The Unloved Prodigal

Wow, well, this isn't what I was planning on writing about, but I'm rather in shock at the moment. You see, I've been reading through the Koran for a while now.  I'm a slow reader, or maybe it's that I don't have a lot of time being a mother with young kids, but for whatever reason it seems to take me a while to get through just about anything.  I stop and start and then I lose the book or I lose my page. Maybe that's good in the long run, maybe it means I retain more.  So, I'm nowhere near done, but I've been trying to get though the Koran, thinking gosh, this is harsh stuff, very us versus them mentality, while trying to keep an open mind, trying to find the Allah of peace that I've been hearing so much about. Trying to get past the demand for amputations and the demands to not associate with those pagans or those Jews or those Christians. God doesn't love them, after all. But this morning it really hit me, I'm sad to say. Just before Surah 6:142 I read "But you shall not be prodigal; He does not love the prodigal."  Really?  God does not love the prodigal? Are you sure, Mohammad? God does not love the prodigal? Well, if God doesn't love the prodigal then that clears it up for me rather nicely, thanks Mohammad, for clarifying that you're not advocating for the God that I've known, who has loved me all my life, warts and all. Anselm talked about God being that which nothing greater could be conceived.  I can conceive of a greater love, that loves me in my garbage, that loved me in my filth, enough to die for me. And pardon me, but a Jesus on a cross, saying it is finished, doesn't require a prophet to come along and tell me that God doesn't love me until I submit. Why would I submit to a God that is not all loving?  Why should I trust a God that is limited in His/ It's capacity to love? Why would I submit to a God that I don't trust?

Anyway, it's unfortunate that asking these sorts of questions gets you labelled a bad guy in our present culture.  What I can say is that I have a lot of respect for Muslims, in my experience they're good, well-intentioned people.  As a recovering fundamentalist myself, I see a part of myself in the rage of Muslims, and I have a greater faith in them as people, than I do in what they believe. Thanks for listening, sorry for any offense, but I see a need for honesty here.

Take care and God bless,
M. A. Harvey

Here's the story of the prodigal son, as I've always known and appreciated it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cacAlQ3TG64