Best of Friends

What does a black Christian mayor, a rabbi running for Congress and a Mormon university president have in common?  Not much that is for sure.  This has to be the most interesting article I have encountered since I have started these blog postings.  These men do have one thing in common though, a deep love and respect for each other despite the fact they do not practice each other’s religion.  I was just talking to a friend the other day of what it would look like for all religions to stop fighting but to unite and get along with each other.  Now sometimes I think I do not know what that will look like.  I mean is it the fact that we can say to each other, ‘let’s agree to disagree but I still love you anyways’, or is it much deeper than that.  Well for one maybe we should actually know something about the other religion before we fight against it.  I thought it was pretty cool that as friends with one another they were willing to teach and learn from one another freely, it shows great humbleness.  The article claims that through their friendship they were able to build and interact with more people of that faith if they just saw them walking along the street corner.  There worldview has been widened by being challenged to think about life in a different way then what they are used to.  Religion if devoutly followed changes a person’s way of life but if a person just knows about that way of life how can they step into someone else’s.  They can listen and learn so that they learn how to connect with the rest of God’s people.  God did not intend on everyone living separate lives from one another but full and interactive lives. 
From CNN News Website.
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/30/despite-fights-about-its-merits-idea-of-american-exceptionalism-a-powerful-force-through-history/

Religion and Slavery

Religion and Slavery

In this article three of the most popular religions are being critiqued on their stand on slavery.  Christianity, Judaism, and Islam have a controversial history from their founders for not having a clear standing on objecting slavery.  Jesus never expressed his opinion about slavery but most Christians would say that he didn’t have to because the rest of his actions showed that he would never be for such an idea.  Now when it comes to Judaism, in Moses time there were many of God’s people in the Bible that had slaves but they were instructed to not mistreat them.  Did slaves back than mean the same thing as they do now; is it still the same context?  Probably not, I hope this article is not on a outsiders perspective because if one does not study the scriptures in a hermeneutics fashion they might misinterpret what is actually being said.  Same with Muhammad’s teaching, I do not know much about it but can we assume that Muhammad had slaves, not unless we have proof.  Muhammad did say that freeing slaves was an act of piety.

            Maybe the history of slavery was a very rocky slope at the time and maybe it was a symbol back then, a symbol for our slave to sin.  I mean God did say that after we disobeyed him in the Bible that life would get harder and maybe slavery was a part of that.  I do think that God knew that we could get out of it, that with his help we can learn to not be a slave to sin.  All these religion figures that we looked at had one thing for sure in common, they followed God.  So I do believe that Moses and Muhammad tried to follow God and maybe at the time slavery was not ready to be abolished yet.  Jesus on the other had since Christians consider him to be perfect in his deity then he knew exactly what he was doing when he did not say anything about slavery at least in scripture.

Buddha

Buddha

Recently an artifact was discovered from archaeologists searching through the ruins of a Buddhist monastery in Afghanistan.  Surprise it was a stone statue of prince Siddhartha.  If you do not know who that is, it’s the founder of the Buddha faith.  It was said that this statue was a depiction of Siddhartha before he created Buddhism.  His Dad did not want him to see what the real world looked like because he knew his son would be burdened by it.  Sure enough once Siddhartha did adventure out of the palace on his own he was burdened b all the pain people had to go through.  Apparently it was noted that when Siddhartha came back from adventuring out he was pessimistic about the world around him.   

            It is when he abandoned palace life that the real story began.  He became a poor man who only grew more and more in his knowledge of the world that many started to follow him.  Before he founded Buddhism it was said that people followed him like cult worship.  I’m assuming it was a deep respect for Siddhartha that brought people to follow Buddhism in the first place.  People are looking for something to hope in somewhat on their own terms.  Also Buddhism advertises inner strength than relying on someone else that may fail you.
link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47722249

Jewish Jesus

Jewish Jesus

This article was found again on the CNN website, see some consistency here.  The topic today is about Jews reclaiming Jesus as an important element in their Judaism.  For centuries Jews were sceptical of Jesus because other religions believe Jesus to have a divinity, whereas the Jews do not.  That is why in some ways they did not want anything to do with Jesus, and they dismissed him quite a bit from their teaching.  This generation of Jews however want to be better equated with Jesus because they see him as a good example to look at, as Jesus himself was a Jew.  They will not however still accept Jesus deity like Christians do.  A simple way to explain what Christians believe Jesus to be is this: teacher, healer, and savior (son of God).  What the Jews believe is that Jesus was a teacher and a healer but not savior.

            What really stood out to me when I was reading this article was when  this woman,  Levine mentioned that it is important to know what you believe about the religion you claim to be yours.  She said you owe it to people out of respect when you put that kind of religious label on yourself.   It is true for Christians as well, when we call ourselves Christians we need to know about what we claim, we need to know Christ!  Not just know a little about him but know his words, his actions, his commandments for us.  So if anyone asks about what we believe we won’t be stumbling for words but we will know what to say.  I think this is especially true if we are going to wear something like a Jesus shirt.  Actually the other day I saw a group of people in a museum wearing shirts that said, “You Need Jesus”.  Well I think that we don’t need to wear a shirt to say that because it’s almost like we are telling people this but we don’t care enough to just talk to them about it (I hope that was at least part of the intent).  But yes we can’t just wear a t-shirt and hope we did our job on telling people about Jesus.  No I think that shirt doesn’t tell us much about Jesus at all.  
Link:  http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/05/jews-reclaim-jesus-as-one-of-their-own/?iref=allsearch

Ancient Religion Suffers Persecution

Ancient Religion Suffers Persecution

Zoroastrianism, who would of even thought I would have found an article on one of the most ancient and still remaining religions in the world.  Well at least remaining for now, recently it has been brought to the media’s attention of major persecution happening in Iran against Zoroastrianism, specifically in the city of Tehran.  It was the year of 1979, when the Islamic revolution occurred that the freedom of religion for the Zoroastrians was taken under them.  It was that year that Islamic soldiers stormed into their temple of worship during a service and put a picture of the Iran’s new ruler, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in place the picture of Zoroaster, the founder of their religion.  That was only the beginning, all schools being forced to have the pictures Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on their walls, students with high grades not being accepted to State Universities, and Zoroastrian graveyards being disturbed.  There is much more evidence to obvious persecution but I will let you read the article for yourself.

My first reaction to this article was pure sadness and disgust because it does not matter which religion is going through this kind of persecution, it should not happen.  This specific situation is overall just disrespectful especially since Zoroastrianism was there before Islam.  I would react the exact way if I heard a story about Christians being persecuted, these stories overall whether about Zoroastrians, Christians, Buddhists, it doesn’t matter, that is irrelevant to me.  All religions deserve a respect even if we do not agree with what they stand for.  Of course I want others to hear what I know about my Lord Jesus Christ but I must earn their trust before they will hear what I got to say.  If the Muslims in Iran wanted the Zoroastrians to become Muslim then changing their temple of worship to represent Islam does not bring them closer to conversion but actually makes them repel away from it.  If this is not the case they just hate what the Zoroastrians stand for then all they have to do is not associate themselves with them because in my mind this is equal to racism. The thing that got me was when I heard the part about the Muslim officials storming in while a fire ceremony was taken place so they could take the picture down of Zarathustra (the founder).  The fires are considered sacred and an important part of worship.  That I would say would be like someone storming into a Christian church during Lord Supper and taking down our cross.  Although I believe that each religion will be attacked and we will have to be ready to answer questions about what they believe, this is only the beginning of the attacks.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/14/opinion/choksy-iran-zoroastrian/index.html?iref=allsearch

  

           

Religious but Not Too Religious

Religious but Not Too Religious

Found this story about the same time as the last one although this is a CNN blog posting instead of an actual news report.  I found it very interesting and I wasn’t sure if I would find another bit on the Jewish faith.  I just could not pass up the chance to talk about the Jewish culture.  This woman is from a Jewish community but lives in the western culture with her husband and kids.  Her husband is not Jewish so for her the problem is how does she make she kids feel a part of the Jewish culture without actually having a fully  practicing Jewish family? Judaism does not believe in atonement (Jesus taking away our sins) because they do not believe we were born with a sinful nature.  To have a perfect relationship with God one must live a holy life through repentance, prayer, and acts of kindness.   What this article is about is Laurel's personal experiences of previously failing to implement the rituals and the beliefs of her Jewish faith into her household.  I personally thought it was kind of cute that she wants her kids to be a part of the Jewish culture but than I thought about how  being a Jew is not just a cultural thing, it is an actual religion.  When I thought of it being as cute I did not think of it as being a religion but as something like commparing it to Tim Hortons being a Canadian thing.  They just are not comparable.  I think the reason why we (or maybe it was just me) forgets that Judaism is a real religion is because Judaism is a selective religion, rarely does one just convert to Judaism.  You are a Jew if at least your Mother is a Jew.  In this case this is true which means her children are technically Jewish but because the father is not this could too conflicting to carry on with full force.  Putting that into consideration is she still Jewish even if her heart is not entirely there?  To be honest I do not really know, I have a feeling it is much more complicated than that, being Jewish is about the ansestory as well as the rituals.  I don’t think it is like Christianity where the rituals do not define the religion at all or the ancestory, I think it is quite the opposite so that changes the definition of Judaism or maybe you just say a “practicing Jew”, just like one could say a “practicing Christian”, although the definitions are different.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/13/my-faith-raising-non-kosher-jewish-kids/    

Secret or Sacred

Secret or Sacred?

I just watched a CNN new cast taking a first look into a Mormon temple.  I was quite surprised that this was possible considering Mormon temples and churches are quite privite.  This was a very unique and individual exception since this specific temple was brand new and not yet used to be worshiped in by the Mormons.  The news reporter was able to go in and have tour but was not able to have it videotaped from the inside.  We were however able to see pictures of each room including the one with the baptismal tub where hundreds of baptisms for the dead are taken place.  The baptisms are usually directed towards Mormon ancestors who have not yet chosen the faith after their death.  There has been instances however where people have chosen to baptise those from other beliefs such as Ann Frank, the famous holocaust victim. 

                Now I have heard only bits and pieces of the Mormons practices but no clear understanding even though they are quite open with their evangelizing.  Why such the secret, why are the practices not more publicized?  Well when the news reporter brought up these allegations the response was, “it’s not about secret it’s about sacred”.  This could be very much true but could trying to keep the church sacred stop people from coming to the church in the first place?  Once this temple is opened for worship not even all Mormons are invited unless they have an special recommendation from their local church leader.  There are certain expectations that one must exceed if they want to observe or think about being a Mormon but it seems most religions have expectations.  The man in the interview did explain that they have made mistakes and will get better which is admirable enough to note.  I look at Christianity and see us being in danger of falling into the same rut, that religion is private unless you are willing to be one of us in your behavior and mentality.  Now I’m not saying that I know all about Mormons and maybe they are more open then I think, I am just saying what I heard from others and this news report.  Actually one of my friends almost became a Mormon interestingly enough.  Now compared to other religions maybe Christianity looks lazy, I mean we don’t all where the same thing and we don’t have a temple par say.  At the same time though we all for the most part dress formally and try not to stick out too much.  We often don’t talk about our church life to our co-workers or Christianity in general so I think it’s safe to say we can be quite secretive as well.  If we talk more about our faith and church life maybe people wouldn’t feel threatened to even come as a observer, see what it is all about.  They can know that they are always welcome and that we do not expect anything from them except to just show up. 

Check out the News Cast on CNN: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2012/04/09/tsr-todd-mormon-temple-rare-look.cnn?iref=allsearch