Comparative Religion and Worldview

How do you respond to the assertion that all religions are basically the same, only differing in minor topics?

Someone I care about said that to me recently and I’ve been wondering about it.

I’ve been noticing lately how much alike Jews and Muslims can be. Christians may share large swaths of common ground with both.

But set Islam against Hinduism or Christianity against Buddhism and the differences seem quite large, as many practitioners and converts between any two of these traditions will tell you.

And of course each of these is a global religion, perceived and practiced in diverse ways, so even defining what it “is” or describing what it is “like” suggests oversimplification.

Though we all walk in mystery – and may indeed be like the proverbial six blind men and the elephant – monotheism and polytheism, humanism and spirituality seem like vastly different views of the cosmos.

Maybe the question hinges on what we consider the big things and what we consider the small things.

Perhaps we’ve got the circle inside-out if we think “the nature of reality” and “the meaning of life” are the minor topics, while things like "the Golden Rule," the role and practice of prayer and meditation, and the exercise of kindness and discipline are the big ones.

Our platitudes and ideals are often the same or similar. Our assumptions about God, man, reality, the way life works, often not.

What do you think?

MAINT REQ'D

That’s what the light on my dashboard says. It had been flashing on startup for a week or two, but as I was driving home from Fort Collins on Saturday night the light came on and stayed on. I need to get my faithful Honda into the shop, and soon.

It would have been appropriate to have the same message lit up on my forehead. After a 65-hour work week I was toast. Next day at church I abruptly removed myself from conversation with two people who strain my patience, and pretended I didn’t see a third. I put up walls when talking to two or three dear women who came up to me with project ideas to discuss. I didn’t want more things to do, didn’t even want to talk about it. (Might have been a good day to skip church, eh?)

That afternoon I sent an email to my office team leader requesting permission for a comp day Monday. It was becoming clear I would need one. I made a bunch of comfort food – a big batch of enchiladas and some homemade chocolate ice cream (mentioned below). When I finally sat down to write, the process did what the cosmetics industry calls "drawing impurities to the surface." Some ugly stuff.

Will the end result be a "vibrant, youthful glow"? That may depend (in part) on how faithful I am to continue the regular care regiment.

Or, to go back to the automotive imagery – will I change the oil every 3000 miles? Check the fluid levels and make sure the air filter, tires, and belts are looking good? Yes: Maintenance is required.

Looking for something I’d jotted in an old journal, I found an interesting entry from November 2001. I was just a few weeks into my stint in Central Asia, and it had become clear that the war that had just begun in neighboring Afghanistan was not likely to destabilize the region and send me home. Nope. I was there to stay, and a year seemed like a really long time. It was cold and dark and only the seventh day of a month of fasting, to boot.

I’d been there long enough to see that while struggles were par for my course, I wasn’t the only one:

"H. shared more yesterday about how upset she was and still is about making the mistake of giving neighbors broken bread [a cultural offense], and how they laughed, and how her Tatar neighbor turned on her for caring [about the ridicule] and for wearing a headscarf and trying to be [local]. She was really devastated.

"Sounds like none of these others are too far beyond her – nobody’s got this thing down, and everyone makes embarrassing mistakes and is mortified by them. All of which suggests to me that yes, while not every day will be devastating, I’ll not really get beyond that either."

Is that as good as it gets, in some situations, that "not every day will be devastating"? I prayed that day for grace to stay and be a learner, willing to make mortifying mistakes and learn from them. Tough stuff. Really good though.

I also copied into my journal that day a passage from Ann Lamott’s brilliant book, Traveling Mercies. The chapter is called "Grace," and never had it seemed more relevant.

"My fear of failure has been lifelong and deep. If you are what you do – and I think my parents may have accidentally given me this idea – and you do poorly, what then? It’s over; you’re wiped out. All these prophecies you heard in the dark have come true, and people can see the real you, see what a shmendrick you are, what a fraud.

"…Out of nowhere I remembered something one of my priest friends had said once, that grace is having a commitment to – or at least an acceptance of – being ineffective and foolish. That our bottled charm is the main roadblock to drinking that clear cool glass of love."

Cocoa-Coconut Ice "Cream"!

Ooooh, I think I'm in love. This is wonderful. I was just poking around the Internet reading some stuff related to work when I clicked through to a website where this recipe was posted. It sounded good enough that I broke out the never-been-used electric ice-cream maker I picked up at a garage sale two years ago and went out in search of rock salt and agave nectar - neither of which proved difficult to find.

If you like chocolate ice cream - even if you are sensitive to dairy products - you may really like this lovely vegan recipe.

Ingredients:
1 can coconut milk (try “Thai Kitchen” brand)
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (e.g., Hershey's)
3 Tbsp dark or medium agave nectar (a sugar alternative), or honey
1 tsp vanilla

Instructions:
1. Mix the cocoa powder, agave, and vanilla in a small bowl.
2. Whisk in the can of coconut milk.
3. Pour the mixture into an automated ice cream maker.
4. Turn it on, and layer in the ice and salt per ice-cream maker's instructions.
5. Wait 20 minutes.
6. Eat immediately, if possible. It gets hard if it's been in the freezer a while.

My source says you can also stir in mini chocolate chips or frozen blueberries mid-way through the freezing process!

Serves 2.

Mobilization through Technology

Just heard from a colleague whose organization is planning a golf tournament next month to raise funds for their work. But this is a golf tournament with a twist: the whole thing will be held indoors using Nintendo Wii.

“This year we are opening the event up so people can play from just about anywhere in the US and we'll be live streaming over the web. We've made good progress and already have several sponsors lined up ... Please pray for smooth working of the technology during the event, good participation, and completion of the online scoring and judging components of the event website.”

This unusual fundraiser seems appropriate since the organization's whole purpose is to bring people and missions together using internet technology.

I’d be much more likely to participate in a Wii golf tournament than a live one, though I do not have access to a Wii (or know how to golf!) But I wonder if the people who participate will be as likely to make generous donations as they would if they were attending a live event? Hope so. This is their “second annual” event and my friend reports that the first one went quite well.

The same guy is planning to lead a conference workshop next week without the cost and trouble of attending the conference. He will be giving the workshop twice - to several dozen short-term mission leaders - via webcast from his office in another state.

The purpose of the workshop is to provide tips on using social media websites (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) effectively in short-term missions (recruiting, training, on the field, debriefing, and follow through). No news on whether they’ve got things set up to allow participation from others not attending the conference, though perhaps the webcasting technology would make that possible as well.

Another friend is using the Internet to deliver content for an online class that is simultaneously a fundraiser for Bible translation efforts and a service to home-school students (who, in taking the class, are funding a project). Read about it here.

What creative uses of technology have caught your attention recently?

> other posts labeled 'technology'

Ready or Not

I have done almost nothing to prepare for this class I'm teaching Tuesday night in Arizona (and am counting on nobody involved with that class stopping by this blog...)

The thing with my bereaved friends not only threw me for a loop personally, but I've also spent hours and hours with them since in happened instead of hours and hours preparing my lesson. That's the right choice, of course, but I'm hoping I'll be able to stay focused tomorrow and pull it together. I'd like to come out of the process with a two-hour lesson plan, with a lecture, some small group discussions, a handout, a PowerPoint presentation... oh yeah, and I should probably bring some books to sell and literature to distribute. Am wishing I spent a day on this a few weeks ago or got a head start on it when I was in California.

The previous lesson in this course is about the rhythms of life in a Muslim community - family, honor, hospitality, community gatherings, fasting and feasting. I've taught it several times. When we were developing the course I left my stamp more on that lesson than any other, and even wrote several of the articles (though only one bears my name).

This one, on the other hand, was shaped according to the brain waves of my coworker whose name is on the cover of the book, and I don't quite track with him here. The topic is the spiritual world of Muslims - popular or folk religion. I have story after story about jinn, amulets, magic, and all the things people all over the world look to to protect their families from harm. But since these are stories I've picked up doing sociological research they tend to be from a Muslim's point of view.

For this class I'm supposed to analyze all that stuff and provide a "biblical" perspective. I think what that really means is that I need to help the students feel the ambiguities, recognizing that there's probably a lot more going on here than some little ol' superstitions that we can just dismiss. That maybe our Muslim friends are tracking on something when they believe the world is a spiritual place, not just a rational one, and that the Bible was written to people who think that way too.

However, if I just shake people up and leave them with more questions than answers that may not be the best. I want to present the material in a coherent, thoughtful way, and that may be a little tricky.

Thoughts on Risk, Grief, and Loss

Watch out, this is a very emotional, difficult post. I may end up deleting or revising it because I don't like to sound pathetic. But for now I think writing it will help me work through some things.

Yesterday, two young men engaged to marry two of my good friends were killed in a car accident overseas - after surviving a cancer scare for one, a gunshot wound and many weeks in a coma for the other - both recovered and on their way to the airport to fly back the U.S. and get married. But they didn't make it.

Just heartbreaking. Found out first thing this morning and spent several hours with the girls, later today, though reluctant to believe my presence would be any comfort. It's not like losing parents or a spouse at the end of a long life, but in some ways like losing a child: a loss of tremendous potential. How do you deal with the death of the person you'd hoped to spend your life with?

My own relational vulnerability has been much on my mind, lately. Seems like there are two ways to be relationally vulnerable: having relationships, and not having them. The vulnerability of being alone, and the vulnerability of being dependent on others. Great pain can come through either path. Sometimes I worry about what will happen to me if I get really sick, afraid I might find out that I really am alone in the world. Much evidence suggests that I actually have a strong, invisible net - uncomfortable as it is not to know whom God would use to catch me.

I've also wondered what would it be like to be the most important person in someone else's life. I don't think I've ever experienced that, at least not in any long-lasting way. Not with my family (though we love each other!), and not like these girls who said, yes, I will marry you, to these young men, nor in the sense of the relationship they have with each other: mutually acknowledged best friends.

You can't make that happen, can you? I was there when they met and watched their friendship grow, glad for them, but a bit sorry that the chemistry or whatever wasn't there for me to be a closer friend to each of them. My best friends are always closer to somebody else. Several of my favorites are married men, so of course I have to be more careful in those cases. There was another woman in our office with whom I thought I could be best friends. But she moved overseas to get married several years ago and I haven't been able to maintain and grow that friendship into what I had hoped it would be.

Oh, I have lots of willing, loving friends, but what I'm talking about is sort of like finding someone who is nice enough to date, but not someone you could forsake all others for; or wise enough to learn from, but not someone you really feel you can really put yourself under and ask to mentor you. All three of those slots in my life - best friend, husband, mentor - remain blank.

I hope I don't hurt anybody by writing those words. There are families and individuals with whom I have a strong and precious bond, and I am grateful for them (for you!). But most are scattered and live far away. So when I think about things like who would take me to my chemo treatments or hold me when I cry or stand up with me at my wedding, I think it would probably be other, more-random people in that invisible net, not the people I love best.

It's OK to grieve about that, I think, and to pray, but there's no guarantee that I'll have those kind of relationships. They may grow. They may even grow out of the acquaintanceships that presently, don't seem promising. But they may not. Outside of the movies many people never have best friends. And it really is possible to have a good life without ever meeting "the love of your life." I have a lot to be grateful for, and there's no sense pining away over what I don't have. The mentor thing is not so emotional; I think I'm just going to jump into and take what I can get at least for this next season (sabbatical - more details when I have them - soon).

Well: those ultimate, close relationships, they do make you extremely vulnerable, don't they? Friends have told me about looking down at their infant child and realizing what a scary place the world now is - how horrible it could be for their child if something happened to them, or for them if something happened for their child.

Life sure is risky; loving other people, more so.

Ten Books Read in September

Nonfiction:

Voices of the Faithful, Book 2, ed. Kim Davis and Beth Moore - I got a copy of this missionary-authored devotional book free from the publisher as part of their "book blogging" program, but instead of writing about it here I reviewed it for Missions Catalyst. I wondered if it would feel too much like a "women's book" or sanitize away too many of the details of cross-cultural living, but it doesn't have either of those flaws. It's quite good. I think I'm going to make it part of my schedule starting in January (as it's set up for daily readings over the course of a year).

Walt Disney, An American Original, by Bob Thomas and Mouse Tales: A Behind-the-Ears look at Disneyland, by David Koenig - Some folks in my small group gave me these two volumes to enjoy during my trip to Disneyland this month. Mouse Tales was light-hearted and fun, full of anecdotes and trivia about the place and the people who work there.

The biography, though, I found rather disturbing. Though sanctioned by his family and organization and created with their complete cooperation, it paints a picture of a man I have a hard time imagining other people could love and admire. What a difficult guy he seems to have been. Oh, he accomplished a lot, broke through barriers, and did quite a few good deeds along the way, but everything had to be his way. He had a knack for bringing out the talent of others, true, but was very stingy with praise and insisted on control, demanding but not extending freedom and respect. Made me realize how difficult it is for me to honor anyone who leads with a heavy hand instead of fostering mutual respect and collaboration. Am I the one who needs to lighten up and agree to accept that there's more than one right way to lead?

Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ: The Cost of Bringing the Gospel to the Nations in the Lives of William Tyndale, Adoniram Judson, and John Paton, by John Piper - The fifth in a series of volumes, each containing meditations on the lives of three great men to illustrate a certain theme. (Sadly, Piper limits the women to supporting roles - as their own societies probably did in most cases.) Piper and his staff are great researchers and always cite their sources, so their work is very easy to use for reference. In this case at least some of the books are available for free download, as well as purchase on paper. Nice. Each of these three men was able to survive and be at peace in the midst of lives with great danger and suffering, by resting on God's sovereign control. Inspiring.

Fiction:

Birds of a Feather, by Jacqueline Winspear - The second in a series about the very sympathetic character Maisie Dobbs, a psychologist and investigator in post-war England. Very good read. I've just picked up volume 3.

Sherlock Holmes and the King's Evil, and Other New Tales Featuring the World's Greatest Detective, by Donald Thomas - Written by a skilled fan, but not really as good as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Like the originals, this is a series of slightly linked short stories, a mix of intellectualism, crime, and creative storytelling.

Shadows of Lancaster County, by Mindy Starns Clark - Melodramatic Christian novel about a young woman who grew up in Pennsylvania and had tried to put her misspent youth behind her, but was drawn back when her brother disappears. Pretty standard Harvest House fare, but I always enjoy and learn something in MSC's books: she's playing to a lowbrow crowd but is really smart and does her research. This one weaves together gene therapy, identity tracing, the social dynamics of the Pennsylvania Dutch, and the lost jewels of an obscure European royal family. Somehow.

Unveiling: a Novel, by Suzanne M. Wolfe - Rather atmospheric tale of an art restorer grappling with restoring her wounded life while working on a project in Rome. Pretty good. More description than action, but well written. Paraclete Press always publishes thoughtful books, so I have requested several more of their novels from our local library.

The Fiction Class, by Susan Breen - I loved this well-written and clever story of a fiction instructor, struggling to come to terms with her own story and her family. Includes writing exercises you might get in Susan's classes... yeah, she teaches writing, too!

My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult - I'd never read anything by Jodi Picoult, who has a tremendous popular following. This one is the powerful (if wrenching) story of a girl whose parents had her specifically to be a donor for her sister, who had leukemia, and how the illness shaped all of their lives. As can be expected in most best-selling fiction, includes some graphic sexuality and language (in Breen's book as well, but milder). Too bad.