Warning.
This is a “Shannon’s Soapbox” Blog.
So if you aren’t interested in a bunch of opinions that you may or may not agree with, skip to the next one.
I talk about travel days and such.
Much less complicated.
But if you are interested in my generalizations about how I view the world, 30-something countries in, feel free to proceed.
Here goes.
On one of our first days here in Central Java, we met Johnny.
Johnny was our Grab driver when we went to visit a really big, really beautiful, mosque.
[Grab is like Uber, but for Asia]
And well, it turns out, Johnny loves Jesus.
So we talked for a while about what it’s like to be a Christian in Indonesia.
He said in Semarang, he’s lucky.
The Muslims here are very tolerant of Christians, so he can live his life and worship his God as he chooses.
Other places aren’t so lucky.
But people are really nice in Semarang.
“Interesting,”
I thought.
He considers himself lucky that he is allowed to be a Christian without any repercussions.
Because in many parts of this country, the Muslim people aren’t tolerant of Christians.
Throughout Indonesia, I’ve been told that Sharia Law is common, and you have to identify your religion on your ID card.
Some places, like Semarang, allow many religions.
From my understanding, up to six are accepted here.
[Feel free to fact check me on that number]
Some don’t allow that.
So, as an American
[kind of…can I still consider myself that or have I become too foreign in the last two years?]
I filtered that through what my Western brain knows.
Islam dominates.
Christians pray to be tolerated.
How crazy to feel like that.
I didn’t like it.
You know why?
My sweet, sweet Muslim friends in the United States must feel like that a lot.
But opposite.
How often is America a “Christian” nation, where Muslim people hope to be “tolerated”?
I’m not here to say one way of life is more right than the other.
You know what my faith is.
But I AM here to say that it doesn’t feel good to be on the “tolerated” end.
We shouldn’t be tolerant of people.
That’s not enough.
We should love people.
On purpose.
Intentionally.
We should celebrate people and the fact that we get to share space with them.
If I, as a woman who loves Jesus, truly believe that God created us, men and women, in his image, then shouldn’t I live that way?
Which means I can’t just be tolerant.
I have to be intentional.
I have to be love.
I have to love with the knowledge that the God who said I am “fearfully and wonderfully made” wove everyone else together in that same way.
We ended up visiting that mosque that day.
We awkwardly stumbled around, trying to figure out what to do with our shoes, which bathroom to use, and whether to sit, stand, or bow low to the ground.
We were seven foreigners.
Seven Christian women, no less.
We look American and out of place.
But every man, woman, and child in that place smiled and welcomed us.
Asked us to pray with them.
Showed us where to go.
Allowed us to be tourists in their place of worship.
And forgave us when we did it all wrong.
If a woman and all her friends in hijab or burqa walked into church on Sunday, would we welcome them with smiles and guidance
[I’m pretty sure my sweet church at home would, which is so rad]
or would we skeptically glance at them and wonder what their purpose was in a church?
All this to say, the thought of living as a member of a “tolerated” religion was hard for me to swallow.
No one should have to feel that way, especially if I claim to believe in a God of Love.
Jesus would never have made someone feel like he was tolerant of their presence.
He made them feel loved.
Mary Magdalene.
The Samaritan woman at the well.
Zacchaeus the tax collector.
All people who the rest of the world “tolerated”.
Jesus loved them.
Intentionally.
America, if you choose to be a “Christian” nation, then you must be better than tolerant.
You must be loving.
You must be hospitable.
You must treat every person as your neighbor.
You must see every person as a child of God, same as you.
We must become intolerant of tolerance.
And love people on purpose.
Just because they’re people.
Same as us.
Thanks for listening to my soapbox story.
I’d like for them to continue in the future, but I’m in need of some more wonderful donors in order to be fully funded and continue my time with the World Race.
$5000 worth to be a little more exact.
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