I had hoped to indicate all religious views have some good in them. Most of my early life only gave me exposure to Christians. I heard many of the contentious views that separated denominations. But when I talked with friends from those different denominations, it was difficult to find fundamental differences of importance.
CHRISTIANS
My Roman Catholic background included seeing anti-catholic sermons advertised on signs in front of churches. Of course, I worried about them not having the true religion I had. I'm sure some of they worried about me for the same reason. Perhaps my first enlightenment came with a discussion with my best friend from grade school, Jack Rumohr. He was well along with his preparation for becoming a Baptist minister who later spent many years as a missionary in Africa. Like most Protestants, I don't think he shared my views of the Pope, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Apostolic Succession of the priesthood, and details of sacraments. But fundamentals about God and faith in our salvation through Jesus Christ had only semantic differences.
In graduate school, discussions with Pierson VanAlten made me see that the difference between Christian Reformed views of predestination, and free will as seen from my point of view, seemed to hinge on minor differences in understanding and the words used. During my two years in the army, another platoon member was Warren Wiles, a Pentacostal Minister and a good friend with whom the sincerity of belief in the action of the Holy Spirit in his life was without question.
NON-CHRISTIANS
Herbert Wolfson was a Jewish friend, also in the same platoon in the army. We went together on a three day pass to Vienna and had to pass through the Russian occupied zone of Austria. We didn't discuss religion, but he was a good and honorable man. The only Jews, in the town of 4,000 where I grew up, were Abe Friedman and his wife. I knew neither one, but my father knew him from his business and had a very good impression of him.
OUTSIDE JUDAO-CHRISTIAN TRADITIONS
While attending the University of Tasmania I lived in a boarding house where two others were university colleagues. One was a graduate student from a Muslim university in India. The other was my room-mate who was a Hindu and a professor from a different Indian university, he was researching the chromosomal make-up of certain primitive gymnosperms. In the years since then, I have gotten to know more of both Hindu and Muslim faiths. That happened in the years since I was in Tasmania.
In 1980 I spent a few weeks in Libya with other member's of Abubaker Swehli's doctoral committee. We visited several oases in the Libyan portion of the Sahara Desert. The hospitality of the people in desert oases was remarkable as they hosted mid-day meals for our group of strangers. Apparently, part of the Mulsim tradition is taking travelers into their home for up to three days, but at the end of three days it is time to go.
At the time we were there one of Dr. Swehli's siblings was being married in Tripoli. I attended one of the wedding events where the men walked from the Swehli house to the house of the other wedding partner. It was something like the shiveree tradition accompanying weddings in the old American West. I was not a vocal participant in the process, but one of the participants engaged me in conversation about his pilgrimage to Mecca. He was wearing the gown of the color signifying he had made the visit to the Kaaba. He told me of its significance and then surprised me with the question "what is your big message in life?" He may have phrased it differently, but I struggled mentally and came up with something I had thought about a number of times in the past. I told him something to the effect that "one shouldn't take criticisms from others personally, they are just trying to make themselves seem or feel better." For a long time after that I wanted to ask people with printing on their T-shirts, "what is your big message in life?"
After my year in Tasmania, I had stayed on for a few months with a fellowship extension to help complete a year studying the isopods discussed in other posts. I got back to Michigan just in time to attend my younger sister's wedding shown in the photograph below.
In the Catholic church in my hometown and my sister's wedding.
Now, after being fortunate to be friendly with people of many countries and of many religious persuasions, as well as some agnostics and atheists, I see why God is so happy with his creation and I should join my Protestant friends holding up the sign that says "John 3,16". The message should make each person realize the vast amount of love God has for each one of us.
I am optimistic that the world is improving in spite of all the trouble and woe. One bit of evidence is the first sentence of the prayer of Pope Francis for the month of January, "Dear Heavenly Father,
During this month we pray that you bless all those from diverse religious traditions and all people of good will, that they may work together to produce real peace in our world."
So what is our relationship with God? God loves us. Do we reciprocate that love as best we can? It's never to late to start. One way is to love everyone else; God does. At least, smile once in a while, it's a start.
Joseph Engemann Kalamazoo, Michigan January 21, 2015
No comments:
Post a Comment