Loading ...One evening last week, I opened the doors to see an old couple with a ‘I accept you though you are not doing the right thing’ kind of look on their faces and a bound book under the crook of their arm. I knew straightaway I was looking at two hardened Bible thumpers and I was going to be there for the better part of an hour arguing theology with them.
I could do what any regular Joe does – slam the door in their faces and carry on with my life. But it was cold out and these two dears looked so earnest that I did not have the heart. So I stood, with my listening cap on, telling myself to keep it zipped if I wanted to get off lightly.
Of course, that is easier said that done. They started off with the usual ‘oooh, we have never seen this design before, what is it?’ ploy, pointing to the picture of Ganesha I had stuck onto our front door. If I had thought that would deter their lot, the past five years had taught me otherwise. I have now learnt that nothing does and these actually help them get their spiel going.
After prattling about various things for about 20 mins, the lady came to the crux of her show:
‘I fully believe in redemption and that, soon we could be called upon to answer for our sins. On that day, we will have to follow the One True God if we are to get salvation. Don’t you think it is better we get started on reading the Bible now, to be better prepared for That Day?’
Now that riled me. I knew it was a mistake unzipping my gob but the calm statement that ‘Christ would save us and you better start brushing up on your gospels’ generally gets my back up. How insulting is that to the dozens of other religions out there! Not to mention the atheists, who are perfectly happy going in their merry own way. What gives them the right to say their way *is* the way and chop, chop now if we want to be redeemed?
So I asked her:
‘Who’s to say that Christianity is the way towards salvation? Isn’t that awfully presumptuous of you to say so? How can you blithely suggest to someone to let go of their beliefs and jump on board with yours? How would you feel if I turned up tomorrow at your doorstep and said ‘Here’s a Koran – start cramming now if you want to be saved!’ Would you be willing?’
Of course they wouldn’t. They politely bobbed their heads up and down, left some leaflets with me to make me ’see’ and soon went on their way.
Now I really would like to know the answer to my questions. Who’s to say who / what to believe in? Isn’t it your very belief in something that gives it the magic? What right does one have to say ‘no, yours is not the correct belief – follow my path instead’?
I think it is this short-sightedness that is making people rise up in arms. It is all very well for one to assume that one fine day, God is going to land up and make us pay for our sins but stating that boning up on the Bible (or the Gita or whatever) would rescue one from His wrath is a few degrees beyond presumptousness. It is downright smug. When there is so much hoopla about whose God is better and whose sucks, this ‘my way or highway’ attitude can really push people’s buttons the wrong way.
I always thought that no matter what name we call it – God, our Belief, Self – it has power only because we feel so. That being the case, why force the next person to call it by what name it means something to you? Why force him to see your way? Why does the path matter, as long as the destination is the same?
Who has the answers?
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