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Entry: Thoughts on the Antichrist: Part III, Breaking the Body of Christ Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/thoughts_on_the_antichrist_part_iii_breaking_the_body_of_christ#758 Post contents: This dish is too elegantly seasoned for me to add anything to it. But for dessert, allow me to serve the parable of the Good Samaratin: The moral the Good Samaritan - a point mostly lost or unknown among most Christians today - was not merely that he was compassionate, but rather, that he belonged to the "wrong" religion. The Samaratins of Jesus' time were somewhat analagous to the Palestinians of today, scorned and excoriated by many Jews as perceived aliens to God's covenant with Abraham. The moral of the story is that - at least among mortal men who ALL see "through a glass darkly" - the Holy Spirit informs the hearts and deeds of many non-Jews, and non-Christians, often far more than He informs the hearts and deeds of professed Jews or Christians. Thus, dare I suggest, that to "build up the corporate Body of Christ", warrants not only a more expansive charitable regard for the Christians (and Jews) of the Middle East, but also for their Muslim half-brothers? Jesus is an acknowledged prophet of Islam, and Hillaire Belloc wrote a fine essay in which he suggested Islam was essentially a Christian heresy. Furthermore, personally I think the enduring power and appeal of Islam is an effect of its origins in, and very close spiritual proximity to, Christianity. The test of time is the test of truth, and while all lies inevitably decay and die and lose their mass appeal (almost always in very short time, no more than a few generations), the Gates of Hell never prevail against Truth in the long run. And Islam has had a very long and very strong run. I am not a Muslim, and I agree with Belloc that Islam is essentially a Christian heresy - but that's why I have a lot of respect for Islam, and respectful reverence for its (in my opinion) Saints and its truthful icons - and mind you, one of Islam's Holy places is the site of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. Let me suggest to our Christian and Jewish friends, that THAT is the source of Islam's endurance and power, and its beauty, and the "corporate Body of Christ" has a mandate to pay all due respect to Islam's Jewish and Christian foundations - which are, ipso facto, eternal and indestructible foundations of the Muslims, the "separated brethren" of Christians and Jews. Personally I would expect more authentically Christian charity from a Muslim disciple of Rumi than from any putative Christian who says publicly that it might be "fun" to bomb Iran. But then, to expand this contemplation of the "corporate Body of Christ" even further: I dare say, Mikhail Gorbachev was an official atheist when he played the second most important role (after Pope John Paul the Great) of all world leaders in ending the Communist dictatorship and the stupid Cold War. And none of us can say how God will judge China's Deng XiaoPing, who ended the pandemonium of Mao's Cultural Revolution under almost impossible political circumstances. And the non-Christian Japanese Emperor Hirohito was instrumental (willingly, it seems) in guiding Japan through a long reign of peace. Only God knows the hearts of those men; meanwhile, we all see through a glass darkly, and so, charitable humility is the only enduring mortar we are authorised by God to use, to build up Christ's visible AND invisible church, from the scattered stones (ALL lost and rejected in one way or another) of ALL Human souls. On that note, "salavation" is related to the word, "salvage." Sent at: 2008 11 20