The Sermon

Last week a cousin writes in her family email that a guest speaker came to their church to tell them his story about how came from being raised Muslim in the United States to being saved by grace and is now a Christian. Through our various emails she said the lecture had been taped and I asked for a copy, which I promptly loaded into my iPod the moment I got my little hands on it.

It was a typical sermon by a typical charismatic preacher. He was preaching to the choir and knew he wouldn't be challenged on any of his facts. Here is what I wrote to my cousin about the sermon:

Thanks so much for the CD. I got it today and immediately loaded it into my iPod. I've just finished listening to it. Dr. Caner started out by sounding like a credible person. Unfortunately by the end of the lecture he was guilty of lying and omitting crucial information knowing that no one in the congregation was going to challenge his authority. Also he assumes the Bible is correct and the Koran is not without giving any basis on those assumptions knowing full well that no one will challenge him.

I listened to his lecture while I was working out and didn't take notes. If you're interested in more of what I thought I will gladly listen to the lecture again (he is very charismatic after all and easy to listen to). Mostly what I found flawed about his argument of Christianity v. Islam is the appeal to emotion. For example, he talks about how horrible Islam is then omits or glosses over the atrocities committed in the name of Christianity. And nobody called him on it.

Over the years I've studied Christianity a lot but never really paid that much attention to Islam. The points that Dr. Caner covered were things I already knew from the little comparative study I've done between Christianity and Islam. They are very much the same, with some differences, but the biggest difference is Christianity has gone through an enlightenment period whereas Islam has not. I also disagree with Dr. Caner about this war; I think the war in Iraq has done much to hold back this enlightenment and anger Muslims against the crusading Christians. What we should have done is continue good relations with Iraq (and Iran) and import our way of life slowly by importing our goods and services to their countries.

Thanks again, it was an enjoyable hour.

The response I got a few days later was weird. First off, when I didn't hear from her immediately I figured she was offended by my words and couldn't bring herself to email me. I'm alright with that kind of response. My religious relatives are of the very thin skinned variety and I'm not the kind of person to pull punches. As it turns out I got a reply a couple days later.

I'm sorry your found the CD of Dr. Caner's message to be so dis-satisfactory to you. If you intend to trash it, I might ask that you send it back. The demand for the CD's has been high at the church. I'm sure there are others who would find it valuable. However, if you want to keep it, that is OK too.

My first thought was "Didn't she read my email at all?"

I'll post the rest tomorrow.