The Islamic world looks at the “Christian” west as self-indulgent, decadent and ripe for the picking. They are right, and their answer is Sharia law – holiness enforced from without.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR(In response to Terry Jones anti Sharia protest rally in Dearborn)

I am a Michigan native, though I have not lived there for a long time. Growing up in Western Michigan, I viewed Detroit as the exotic, far-off place where we went to sit in the old hallowed grounds at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull, watching Trammell and Whitaker and later viewing Cecil Fielder’s bat with mighty awe.

I saw the Detroit area as exotic because it was so big, and, though much of it was in decay, so impressive and cosmopolitan.

While a student at Hillsdale College, I had several Arab-American friends, and know first-hand that not all Islam is of the radical sort. Just as in Christianity, there are nominal Muslims and there are Muslims who take their faith seriously.

Some people fear the rise of radical Islam and the threat of Sharia (Quranic laws). In the deep south (Alabama, Florida, Mississippi…) we hear rumors of honor killings, female genital mutilation and women wearing burqas. We hear stories (some real and some exaggerated) about the death of liberty and the imposition of sharia law.

What dangers lead to the death of liberty? Is creeping Sharia law the greatest danger? It’s easier to identify some external enemy, and overlook the enemy within. Civilizations fall not by external pressures – but by internal rot.

The Christian church bears a large part of the blame. For about the last sixty years, the church has been giving helpful advice — to help people make their lives better. This message has been put forth from all sorts of pulpits in all kinds of churches – whether mainline and liberal or evangelical and conservative.

The evangelical church may tack on a “get saved” message now and again, but, by and large, middle class suburbanites are only hearing “solutions to the problems” that kept them awake at night: marital, finances, career and children.

The Problem of Christless Christianity

Yes, we need help. The type of help we need, however, is not making our old lives better. The help we need is a brand new life. We need to be rescued, not improved. We are the reason things go wrong in our lives. We need the resurrection power of Jesus Christ to transform our lives.

Tragedy happens in some families. But it is not tragedy that makes most people miserable. What causes the angst and agony of our daily existence?. How do we get on the rat-race for bigger houses farther out, with better jobs, with prettier wives, and more-accessorized kids? Some people have found peace and joy in the midst of sickness, tragedy, and poverty — because they understand something we in the church often forget. That “something” is Jesus.

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