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Entry: A Providential War? Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/a_providential_war#7907 Post contents: Adriana's comment corraborates the argument in mine, although, Adriana, I think you might have misunderstood FJ Sarto's point. I think FJ agrees with both you and me, that none of us want to see Turkey "go under", and although I can't speak for FJ, I THINK he would probably agree with me that a reconstruction of Turkish hegemony over the Middle East would be better for the entire world than the situation of today. Actually I think FJ and Adriana and I are all of like mind about this, but please correct me if I'm wrong. Incidentally (or perhaps more significantly than that), I have been a guest at a Sufi Mosque, most of whose (what shall I call them in English, "punters?" - that sounds better than "attenders") were Turks, including their Sufi Sheikh (meaning, their spiritual teacher.) That particular Sufi Mosque belonged to a Sufi Tekka ("group of apostolic disciples) who went back to the Sufi "saint" (I'm putting that in quotation marks to avoid challenges from overly picayune Christians among us) - as I was saying, that particular Mosque, and Tekka, were spiritual descendants of the Sufi "saint" and poet, Rumi, who wrote, inter alia, around 800 years ago: "'Tis light (which) makes colour visible: at night!: Red, green, and russet vanish from thy sight! So to thee light by darkness is made known: Since God hath none, He, seeing all, denies Himself eternally to mortal eyes. From the dark jungle as a tiger bright; From from the viewless, Spirit leaps to light!" And that poem, by Rumi, one of the greatest so-called "Muslims" (or was he really a Christian in his heart?) is something I THINK many or most Christians among us here, can agree upon. Yeah? That poem reminds me of one of my favourite lines by St Paul, "for now, we see through a glass darkly"... ...and the faith of my (yes, personal) Muslim friends, in God - and yes I DO mean in THE God - often seems to me, to be immensely more substantial and real, than the professions of faith of all too many American "Christians." Just a few weeks ago, I was a guest for a few weeks in Indonesia, in Java, hosted by some Javan Muslims to give a guest lecture at their university - mind you, I did so as a professed Christian, and this was made clear to my Muslim audience. I actually found it STRANGELY (and I choose the word "strangely" with great care) - I found it STRANGELY reassuring, to hear the muezzin at the nearby Mosque singing, in the evening, "Al LAAAAH, hu akhbar!" ...strangely reassuring, because: 1. "strange" because I am a Christian, and those Muslim songs are not QUITE identical with mine, so I am a "stranger to those songs, but also, 2. "reassuring", because the yearning in that muezzin's voice, and his beautifully sung expression of longing for God, seemed, to my ears, to be closer to the kinds of songs Jesus and His apostles sang, than almost any American "Christian" songs sung today (among Protestants AND Catholics!) Thus, I felt reassured by evidence that SOME of the Children of Adam REALLY believe in God, as most Americans and Europeans no longer do. Will that experience persuade me to convert to Islam? No. I remain a professed believer in the Gospel. And as much as I love and admire my Sufi friends, I will not convert to Islam - and they respect me for maintaining my own faith and my own conscience, and THAT should tell you a lot about how SOME (or many?) Muslims are closer to Christ and the Holy Spirit than many so-called "Christians" are. As a professed and confessed Christian, I will agree with MOST of TRUE Islam - their belief in, and passionate yearning for reunification with, THE God - but I will stop short of conversion to Islam, which would require me to renounce my faith in the Gospel of Christ. BUT... ...but, I just want to point out, that there are many, MANY Muslims out there - perhaps especially among the Turks - who are, in spirit, MUCH closer allies of Christendom than the neocons......... Salaam Aliukum, Shalom, Pax Vobiscum, from a spiritual descendant of Abraham, and thus a brother of all true Christians and Jews and, dare I say, all good Muslims too, like my Sufi friends and Rumi and Hafiz who sought God "through a glass darkly" in the way of Saint Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles.......... Sent at: 2008 07 08