intentions and actions that benefit all of God’s creations is conduct that honors God……..and that is something all of us can do.
My Muslim friend,
I want to clarify something about the Bible verse about man being created in “God’s image” or “God’s likeness.”
First of all, it appears in three texts in the Old Testament of the Bible: Genesis 1:26, 27; 5:1, 2, and 9:6.
Secondly, it is my opinion that “the image of God” has nothing to do with anything physical. It has nothing to do with a body for God does not have a physical body. Jesus himself affirmed this.
The “image of God” (Latin: imago Dei) refers to characteristics that differentiate us from the animal world: self-consciousness vs. consciousness (or self-awareness), decision making vs. instincts. Humans have rational and moral characteristics and a capacity for some degree of holiness. Humans have a moral compass – a conscience that gives them an inner sense of right and wrong.
Wayne Grudem pointed out that the words used in Genesis 1:26-27, “image” (tselem) and “likeness” (demut) in the Hebrew “refer to something that is similar but not identical to the thing that it represents or is the ‘image’ of.”
Again, quoting Ray Pritchard:
“When he created Adam and Eve in his own image, he forever separated the human race from the animals around us. . .And unlike all other creatures, we alone were given the capacity to know him and to love him and to serve him. . .Your pets are not made in the image of God. You are, they aren’t. There is a great gulf fixed between Adam and Eve and all other creatures. That gulf is labeled ‘the image of God.’ It is the image of God that enables us to know God personally. There is in each one of us the ability to know God and the “God-shaped vacuum” that makes us want to know him. Again, your dog doesn’t pray and your cat doesn’t seek the Lord. They can’t. A dog is a dog and a cat is a cat, and they can never know God personally in the way we can know God.”
“Too perfect to be true, facts on the ground say otherwise.”
This does seem a depressing reality today. ….and perhaps things will get worse before they begin to get better………..
When shirk (Division) prevails—humanity is split into groups each thinking they are better/superior to the other. When Tawheed (Unity) prevails—we come to understand that all of us pray to the SAME One God who created all of humanity.
Here is CCC 841, 842 from the Roman Catholic Church:
“The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.”
“All nations form but one community. This is so because all stem from the one stock which God created to people the entire earth, and also because all share a common destiny, namely God. His providence, evident goodness, and saving designs extend to all against the day when the elect are gathered together in the holy city. . “.
My anonymous Muslim friend,
I rejoice in seeing many Muslims and Christians – and some Jewish people – in friendships. Not as many as I would like, of course. But I am not depressed about “facts on the ground” as long as I focus on God – not on people. God is always at work in spite of what we see with our eyes: “For we live by faith, not by sight” (The Bible, 2 Corinthians 5:7).
I appreciate your quotes from the Catholic catechism but I wonder what was in the mind in the authors when they wrote of all of us having the same destiny. If all people share the same destiny, why would Muslims engage in da’wah and followers of Jesus engage in evangelism? I believe Muslims and Christians have so many things in common and I love that! But don’t we both believe that there are certain truths that are essential to know and follow to have a destiny with God in paradise/heaven?
Bottom line: I believe with all my heart that if we love each other, we should share humbly (with absolutely no sense of superiority) what we believe to be saving truth.
Would you agree?