TWO SURPRISE VISITORS TO TALK ABOUT CHRISTIANITY :) Some days ago, I was visited by a wonderful couple who wanted to hear what I felt about a pamphlet they had left while I was not at home during their earlier visit. I did go through the pamphlet, not in anticipation of their visit, but out of curiosity. It was about Christianity. We had a good conversation and exchanged views about our beliefs. It was amazing to see how some of the fundamental values in Christianity and Buddhism converged at a basic level. The couple went to the extent of “explaining” with missionary zeal the Buddhist nirvana as understood by them (apparently from a brief stint they had had in Sri Lanka) and why its “not as good as” the Christian alternative. This is where they failed to capture my imagination. I warned them that I’m a laggard and a dullard when it came to matters of religion (least they took me at my word on what I had to share) and that I hold a very simple view of what a religion should be all about – to be a good human being. I told them that I was born a Buddhist and a Buddhist by choice now. I went on further to tell them that I respect all religions in the world, including the lessor known and the unknown (wiki reveals a staggering 4,200). Christianity is one of them. I thanked the couple for their time and sharing what Christianity is about telling them how important it is for me to have a working knowledge of the religion as it will help me in my efforts to assimilate into a community whose culture is woven around this belief. They then asked me where I was from, engaged me in some small talk and cheerfully left my place. I feel that having a working knowledge about all religions will help us develop an appreciation of them, and consequently the respect for them. Such a thing would obviously be arduous but its critical to the present world order and to the future of humanity. I think even to implicitly convey an impression that ones own religion is better than others is an avoidable mistake. This is a fertile ground for disharmony to germinate and grow, and therefore to be holding and promoting such views is detrimental to the collective vision we have for our future. I have had such visitors in the past too. In Japan its quite common to see missionaries on bikes handing out pamphlets and offering free English lessons. I think this is not right (guess thats the most appropriate I could get) and its presumably antithetical to the basic tenets of any religion. People should be allowed to embrace a belief of their choice, based on their own will and appreciation of it, and not lured to it with money or other inducements. The only incentive should be to be good.
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 01:29:06 +0000
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