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Jihadists
by Monte Wilson

I have been reading about Muslim Jihadists.

For them:

God is Absolute Will, and his will is not to be questioned or argued with (as Abraham did), even when, to us, it appears irrational. Here, for these particular Muslims, God’s will does not flow from a holy love (which presupposes a relationship, which, in turn, presupposes conversation), but is more akin to Nietzsche’s Will to Power

God is Monarch--but not The Heavenly Father

God is Transcendent--but never God coming along beside us

Compassion and Mercy are not attributes but weaknesses, which ends up perverting any concept of God’s justice

I used to be somewhat of a Christian Jihadist: pretty much saw, or at least behaved, as if the above were Orthodoxy. I was a Christian Jihadist who did not kill with weapons, but with my mouth and attitude--and believed I was acting righteously! Of course, there are also those Christians who, while they do not treat “infidels” this way, they do relate to God—and see God relating to them—as Absolute Will rather than as the holy compassionate and merciful Father.

For both of these Christians, it is as if God’s self-revelation did not climax and come to fullness with and in Jesus Christ, but is frozen at Mt Sinai.

None of this is to say God is not holy (or that he doesn’t want us to be holy) … only that he is The Holy Father.

Whatever it is we think we know about God—however it is we think God deals with and relates to us humans—if we do not see this reflected in the life, words and actions of Jesus … our knowledge is defective.