Use of Reason . . .

Just last night I was blessed to see how inter-religious dialogue can be conducted in a frank, yet gentle manner!

At the Clearwater Campus of St. Petersburg College, a United Methodist Professor of Theology (ordained elder) and a Jewish Rabbi (undergraduate degree from Harvard), and finally a respectable Islamic Leader from Tampa, FL, ALL joined together for accurate, descriptive, yet peaceful dialogue!

The Methodist Theologian stressed the necessity for Christ Jesus to be at the CENTER of all Christian discussions, and even (much to my delight as a "Charismatic Catholic") abided by the Classical Christian doctrines of the Trinity, and the Chalcedonian definition of Christ Jesus as BOTH fully human and fully divine.

The Islamic Leader, similarly stressed how although gender differences do exist within Islam, that ALL Muslims are required to faithfully abide by Islamic teaching, to include true worship of the One God (as opposed to idolatrous polytheism), and also care for those who are less fortunate.

Finally, the Jewish Rabbi stressed how the GOD of ISRAEL (Yahweh) is concerned with concrete moral instructions such as Justice, equity, etc. He cleared up the false view of GOD as being overly judgmental, and said how "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" rather than being vengeful, instead showed how equal crimes deserved equal punishment, and was thus not a sign of vengeance, but rather of justice.

What united these three leaders, ironically enough, was a shared ability to use the intellect.

All three of the 'monotheistic' religions must use RATIONALITY as a means of shared dialogue.

Religious belief CANNOT be readily reduced to some false "lowest common denominator."

Regarding Christ Jesus, EITHER Christ Jesus is a 'prophet' like Islam says, or a 'rabbi' like Judaism says, OR "FULLY GOD and FULLY HUMAN" as Christianity says. Similarly, EITHER God is only "One" as Islam teaches, or only "One" in Covenant to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as Judaism teaches, or "One-and-Three" the Holy Trinity as Christianity teaches.

Fortunately, however, at the end of the night, all three men were in shared agreement that PEACE is what should unite such interaction.

In fact, the three leaders, and different Faculty, Staff and Students of the College (and community members) all shared fruit punch afterwards!

Truly a sign of the 'Messianic Age' to come when Christ Jesus RETURNS, and the lion shall lie down with the lamb and swords shall be turned into plowshares. Come LORD JESUS CHRIST, Come . . .

Blessings & Shalom,
Rob J. King