GATLING@SUVM (Keith E Gatling) (02/12/90)
Okay, this one's for all those poor folks in other religions (or
those who just happen to be in a wrong version of Christianity). I
think it would do us all good to think about this.
Before we go about so easily condemning those who don't believe as we
do, I think we need to put ourselves in their shoes for a moment.
First of all we need to look at why they believe what they do.
Chances are that they were taught their beliefs from someone whom
they had no reason to mistrust. Perhaps their mother or father,
someone who would have only their best interests in mind.
Now let's be honest here (brutally so) on two major accounts. The
first one is if someone came to you and told you that something you
had learned from your parents, whom you trusted and loved, and whom
you believed would never willingly deceive you, was a lie, who would
you believe? Would you continue to believe what your parents told
you, would you immediately cast aside everything you learned from
your parents and believe this new thing that you heard from this
person you just met and didn't know from Adam, or would you
skeptically look into this new thing. looking for every opportunity
to prove that your parents were not liars?
The second issue on which we need to be brutally honest is how
many of us are Christians because we were told the story by someone
whom we had no reason to mistrust. Once again, let's say a parent.
Since we believe that our parents wouldn't have any percentage in
lying to us about it, we tend to believe it. And for the record, the
same goes for all the many Christian authors we quote back and forth
from in order to support our individual interpretations of certain
passages of scripture. I quote author X, who supports my pet view,
while Lauren quotes author Y, who supports hers. Both of these
authors disagree, and they both have their books sold in the local
Christian bookstore. In short, how many of us believe in the truth
of Christianity not because we were told by God himself, but rather
because someone we had no reason to mistrust told us?
Now, let's take a look at some important facets of whatever beliefs
we might hold. It seems that a pretty consistent facet of many
versions of Christianity is that if we don't believe in God and Jesus
in exactly the right way, no matter how much we wanted to do his
will, we're dead meat.
Frankly, this is terrifying to me. It means that no matter what
my intentions, and no matter how great my desire to do God's will, a
simple "conceptual error" could doom me for all eternity. I am
taught (by people I have no reason to mistrust) that having a
relationship with Jesus will spare me this fate, and is the eternal
equivilant of a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card, but there still remains
the chance (since I didn't get the word from God himself) that I may
have listened to the wrong people, and while acting in good faith,
doomed myself eternally.
Now let's look at it from the point of view of one of those poor
misguided people in one of those other religions. Did anyone here
ever stop to think that they might in all sincerity be trying to love
and serve God with all their heart, with all their mind, and with all
their soul? Did anyone here stop to think that maybe *they* had been
taught (of course by someone whom they had no reason to mistrust)
that if they make the wrong choice in religion they're doomed to
spend all eternity as a fondue or something similar? Did anyone ever
stop to think that they may be terrified of making the wrong choice,
and that they're sure not going to switch from what they've been
practicing to Christianity based on the word of some schlep they've
never seen before? ESPECIALLY when we've probably ALL been told that
there are those out there who will lie to us about God and how to
properly serve him. In that case, who do you trust, the people whom
you've trusted all your life or the new guy on the block handing out
the Hindu, Christian, or Moslem literature? Obviously, short of a
personal visit from God, you say to yourself, "This is one of them
thar lyin' fellas from one of them weird false religions I was warned
about," and you tell them to take a hike.
In short, (ha, after 78 lines, I have the nerve to say "in short")
the situation isn't necessarily as simple as some of us make it out
to be. It's not simple a case of the followers of who knows how many
"false" religions obstinately refusing to give up beliefs that they
know are wrong. Rather, in many cases it is a situation of people
who honestly believe that they are doing God's will, and trying their
hardest to do it, trying to protect themselves from the liars that
they've been told will try to get them to give up their beliefs with
the effect of them spending the rest of eternity in the spiritual
equivalent of North Jersey (I'm from there, so I can say it). You've
got people who are *terrified* that if they give up their beliefs to
follow yours, that they'll end up in the same state that you believe
you'll end up in if you give up Christianity to follow theirs. And
you expect them to believe you when you tell them that their mothers
have been lying to them (not only that, but you expect to leave with
all your teeth after you've called their mothers liars!).
Let's face it, with nothing to go on but your word against their
mother's, they have every right to be extremely cautious. You would
be too...especially if you were *sure* that your way was right and
that everyone else was deceived. Now this is not to say that we're
necessarily wrong. But it is to say that we need to look at where
others are coming from when they don't immediately become Christians
after hearing from us. I can very easily understand how they might
want something a little more substantial than our word for it before
they change their lives. I can understand how they might just want
some sort of sign or message from God first, telling them that this
guy with tracts in his hand is right, before they risk ending up in
some great celestial fondue.
You know, it would be *so* much easier if God would just tell us once
and for all what the story is. I'm sure that there are many of us
out there who are tired of being clueless and also tired of seeing so
many people who claim to want to do God's will totally disagreeing on
how to do it. It would be soooo nice to be able to say, "God, what's
the story?" and to get it direct, and to have everyone get the same
message, and to know without a doubt when someone was lying. The
problem is that we don't get it direct. Some of us get the message
mixed up. Some of us explain it poorly (although with good
intentions). And some of us lie about it. The problem is that we
have to depend on each other for the message, and we're not exactly
the most efficient means of transmission. But since God knows what
he's doing, he must be able to live with some data loss, and I
suppose he's got an error checking and correction scheme of which I'm
totally unaware (I *hope* he has an error checking and correction
scheme for *all* of us...Christian, Jew, Hindu, etc.).
keg