I’m pretty sure it doesn’t often get as cold as 35 degrees
in Egypt, which makes it all the more unusual to find an Egyptian man casually
reading a book in Arabic on a bench in a deserted Chicago park on a cold day in
March.
Osama, 30, just moved to Chicago from Egypt in December. He proved to be very open and interested in
talking about his experiences growing up Muslim and his current religious
beliefs, as well as his experiences as an independent filmmaker who made a documentary
from the front lines of the revolution in Libya in 2011.
Osama has moved beyond his Muslim roots to embrace a belief
in a universal god that religion and other divisions that divide humanity. For people who have grown up familiar with
Christianity, I usually see this as an avoidance tactic to the Christian
gospel, but in Osama I sense a different motivation. He has seen his share of violence and
conflict between people, much of it due to religious allegiances, and he is
willing to abandon his Muslim upbringing to find a more peaceful world
view. A rejection of religion but a continued
belief in some sort of god or higher power is where I found him on that cold
park bench here in Chicago.
So can Christianity offer him something that Islam can’t? Osama said he has read both the Quran and the
Bible all the way through, and I found it interesting that a verse he has
committed to memory from the Bible is from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew
5: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I
tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek,
turn to them the other cheek also.”
I told Osama that this is one of the most challenging teachings
of Jesus, especially for many of the inner-city young people I work with as a
teacher. But it is at the heart of the
Gospel, for how can I not show mercy and kindness to even my enemies after God
has shown such kindness and mercy to me?
Only in Jesus do we have such a love relationship, authored by God and
demonstrated at the cross, that has the capacity to motivate us to truly love
our fellow man.
I hope and pray Osama will find in Jesus the peace and love
I believe he is truly looking for.
Osama, thank you for allowing me to record our conversation
and I invite you to leave a link to your videos here so we can check out your
work! God bless you! Jeff Video HERE
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