Reflection on Christianity

Christian author C.S. Lewis once said, “If Christianity is untrue, then no honest man will want to believe it, however helpful it might be: if it is true, every honest man will want to believe it, even if it gives him no help at all.” 

Being a Christian, the session on Christianity was a bit interesting. I did learn a few new things, but I did not feel that the session was a thought provoking one. While I appreciated the session from Rev. Jean-Claude Basset, I respectfully felt that he stated his remarks from a very academic point of view. He taught as one who has studied Christianity which is a necessary view to impart. Yet, I believe his focus should have been more on the beliefs and what is the meaning of being a Christian. What I experienced in the sessions with Rabbi Guedj, Shady, and Mahmoud, was that they academically knew the teachings of their religion, but they taught as a person within that religion, and I believe that should have been the direction of sessions on Christianity as well. Nonetheless, I believe that I did learn quite a bit, and I was exposed to the various teachings in Christianity.

            

Based on our sessions, I came away thinking that Christianity cannot truly follow the commission of Christ as we are not very united ourselves. There are over thirty thousand Christian groups in the world today, but there are only 350 that are members within the World Council of Churches. That means not everyone is working for the unity and the mutual respect between the churches. You can tell everyone about Jesus, but at the end of the day, if they knew this much information, then they would ask why they should join something that is so divided. Yes, I do agree that diversity is great, but unity within diversity is important. Otherwise, enmity will spring forth. Also, I do believe that the region, culture, and languages play an integral part of the creation of denominations, but from an outsider’s perspective, the more groups there are, the less unified we look, regardless of what we do.

Despite our diversity, I believe that we are unified in the essentials of Christian faith. Rev. Basset considers the essentials to be: Jesus, Bible, Faith, Church, Salvation, Mission (Love), and Spirituality. I believe that these are points that any Christian can agree on. Jesus is the Savior of the world, and he came to the earth to redeem us from our sins. Now, we live our lives to glorify his name. Rev. Basset also went on to say that when we refer to Jesus as the Son of God, we do not use that term in a biological way, but rather, he is the visible image of God, just as mentioned in the Gospel of John and in the Epistle of Hebrews. Then, the Bible is our sacred text, and we see the Bible as the fundamental basis of our faith. Faith has two definitions. First, faith is about having confidence and trust in something that we are otherwise not sure of, and faith also means to be faithful. We should be faithful to God, and if we say we trust him, then we ought to live in such a manner. The church is not a building. In Greek, the word used to describe church is known as “ecclesia,” and ecclesia means “assembly.” Therefore, the church is not the structure, but rather, the believers or the body of Christ that assemble together. Furthermore, our duty as Christians is not just to sit inside the four walls of our building, but we are called to live what we learn, and that is the purpose of being a church, in my opinion. Salvation has two meanings as well. First, salvation is about liberation which is in context of slaves. We are slaves to sin, and liberation is freedom from being a slave. Salvation is also about redemption for prisoners. We committed wrong, and we are imprisoned for that, but freedom comes from Christ. Mission, which he interchangeably used with love, is not merely a doctrine, but a way of life. We are to live a life that reflects our Savior. Finally, the last essential of faith is, spirituality. The church began with the day of Pentecost which was the Holy Spirit coming down on the Apostles. Similarly, Jesus’ ministry also began when the Holy Spirit manifested himself. These seven are essentials, and of course, several denominations has various beliefs about each of the seven, but I think they’ll agree on the seven.

            

Rev. Basset discussed the various aspects of Jesus that each of the Gospel writers tried to pinpoint. Matthew would be the Gospel closest in context to Judaism, because Matthew presents Jesus as a Jewish master. Mark presents Jesus as the secret Messiah, because in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus works very hard in making sure his true caricature is not known until the end. Luke presents the moral teaching of Christ, and Luke shares parables of that Christ told. John is of course the most different from the other three. The other three are known as the Synoptic Gospels, but John enables those that read the book to see the spiritual side of Jesus, and that he is the image of God the Father.

            

Jesus left the earth around 33 A.D. Christianity was truly established as a religion in 313 A.D. Until then, the early church was worshiping and teaching about Jesus, but did not deem the need to be established. Once Constantine the Roman Emperor converted to Christianity, he felt the need to provide Christianity with structure, so as to not allow the religion to fall off.

          

In the Nicene Creed, we read the church being described as the “Catholic and Apostolic Church.” Apostolic, because most of the churches were founded or started by one of Jesus’ twelve disciples. In the context of India, Thomas was that disciple for India. Many wonder why Catholic is the term used here, and they begin to wonder if the only church to be saved will be the Catholic church, but the truth is, Catholic means universal, and one day, the divided groups of Christianity will be united and proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord.

            

In our group, we had quite the heated discussion about witnessing. My friend felt that as Christians, witnessing is just the diplomatic way of proselyting, but I viewed that on a very different scale. We do not proselytize, but we share the joy that is in our heart. There is nothing that we can do to gain more of heaven. Christ died on the cross for our sins, and he paid the ultimate price for us. Now, we live our lives as he did, doing good things for others, because we want to. This was perhaps the most heated and the most conflicted of discussion that I have had after coming, but I am glad I did. I did not expect everything to be all happy go lucky, but our time together should stir disagreements, and really get to seeing each person’s perspective. I believe that overall, I had a great experience today.

"In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."

-Matthew 5:16 

            

Reflection on Islam

            One of Prophet Muhammad’s sayings is, “Do you love your creator? Love your fellow beings first.” 

Living in the United States, I feel that the media has worked very hard in portraying Islam and the Muslim community in a negative stereotype by saying that they do not love other people, and if they do love anyone, they only love their fellow Muslim brothers and sisters. The Islamic community has been viewed in such a negative light that it is a shame that the rest of the world do not know the real truth. I believe as I have gained further understanding about Islam, I have been able to mature in my knowledge, and I can appreciate both the Muslim people and the teachings of Islam far more.

           

Islam means to submit or to abandon one’s self under the power and the will of God. That is why the teachings of Islam seem a bit strict. I believe that they are truly expressing that having God in charge of your life means that you truly have to submit yourself to Him. You cannot simply say that you believe in God, but your life not reflect that truth. For them, they must reflect the full extent of that truth. In Islam, Muhammad was given the Quran through the words from the angel Gabriel. His intention was not to create a new religion, but he was to remind the people of things God had said before which people forgot or chose not to follow. They even recognize Jesus as a prophet, and they give him high esteem, but they do not consider him to be the Son of God or the Messiah of the world. They also reiterate several truths that are given in the Torah, and they discuss the teachings of Moses as well.

            In the lectures, the primary focus was on justice and equity in Islam, but that message was carried as a beacon, not only for all the religions but for the people of the world. Justice is a personal value, and the believer is encouraged to attain justice as part of his God-consciousness. Seeking justice is definitely a value within both Christianity and Judaism. One group should not have more focus than another group. As humans, we tend to not be able to attain justice at the fullest extent, and God is truly a just God, but as we seek justice, we will move in the direction God wants for us. The Golden Rule is something that is familiar to all religions, and there might be different ways that the verse is expressed in the various teachings of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, but the centrality of the message is clear. We ought to treat others the way we expect others to treat us, and we also must love the way we expect to be loved. Yet, justice cannot be decided forever. The world is a changing world, and we as humans grow in our knowledge and understanding. The way humanity viewed the world in the time of the Quran, the Bible, or the Tanakh is not the way the world is in the present age. Justice is dynamic, and there must be a sense of flexibility to the teachings that we can undertake. For example, in the United States, there was a time when people had African Americans as slaves, but in our time and context today, African Americans are not going to be slaves. Everyone should be paid for the work that they do, and they must be paid equally, without regard to color, creed, or gender. When the Constitution was first written, equality and justice was only intended for the “rich, white man,” but justice and equality today must be for all men and women. That is the case of the United States, and the Quran should be understood in a way that the rules are not all rigid.

            Mr. Shady Ammane, our lecturer shared with us the concept of the dynamics of group which I felt were very important. In a sense, the dynamics of group was looking through the lens of a Muslim. Usually, we only consider two parties are involved in injustice. There will be a victim, and then there will also be a group who pick on the victim. Yet, in order for a group to pick on a person, there must be an initiator that has the power to start or stop an attack on an individual. I view the dynamics of group in a school playground setting. There is a little child being picked on by a group of kids, and the kids laugh and harass that child, but how did that child begin to get harassed? There was one other child who felt the need to hide his or her own insecurities, so he or she begins to pick on a smaller child, and then gathers a group to join along, thus creating the dynamics of the group.

            Sharia law is something that the media has misconstrued, and the world has misunderstood. First and foremost, Sharia law is not intended for the world, but that is the law for Muslims. In Christianity, we all have the Bible as our fundamental teaching, but each denomination has their own dogmas and beliefs that are continuously passed on, and each member of a particular denomination must uphold those values. Yet, just as I mentioned before, there must be a sense of flexibility and not rigidness. As time progresses, we too must progress. Several people feel that they must hold onto the ideologies from the beginning. In Islam, there are those that believe one should do everything like the Prophet Muhammad did, but they fail to realize that in such a situation, one would not be able to drive a car, have air conditioning, and have smartphones. Similarly, in Christianity, there are those that feel they should hold onto their faith traditions and will refuse to let go of what they have. Yet, Mr. Mahmoud Hammoud said something that truly stuck with me. He said, “Faith traditions do not require for us to be idealistic but work on the betterment of the future for our children.” Regardless of what belief an individual has, they ought to realize that their children live in a very different time than they do. What, then, is the primary focus for them to impart to their children? Should the primary focus not be to provide for the child’s future in a better way? That is what should be truly expressed in each of our three religions.

            Finally, the media has misconstrued and the world has misunderstood the concept of jihad as well. There are two types of jihad: greater jihad (inner jihad) and smaller jihad (outer jihad). The greater jihad means to fight against one’s own personal urges and selfish desires. The smaller jihad states that if someone else attacks you first, you should only retaliate. The greater jihad is the primary focus though. Also, context applies! The Prophet Muhammad had no other option but to go to war in that time setting, so he did. Yet, if he did not have to go to war, then he would not have.

            I learned a lot about Islam in these past two days that I did not know, and a lot of things that I did know were reinforced. I truly enjoyed these sessions.

"Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother or sister."

-I John 4:19-21 

Reflection on Judaism

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel once said, “Wonder rather than doubt is the root of all knowledge.” We were instructed to do a few assignments during the time of this course. First assignment was to write a reflection on Judaism. Since my reflection was two pages, I may consolidate it a bit to not prolong it more than necessary.

As a Christian, I have been exposed to Judaism as Christianity had beginning roots in Judaism. Of course, the Old Testament in the Christian Bible is the sacred text of Judaism, and is known as the Tanakh. The Sabbath or Shabbat is the day that Jews consider as the day of rest that God had commanded to the people of Israel. The Shabbat begins once the sun sets on Friday and continues until the sun sets on Saturday. They consider the Shabbat as a way to return the keys of the world back to God, as Rabbi Marc Raphael Guedj states. I consider his statement about returning the keys of the world back to God as a profound and deep understanding. As humans, our lives move forward with the various activities of our days, and the Jewish people will take some time out of their lives to give the keys of their life to God. As we had the privilege to attend the Shabbat service on Saturday, I was given a glimpse of what life is like for a Jew who observes the Shabbat. The service clearly had deep symbolic meanings, and every expression was deeper than what I could perceive. Rabbi Guedj even mentioned that in Judaism, there are several series of rituals and meanings. In order to keep the meanings, they create dogmas, and the dogmas provide meaning and understanding to what is being conducted. Being in an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, I could see that there might be distinct traits that would separate them from a Reformed Jewish synagogue. First, I noticed that the men were sitting closest to the Torah, and the women were in the balcony. I also thought that the blessing at the end was very impacting. The people could not look at the priests, and the priests had the tallit covering their faces. That is such a deep way to connect the presence of God among the people, because in the Torah, God told Moses that seeing His full presence would kill him, so to be in the presence of God, one should not be looking straight at His face. 

There is a prayer that was included in the second Morning T’fillah that really moved me. The prayer was in the beginning and discusses how the soul is pure and was shaped by God. He is the Almighty. I felt that the prayer really gives God His authority and lordship over the lives of the people. Personally, I do believe in the power of the soul, because when a body is dead, his or her body has a sense of emptiness, but when we are alive, the soul is what truly moves us forward.

Rabbi Guedj went into the deep realities of the Pesach, Sukkot, and the Shavuot which are holy days for the Jewish people. The Pesach is the passing over the angel of death which took the lives of the firstborn of Egypt as the tenth and final plague before Moses and the Israelites were able to depart from Egypt. The Sukkot also known as the Feast of Booths. During the time of the Sukkot, there are two and a half walls, and leaves are patched together for the roof. They spend a week inside, and that is a time of remembrance. The Shavuot, also known as the Weeks, commemorates the anniversary of the Torah being passed to the Israelites. During the time of the Shavuot, the Jews do not sleep during the night, and they study. The Shavuot is a remembrance that they should be alert, unlike the Israelites who began to worship the golden calf and Moses found them asleep as he came down Mt. Sinai with the Torah.

The Kabbalah is a certain mystical teaching within Judaism that Rabbi Guedj shared with us.The Kabbalah is the work of reaching the harmony between contradicting values. The Kabbalah has such a divine inspiration that most of the Jewish texts are influenced by the Kabbalah, and in such a manner, can be prompted to provide wisdom to the Jewish people. Of course, the Kabbalah is not something that should be taken lightly. For the Jews, several people say that the Kabbalah should not be taught to anyone under the age of forty. 

As Rabbi Guedj came to a close in his sessions, he shared with our group about the loss of universality. When the people attempted to build the Tower of Babel, God split the languages of the people. The Tower of Babel was a building enterprise for monolithic singularities. We, as humanity are in exile of a lost universality. When he said that we as humans are in exile without a sense of connection, I was so awestruck. I truly agree with him, because in today’s day and age, we love to express our individuality, and sometimes that becomes more of a priority for us. When our individuality becomes more of a priority, we begin to strive to not have a commonality, and when others do not share with our commonality, strife and conflict become the object of our world today.

I realize that I may not have learned the whole of Judaism, but as I continue to move on in this course, I hope that what I have learned thus far will be able to be connected to the future learnings of Christianity and Islam. With the newfound knowledge that I have received, I hope to utilize for future interfaith dialogue.

"By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating he had done."

-Genesis 2:2-3 (NIV) 

  

An Opportunity of a Lifetime!

Hans Küng, a Swiss Catholic Priest, Theologian, and Author once said, "There won't be peace in the world until there is peace between religions. There won't be peace between religions until there is dialogue between religions."

I am really surprised that it has been almost a year since my last post. I guess the most recent post I should have shared would have been the accident, which most everyone knows about. I guess I have not felt completely ready to share all that on my post. I mean, even to this day, just thinking about that day, losing Patrick, and just various results of that day makes me tear up, so hopefully, once I return to the United States, I will be ready and willing to share my testimony of the accident on my blog.

Until then, I will share about my current experience here in Switzerland! First and foremost, I would like to say, if you get a chance to visit Switzerland, I HIGHLY encourage you to do so! Switzerland is so beautiful, and I cannot get over the natural state of this great country.

Earlier this year, the Bishop of the Mar Thoma Church, North America & Europe Diocese sent me and a few others an email about a program that was going on in Switzerland in the month of August. Unfortunately for my colleagues, they had classes during the month of August, and since I graduated with my BA in May, and I was about to begin my one year field training (kind of like an internship with the MTC), the month of August was basically free. I agreed to attend, but the cost was enormous. By God's grace, the Diocese and my church family were able to fund the trip. The program is known as the InterFaith Seminar conducted by the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey. The Ecumenical Institute works hand in hand with the World Council of Churches headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Also, they are accredited by the University of Geneva. I was so elated to attend this seminar, because I had known about the beauty of Switzerland, and I was also looking forward to learning more about Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.

After arriving here, I can truly say that I received more than I bargained for. The first week is coming to an end, and in the first week, I have built strong bonds with people from all over the world, and I have also learned so much in our sessions. I believe that my experience is definitely an opportunity of a lifetime and simply by the grace of God, was I able to attend.

Sunday, we all just hung out. I was quite a bit tired, so of course I took a nap, and I was able to prepare myself for the next day.

Monday, we began our day with some really delicious breakfast, and a get to know each other session after the breakfast where we shared each other's faith journeys. Just as there are different "flavors" (denominations) of Christianity, so too there are different faith expressions with Judaism and Islam. I knew that there were various views of each religion before coming here, but I did not realize how different the religions are until we began talking about our faith journeys.

Tuesday, we had the General Secretary of the World Student Christian Federation come spend time with us. She gave me several good ideas of ice breakers that I hope to use in the future. After our ice breaker sessions, we spent time drawing our life based on our religious context, and then we presented and shared what we drew. We also had a session on Sustainability of Creation. What a place to discuss that topic! I mean, here creation seems to be sustained very well. I wish the United States would pick up on some of the practices here. Regardless of the religion, God gave an ordinance to take care of the land, but we choose to harm and abuse the land. During this discussion, we also conversed about the different views about the days of creation and how each religion views those days. Included in that topic, we began the conversation of the choice of eating meat. There are several people here that are either vegetarian or vegan. One day, I hope to join those ranks as well.

Wednesday, a presenter shared the history and vision of Bossey. After that, we all presented from the country we represented about peace and justice issues in our own country in terms of inter-religious context. The only other American here is a Reformed Jewish individual who is currently studying to be a rabbi, so the future priest and future rabbi teamed up to present. I'm sure there is a joke in there somewhere. I thought it was a great experience teaming up with him and really sharing how both of our religions play an impact in the society we live in. I was also able to share the Mar Thoma faith to the people that are attending here.

Thursday (today), was the first actual teaching session about a particular religion. We were able to hear from a French Orthodox Jewish Rabbi who taught us a lot. He was very philosophical, and I was getting lost a bit in what he was sharing. There were two translators who ended up translating what he was saying. We did have some technical difficulties, but after those were solved, I think the conversation kicked off. I was able to understand enough, and I was able to take away a lot of information. We were also able to partake of the morning prayers of the Jews, and I thought their prayers and the way they conduct their prayers were a wonderful way of expressing your commitment and devotion to God.

I will close off here. I am truly loving my time here, and I am able to learn more about the three religions. I know God will continue to use this season of my life for greater purposes in ministry.

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one."

-Deuteronomy 6:4 (also known as Jewish Sh'ma)