Actions and Belief 2

Last week I commented about a Muslim lawyer who doesn't like the use of the phrase "Islamic militants." He was quoted as arguing that actions should not be equated with religion, and his implication was that when some Muslims consider themselves on a jihad and blow up planes and skyscrapers filled with innocent citizens and plot to decimate US military facilities, we shouldn't associate that with their Islamic beliefs.

So it was interesting that our chapel speaker today began his message on Psalm 73 by talking about how Islam has come to impact our world in his lifetime. (By the way, when did Baptists start sounding so Reformed? Two weeks in a row in chapel, I've had to pinch myself. And just recently I was editing something that used covenantal language. Where were you all when I was back at Cedarville College sitting in my Baptist doctrine professor's office telling him that I was offended by his calling particular atonement an inadequate understanding of Christ's atonement? Am I mistaken, or are Baptists now reading John Calvin and the Westminster Confession?)

Anyway, the speaker pointed out that Islam has a well-developed eschatology, and this most certainly shapes the way Muslims live and the choices they make. The promise of an afterlife filled with unlimited virgins who exist to fulfill the "martyrs'" every pleasure motivates them to be willing to die when they are called to. And isn't it interesting that the promise of something that the Bible would call sinful motivates them to kill. It all makes sense in a twisted sort of way. And of course their beliefs shape their actions. And note that the Muslim view of Paradise is just having much greater quantities of an earthly pleasure. So I guess that if I were Muslim, heaven for me would be endless shoes and purses and chocolate (without gaining weight). And probably books and free Netflix.

The speaker went on to discuss Asaph's observations in this Psalm. Asaph looks around and sees the wicked prospering, and when he sees this, he actually envies them because "they are not in trouble as other men; nor are they plagued like mankind" (v. 5). And yet his perspective changes when he enters God's sanctuary. Asaph sees things in a new way, and he realizes that he has God: "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And besides Thee, I desire nothing on earth" (v. 25).

God is the one who guides us, who holds us by our right hand. He is always there, always near. The speaker read a quote from John Piper, and I paraphrase here. Piper pointed out that we could have all the comforts of heaven--no more tears, no sickness, no pain--but what kind of heaven would it be if God were not there? And it wouldn't be any kind of heaven, because God is all that satisfies--in this life and the next. And knowing and believing this eschatology will shape the Christian's actions: "I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all Thy works" (v. 28).