ID: Walker's Study of the Koran-1

It has been emphasized in the two classes I've attended of the study of Koran with John Walker, our discussion leader, that we are to use Muhammed's life as our exemplar, according to Islam doctrine.
I raised the point that we cannot do so, since we live in the Twenty-Second Century A.D. and Muhammed lived centuries ago.  The fiction that one can essentially carry out the habits and routines of a person living in another age is preposterous, not worthy of intellectual discussion.

In Christianity, we are given the exhortation from Jesus to take up our cross and follow Him.  But this edict is not to be taken literally; and no Christian thinks so, it would seem.

CD at St. Clement's: Fear to be bold and courageous for God

Father Rick on the staff delivered the sermon 7/10/16.  He claimed that Christians must be bold and fearless to act according to God's Will for them, even as the Good Samaritan did the unusual thing of stopping to help someone in distress.

The notion that this act of the Good Samaritan, helping one in urgent need, requires reaching out to another person one doesn't know--an act of love and kindness.  It implies abandoning one's ordinary routines in life to make this act realized.  What courage! (as Paul Tillich, American Theologian, would contend.)    

CD at St. Clement's: The Love of the Disciples for Jesus

During the Anchor Club meeting this past Sunday, I theorized that the disciples of Jesus must have been hugely discouraged with the death of their leader at the cross.  But wonder of wonder, it was Paul who converted to Christianity on the road to Damascus who came upon the scene to encourage them to carry on.  For Peter, the leader of the Christian Church in Jerusalem, Paul's encouragement included financial gifts to support the church there.  We think of the disciples as the backdrop of Jesus' ministry, since the Gospels do not relate their real function as ministers to Jesus, to encourage him to do bold and wondrous acts on behalf of His Father.  Nevertheless, they supported, i.e., did what they could to help, Jesus carry out his mission.