Ours is a Specific Faith

Driving in the car the other day I was channel surfing through the radio, when I stopped on what sounded like the tail end of a prayer.  I paused to listen, and then my little info thing on the radio popped  up and identified the program as being Deepak Chopra, presumably in the midst of a daily radio show he hosts or something.  Fairly certain at this point that what I had heard was not any prayer I was interested in, I still decided to listen to see if there would be some explanation as to what the context was of the "prayer".  None came, and instead his next guest came on.  I don't know who the guest was, or really why he was on the show.  Chopra identified (and the guest identified himself) as a Sufi, from a religious standpoint.  Sufism is sort of a mystical, ascetic sect within Islam.  To be honest I can't specifically tell you what Sufism is all about as a religion/faith.  The larger point I want to get at is that Chopra asked this man what the Sufi believe, and he couldn't really say either.  The answer he gave was a serious of generic cliches and platitudes with a kind of universal sound to them that had me thinking pretty much everybody on the planet was a Sufi based on this definition.
     I think there were a couple of things going on in this conversation that stood out to me.  For one, I am fairly certain the individual was trying to couch his answer in such a way as to be unoffensive to anyone listening, and to try and make it sound attractive and simple.  That is part of what bothered me, the deliberate effort to conceal and confuse that upon which he believes his eternity depends.  The other part that bothered me is the fact that even as he purposely tried to be vague, it was also clear that there was not a specific god, object, or belief system to which he could point as being central to his faith.
     That struck me: as a Christian I believe in Jesus. Someday I will see Him, touch Him, kneel in His presence.  I will put my hands in those scars mankind has left on His body, reminded of the fact that this One was sent by His Father to die for me.  It is only by faith in Him that I am saved; it is that simple.  That is what it means to be a Christian, to recognize that we are sinners in need of a Savior, that this is not of works lest any should boast.  Those are just a few of the specific principles that define what it is to be a Christian.  If they are confusing, then they are confusing.  If they are offensive, then they are offensive.
     I believe the existence of my very soul rests on that faith, on that Christ.  I had better understand exactly what it is I believe about Him considering what is at stake.  Considering what is at stake, I had better be able to tell someone who asks exactly what it is I believe and why.  To water that down is to condemn them to hell as if I had never said anything.  I guess that is probably part of the Sufi's problem; I don't know if he even believes in hell (and I have a feeling Deepak Chopra doesn't).

     The challenge that conversation left me with is this: Be joyful in the fact that ours is a specific faith, in a particular God, Father of a unique Son, the relationship of which is animated by THE Holy Spirit.  Be able to speak, in no uncertain terms, to the facts of that belief.  Be unashamed how that comes across; why seek common ground with those whose sands are sinking?