On Tuesday my parents and I were walking through Manhattan. We had just finished visiting my Poppop in the hospital and as we were walking though the courtyard of these apartment buildings, there was a man in the middle with a big peice of cardboard, faced toward Mecca ready to pray..
It made me think about a conversation I had when I was a freshman in college. My friend knew another student who was Hindu. She said that the Hindu's roommate wouldn't let her pray in the room, so my friend offered her room to her. At the time, I thought this was a horrible idea. If I was the Hindu's roommate, I would have never let her pray in the room. It would be like, encouraging her to worship another god, in fact, it would be providing that space for her to do so. A couple years later, I realize how obnoxious my mindset really was.
I spent the summer in Egypt surrounded by people praying to Allah, 5x's a day. I was never tempted to go up to any of them and say, "hey - don't do that!" But for some reason, it seemed different to me because the girl was praying in America. If I was her roommate, being a Christian, I have 2 options really.
1. I can let her pray in the room
2. I can say, no you can't pray in here
Either way, the woman will be a Hindu believer. Allowing her to pray in the room or not would make not difference in that respect. Just because I do not agree with her beliefs doesn't mean that I have a right to control what she does in the room. And honestly, what kind of view will she have of Christians if I think I am allowed to pray in the room and she isn't? It's kind of like saying, "Everything I am is good, and everything you are is evil". It's like when Christians picket Plan Parenthood on the day they do abortions for women. By picketing, no woman is going to run back out screaming, "You guys are right!". No, she's going to hate the Christians for being so mean and ugly to her, and ultimately not loving her.
It's amazing to me how option 1 seems so obvious now when only a couple years ago I would have sworn my life on option 2. It really says something about the state of new/young believers: we are not perfect and we have so much to learn. We are not automatically like Jesus. In fact, most times, we have a ton of growing to do, and we are never finished growing.
It made me think about a conversation I had when I was a freshman in college. My friend knew another student who was Hindu. She said that the Hindu's roommate wouldn't let her pray in the room, so my friend offered her room to her. At the time, I thought this was a horrible idea. If I was the Hindu's roommate, I would have never let her pray in the room. It would be like, encouraging her to worship another god, in fact, it would be providing that space for her to do so. A couple years later, I realize how obnoxious my mindset really was.
I spent the summer in Egypt surrounded by people praying to Allah, 5x's a day. I was never tempted to go up to any of them and say, "hey - don't do that!" But for some reason, it seemed different to me because the girl was praying in America. If I was her roommate, being a Christian, I have 2 options really.
1. I can let her pray in the room
2. I can say, no you can't pray in here
Either way, the woman will be a Hindu believer. Allowing her to pray in the room or not would make not difference in that respect. Just because I do not agree with her beliefs doesn't mean that I have a right to control what she does in the room. And honestly, what kind of view will she have of Christians if I think I am allowed to pray in the room and she isn't? It's kind of like saying, "Everything I am is good, and everything you are is evil". It's like when Christians picket Plan Parenthood on the day they do abortions for women. By picketing, no woman is going to run back out screaming, "You guys are right!". No, she's going to hate the Christians for being so mean and ugly to her, and ultimately not loving her.
It's amazing to me how option 1 seems so obvious now when only a couple years ago I would have sworn my life on option 2. It really says something about the state of new/young believers: we are not perfect and we have so much to learn. We are not automatically like Jesus. In fact, most times, we have a ton of growing to do, and we are never finished growing.
2 comments:
How is your pop doing? He's on your mother's side I assume since she's the new yorker?
You raise an excellent point Ang. I was actually just thinking about something similiar earlier today, about how we can get so worried about acknowledging other religions or "pagans" that we take it to extremes and you get Christians who won't buy anything unless a fellow believer made it, from fruit to furniture - all because their logic is if they buy this product then they are actually supporting or encouraging their non-Christian ways. Its thinking like this that lead us to buying in big Christian stores and bouncing around from church service to service and vacationing at the various Christian festivals and conferences, all the while never actually stepping outside of the religious bubble. It's funny, in a way that person your freshmen year was oppressing another religion just as Christians were oppressed back when Jesus had just ascended. And its stuff like that only further convicts the person of their faith.
so congrats on growing - a display that God is at work in you.
Great post. I agree with you. =)
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