In my family we have many strong beliefs on religion and almost everyone has a different religion, or at least part of religion, in which the thoughts are based on. I love everyone in my family but we have several (non-practicing) Lutherans, a few atheists, one family are strong, devout Jehovah's Witnesses, another family Catholic (with one cousin in school to become a priest), and then my family - Pentecostal with a pastor.
As you can see there is quite a bit of diversity. So there is an unwritten rule in which we do not talk about religion often. I think it's great that we can agree to disagree but at the same time I realize that there could be catastrophic consequences for this. If we were to bring up religion around the dinner table then it would leave to a lot of arguing and then our reunion would become very unpleasant.
I did start a conversation with my cousin that wants to be a priest. The truth is I am curious as to why he would want to be a priest just as I know many people are curious as to why I decided to become a pastor. I came away with two thoughts. 1) Catholics are far more disciplined than evangelicals in many ways and we should be ashamed. 2) I find it sad that all hope and faith are placed in the Pope and Mary. Now I am not well-versed in the practices and theologies of Catholicism and I may have already said something inaccurate. But something I really do want to know is how their theology came to be over the centuries.
Then there are my dear relatives that converted to become Jehovah's Witnesses a few years ago. They know their beliefs (for the most part) and they go to Bible Study four times a week. They are prepared to defend their faith and are taught well. Now I know that a lot of Christians would say that they are manipulated and only given bits of what they see to be the truth. Maybe that's true and maybe that's not. But my biggest question/concern is whether or not you read that in a book, heard it from another person who read it from a book, or whether you have actually talked to and loved someone from this faith.
In the end, I absolutely believe that Jesus was the Son of God, a part of the Trinity. I believe that all we have to do is believe in Jesus as being the Son of God to attain heaven. I also believe that there is a lot more to belief in Jesus than simply going to heaven. I will put my life on this.
But my family members will bet their lives on their beliefs too. How does all of this work out in the end? How can we have honest, respectable, knowledgeable conversations about this?
What are your thoughts?
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