The last few days here have been mostly focused on exploring the teachings of different religions from those who follow them. The idea is that by really understanding what they believe, as they describe it, we will be more prepared to effectively communicate/witness to them, and hopefully be able to have some really practical training to bring back to America. (only about 2 more weeks - wow!)
We attended a Hari Krishna temple and a Hindu temple. While many people think that these religions are closely related, they are not exactly. One major difference is that Hari Krishna believe in one god with millions of different demigods to serve him, and they hold that their view of god is one that represents the true beliefs of all religions, superceding them since they have the most "complete" view. The Hindus, on the other hand, are incredibly polytheistic; they believe in millions of gods each representing a different aspect of creation and who require devoted worship in the form of sacrifices and personal holiness.
Both temples, however, were incredibly beautiful, and it really struck me just how much these people were willing to give in service to their god/gods. While we've seen so much desperate poverty in many places we've been, there we saw extravagant wealth used in the praise of so many false gods. It was really disheartening, and difficult for many of us as we experienced firsthand the kind of worship that is so often deplored in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament.
Today we heard from some Muslims about their faith and went to an Islamic temple. It was a very interesting experience because, due to all of the animosity between many Muslims and Christians, the Muslims were very determined to let us know that they follow a peaceful faith and that exteremists are the exception (though it may also be a reflection of the particular sect we visited). I think we were much more comfortable overall with this experience because of the many similarities between some of the beliefs of Islam and Christianity, though there were also many glaring, irrecconcilable differences that we had to learn to discuss and learn about in love.
I am so glad that we've had such opportunities to learn more about these faiths and also to grow both in our own understanding of Christianity and in how to effectively dialog with people of other faiths. It is so easy to become confrontational as we are faced with the lies of other religions, especially in their misuse of the Bible in attempting to defend their faiths, but we are all stronger for it, and hearing straight from the sources has been a great priviledge.
The other major event of the week has been going back to the slum in Mathare Valley and helping with some work projects there. Among the activities were nursury care, a worship team, teaching children, making balloon animals, repainting the sanctuary of the church, giving free medical check-ups, and cleaning out about 200 meters of the sewage ditches that line the road. I helped with the children, which was good, though we had a little trouble getting them to pay attention for the message. Once they were released for free time, though, we were able to just hang out with them and play, and it was wonderful. I was throwing kids into the air and running around with them, having a really great time.
However, I saw that once I got tired, some of the kids would leave to go do other things, but some of them stuck around. They weren't just looking to get some kind of amusement park experience from me, but they really wanted to have a relationship. I think that sometimes that's how we as Christians, me especially, treat God sometimes. We have mountaintop experiences where it's so easy to feel close to God as He sweeps us away in His love, or even vally experiences where we cry out to Him and pray for strength or comfort or revelation, but it is the plains of life that are the problem. It is so easy to forget about God when we are just living life as normal, with no felt need to pray or praise Him. I didn't mention it earlier, but that was a bit of an issue for me on the ministry assignment; I would have down time, and rather than use it to pray or grow closer to God, I would just turn off for a while and let my mind wander. My prayer for you all is that you would stick close to God even when life is simply mundane, because He still has something to teach you then, and even more important, He still wants a relationship with you then.
Please pray:
- For the people all over the world following the faiths we learned about this week, especially in the ability of Christians to form good relationships with them and for God to reach out to them powerfully.
- That the work we've done in the Mathare slum will not simply be a one-day event, but have a real permanent change in that place.
- Again for the people of Musul/Kimanju/Ewaso, that they would be blessed by God and that His work would be done there.
- For those who have continued to get sick/stay sick. I think over half of the team has been sick at some point during this trip now, and even though I'm over the malaria I think, I now have a cold/cough.
- That though many are sick, many are also getting better.
- For the work that people have been able to do on their ministry assignments (it's so great to hear the stories).
- That though we've seen a lot of darkness in the last week, we worship a God that is far greater than that and who we know will be able to shine light into even the greatest darkness.
- John 1:5
No comments:
Post a Comment