Chiaroscuro: Jews, Christians & Muslims

Chiaroscuro is an Italian word and an art term that basically means clearly obscure. It is the use of dark and light elements in a pictorial work of art that creates drama and mystery into the piece. It is the comparing of similar elements with the contrast of paradoxical elements.

Let me paint a picture for you with Jewish, Christian and Muslim religions today. They are all different and have some conflicting beliefs and rituals. Muslims pray to Allah. Christians worship God. Jews revere G-d. Muslims are led by the works of the Prophet Muhammad, who is scarcely acknowledged as a legitimate prophet by Christians and Jews. Christians are led by the works of the Son of God and Savior, Jesus, who is seen as just another prophet by the Muslims, and denied by the Jews as the messiah.

Jews are led by the Patriarch Abraham and the Prophet Moses, which actually are similar elements found in both the Christian and Muslim faiths. Thus, all three religions share a similar foundation. All three faiths hold firm to the concepts of peace, love, charity, and true justice.

As you can see, there is a sense of a beautiful chiaroscuro painting here with these three faiths. However, the dark, contrasting element in this painting is also a connection shared with the morally faithful within these three religions. It is the dark side of the faithful: those who claim to follow their religious beliefs, but their walk doesn't follow their talk. I'm not referring to the sins of the individuals in the faith, as individual sins can be repented and reconciled in the true faith.

The dark side of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths have shepherds that lead the faithful away from the morals and intentions of their faith. They talk of peace, but their idea of peace is not the true peace of God. Their idea of love is not the true love of God. Their idea of charity and justice are not the true charity and justice of God.

Those unfortunate to fall under such leadership are led astray and coerced into doing acts that strike against the goodness of their faith and perverse their beliefs, all in the supposed name of God (Allah, G-d).

Muslims must deal with hirabahists.
Those that believe in the Third Jihad (hirabahists) claim they have a right to reclaim ALL formerly Muslim-ruled lands, even where Muslims now are a mi-nority. They claim a right to establish the sharia-governed Caliphate over all Muslims. They want Islamist rule to replace secular rule in the Middle East, across North and East Africa, Asia Minor, the Balkans, Southwest Asia, Central Asia, and Indonesia. But the believers of the Third Jihad also want a global Caliphate. That means they want to be the only ones that can proselytize where Muslims are a minority. It is impossible to compromise with the hirabahists be-cause they have unlimited goals. To us their goals might seem unreasonable and unlikely to succeed. Yet they, like Hitler, can do grave harm before their movement's ultimate defeat.

Jews have to contend with Zionists.
One might suppose that this is simply an Israeli tribute to piety--far from it. The subsidies and exemptions enjoyed by orthodox Jews are part of a compromise that reconciles them to cooperation with the Zionists, a movement they generally abhor: support for their religious life and exemption from defending Israel are the price the orthodox exact for limited cooperation with an enterprize they reject.

And true Christians have to cross swords with fundamentalist evangelicals.
"Pastor Ted,...talks to President George W. Bush or his advisers every Monday..." "...the battle boils down to evangelicals versus Islam. “My fear,” he says, “is that my children will grow up in an Islamic state.” And that is why he believes spiritual war requires a virile, worldly counterpart. “I teach a strong ideology of the use of power,” he says, “of military might, as a public service.” He is for preemptive war, because he believes the Bible’s exhortations against sin set for us a preemptive paradigm, and he is for ferocious war, because “the Bible’s bloody. There’s a lot about blood.”
"These Christian fundametalists are actively and intentionally taking advantage of the colonial usurpation of power by the American and Coalition forces to culturally and religiously invade the Iraqi society. ... It is taking advantage of their deprivations and using that physical and psychological dependence on Christian goodwill to advance the more important agenda: the conversion of Muslims to Christianity. It's not about learning and collaborating with the Iraqis on these social matters, it's about "teaching" and "civilizing" them with Christianity."

These are groups that seem to deny the basic truths of their own religious beliefs, and in its place they take matters into their own hands, as if God cannot accomplish His kingdom without His people breaking their own faith's morals and values. This is clearly obscure.

Sure, there's a contrast there, but we can't underestimate nor undermine the power of God, even in these circumstances. However you determine to name the creator and master of our universe and beyond, He is the painter and the artist. He can take the canvas we've provided and paint a beautiful, moving and spiritual picture out of our chaos. In any painting, the element that always stands out is the light, the light out of the darkness, and that light in God's painting is the true essence of our faith.