Responses I

Ps. 92:^4-6 “You thrill me, Lord, with all you have done for me! I sing for joy because of what you have done. O Lord, what great works you do! And how deep are your thoughts. Only a simpleton would not know, and only a fool would not understand this”

How does your shepherd respond when you are in a pit? If one falls into a deep pit, there are more than five world views on the corresponding response. I am going to share five of the major world views from the five major world religions. I am a student of comparative religion; I like to study different religions. In fact, there was a time in my life when I was asking some serious questions. I was a Christian [I still am] but I wanted to know why I should follow Jesus. Why Jesus? What is the difference between Buddha, Mohammed, Krishna, and Jesus?

Are they not all good people? What is the big deal about this Jesus? The truth is, a lot of people are at this phase and it is okay as long as your heart is sincere. Everyone that seeks God finds God – everyone! In my study of comparative religion, one of the things I studied was the truth and the way. One of the questions I asked was, how do the five major world views [religions] respond if one falls into a dip pit?  I am just going to state my findings. I mean no disrespect and I am not demeaning any religion or any world view. I am just stating facts and these facts are in the public domain. You can check it up for yourself.

Buddha says, if you fall into a pit it is your karma. Karma means cause and effect, what you sow is what you reap. Buddha is saying you actually deserve to be in the pit because of something you have done wrong. But you and I know that there is actually righteous suffering here on earth. There are people that are suffering but they have not done anything wrong. So how does that fit karma? They say, if you think you have done nothing wrong and you are suffering, you must have done something wrong in your previous life. You know some people were cockroaches in their previous lives, now they are human beings and in the next life, they will be orangutans. Buddha says it is your karma. However, that is limiting, and it did not answer my question. And it is obviously not satisfactory.

What does Mohammed have to say about someone that falls into a dip pit? Mohammed says, if you fall into a dip pit, you have violated the laws of Allah. Heavily legalistic. Even though Mohammed’s view made some sense, it does not help me because there is none that can say they have not broken a law. So, I moved on to check what the Hindu guru says. If someone falls into a pit, the Hindu guru says, the ditch [the pit] is only an illusion of your mind. Even though you are in the pit, it is just in your mind. The hurt you are feeling is all in your mind. You cannot pay school fees? It is all in your mind, the school fees are paid. When the children are sent home from school, you will tell them it is in their minds. Obviously, that too did not work for me. There are somethings that can be in your mind but not that.

Prayer [song]: There’s no shadow You won’t light up, mountain You won’t climb up, coming after me. There’s no wall You won’t kick down, lie You won’t tear down, coming after me… Amen!