Similarities and Differences

I was excited about discovering the Koran. I have wanted to read it for some time now to try and understand our Muslim friends. I wanted to learn the differences and the similarities between our cultures, to search for solution to the problems that we face. (Yeah, I hold all the answers to the world's problems in the palm of my hand. I am that good.) After reading the excerpts that we had with us, I came to realize that those differences are far too great for any simple solution. After all, if it were simple, wouldn't we already be getting along? 

I was sort of angry when reading the "Women" excerpt. Slaves are permitted. Women aren't to inherit the same amount of a legacy as a man and are to be subservient (1151). Our western culture has grown to include women as equals and slavery has been abolished. We're not totally on track with equality yet, but we're making progress. Progress that is leading away from the way the Bible has been translated and interpreted. "But that's not a difference," I said. "That's a similarity! The very fact that our culture has in its history the oppression of women and other humans is a comparison."

I began to look for more coincidences. The Koran preaches that it is right. There is no other scripture out there that any man should live his life by ("The Table" 1153-62). Well, so does the Bible. There is no difference between how growing up in a Baptist community and following God's word through the Bible and how Muslim children grow up in their own religious communities, following the word of the Koran. We are congruous in that respect. We also liken in our fear God.