Jeff Adams

I have been reading a fascinating book about a amazing man named Mazhar. He is a leading literary figure in the Arab world and a follower of Jesus Christ. I truly believe that one day history will look on him as the apostle to Muslim Arabs. This book and the story of his life is not a book that pits Muslims against Christians, or shows how to convince Muslims to trust Christ. It is a book that will shake you, stretch you and confront you with Jesus of history and the Bible in his Middle Eastern cultural context. I have had the joy of spending some time with Mazhar and can confirm that his love for God is passionate and contagious.

This book, Pilgrims of Christ on the Muslim Road: Exploring a New Path Between Two Faiths is written by Paul-Gordon Chandler, an American Episcopal priest serving in the Middle East. It has just come off the press and you can get it here.

Mazhar is a master story teller and there is a section that shares some of his parables and analogies. I was just reading this tonight after having posted yesterday about instruction manuals. I thought you might enjoy this excerpt.

Once there was a Bedouin (desert dweller) that wandered into a city in Saudi Arabia. As he walked the city streets, in the window of a shop he saw a black box with moving pictures on it (a television). The television screen was at that time showing the tremendous beauty and variety of life below the ocean’s surface. The Bedouin, who had never seen the underwater world, stood in wonder and amazement. Desiring to show his fellow Bedouins in the desert this phenomenon, he bought a television, and together with the detailed instruction book, headed back to the desert. After following all the directions in the instruction book,he gathered everyone to his tent and told them about what they would see. However, when he pushed the ON button, nothing happened. They waited one day, two days, but the images never came onto the screen. Why? Because there is no electricity, or power, in the desert. Religion can be like following a detailed instruction book — it can mean nothing without personal faith, the “power” behind it. The book doesn’t give life.

Please don’t misunderstand. I am not saying we should not diligently study the Bible. I am not saying that the younger generation merely wants instant gratification and is not willing to study God’s word to mastery. To the contrary! I believe the current generation of youth is among the most spiritually oriented in a long time. I am simply saying that we often use analogies and language that leave them as clueless as our Bedouin friend above. The issue is how to connect them to truth and to the living God.

Those of us who are older often forget that when we “type” something, anyone born after 1985 or so in the United States has probably never seen a typewriter except in a picture, movie or museum. To say the Bible is an instruction manual is a great illustration for those who really know what that is and can relate to it. Those who fly the most sophisticated military jets today are those who grew up on video games, not those who grew up perusing instruction manuals. There was nothing wrong with our old time illustrations; it’s just that it’s new time.