Hi everyone, wish all of you a Very Merry Christmas and a New Year that's joyous, peaceful and fulfilling!
I'm in Australia on a short holiday. It's been pretty hectic. We drove from Melbourne to Sydney, with a stop to have lunch with friends in Albury and then to Wagga Wagga to stay overnight. It was mostly a nostalgia trip as hubby went to uni in Wagga Wagga. In Sydney we had to take our Harry Potter-obsessed daughter to see the Harry Potter exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum, and then did what we've always wanted to do, climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I really recommend it. It's completely doable by anyone except those who get totally paralysed by the fear of heights. It's perfectly safe because they dress you in the right clothes and you are tethered the entire time to the railings. The day we went up, the weather wasn't too great but still the views are breathtaking.
Meanwhile, in case anyone's still fussing over whether it's okay to wish anyone Merry Christmas or not, here's an enlightening article about Muslims in the US here.
Have a fabulous holiday!!
just a small peice of humour.
ReplyDeletei had, or thought i had a good wine which i kept for good year awaiting Christmas. come 25th, i saw the bottle already opened ! i took a sip of what's left. someone poured in plain water, not even wine smell is left.
maybe Jesus turns water into wine, but where i am, people turn wine into plain water ! yulk !
Merry Christmas all !
Merry Christmas to you and all readers here.
ReplyDeleteI like your post. Light and easy!
ReplyDelete:)
Hi Kak Marina,
ReplyDeleteGood to hear about your nice short holiday in Melbourne. I had my fair share in little towns in middle of France...nothing serious but just a much needed break, rest and relax after burning lots of midnight oil.
Many thanks for sharing the article, indeed the world or even Malaysia will be a better place if people can try ..just try to look at how beautiful what Ani Zonneveld and Shireen Ahmed did ...so full of tolerance, respect, understanding which I believe are the fundamental values that those major religions have been trying to instill. I frankly do not understand why people are so obsessed with the whether Jesus is the Son of God or Prophet ..is it worth to sacrifice so many lives and shed so much blood just because people dont agree who he was ? Is that more important than the many great values that Jesus and Prophet Muhammad tried to teach all of us ? Schism happened in Christianity and also in Islam but ask ourselves , are the differences worth the war, lost of lives, mothers and fathers losing their sons or daughters because of differences in opinion ? what happened to the similiarities in the fundamental values that we all share ?
Both my god sister and her brother-in-law are Buddhist and they go to different Buddhist school and temples, both I believe are Theravada Buddhism , but the brother-in-law mentioned that my godsister's monk/teacher he observed, seems to take food even after lunch time or something along that line .so he claimed that his teaching is not so true or correct etc ..implying that 'his' own teacher is more pure, aligned with the true teaching etc ...I guess people just need to feel theirs are the best ? I asked my god sister to ask him, is that so important compared to the values that Buddha represents...or people are too blinded with so many rituals that they do not understand the fundamentals of their religion. We have seen in our local papers, that people do create a storm in a teacup because of words or greeting ..small and trivial things... I can be very sure that they have failed to understand the true teaching and values of their religion. They cant seems to rise above the nitty gritty details and understand the more important and fundamental things...
I do hope that people can wake up from this Dark age and perhaps think that maybe just maybe that scholars or historian 2000 years ago could have used different terms to acknowledge Jesus , giving allowances to the fact that people write things differently and used methaphorical language depending on their attachment to the subject. I do hope one day that people will rise above the negligible differences and embrace the many good values (charity, compassion, benevolence, filial piety etc etc) intra religions and inter religions...Ask ourselves how important it is for us whether Jesus is Prophet or Son of God ? how important is the event that divided the Sunni from the Shia or the Protestants vs Catholic....and most importantly should that change our fundamental shared values ?
If people are not allowed to think , rationalise and challenge the interpretations of religious teachers (without being detained for causing disharmony or armageddon or threat to the religion) then we should not expect much from our people ..We should try to break the walls of "You vs. Us" mentality but strive to find and look for the many beautiful values we share and acknowledge we are fundamentally the same...and avoid all those unnessary hatred, killings and sadness, no ?
@kenry ryuu
ReplyDeleteI understand what you're getting at: that we should focus on the good that all religions teach us, that the differences between different religions are less than the commonalities etc.
However, there is something to be said about theological relativism. That is, the notion that all religions are inherently the same, "God" is known by many names, all religions take us to the same destination, that sort of thing.
The problem is, such issues of theology ARE of fundamental importance to people's beliefs, whether you personally feel that way or not. For example, the distinction between Jesus' divinity or whether he was "merely" a prophet is of primary significance, and some would say a non-negotiable point for Christians. Similarly Shias and Sunnis would hold that their respective views as to the "correct" line of Caliphal succession is something that must be addressed. The fact that they are, in your opinion,"nitty gritty details", does not make them any less important.
Focusing on fundamental shared values is all nice and good, but does not address the issues of conflict esp. in religions that propound an absolute conception of God (ie Christianity and Islam). Theological relativism is something that most theologians, religious leaders and lay-people are not prepared to accept, because ultimately it dilutes the significance of their faith.
Once again, I do need to emphasise that these are not negligible differences. The "You vs Us" mentality is not broken simply by sweeping differences under the carpet, but by understanding and mutual respect, and ultimately agreeing to disagree. Of course these are the highest ideals, but assuming that cannot be achieved, then "mere tolerance" is the second-best alternative. As it is in many parts of the world, people cannot even seem to tolerate the presence of others of different beliefs - so I believe "tolerance" is a good place as any to start.