HEY
I had a coffee with a friend and her mom one of my last days in good ole Hattiesburg, Mississippi. They were asking some questions about cultures and religions I encountered on this trip. They asked if I could write a blog on what I’ve learned. So, here it is Hatten and Nancy and everyone else!!!
Hinduism: Thailand, Cambodia (Angkor Wat is a Hindu temple)
This one is pretty popular in India and Nepal, which I haven’t been to yet. I did have some good conversation with a shop keeper in Thailand from Nepal though. The tricky thing about having conversations with practicing Hindus is that they have so many gods they are often totally welcoming of Jesus. Jesus plus all the other gods, so they are pretty welcoming of Christians. Jesus is a representation of God to them, so basically just a thought, never a real, live being. This particular guy I met believed that Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity all got you to the same place, just different ways of getting there. Hinduism is pretty works based. How good can you be? How much good karma can you maintain?
There are 30+ million gods, but the most commonly worshiped ones you can find pictures/statues of in homes and businesses. They usually focus on a couple gods that represent high values in their life – wealth, health, weather. There’s also no room for grace in their beliefs to get to the end goal of Maksha, which means release. It is the release from the life of rebirths/cast system, which is based on karma. To a practicing Hindu good karma (or doing good) will bring you back to life as something good, and bad karma (or doing bad things) will bring you back as something bad. Their hope is that the gods they worship will plead on their behalf to reach Maksha. A lot of times we would see sodas, snacks, and other offerings placed near these pictures/status. This is to hopefully please/persuade the god to help them achieve or get closer to Maksha.
Buddhism: Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia
Trying to achieve nothingness. Nothing good, nothing bad, just “nirvana”. It is often accompanied by a culture of HIGH respect and discipline. There are revivals that go to late hours of the night in some countries, which I experienced in Myanmar. Meditation is highly valued, and practicing Buddhist are often very soft spoken. You can find Buddhist temples all over the place in Asia, and they tend to be very detailed. Almost every one of them are all shiny and brightly colored. Buddhist monks can be male or female and spend lots of time in solitude, but you don’t have to be a monk to be a practicing Buddhist.
Ancestry Worship: Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Haiti, South Africa, Swaziland
This one is a little tricky sometimes and super obvious other times. Depending on region, ancestry worship can double with Christianity. It might sound weird to Americans, but sometimes we get impatient when God isn’t doing things “fast enough” so we take matters into our own hands, too. Other times it can be a matter of respect for the dead, or fear that something bad will happen to them if sacrifices aren’t made to the dead. It can also couple with witchcraft. The witch doctors will ask for resources to make sacrifices, cast spells, ect. Sometimes they dance around fires, scream, and usually have a lot of influence and power in the community.
Islam: Malaysia, Thailand, Greece (refugee camp), Albania, North Africa, Middle East, South East Asia
History of Islam:
What I didn’t realize before the race was how incredibly similar Islam and Christianity are. About 95% of their beliefs are the same, but the 5% is what makes them so vastly different. Most people that practice Islam know the old testament, and even what the new testament says. Lots of them have parts of the bible memorized. What makes Christianity and Islam so different is who the two groups say Jesus is. Christians say Jesus is God, and Muslims say he is just a major prophet. Within Islam prophets are highly respected, so they respect Jesus. Their most recent and respected prophet is Muhammad. Muslims believe He was given the Quran around 600 A.D. The two biggest beliefs Muslims hold onto about the Quran is that it is breathed out by Allah and that it has never been changed. After Muhammad was given the Quran, he made it his life’s mission to spread its message throughout the middle east. The rapid spread of Islam has been constant since. There are different sects of Islam (kind of how Christianity has denominations like Baptist, Methodist, ect.) that prioritize and value different parts of Muslim literature (Quran, Injil, ect).
Muslim gather in mosques in a similar way Christians gather in churches. There are prayer calls five times daily as well as teachings, hang out time, and building relationships with other families. Everyone will come in, males and females will sperate to their respective parts of the Mosque to pray. Prayer can be very outward – on a plane, in a park, anywhere, but always facing Mecca.
Fun Fact: The country with the highest population of Islam is Indonesia.
My experience with Muslims:
Despite their differences with Christianity, they value hospitality far above most people groups I’ve experienced. They hold onto their beliefs tightly and they are persistent in sharing what it has done for them personally. I’ve seen a standard of discipline throughout their daily lives, whether that be with their daily prayers or their fasting. They are usually open to talking to anyone about their beliefs. I was often taken back by how loving and helpful people are that follow Islam. Despite the trauma and stress and unknown the Muslims I was around were encountering fleeing from their home country, I was often greeted with smiles and assistance to help out with jobs around camp. Somehow after about 75 Arabic lessons I still said everything wrong, but the pride instilled in all of them for their culture is so beautiful.
If you are interested in knowing more about Islam vs. Christianity in a respectful way a couple good books to read are:
Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus
No God but One
In the year I spent submerged in other cultures, I probably have more questions than I started with about world religions. I’m a lot more confident in my own beliefs, and it’s lead into some really interesting conversations.
Love always,
Alexis
