The concept of “progressive revelation” is a standard biblical study principle. God works within real human history with a primitive people who are chosen to be blessing to the nations. They begin to follow a way of life completely different from their neighbors. God reveals more and more of his nature as the people of God live as his people. While there is violent language in some specific circumstances with specific enemies of God’s people early in the writings, progressive revelation brings a far different picture later. The Hebrew people learn to live with the “foreigner” in their midst very early on, and even are called to treat him as one would treat a fellow Israelite.
By the time Jesus appears on the scene, the Prince of Peace brings a radical transformation of the world’s ways reflected in such teachings as “love your enemy, pray for those who persecute you, turn the other check” and such, culminating in the Son of God dying a violent death for the sake of all people, believer and unbeliever alike. The model of Jesus, his teachings, and the scripture that records this, along with the model and teachings that follow from his apostles and the Church they develop, are radically open to the unbeliever, who is served with compassion and grace so strongly that historians tell us this is one of the strongest influences for an astonishingly large number of people coming to faith in Jesus.
Islam also has study principles for the Quran. “Abrogation” is a concept in Islam that says if one text in the Quran appears to contradict another, the latter text supersedes the former. While early texts in the Quran have wide boundaries for Islamic relationships with non-believers, in particular Jews and Christians, the violent texts in Islam condoning violence against the unbeliever, including the Jews and Christians, are all latter texts. Fortunately, the vast majority of Muslims are not strict “abrogationists.”
I explain these principles because an article in Time Magazine entitled, Decoding God’s Changing Mood, shows an extraordinary lack of understanding of any of this. Astonishingly, the author Robert Wright tries to make the case of equivalence between the Old Testament’s view of God, violence, and unbelievers with the Quran’s view of Allah, violence, and unbelievers, also saying nothing about the model of Mohammad on this topic. Then to my complete astonishment, he is completely silent on Jesus’ view of unbelievers and violence recorded in the Gospels, as well as the rest of the New Testament. Christianity is not even addressed.
Either, Wright is the most naive author imaginable on such topics, or he is extremely disingenuous. I don’t know. What I do know is once again, if you aren’t actually familiar with the Bible or the Quran, and you have no idea of the factual radical nature of the teachings of Jesus concerning ‘loving your enemy’ and such, then this article is intriguing, instead of rightfully seen as a figment of the author’s imagination, void of reality.
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