No Other
I took off my shoes at the door, placed them in the racks along with everyone else's shoes, and tiptoed across the cool floor of the Hindu temple. I was slightly nervous because I did not know what to expect, and I had never been in such a place before.
As a part of the Living World Religions class that I am taking this semester, the entire class gets to go on a field trip to Dallas and participate in a world religions tour.
At our first destination, the Hindu temple, we heard a presentation by a Hindu on Hinduism. He spoke of the "attributeless god" who is in everything, including each of us and everything that we see. Our purpose in life is to deny ourselves in order to reveal this piece of deity in each of us. Once we have mastered this and accumulated enough good karma, then we will be dissolved into the great attributeless god.
We walked through the temple, passed all the shrines with the gold images and decorative flowers, and observed a family paying the priest to perform their "puja" or sacrifice to the idol.
And I had this moment when I realized that this stuff is real. It is not just in the movies and textbooks and magazines. These people really believe this and act upon it religiously.
We had the opportunity to ask questions, and although I did not get to express mine, this is what I wanted to know. What does hope mean to you? Where is the concept of hope in this faith? Because I just did not see it in the endless cycle of reincarnation, the striving to earn enough good karma to be dissolves, and the meaningless sacrifices to objects made of plastic painted in cheap colors.
The next morning we visited a Buddhist temple where we sat in front of a gigantic gold Buddha and were taught how to meditate. Like Hinduism, Buddhism also believes in the accumulation of good and bad karma. The Buddhist who spoke to us explained it like this: Your bad karma never really goes away. It is like putting salt in bowl of water. There will always be salt in that water, but the more good water you add to it, the less you will taste the salt.
Well it takes a lot of clean water to outweigh the taste of salt. Just thinking about trying to outweigh every sin I have committed with that much extra "good karma" made me feel utterly exhausted. If I could have asked that Buddhist a question, I would have asked, Do you really feel like you have done enough good to outweigh the bad? How do you handle guilt? Is there any way out of it?
Next we visited a Messianic Synagogue, which is basically Judaism plus Jesus. This was the place that we all felt most at home because they believed Jesus to be the Savior and Messiah. The neatest thing that I learned there was that the Torah that they use is literally an animal skin stretched between two wooden poles. It symbolizes the skin or body of Jesus stretched out on the cross. In this way, Christ is the "Word" becoming flesh. He is the very Word of God, the Torah, incarnated into human form.
When we were allowed to ask questions, one student asked about how they go about evangelizing. Basically, the woman speaking to us could not give a solid answer. They don't really place a huge emphasis on sharing their faith. Nor was their any emphasis on relationship with God. Just a lot of ritual.
Next, we went to the Muslim Mosque for the afternoon prayer. We listened to the man call the Muslims to prayer. From a window in the back, we then watched the men line up and bow down according to their normal routine, kneeling all the way to the floor and placing their foreheads on the ground. Could I have asked my question, it would have been this: What is the purpose of it all? Because from observation and listening to them speak, I just did not see the purpose of their ritualistic routine. Where was the heart, the passion, the purpose?
We ended the day at the Sikh Temple where we listened to their singing-chanting songs in another language. I followed along with the translation and noticed that so many songs were about joy and happiness. But then I looked at all their faces, and I asked, Where is the joy?
At the end of the day, I pondered these experiences and these questions. At each place, we met people who were so adamant about their faith. They were so certain, so convinced, so convicted that they are right. They were able to address all our questions and defend their faith with just the right answers.
If I were to really get to know one of these religious adherents and get an honest answer from them, I would only ask this one question: Are you really, truly, fully satisfied? Or do you feel like something is missing, like there could be something more than this?
If one of these people were to come to one of our church services, what questions would they ask? If they bombarded us with questions about our faith, how well would we be able to answer them? Would they leave asking the same things I ask? Where is the hope in this religion? Is there any way out of guilt? What about relationships? Evangelism? What is the purpose of it all? Why do I not see the joy they sing of on their faces?
The truth is that we, as believers in Jesus Christ, have the greatest hope in the world - a hope that conquers sin and death. We are absolutely freed from guilt because of Jesus' sacrifice and the limitless forgiveness that flows through Him. We have intimate and confident access to God, and we are invited into a personal love relationship with Him. We are saved by grace through faith. Because of this, we cannot help but proclaim it from the roof tops that Jesus saves and that he loves us relentlessly. We have a joy that wakes us up in the morning and a sense of purpose because we believe that we live to know Christ and make Him known.
Is that what people see when they walk into our churches? When they meet Christians? When they work with us, talk with us, play sports with us, bump into us?
That night, following the first day of our tour, we sat in a circle for processing time. We first sang, and it was clear that all of us were so ready to worship our God. The songs were deliberately chosen to exalt Him as our one true God.
The guys led as the girls echoed: "He is our God. There is no one else."
"We will have no other gods before you. Nothing on earth can compete for your throne. You are the Sovereign I AM and you reign in our hearts alone..."
"O Lord we cast down our idols. Give us clean hands. Give us pure hearts. Let us not lift our souls to another."
"For I am the Lord your God. I am the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I am the Lord. Do not fear."
And then students selected Scriptures to read to the group without any additional commentary. Once again, the Scriptures were intentionally selected and focused on God and Christ as the focus of our faith. Had I read, I would have chosen Isaiah 40:18-28, 55:1-2, 2 Corinthians 3:12-18, and John 4:13-14. These were the passages on my heart after a day like this one. I just wanted to tell the world, "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is God! Come to Him when you are thirsty; He is Living Water. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."
To end the night, we were asked how we had been changed today. How were we different? People answered in ways that made me nod my head in resounding agreement:
"Instead of just hearing or reading about other religions, I have seen the people that practice them."
"I can no longer go back to being ignorant."
"I see why others love their faith...and why I love mine."
This last answer meant the most to me. We don't serve an attributeless god, but rather a God of infinite attributes and character traits that make His glory beyond our understanding and our knowing Him an ever-increasing adventure. We don't draw near to Him through good works, but through the blood of Jesus, through whom we have received redemption. We have hope! Our worship to Him is not mundane and monotonous, but refreshing and transforming. He doesn't require ritual but rather love. And His love for us is a beautiful gift beyond all comparison. In Him, we are truly satisfied and our hearts search no more.
As a part of the Living World Religions class that I am taking this semester, the entire class gets to go on a field trip to Dallas and participate in a world religions tour.
At our first destination, the Hindu temple, we heard a presentation by a Hindu on Hinduism. He spoke of the "attributeless god" who is in everything, including each of us and everything that we see. Our purpose in life is to deny ourselves in order to reveal this piece of deity in each of us. Once we have mastered this and accumulated enough good karma, then we will be dissolved into the great attributeless god.
We walked through the temple, passed all the shrines with the gold images and decorative flowers, and observed a family paying the priest to perform their "puja" or sacrifice to the idol.
And I had this moment when I realized that this stuff is real. It is not just in the movies and textbooks and magazines. These people really believe this and act upon it religiously.
We had the opportunity to ask questions, and although I did not get to express mine, this is what I wanted to know. What does hope mean to you? Where is the concept of hope in this faith? Because I just did not see it in the endless cycle of reincarnation, the striving to earn enough good karma to be dissolves, and the meaningless sacrifices to objects made of plastic painted in cheap colors.
The next morning we visited a Buddhist temple where we sat in front of a gigantic gold Buddha and were taught how to meditate. Like Hinduism, Buddhism also believes in the accumulation of good and bad karma. The Buddhist who spoke to us explained it like this: Your bad karma never really goes away. It is like putting salt in bowl of water. There will always be salt in that water, but the more good water you add to it, the less you will taste the salt.
Well it takes a lot of clean water to outweigh the taste of salt. Just thinking about trying to outweigh every sin I have committed with that much extra "good karma" made me feel utterly exhausted. If I could have asked that Buddhist a question, I would have asked, Do you really feel like you have done enough good to outweigh the bad? How do you handle guilt? Is there any way out of it?
Next we visited a Messianic Synagogue, which is basically Judaism plus Jesus. This was the place that we all felt most at home because they believed Jesus to be the Savior and Messiah. The neatest thing that I learned there was that the Torah that they use is literally an animal skin stretched between two wooden poles. It symbolizes the skin or body of Jesus stretched out on the cross. In this way, Christ is the "Word" becoming flesh. He is the very Word of God, the Torah, incarnated into human form.
When we were allowed to ask questions, one student asked about how they go about evangelizing. Basically, the woman speaking to us could not give a solid answer. They don't really place a huge emphasis on sharing their faith. Nor was their any emphasis on relationship with God. Just a lot of ritual.
Next, we went to the Muslim Mosque for the afternoon prayer. We listened to the man call the Muslims to prayer. From a window in the back, we then watched the men line up and bow down according to their normal routine, kneeling all the way to the floor and placing their foreheads on the ground. Could I have asked my question, it would have been this: What is the purpose of it all? Because from observation and listening to them speak, I just did not see the purpose of their ritualistic routine. Where was the heart, the passion, the purpose?
We ended the day at the Sikh Temple where we listened to their singing-chanting songs in another language. I followed along with the translation and noticed that so many songs were about joy and happiness. But then I looked at all their faces, and I asked, Where is the joy?
At the end of the day, I pondered these experiences and these questions. At each place, we met people who were so adamant about their faith. They were so certain, so convinced, so convicted that they are right. They were able to address all our questions and defend their faith with just the right answers.
If I were to really get to know one of these religious adherents and get an honest answer from them, I would only ask this one question: Are you really, truly, fully satisfied? Or do you feel like something is missing, like there could be something more than this?
If one of these people were to come to one of our church services, what questions would they ask? If they bombarded us with questions about our faith, how well would we be able to answer them? Would they leave asking the same things I ask? Where is the hope in this religion? Is there any way out of guilt? What about relationships? Evangelism? What is the purpose of it all? Why do I not see the joy they sing of on their faces?
The truth is that we, as believers in Jesus Christ, have the greatest hope in the world - a hope that conquers sin and death. We are absolutely freed from guilt because of Jesus' sacrifice and the limitless forgiveness that flows through Him. We have intimate and confident access to God, and we are invited into a personal love relationship with Him. We are saved by grace through faith. Because of this, we cannot help but proclaim it from the roof tops that Jesus saves and that he loves us relentlessly. We have a joy that wakes us up in the morning and a sense of purpose because we believe that we live to know Christ and make Him known.
Is that what people see when they walk into our churches? When they meet Christians? When they work with us, talk with us, play sports with us, bump into us?
That night, following the first day of our tour, we sat in a circle for processing time. We first sang, and it was clear that all of us were so ready to worship our God. The songs were deliberately chosen to exalt Him as our one true God.
The guys led as the girls echoed: "He is our God. There is no one else."
"We will have no other gods before you. Nothing on earth can compete for your throne. You are the Sovereign I AM and you reign in our hearts alone..."
"O Lord we cast down our idols. Give us clean hands. Give us pure hearts. Let us not lift our souls to another."
"For I am the Lord your God. I am the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I am the Lord. Do not fear."
And then students selected Scriptures to read to the group without any additional commentary. Once again, the Scriptures were intentionally selected and focused on God and Christ as the focus of our faith. Had I read, I would have chosen Isaiah 40:18-28, 55:1-2, 2 Corinthians 3:12-18, and John 4:13-14. These were the passages on my heart after a day like this one. I just wanted to tell the world, "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is God! Come to Him when you are thirsty; He is Living Water. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."
To end the night, we were asked how we had been changed today. How were we different? People answered in ways that made me nod my head in resounding agreement:
"Instead of just hearing or reading about other religions, I have seen the people that practice them."
"I can no longer go back to being ignorant."
"I see why others love their faith...and why I love mine."
This last answer meant the most to me. We don't serve an attributeless god, but rather a God of infinite attributes and character traits that make His glory beyond our understanding and our knowing Him an ever-increasing adventure. We don't draw near to Him through good works, but through the blood of Jesus, through whom we have received redemption. We have hope! Our worship to Him is not mundane and monotonous, but refreshing and transforming. He doesn't require ritual but rather love. And His love for us is a beautiful gift beyond all comparison. In Him, we are truly satisfied and our hearts search no more.
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