E
Eucharisted
Guest
Hello 
I’ve been thinking about different religions and all the apparaent frustration and accusations that fly over who believes what and how someone acts, and I’ve come to realize something…
We judge people by our own lenses. What I mean is, for example, when a Catholic replies to a Mormon, the Catholic uses his theology and understanding of realities and truths to reply; or, when a Muslim replies to a Catholic, he uses his theology and understanding of realities and truths to reply. And it’s not so much a problem of everyone believing they each hold the truth - the real problem is, we don’t go a mile in someone else’s shoes. We look at a Muslim or at a Catholic or a Buddhist or at an atheist through our own eyes, rather than trying to look at them from their persepctive. And this causes misconceptions, and we judge people by preconceived notions.
But this can easily be fixed if only we ask questions and study. If we just ask, “Well, what do you mean by that?” or “How do you believe that?” or “That’s interesting, do explain what you mean by this”, we’ll learn more, and our preconceived notions and misconceptions will melt away in the light of truth and fact. Studying others religions also helps, and I’ve found that the best way to study a religion is not through books that are biased against or toward someone’s beliefs, but rather, give an as-much-as-possible balanced look at a religion, with cited works of course. Now, some books can’t help but be biased, because they might be written by a Mormon or by a Christian or by a Jew, but there is a way to tell the difference between someone speaking the truth and someone slanting the truth, and that is, doing extra research on history and the facts the authors present. Granted, not everyone can do all this, but that dosen’t mean some can’t, and those who can would really be helping out those who can’t, not to mention helping out the rest of the world.
**Examination of conscience. ** Sometimes we become hypocritical, we accuse people of slandering our beliefs or deliberately presenting lies against a religion, and there are times when this is true and the call out is charitable, but we always have to look out for ourselves - examine our consciences - before we try to look out for others - examine other’s consciences. This will help us be less angry and more merciful, and more understanding and open to dialogue. We might not always be willing to listen to someone else because we believe we alone have the truth, but not listening is not the same as guarding the truth - in fact, it’s just the opposite: by being uncharitable, we leave the truth we hold dearly vulnerable to attack, by our own poor action. For how can a man hold the truth and wish to spread it, yet attack those who do not believe it? It dosen’t make sense, he is driving away those he wishes to give the truth to and he is making himself out to be a liar, for a liar is violent and angry, always suspsecious that he will get caught red-handed, so he trusts no one. But we must trust others, trust that they can change and they will be charitable to us. What we are to others, we must believe others will be to us, because what we do to others will be done to us.
I’ve been thinking about different religions and all the apparaent frustration and accusations that fly over who believes what and how someone acts, and I’ve come to realize something…
We judge people by our own lenses. What I mean is, for example, when a Catholic replies to a Mormon, the Catholic uses his theology and understanding of realities and truths to reply; or, when a Muslim replies to a Catholic, he uses his theology and understanding of realities and truths to reply. And it’s not so much a problem of everyone believing they each hold the truth - the real problem is, we don’t go a mile in someone else’s shoes. We look at a Muslim or at a Catholic or a Buddhist or at an atheist through our own eyes, rather than trying to look at them from their persepctive. And this causes misconceptions, and we judge people by preconceived notions.
But this can easily be fixed if only we ask questions and study. If we just ask, “Well, what do you mean by that?” or “How do you believe that?” or “That’s interesting, do explain what you mean by this”, we’ll learn more, and our preconceived notions and misconceptions will melt away in the light of truth and fact. Studying others religions also helps, and I’ve found that the best way to study a religion is not through books that are biased against or toward someone’s beliefs, but rather, give an as-much-as-possible balanced look at a religion, with cited works of course. Now, some books can’t help but be biased, because they might be written by a Mormon or by a Christian or by a Jew, but there is a way to tell the difference between someone speaking the truth and someone slanting the truth, and that is, doing extra research on history and the facts the authors present. Granted, not everyone can do all this, but that dosen’t mean some can’t, and those who can would really be helping out those who can’t, not to mention helping out the rest of the world.
**Examination of conscience. ** Sometimes we become hypocritical, we accuse people of slandering our beliefs or deliberately presenting lies against a religion, and there are times when this is true and the call out is charitable, but we always have to look out for ourselves - examine our consciences - before we try to look out for others - examine other’s consciences. This will help us be less angry and more merciful, and more understanding and open to dialogue. We might not always be willing to listen to someone else because we believe we alone have the truth, but not listening is not the same as guarding the truth - in fact, it’s just the opposite: by being uncharitable, we leave the truth we hold dearly vulnerable to attack, by our own poor action. For how can a man hold the truth and wish to spread it, yet attack those who do not believe it? It dosen’t make sense, he is driving away those he wishes to give the truth to and he is making himself out to be a liar, for a liar is violent and angry, always suspsecious that he will get caught red-handed, so he trusts no one. But we must trust others, trust that they can change and they will be charitable to us. What we are to others, we must believe others will be to us, because what we do to others will be done to us.