I’m finishing up a week with Seth Barnes in Africa. I love that in a place like Swaziland the Bible becomes reality. Verses like James 1:27 are more than just a “nice thought.” In a place like this, we get to be God with skin on. This is from Seth, but reflects a lot of what Andrew Shearman has taught us:
Africa – land of religious
fervor and conflict. In places like the Sudan, the Muslims don’t just
want to kick out the Christians, they want to kill them. They don’t
deal well with ambiguity. As Blaise Pascal said, “Men never do evil so
completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.”
One of the things that the Muslims struggle most with is the
Christian understanding of the Trinity. Islam is a black and white
religion – it gives comfort to those who want to know what they need to
DO to please God. Here – do these five things and you will please
Allah.
Christian understanding of the Trinity. Islam is a black and white
religion – it gives comfort to those who want to know what they need to
DO to please God. Here – do these five things and you will please
Allah.
Actually, it reminds you of the Old Testament. With the advent of
Christ, things got complicated. He’s fully man and fully God – what is
that about? He’s Jesus, son of man, and Christ, son of God – how do
you reconcile that?
Andrew Shearman does his best to unpackage this mystery in our conversation, a snippet of which I’ve excerpted below.
