When Cultures Collide

Before last week's anti-U.S. protests erupted in the Middle East and Persian Gulf, we had our own meeting with a Muslim - or at least a defender of Islam.  It was online, during a National League of Poker tournament.  We've edited the chat a bit, to highlight our main points...


ETown13:  mean people suck
TheJuice:  mean people rule
TheJuice:  nice guys finish last
Me:  Ultimately, no.
TheJuice:  yes
ETown13:  keep telling yourself that juice
Me:  The righteous will
TheJuice:  every great conquerer was mean
Me:  receive eternal life.
TheJuice:  on earth you idiot
Dealer:  TheJuice wins Main Pot ($745)
Me:  You didn't specify.

The world indeed has plenty of "mean people" -- and some have held positions of power and conquest through the centuries.  But tonight marks the start of a religious season, which celebrates a time when that will change.

For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.... This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares. - Romans 2:13, 16

Jesus Christ will judge the world, and all the secrets it contains.  Have you been stealing or cheating at poker tables?  God sees it all, and Revelation 20 indicates Jesus will judge it all.  It all begins with our obedience to God's law now, as we await the next big event:

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. - I Thessalonians 4:16

Some Christians will mark the Feast of Trumpets beginning at sunset, to celebrate the pending return of Jesus.

We tried to explain to TheJuice that the dead won't live again until Jesus returns.  But he challenged us on the common (but not really Biblical) Christian view that believers go to heaven when they die:

Me:  But the righteous

TheJuice:  and no one has proven after life

Me:  will reign on earth.

TheJuice:  prove it

Me:  You won't accept

Me:  the Bible, will you?

TheJuice:  you cant prove it

ETown13:  sorry dude***..u have to believe

TheJuice:  omg the bible is a story kid

Dealer:  ETown13 wins Main Pot ($700)

Me:  A collection of them.

Me:  Like the newspaper is.

TheJuice:  fiction

ETown made a good point -- the Bible ultimately is a matter of believing in faith.

Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"  Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." - John 20:28-29

Instead, TheJuice tried to get us to accept the Muslim holy book as fact:

TheJuice:  why do you not believe the kuran is the truth

Me:  Parts of the Koran

Me:  affirm the Bible.

Me:  Example: 3:67-70

TheJuice:  all of Koran is fact

Strange, isn't it -- a Bible that skeptics claim is nothing but "a story" has sections which the Koran supports, and even recommends!  We admittedly have not read the Koran cover-to-cover.  But we're indebted to a minister which studied that book, compared it with the Bible and drew some eye-opening conclusions. 

Instead of shouting at each other about their faults (or going even farther, into violence), we think Christians and Muslims should read their books carefully and completely.  Then apply the advice of the apostle Peter - especially the last part:

But in your hearts set apart Jesus Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect.... - I Peter 3:15