Ernie: Here's a problem for which I do not have a good answer. Let me explain it this way........
Everyone knows something of the story of Rosa Parks. She inspired MLK and became a heroine of the Civil Rights movement. What is seldom (hardly ever) reported on is the fact that she became a Buddhist. This presents problems for Christians because, of course, the Civil Rights cause was launched and originally led by Christians. It also represents a problem for secular Leftists because they have no use for any religion. To change the setting, I once did some research on Mennonite missions among the Indians of early 19th century America. Did so because the Mennonites were pro-Indian, unlike most other Americans, and were not racially prejudiced, etc. But a "slight problem" arose that was a scandal among Mennonites. It seems that one mission (think if was in the wilderness of remote Ohio) in about 1810 was in operation at the time when the great Indian revival broke out that eventually led to Tecumseh and the part played by Indians in the War of 1812. Well, the entire mission converted to the Indian religion; they could not resist its appeal to just about everyone among Indians, it was, you might say, a perfect storm of spirituality, with virtually 100% of Indians (at least in Ohio) caught up in the excitement. Now think about Armenia, which became the first Christian nation in history. But this was not a foregone conclusion. For maybe 200 years it was unclear what future there might be for Armenia. To simplify, for one generation the land was Zoroastrian, the next it was Christian, then Zoroastrian, then Christian again, and so forth until, finally, the Romans assumed strong control and, when that happened with a Christian king on the throne, with Armenians, confident in Roman protection, they -the Armenians- felt sure their (quasi) independence was assured and they could stick with Christian faith against the pro-Zoroastrian Persians, and so they did. But think about the years before that happened. Things could have gone the other way, quite easily, and the Armenians knew this full well. Many, in those years, became staunch Zoroastrians, in fact. And there are various Zoroastrian survivals in Armenian culture to this day. ------------------------- This sets up the conundrum. Speaking personally, I usually do not have much problem when people convert from one religion to another. It depends on which religions we are talking about, to be sure, and I think is always is a mistake when someone converts to Islam, but outside of that there usually -for me- is not a problem. Yet this is not always the case and it can be very difficult when you are talking bout someone you know personally. And what about a pastor? Very understandable when a church member converts to another faith that the pastor would be unhappy. It should not be necessary to explain why. Still, I can appreciate the fact that my faith is not for everyone. Not everyone has my interests or disposition or attitude. Indeed, I have talked with people like this at times in my life. A more-or-less "typical" response might be along the lines of "I really am not convinced about Christian claims and, besides, I have found real peace and intellectual satisfaction and life affirming morality in Zen." What do you do? That is, what would you do? For most Evangelicals, at least to judge from memory, they would be horrified, One more soul is going to hell who should be a Christian. For this particular kind of problem there is an answer that makes good sense to me and makes good sense to a small minority that really exists in the world, Christian-Buddhists. For this kind of problem there is no problem. What about life in some number of cities in California, however? I donno, say San Jose or Riverside or San Diego. Or think Seattle or Boston. In that case there is a United Nations of religions in half the neighborhoods in town. Maybe not literally in half of the neighborhoods, but a lot of them. Koreans, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Iranians. Assyrians. Ex-pat Egyptians, You name it. Including both types of "Indians." For some things this does not matter, for example in a restaurant, in a computer store, in an import-export business. But -to bring this up again- what about the kids? It does happen, after all, that boy meets girl and boy is Christian and girl is a Hindu, or whatever, or, of course, the other way around. What if your daughter was to marry a Zoroastrian? I think you would be strongly motivated to say OK if we were discussing a Zoroastrian like Zeubin Mehta, the orchestra conductor, someone worth 10 million dollars and a respected figure around the world. But what about an "average Zoroastrian'? Or an average Budddhist or an average Hindu. What then? For an "average Evangelical" the response would likely be "the horror, the horror." I had a good friend who converted to Judaism. At first I was perplexed and confused even if more perplexed than anything, but confused about why he could possibly have abandoned Christianity. Eventually I concluded that, knowing him as well as I know him, it all makes perfect sense. I could see his point, and, OK, no more problem. But this sort of thing happens all over the map, every day, and sometimes you know someone like this and must face the facts for what they are. What do you do? Gotta tell you that some kind of theoretical answer simply does not cut it. What happens in real life? That is the crux of it. Do I have a good answer? Well, no, I do not. Wish that I did, but what might that be? 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