In the home of a Muslim

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go with Tim Hayes a friend of mine to meet with a Somalian Muslim that was about to have surgery on a hernia that he has. We were warmly welcomed in to their apartment and within a few minutes, after introduction to his 2 other room mates, were offered some tea(more like coffee). The conversation that followed has forever changed ,my world view on Muslims. After reading the book Muslims, Christians and Jesus by Carl Medearis I really opened my eyes to what Muslims REALLY think and feel about spiritual things.

M.J.(couldn't pronounce his real name), Tajmal and Daud Abdi sat on the couch across from us and told us about what it is to be a real Muslim. What it was to be on a real Jihad( a holy war). The words that I listened to that day were not words of hate, but were words of men that hated what "associations" people thought of when they talked about Muslims. They expressed how Terrorist had taken their scripture, manipulated and twisted it, to fit their own evil agenda. The disgust in the crimes against humanity and in the name of Allah(GOD).

We were able to share a TON of information about Jesus and What it means to be a Follower of Him. I was also able to share my full testimony to them. Being lost in sin with no respect for God, all the way to power of Jesus' Resurrection and how that translates into my walk today. What it meant to be saved by grace and that my works could never pay for the sin that I committed. We were also able to explain the trinity and that we are not polytheistic.

The most interesting thing to me that was ow much stuff we agreed on.

There is only one God
That God is the most beautiful thing we could imagine and that he is so holy that we could never fully understand him.
Jesus Came from God
he had no earthly Father
He was sent by God
He ascended to Heaven
He is returning at the end of this World
Mary was a virgin
God Loved us more than we could comprehend
Asking God for his Help over temptation


Some things I did have a problem with
That works are weighed after we die to decide where we will go
Jesus ascended to heaven and another man that looked like him was crucified in his place.
That man was given his physical features by God
God does not need a soon he is complete in himself( to this we explained that Jesus was not there to complete god but there to complete us. The reason were were able to have that relationship with him)

Most interesting thing that I learned from them was that the "Jihad" was finished when Muhammed Died. Their is no more holy war. The holy war is now a personal holy war were you are striving to do good deeds for other people and overcoming evil desires. They gave us some examples of what that looked like:
The fact that we were taking time out of our day to come visit them.
M.J. let Daud borrow his bus pass.
Praying through out the day.
Helping Daud get the info he needed for his doctors appointments.
Etc...
I have found a new love for Muslims that I am excited to see what God is going to do with!!