Four Stories of God

~ by Samir Selmanovic

For more than 20 years since my baptism (a ritual by which one signals publicly that one has become a follower), people have often given me the opportunity to “tell my story”—to “give a testimony,” as we Christians like to call it. Despite the fact that my life with God was not only passionate but also conflicted and complicated, the story itself was easy to tell. It was all one story. One life. One song. 

But it is not that easy anymore. Today, as early Hasidic Rav Kook did long ago, I find myself wondering which song I should sing. Should I look into my own soul and sing the song of the struggles and joys I encounter within? Or should I move beyond myself and sing the song of my people, my religion? Or maybe I should rise above my Christian story and sing a song of all songs of humanity? Or should I spread my heart still wider and sing a song with all creation?

Is the story of God a story of my own soul, a story of my religion, a story of humanity or a story of all that is? To accept all these stories as the stories of God is to imply that my religion then becomes only a part of the ultimate story of the world, not the ultimate story itself.

Orthodox rabbi David Hartman, concerned with the perennial conflict in Jerusalem, insists that different melodies of one God must be cherished: “Each group feels that its way is the only way: there is one God, therefore there has to be one truth. Christians build their story on the Jewish story and therefore feel they are inheritors of Judaism. Muslims built their story on the Bible, and therefore they feel that they are the perfect expression of monotheism. Now, we’ve got to get out of each other’s story. We can’t feel that in order for me to tell my story, your story has to end. . . . In other words, affirmation [of my story] does not require that I demonise those who are different from me. I don’t have to build conviction out of hate and fear.” If my identity depends on annihilation of other stories, I cannot really sing all four songs of God.

What if God measures our religion by the way it contributes to stories other than one’s own? What if our religions will be judged by the good they bring to their non-adherents? Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel says this succinctly: “When in the afterglow of religious insight I can see a way that is good for all humans as it is for me—I will know it is His way.”

In the same vein, The Quran reads, “Had God willed He would have made you into one religious community; but it was his will to test you in what He gave you. So compete with each other in doing good works” (Quran 5:48). Seyyed Hossein Nasr of George Washington University contends that “there’s no more crucial problem for our day than to be able to cross religious frontiers while preserving our own integrity. In fact, I think this the only exciting intellectual adventure of our times.”

So I find it hard to “give a testimony” today without offending people of my own religion whose identity depends on a divided and conflicted world. As a follower of Christ, I have grown to believe in a world that is larger than Christianity. Jesus called this larger world the kingdom of God. It is the symphony made of all stories, individual and communal, our magnanimous God is involved with in this world.

Only God is God. And Christianity is not. Nor Judaism. Nor Islam. Paradoxically, this realization about the greatness of God is a deeply Christian, Jewish and Muslim teaching.

When I pray the Lord’s Prayer, I begin with the first word, “Our . . .” (see Matthew 6:9) and I stop and ask myself, “Who do I include in this Our?” I remind myself that the story of God is bigger than my personal story, bigger than the story of my religion, bigger than the story of all humanity, and bigger than the story of all creation. In the kingdom of God, these four stories are all really my stories—all at the same time—woven together, giving meaning and life to each other.

(from Signs of the Times, Australia, September 2007, adapted by the author)

Comments

[Sam]

Amen

[Rafael Candelaria]

What a "Boring-God" it would be if she/he would self-contain only in christianity. Creativity would exponentially be diminished,cutting into the supposedly "God-Sizedness" of God. Let alone not to mention the artistic aspect dependent on imagination, from which reality is borne/wrestled out of.

It's "Not about Us" seems to be a good way of it truly becoming about us... All of Us, as in the Universe...

[societyvs]

"Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel says this succinctly: “When in the afterglow of religious insight I can see a way that is good for all humans as it is for me—I will know it is His way.”"

I really love that quote - I think it is very true and something we need to embrace more of.

"As a follower of Christ, I have grown to believe in a world that is larger than Christianity. Jesus called this larger world the kingdom of God." (Samir)

I couldn't agree more - I argue with my own Christian faith also about the problems with exclusivity and division - it's hard tredding with that topic. But like you, I think the world is a lot bigger then my pre-concieved notions about it - and I like the idea about the 'kingdom of God'...it's for everyone.

"In the kingdom of God, these four stories are all really my stories—all at the same time—woven together, giving meaning and life to each other" (Samir)

I like that - very poetic. I think faiths need this discussion in this day in age - things have become so divisive and I don't see a need for Christianity to widen that gap.

Loved the post!

[Les]

Here's another perspective from the Koran Sura 5 The Table:
"And if God had pleased He had surely made you all one people; but He would test you by what He hath given to each. Be emulous, then, in good deeds. To God shall ye all return, and He will tell you concerning the subjects of your disputes.

Wherefore do thou judge between them, by what God hath sent down, and follow not their wishes! but be on thy guard against them lest they beguile thee from any of those precepts which God hath sent down to thee; and if they turn back, then know thou that for some of their crimes doth God choose to punish them: for truly most men are perverse.

Desire they, therefore, the judgments of the times of(pagan) ignorance? But what better judge can there be than God for those who believe firmly?

O Believers! take not the Jews or Christians22 as friends. They are but one another's friends. If any one of you taketh them for his friends, he surely is one of them! God will not guide the evil doers."

Oh the joys of the other!

[Deb Brunzell]

I believe you all need to get into Gods holy word and study it and find out there is only one way to heaven and that is Jesus Christ. All other religions worship a different God than the God of Abraham,Issac and Jacob. "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me. John 14:6