الطَّريق والحَقّ والحَياة

أنا هُوَ الطَّريق والحَقّ والحَياة حَتَّى حدّ مايجي لِلأ بُ كان بيّا

To you, this may look like a bunch of scribbles. To you, this may not mean anything. But to me, this is the beginning of an eye-opening conversation. To me, this is an answer to prayer. To me, this is a reminder of how powerful these words of Jesus are.

John 14:6 - I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.

It was a Thursday morning. Class was almost over. I'd spent the last hour and a half learning new vocabulary. Now it was time for the daily quote. Usually these were local proverbs. So, as usual, my teacher began writing the saying on the board. I began writing it down, knowing very soon she would start explaining what it meant. But today, unlike every other day, she started by telling me this is from the Injeel (the Gospels), from John 14:6. Knowing what the verse says in English, it wasn't too long before I figured out what the words all meant. I was very excited to have learned my first Bible verse in Arabic.

I asked my friend, Sally, what she thought this verse meant...and what she thought about it. Sally, who usually is very confident and willing to discuss anything with me, suddenly started stumbling over her words. Her initial response: "It says the Father. I don't think God is the Father (later she conceded that maybe it just meant He is caring like a father). Before she said much else, Sally came up with an excuse to leave the room. Returning a couple minutes later, she said, "My stomach is in butterflies. I don't know how to answer this...and I don't want to offend you." After I had assured her that I would not be offended by anything she said, she proceeded to tell me that she does not think Jesus is the only way to God. She explained to me that she thinks that God gives mercy to anyone who truly seeks God, whether they are Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu. As long as they really want to follow God, then He will show them mercy. Their religion doesn't matter.

I responded that I could understand what she was saying, and I agreed that it doesn't matter what religion you come from, but I disagreed with her that you could get to God in any way. The only way to God is through following Jesus.

She said that she does believe in Jesus but she is going to continue to follow what she knows. She then went into a long rant about how awful it is for someone to change their religion. She passionately argued that to change your religion is to change everything about who you are. It is to reject everything you've ever known. It is absolutely awful! And this is not just related to changing from her religion. She vehemently argued that even Christians should not change their religion (although I think her reason for this argument is not so much because she believes it but because it gives fire to her argument). Why was she so passionate about this? Because she has had a friend who became a follower. She has rejected this friend and refuses to speak her again.

At this point, our conversation was cut short. I had so many things I wanted to say, so many questions I wanted to ask her. But time did not allow for this.

Here are some things I realized from this conversation:

• The Word of God is powerful
• I can have wonderful spiritual conversations with my friend about God, in which we can agree on so much, only have nuances of difference in how we view Him...but John 14:6 cuts to the core. It is extremely powerful...and it is offensive. My dear friend, who is usually so open to having these conversations, was almost sweating with discomfort. She was stumbling over her words. And she was adamantly against it. These are no ordinary words. They are quite powerful...and they separate casual belief in Jesus as a good teacher from following Him as THE WAY. 
• That my friend has a relativistic view of getting to God. I'm pretty sure that's not an "official doctrine"...but that is what she believes. Good to know...
• Sally views Christianity as a different way of achieving the same thing. You follow Jesus and I follow Mohammed and they're both leading us in how to come to God. She is generally very open to learning about what Christians think, do, and believe. But her goal in this is to learn ways to improve her own practice of religion. She wants to take the good from each religion and combine them. For example, in the past she has told me that she's learned from Christians that God is loving. (This is a concept in her religion...but is not emphasized.) So she takes what she likes and incorporates it into what she already believes. (Isn't this a temptation for us all...to take what we like about Jesus?)
• Sally's view of following Jesus is of following a moral code. Apart from the fact that this is perhaps a natural way for her to view Him, I also think maybe she has gathered that from Christians (or "Christians"). Isn't this a lie the enemy uses to deceive, even within the Church. Following a good moral code is so much easier than surrendering our entire life to Jesus. 
• Sally, like most people here, view Christian and Muslim in really big categories. These categories are based on country, race, culture, etc... So for her, the idea of changing your religion is to change everything about you, to change your culture, your way of life. With that view in mind, I can't say that I blame her for abhorring the idea of changing religion. Wouldn't I be appalled if a friend of mine suddenly became a Hindu or a Muslim? But, what I really want Sally to understand, is that follower Jesus does not make her American...or even "Christian" in the way she understands that word. Following Jesus does not require her to change her culture. More than anything, following Jesus is a heart issue. I want Sally to be able to look beyond the exterior to see that... On the other hand, I cannot deny that following Jesus will have a cost. It could mean rejection, rejection from her family: her parents, her husband, her in-laws. It could mean rejection from her community, her friends, her neighbors. It would not be easy. 
• Finally, I was reminded that, though having conversations about similarities is a great bridge, I need to be talking with Sally about Jesus. I need to not just agree with her on ways that we see God the same. I need to be bringing up who Jesus is. I want her to meet Him. I want her to see that He is not someone to be casually kept at arm's reach. I want her to see the fullness of who He is....And that might be offensive to her...

Please join me in praying for Sally. She has become such a dear friend. I have gotten to the point that spending time with her is not just for language learning...or not just because I know I need to. Time with her does not exhaust me in the way it used to. Rather, I feel I am able to relax a bit, to enjoy her friendship. Join me in thanking God for such a wonderful friendship! It is definitely an answer to prayer! And lift her up. Pray that God would speak to her heart. Pray that barriers to her understanding the Truth would be broken down. And pray for her family. She spends much time with her husband's large family. Pray that they too would begin to ask questions. Pray that I would have opportunities to share not only with Sally, but also with her whole family. Pray that they, as a group, would come to follow Jesus.