An Iranian filmmaker has made a movie depicting the life of Jesus according to Islam. The film, “Jesus, the Spirit of God” depicts Him as a prophet, not as the incarnate God, and it denies that He was actually crucified. According to the movie and to the Koran, God snatched Jesus up to Heaven at the last minute and put Judas on the cross instead. According to Islam, God did not die for sinners; sinners have to die for God.
Nevertheless, the filmmaker said that he made the movie to show how much Christians and Muslims have in common. Another similarity is that Shi’ite Muslims believe that when the 12th Mahdi returns to earth to set up his kingdom, Jesus will come with him.
just why is it that mormons and muslims and so many others feel a need to show how much they have in common with Jesus and christianity?
why is it that it seems that every religion wants to make room somehow for Jesus, while followers of Jesus make room ONLY for Him?
In a Lenten sermon about the death of Jesus, I stated that someone who knew the importance of Jesus’ death was Mohammed. By removing Jesus’ death on the cross, he thereby removed the heart and center of Christianity (of course we understand that Jesus’ resurrection is tied to that and understood as the culminating part of the picture of Jesus’ death). No Jesus’ death, no Christianity. Although this feature of the Koran is irritating to us as Christians, it also can highlight for us in a simple way the basics of the Christian faith.
And have you heard about the movie they’re making about Jesus between the ages of 12 and 30? Directed by the young man who did the movie version of “The Secret.” Based on something called the Aquarian Gospel, I believe. The Minneapolis Star Tribune had an article about it on January 5.
Pastor Jerry Gernander (ELS)
It only serves to prove the importance of Christ, that He’s the stumbling block that stands in the way of fully having it our way. Try as anyone can, they can’t remove Him, or even completely and honestly sidestep Him; they have to ultimately deal with Him.
They can pretend to honor Him. But even that pretense only demonstrates His unique, everlasting presence, even among those who deem Him dead; even just mostly dead.
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Gene Edward Veith is the Provost and Professor of Literature at Patrick Henry College, the Director of the Cranach Institute at Concordia Theological Seminary, a columnist for World Magazine and TableTalk, and the author of 18 books on different facets of Christianity & Culture.
Lucas Cranach, self portrait c.1530.
About Lucas Cranach
Lucas Cranach was the great artist of the Reformation. He was a close friend of Martin Luther. He was a businessman, who first printed Luther's translation of the Bible; a politician, who served on the Wittenberg town council and served the city as its mayor; a chemist, who operated a pharmacy; a teacher, who trained a host of apprentice artists; a family-man, who helped arrange Luther's marriage with the two men serving as the godfathers of each other's children; and an active layman in his church, who gave his pastors important personal and material support. As a Christian who lived out his faith in his many different callings, Cranach thus embodies the Reformation doctrine of vocation, using the gifts God had given him in service to Christ and his neighbor in the church, the family, the workplace, and the culture. In the spirit of Lucas Cranach, this blog will discuss wide-ranging issues of Christianity and culture with a Lutheran twist.
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